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Lenny and the Squigtones performed an original Christmas carol on Laverne & Shirley
David Lander and Michael McKean wrote the hilarious holiday jingle themselves.
In the Laverne & Shirley season two episode "Oh Hear the Angels' Voices" (a.k.a. "Christmas at the Booby Hatch"), Carmine suggests the gang perform at a hospital to bring a little Christmas cheer to those less fortunate. Everyone agrees and soon they're warming up in the hospital's small auditorium.
When a doctor (well, first a patient impersonating a doctor, then the real doctor) informs them that they're at a psychiatric hospital, Shirley begins to have second thoughts about performing. Her mother used to threaten to send her to an institution when she misbehaved as a kid and she can't help but be scared of everyone there.
Laverne, on the other hand, feels completely comfortable — even going so far as to flirt with one of the patients. After all, he did offer to buy her "a mink, a Rolls-Royce, and a trip to Paris." The eccentric yet suave patient is played by the episode's writer, David W. Duclon. Penny Marshall's producer brother, Garry, also makes a cameo as the drummer in the backing band.
The episode's main guest-starring role goes to Howard Hesseman, just a few years before being cast as Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati. Hesseman plays the understanding hospital staff member Dr. Grayson. He shows the gang around and takes a particular interest in Squiggy in a funny recurring gag.
When it comes time to for the show, Laverne and Shirley do a twirling, tap-dancing rendition of "Winter Wonderland" and Carmine belts "Jingle Bell Rock," but the real standout is the episode's first performance – Lenny and Squiggy, as Lenny and the Squigtones, singing an original Christmas carol, "The Jolliest Fat Man."
The song laments the downfall of a certain sleigh-riding North Pole resident. Michael McKean and David Lander wrote it themselves, like many of the other Squigtones tunes. It's an often-overlooked highlight from Laverne & Shirley and arguably one of the most underrated Christmas scenes in television. Watch it in the video above.
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