Chris Stapleton sings of a Covid Christmas in a pisser of a sketch on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Dressed in a gaudy Christmas sweater and full PPE — mask, face-shield, and gloves — the country singer plays guitar and delivers Yuletide parodies about Chlorox wipes, contactless curbside pickup, and that gift everyone wants to find underneath their tree, a vaccine from Pfizer.
The song titles are a hoot: “Fauci the Snowman,” “I Saw Mommy Testing Santa Claus,” “Grandma Got Corona From a Reindeer,” and “Oh, CDC,” among them. And Stapleton commits to the lyrics — like “Oh, cover your mouth-hole/I don’t want your droplets” — with gusto. The high point is Stapleton singing about eating takeout Applebee’s wings in his Jeep to the tune of “Silent Night.”
But it’s the bearded songwriter’s facial expressions that really sell the gag. He’s alternately wide-eyed, open-mouthed, and bemused as he shills his new album A Very Covid Christmas, “available at Walgreens.”
Stapleton will release his real new album, Starting Over, on Friday. On Wednesday, he and his wife Morgane Stapleton performed a gorgeously stark rendition of the title track on the 54th CMA Awards. Stapleton is also set to sing a track off Starting Over on Kimmel’s Thursday night show.