in-joke [in-johk] –noun. A joke that can be understood or appreciated only by the members of a limited group of people. (Also known as “Dennis Miller Syndrome.”)

Above is the definition of the term “in-joke.” More than any other television comedy show, in-jokes were as plentiful on SCTV as the regular kind were. For example, take the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers. (Please.) Cast member Catherine O’Hara decided that her marginally talented chanteuse character Lola Heatherton should have a choreographer of equally marginal talent. O’Hara auditioned several choreographers, but they were all too good.

Then she remembered Haalmeyer, the show’s costume designer, had some musical comedy experience from his student days. When she asked him about it, Haalmeyer admitted that, although he had a fine singing voice, he couldn’t dance worth a damn, which is exactly what O’Hara wanted to hear. Thus, the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers were born. Luckily for viewers, what Haalmeyer lacked in dancing skills was made up for by some nice comedy chops, as evidenced by SCTV’s second holiday episode titled simply Christmas (originally broadcast on Dec. 17, 1982).

The episode opens with station owner Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty) doing his annual rendition of “The First Noel.” The number is rudely interrupted by producer Johnny LaRue (John Candy) who is furious that Caballero’s Christmas bonuses are tiny little Cornish hens. Cabellero and LaRue soon come to blows and security guard Gus (Eugene Levy) is forced to break it up.

We then learn that LaRue has been forced to sell the Chapman-Nike camera crane that Santa gave him the year before. Suddenly, LaRue realizes that, since this is Christmas Eve, he can ask Santa for another crane (among other things), so he runs out of the studios in a burst of giddiness.

Next up is a commercial for Lola Heatherton’s holiday special The Love Spirit in which she reveals that she and her choreographer (the aforementioned Juul Haalmeyer) are now an item. Included in the promo is a clip from a 1965 special when the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers only consisted of Haalmeyer and one other dancer (Martin Short). (On the DVD commentary, Short asks O’Hara if she would wear a Sixties hair do nowadays to which she replies, “Yeah. When I turn lesbo and move to Santa Fe.”)

This is followed by a commercial for an Afterschool Special called The Fella Who Couldn’t Wait for Christmas starring Ed Grimley (Short) in the title role. Then we have a commercial for Rex & Edna’s Prairie Warehouse and Curio Emporium. Tex Boil has long since left Edna (Andrea Martin) so he has been replaced by a dog dressed like Tex.

The next skit is the episode’s funniest. A commercial featuring Count Floyd (Flaherty) plugging his holiday special Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas with his guests, an elderly decrepit Lucille Ball (O’Hara) and the Kid from Deliverance (Short).

Then we join LaRue who, to his horror, discovers that the street where he met Santa Claus last year is now a massive construction pit for a new subway station. Convinced that Santa won’t be able to find him, LaRue sits down with a glass and a humongous bottle of hooch to consume. (In the DVD commentary, O’Hara says that since it’s the now deceased Candy doing the scene, she has absolutely no doubt that it’s real booze in the bottle.)

As LaRue drinks himself into oblivion, we see a commercial for Melonville’s premiere motel, the Driftwood Inn, and their special holiday package (three days and one night). (Nobody else could write more scathing parodies of cheap local ads than Eugene Levy). Then Mayor Tommy Shanks (Candy) has his annual fireside chat where he lights his miserably scrawny Christmas tree.

After that, well, let’s just say that it wouldn’t be the holiday season without The Happy Wanderers themselves, brothers Stan (Levy) and Yosh Schmenge (Candy) presenting their film footage of a Leutonian Christmas with such traditions as Hiding the Egg, Watching the Tree and the Exchanging of the Socks among the male adults of the family. And, of course, there is the traditional Leutonian Christmas supper, an enormous cabbage roll and coffee. (Don’t get caught beneath the budgie!)

Following the Schemenges are those adorable kids from Pre-Teen World promoting their Christmas special featuring Alexis (O’Hara), Stephen (Candy), Matthew (Flaherty), Kathy (Martin), Paul (Levy) and one unnamed youth (Short) who is in tears because his brother just called him and revealed what his present is going to be (a Sony Walkman), so he retaliates by disclosing on-the-air that his brother is getting a pair of pajamas.

Meanwhile, back on the street, LaRue has once again passed out on the sidewalk, but history doesn’t quite repeat itself. Instead of Santa, LaRue is approached by that week’s musical guest, singer Andréa Crouch, who takes him to the Melonville Mens Mission for some hot food. LaRue, who normally avoids poor people like the plaque, is horrified at the poverty before his eyes, but when Crouch sings “Soon and Very Soon,” LaRue feels as though he now knows the true meaning of Christmas. (After finishing his number, Crouch literally disappears.)

Leaving the mission, LaRue is greeted by a bright light. Santa has found him after all! But when Santa offers LaRue a gorgeous blonde, he turns the gift down because he has now realizes how superficial his life has been. Predictably, when the light goes away, LaRue runs after it screaming, “Give me that girl!”

Cut to yet another holiday special. Broadcasting from both Atlantic City and Las Vegas are comedian Bobby Bittman (Levy) and singer Jackie Rogers Jr. (Short) presenting Christmas – That’s All. Thanks to split-screen, they are able to do duets of “Tomorrow,” “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” and “She Loves Me.” (It never occurs to them to do any Christmas songs on a Christmas special.)

After that holiday special, we have a special Chanukah episode of You! with host Libby Wolfson (Martin) and her guest Sue Bopper Simpson (O’Hara).

Sue: Sue Bopstein Simpson.

Libby: You’re using it again?

Sue: I always use it on Chanukah.

It’s after midnight now and Caballero is sound asleep in his bedroom until station programmer Edith Prickly (Martin), Gus, Grimley, Heatherton and Haalmeyer burst in because they’re all worried about LaRue and are afraid he’s done something foolish. (Not an unreasonable assumption.) Then, still following the light, LaRue runs in. Caballero forgives him and invites everyone to have Christmas dinner at his place! God bless us, everyone!

SCTV: Christmas is available from Netflix (Volume Four, Disc Three) and Amazon.