Revisiting Nickelodeon's wacky and groundbreaking 'Weinerville Chanukah Special' at 30

For a vacation with 8 days and much than 16 antithetic ways to spell it, Hanukkah erstwhile featured highly constricted tv programming.

Today everything from Spider-Man to Mickey Mouse, “The Nanny” to “New Girl,” and “Arthur” to “Phineas and Ferb” person had Chanukah and/or Hanukkah episodes, but for decades determination was not overmuch beyond Ed Asner’s 1973 Hanukkah PBS documentary and David Grover’s sing-along special. While 1996’s “A Rugrats Chanukah” is often pointed to arsenic the half-hour that popularized Hanukkah kids tv specials successful America, Nickelodeon the twelvemonth earlier had its archetypal half-hour surrounding the Feast of Dedication, and it arrived from a peculiar spot called Weinerville.

Yes, determination is simply a “Weinerville Chanukah Special.”

During Nickelodeon’s experimental aboriginal ’90s, the children’s transmission greenlighted a amusement starring puppet-centric comedian Marc Weiner astatine the helm. It was the effect of an earlier crippled amusement aviator titled “That’s Not Fair” for the Ha! Network (which aboriginal merged with the Comedy Channel to go Comedy Central), based connected a spot from Weiner’s conception connected drama amusement “Random Acts of Variety,” and the trial assemblage skewed younger than the channel’s desired demographic. This timing, however, happened to coincide with Nickelodeon reportedly looking for “the Soupy Sales of the ’90s.”

The aviator was brought to Nickelodeon, which picked it up. “Weinerville” premiered successful 1993. Continuing Weiner’s signature look of his quality caput connected antithetic puppet bodies (“Weinerettes”), the amusement was an episodic communicative of a metropolis of puppets filmed successful beforehand of a unrecorded audience, which besides featured a accidental for assemblage members to vie successful games (after being “Weinerized”) and segments wrapped astir classical older cartoons. Nothing astir the amusement was accepted successful the satellite of children’s programming, adjacent the clip slot. Whereas astir caller kids shows would premiere weekday afternoons oregon Saturday mornings, “Weinerville” was fixed 2 hours connected Sunday afternoons to aerial 4 back-to-back caller episodes.

“Weinerville’s” 2nd play saw the amusement determination to weekday afternoons, but by past the Nickelodeon demographics began skewing older and “Weinerville” was moved to weekday mornings earlier school. Weiner recalls ever wanting to bash thing for Hanukkah, primitively pitching the thought of a Hanukkah PSA. “I went into a gathering with 1 of the executives, and helium gave maine a publication astir a Hanukkah communicative and it was conscionable bizarre. [He said] ‘You should bash a special, but your rotation connected this story.’ I asked if I could bash 1 successful a ‘Weinerville’ benignant and helium said ‘OK.’” From determination writer Scott Fellows, who was the dependable of Zip connected the show, became the driving unit down the special.

What resulted was 1 of the astir uniquely chaotic half-hours of children’s tv successful the ’90s. Instead of being successful beforehand of a unrecorded crowd, the peculiar was filmed astatine a compartment successful Killington, Vt., successful October, astir 2 months earlier it was to air. While the snowfall whitethorn person been mostly fake, “The Weinerville Chanukah Special” — featuring abstraction aliens and philharmonic numbers — stayed grounded connected a unsocial instauration of world with the inclusion of then-popular hits from the B-52’s, Elastica and Gloria Estefan (which, according to Weiner, was achieved acknowledgment to Nickelodeon genitor institution Viacom’s statement with MTV implicit the networks’ usage of licensed music) arsenic good arsenic counterculture celebrities crossed comedy, euphony and adjacent wrestling (WWF’s Diesel a.k.a. Kevin Nash).

The crippled follows 2 potato-pancake-esqe aliens — named Sektals “Latkes” spelled (mostly) backward, 1 played by histrion Michael Gunst who recalls it being a “fun gig” changeable successful bid implicit specified days with a unit of astir a twelve — who are escaping their people’s evil overlord, Antidorkus (a riff connected Antiochus), who’s been utilizing his Keerg (“Greek”) ray to marque their radical wantonness their traditions and behave precisely similar him. So they flight to the skis lodge that the “Weinerville” pack has rented retired arsenic they effort to find capable lipid to alert backmost into space. Though it looks similar they whitethorn not person capable oil, Hanukkah magic happens, Antidorkus is toppled and the time is saved. It ends with a large Halloween enactment and a accelerated punk stone opus astir each the antithetic ways to marque a menorah that channels Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated.”

Along the mode we get a opus astir the existent Hanukkah communicative performed by proto-punk pioneer David Johansen (credited arsenic Buster Poindexter) who plays omniscient elder Gonsah K’nocker and sings an inspired archetypal song, “The Hammer Came Down.” Weiner remembers moving with Johansen: “I’m not definite who orchestrated getting him, but helium was superb successful that.”

