I know Halloween hasn’t even happened yet, but let’s talk about the holiday season. Specifically, let’s talk about what Comedy Central has planned for its annual “31 Days of Going Home for the Holidays” which includes additional stunts and special programming throughout the month of December.
Their seasonal celebration will kick off with two movies: A Hot Mess Holiday and A Clüsterfünke Christmas.
Set to premiere on December 11, the South Asian-fronted Hot Mess Holiday comes from the minds of Surina Jindal, Melanie Chandra, Sameer Gardezi and Kal Penn. Directed by Jaffar Mahmood and written by Gardezi, the movie follows an overachieving young finance exec who is unceremoniously dumped by her cheating fiancé during the Diwali holidays. Her free-spirited bestie is determined to help her get lit AF.
Along with their outrageous crew, they embark on a wild holiday adventure to party across Chicago, but when they come into possession of a multi-million dollar diamond, their messy antics place their entire posse in danger.
“This is a big moment for women of color – it’s the first buddy comedy starring and executive produced by two South Asian American women to hit mainstream TV,” said Surina Jindal & Melanie Chandra. “We are so proud of this movie. We’ve created something so zany and relatable, but most importantly, really meaningful. It’s the type of representation on and off screen we wish we had growing up.”
Jindal, Chandra and Penn star alongside a massive talented cast that includes a lot of brown Asian faces (which we love to see) Tituss Burgess, Chris Parnell, Punam Patel, Richa Moorjani, Nik Dodani, Kunal Dudheker, Chris Geere, Aparna Nancherla, Ravi Patel, Lilly Singh, Desmond Chiam, and Ritesh Rajan.
In addition, Jindal, Chandra, Gardezi, and Penn serve as executive producers along with Van Toffler, Floris Bauer, Justin Rosenblatt, Andrew Lutin, Janée Dabney, David Gale, and Barry Barclay. The movie comes from MTV Entertainment Studios and Gunpowder & Sky with Tara Power serving as Executive in Charge of Production.
Previously announced title, the holiday movie trope-filled A Clüsterfünke Christmas is set to premiere on December 4. Written by iconic Saturday Night Live alums Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer and directed by Anna Dokoza, the holiday movie stars Vella Lovell as Holly, a go-getter real estate exec from New York City who heads to a small town to buy the quaint Clüsterfünke Inn and transform it into a mega-resort.
First, she must convince the inn’s spinster owners (Gasteyer and Dratch) to make the sale. But before she can, she meets their nephew Frank (Cheyenne Jackson), a hot hunk of smoldering woodsman. Will she go back to her fast-paced city life, or will she fall in love with Frank and find the spirit of Christmas? What ever shall she do?
“It feels like a Christmas miracle to work together to create the ultimate holiday TV movie homage,” said Gasteyer and Dratch. “We’re whipping up a punchy seasonal cocktail with insider insight from holiday film vets Danielle von Zerneck and Michael Murray, the keen eye of Anna Dokoza, and brimming with ribbons, townsfolk, and tropes – all against the classic festive backdrop of Vancouver in July!”
A Clüsterfünke Christmas also stars Ryan McPartlin and Nils Hognestad. Dratch and Gasteyer also serve as executive producers along with Meghan Hooper, Trevor Rose and Josh Van Houdt; Danielle von Zerneck; Jamie Goehring and Shawn Williamson. Donny Hugo Herran isExecutive in Charge of Production. The pic comes from MTV Entertainment Studios, Lighthouse Pictures and Wishing Floor Films.
