2025 DENVER GAZETTE TRUE WEST AWARDS: DAY 2

More than 35,000 have enjoyed Dave and Jane Shirley’s irreverent seasonal sketch comedy

When funnyman Dave Shirley told me his venerable if itinerant Rattlebrain Productions will be opening up its smirkily-titled seasonal sketch-comedy “Santa’s Big Red Sack” for the final time this month, I asked if the decision was a concession to age. He clarified:

“No, that would be Santa’s Big Red (Redacted) Sack,’” he said with a laugh. (Insert a word rhyming with “Groupie.” C’mon: Use your 12-year-old imagination.)

If you don’t find that funny, chances are you are not among the 35,000 who have faithfully turned out for 20 of the past 24 holiday seasons to see Shirley’s band of merry pranksters morph into 65 characters with just one comedy goal: “To completely skewer the holidays and everything we hold dear – all for the almighty laugh,” he said.

That’s a lot of people, 35,000. Aaron Vega, who runs the host venue (The People’s Building in Aurora) says co-founders Dave and Jane Shirley have created “a comedy empire.” So why stop now?

“I’m older and tired,” Dave said. “Do you remember when you were young, John?”

No, I told him. That was back in 1924, after all.

And yet Shirley and company anachronistically remain, in their way, forever young, given that their comedy stylings remain firmly grounded in adolescence. Take that one sketch where a dancing gingerbread man comes magically to life before a young boy who then tortures and devours him.

The sketches change from year to year, save for one timeless scene that has made it into the lineup all 20 years. “It’s called ‘Merry Hannukah,’ and it’s about a White Christian couple who go over to their Jewish neighbor’s house to celebrate the holidays,” Shirley said. “They want to be accepting, so they bring Hanukkah gifts – but they do everything wrong because they’re completely ignorant about the Jewish holiday and customs. That one just remains funny year after year.”

Some of the comedy is unscripted. Like when the Rattlers were performing a sketch called “What Would Jesus Do?” and something decidedly unfunny happened.

“When Jesus came out on stage, this woman in the audience had a seizure or something and just collapsed onto the floor,” Shirley said.

The actors naturally stopped the show to tend to the woman. “And when she comes to, she looks up, and she’s got Jesus standing over her,” said Shirley. (OK, that’s funny.)

And she was fine – thanks to a paramedic, not the actor playing Jesus.

“So, wait: You had Jesus right there,” I asked Shirley. “Why was He unable to heal her?”

“That’s a good question,” Shirley responded. “I guess God didn’t want Jesus to heal her.”

So who was this actor?

“Derek Hartman,” Shirley responded.

“And is it just possible he’s not the real Jesus Christ?”

“It’s possible – but I’m going to say highly unlikely,” Shirley insisted.

Derek Hartman? More like Eric Cartman!

For their comedy gold and impressive longevity, the Rattlebrain ensemble is today’s 2025 True West Awards honorees. These annual accolades shout out the best people and stories of the Colorado theater year each day in December.

Roots on the 16th Street Mall

The Rattlebrain ensemble singlehandedly revived the D&F Clocktower on the 16th Street Mall when it opened the now venerable basement theater there in 2002. They pretty much ruled the Denver comedy scene there for the next few years with full-length, snicker-inducing comedies like “Almost Denver,” which riotously parodied the Denver Center Theatre Company’s long-running John Denver tribute, “Almost Heaven.”

The Rattlers first dropped “Santa’s Big Red Sack” like a mic in 2002. The scene was peppered with mostly predictable traditional holiday shows at the time, “and we wanted to offer an alternative,” Shirley said.

The original ensemble consisted of Hartman, Jeff Kosloski, Lisa Rucker, Jane Shirley, Todd Grundy and Michael O’Shea, with Dave Shirley directing. Jane Shirley, an educator who ran for the Denver Public Schools Board in 2021, is the only actor who has appeared in every “Sack” performance since the beginning. I once said of Jane: “She can make you smile just by flashing her own.”

After leaving the Clocktower to iconic Denver entertainer Lannie Garrett in 2005, the Rattlers went off to pursue their own careers and families, while still reassembling (most) every December for an annual “Sack” run in various locations.   

For this year’s farewell, Shirley has regathered all but one of the original cast (Todd Grundy) from as far away as Maine. Other accomplished comic actors who have joined the ensemble over the years include Grundy’s brother Christopher, John Jankow, Eric Mather, Chris Woolf and Ed McBride – also known as the Colorado Rockies’ original Dinger mascot.

This annual holiday blend of nostalgia, current events, political commentary and teenage subversion could never have lasted this long if the material stayed the same from year to year. One sketch that’s new for 2025 is called “Santa on ICE” – “and ICE is not a skating rink,” Shirley said.

He realizes it’s a risk. The supercharged political tenor in America has made joking about anything political something of a powder keg of ricocheting backlash.

“But I’m going to be honest with you,” Shirley said. “With how nutty things are in the world, everything feels like a parody already anyway. And these days, when you think you’ve landed on something funny, five seconds later something happens that changes everything and the bit doesn’t work anymore.”

So how do you even approach politics in a comedy in such a divided time?

“It’s certainly more of a challenge now,” Shirley said. “Years ago, we did a lot of social commentary stuff. We had a sketch called ‘A Very NRA Christmas’ where the host was Charlton Heston – that’s how long ago this was. All the songs were Christmas songs, like ‘Spray the Walls with Automatic Gunfire.’ That was just funny to people, no matter who you were.

“But over time, with these unending school shootings – if you even mentioned guns, people weren’t having it. It was no longer anything anyone wanted to laugh at in any context.”

ICE, however?  “I think you can touch on an issue like that because it’s just constantly ongoing,” he said.

One reason Shirley believes Santa and his ruddy sack are nearing the end of their fun – and their run – is the simple passage of time. The Rattlebrains are now in their 50s, and marketing to an audience that you only see once a year and is now overwhelmed with gathering options has become daunting.

“When we started, there were many theater critics in Denver, and if you got a good review from even one of them, you sold tickets. It was as simple as that,” he said. “That’s all gone now. And maybe it’s because of my age, but I can’t get a handle on social media at all. I feel like I never know what I’m doing. COVID really took a toll as well. I feel like that changed people’s gathering habits.

“You put all that together, and it’s just really a lot harder to do now.

“What we are hoping is that there are enough people who are tired of all the noise in their lives and they just want to go out and have fun. We’re here for them.”

One last time before the “Sack” gets tied up for good.

Note: The Denver Gazette True West Awards, now in their 25th and final year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community throughout December by revisiting 30 good stories from the past year without categories or nominations.

‘Santa’s Big Red Sack’

• Presented by: Rattlebrain Productions

• When: Dec. 4-24

• Where: The People’s Building, 9995 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora

• Tickets: $39

• Info: thepeoplesbuilding.com

More True West Awards coverage:

• 2025 True West Awards, Day 1: Matt Zambrano

• Mark Ragan and Jessica Robblee: The 2024 Colorado Theatre People of the Year