Also appearing were Denny Dillon, making a cameo arsenic her quality Toby from HBO’s “Dream On.” Looking backmost astatine the special, Dillon appreciates its “wonderful silliness,” adding “I deliberation that’s wherefore the programme works due to the fact that you tin instrumentality with it, you don’t cognize wherever you’re going and there’s a committedness to the silliness.” Also appearing was Laura Kightlinger, who was acquainted with however Weiner “was a comic’s comic and everybody liked him” and remembers filming her country wherever she’s holding existent applesauce being amusive and contiguous appreciates however fast-paced it was, making it “perfect for close now.”

Opening the peculiar was Nickelodeon icon and “Double Dare” big Marc Summers, speechmaking the accepted Hanukkah communicative and sharing the surface with “Weinerville’s” astir celebrated character, Boney, a skeletal dinosaur who was the aggravated ornery B-side to the then-famous purple dinosaur Barney.

“Boney could bash perfectly thing and it would ace maine up,” Summers recalls. He describes Weiner arsenic “a precise spiritual person, and wants to dispersed the connection astir Judaism and its traditions. It was benignant of revolutionary erstwhile you deliberation astir it.”

Back successful the day, Summers says, Hanukkah would popular up each present and past arsenic a little segment, but cipher would walk overmuch clip explaining what it was. But Weiner would bash it with a constituent of presumption and consciousness of humor. “People thin to stereotype each things Jewish and what they don’t cognize astir definite holidays with what they deliberation they do,” Summers says. “So, you got it close from the horse’s rima with the feline who understood what helium was doing.”

Along with the euphony and aesthetic insanity, what makes “The Weinerville Chanukah Special” basal retired among the 3 decades of Hanukkah specials since is however Hanukkah is celebrated without having to beryllium analogous to different holiday. Christmas isn’t successful immoderate mode mentioned, everyone knows what latkes are and Hanukkah takes afloat halfway stage. In an absorbing coincidence, the aforesaid week “Weinerville’s” peculiar premiered, Shari Lewis’ “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” premiered implicit connected PBS. Two puppet-filled philharmonic Hanukkah specials successful the aforesaid week aft decades of drought is simply a occurrence successful itself. Just arsenic astonishing is the overwhelming captious praise “Weinerville” received.

The New York Times raved it was “Wacky, nary doubt. And perfectly charming.” Reviewing it for The Times, NF Mendoza called it “Fun and Vivid.” The Jewish Week, portion not rather connected the aforesaid level of enthusiasm, did springiness the close and inadvertently enticing statement “this pow! bam! sock! pie-in-the-face, ‘kick butt’ spaceage mentation of Chanukah is loud. Very loud.” Weiner’s manager Lee Kernis remembers, “Nickelodeon were precise supportive… I don’t callback determination being immoderate notes… Marc and radical utilized to gag that the amusement was enactment unneurotic by superglue and Scotch tape. It was not a high-tech show. I deliberation that was the charm, it filtered backmost to Nickelodeon what Marc had to bash to marque that show.”

While “The Weinerville Chanukah Special” aired a fistful of times successful 1995, the adjacent year’s “A Rugrats Chanukah” (airing a period aft the last Nickelodeon “Weinerville” accumulation “The Weinerville Election Special from Washington BC”) became the channel’s go-to vacation contented for generations to come. While absent from the airwaves, successful December 2000 and 2002, “The Weinerville Chanukah Special” was screened astatine the Museum of Television and Radio successful New York, and acknowledgment to the advent of record sharing and video streaming sites, the peculiar gained a cult pursuing done the 2010s, often the go-to prime for a Hanukkah occurrence of Christmas podcasts. It’s a favourite of children’s tv podcasts arsenic well, the Nickelodeon-themed “Splat Attack Podcast’s” Manny Oramas lovingly reflects “when the peculiar came out, I knew thing astir Hanukkah, but this helped successful subtle ways. I see it timeless.”

Weiner has stayed progressive successful the children’s media world, voicing Map and Swiper crossed respective “Dora the Explorer” incarnations. He’s besides been making tote bags from aged sails utilized connected the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (which helium was connected for 3 years successful the ’70s) to beforehand the Clearwater’s biology work. His family’s besides continued to dispersed innovative Hanukkah cheer: His eldest daughter, Rebecca, a cook and creator surviving successful Israel with her husband, challah creator Idan Chabasov a.k.a Instagram’s @ChallahPrince, this twelvemonth person collaborated connected an illustrated look for making a challah menorah — a full-circle infinitesimal arsenic Rebecca is seen successful “The Weinerville Chanukah Special’s” closing montage showing her ain environmentally-conscious “Recyclorah.” Weiner is readying to watercourse the occurrence successful immoderate signifier this Hanukkah connected his YouTube transmission WeinervilleTV. Revisiting the peculiar 30 years later, it’s inactive awesome to spot a fast-paced, puppet-centric explosively originative instrumentality connected Hanukkah — nary strings attached.