Caller “Don”(voice: Eric Stoltz) calls in on Christmas Day to the radio show of Dr. Frasier (played by Kelsey Grammer), who is blue over missing the chance to see his son for the holiday, fighting with his dad, and listening to a stream of depressed callers.
Don: Something happened the other day that sums up why we call this the season of giving.
Frasier: Well then, swaddle me in Christmas cheer!
Don: Okay. Well, you see, I was driving home from the gym, and I suddenly realized I had left my favorite old pair of sneakers on the roof of the car. So, I look back and there's this homeless guy, and he'd already picked them up, and he's putting 'em on. So I just thought, what the hell, and kept on driving.
Frasier: (increasingly sarcastic) So...your experience of the Christmas spirit would be that you DIDN'T slam the car into reverse, speed back there, and rip a pair of smelly old sneakers out of a homeless man's hand? Well Roz, this is special, I think we've got Santa Claus himself on the line!—“Miracle on Third or Fourth Street,” from the long-running TV sitcom Frasier, Season 1, first aired Dec. 16, 1973, written by Christopher Lloyd and directed by James Burrows
(If you have never seen this episode of the great series, I strongly recommend that you do so, whether on TV or, if you are as lucky as I was last night, with the boxed DVD set of the first season. Every minute features constant, surprising wit, as each member of the regular ensemble cast—not just Grammer, but David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin, and Jane Leeves—is given a moment to shine. While mercifully skating free of sentimentality, and even featuring the kind of bent, cynical humor quoted above, the episode still manages to convey a pointed message about the connections to family that become frayed at times in the holiday—and the unexpected sources of generosity and grace that sustain our lives in spite of it all. The more I see the networks mangle their prime-time schedules—now including, no offense meant, Jay Leno on in the 10 o’clock hour—the more grateful I am for the oasis of humor provided for a decade by Frasier.)
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