From a bartender (in space!) with a shady past to Mrs. Kringle, Thom Allison knows how to show his audience a fun time on screen or on stage. Check out our fun conversation with Allison about his cabaret Christmas show and his recurring role in SyFy’s Killjoys.
Shut Up, It’s Christmas! What is this magical cabaret show and what inspired this? Who is Lola Kringle and what are her wants and needs?
SHUT UP, IT’S CHRISTMAS! is a cabaret I created that started as part of a smaller cabaret about 10 years ago. It was my second solo cabaret and it was a three set evening that I titled “Classic Christmas”, “Campy Christmas” and “Creepy Christmas”. Lola was part of Campy Christmas and she was only a small section. I wanted to do something a little different. Christmas-y but not so obvious and direct. I was inspired by A Charlie Brown Christmas. I wanted something that was funny, sweet and a little melancholy. I thought of being Santa but that was so “right on the nose”. So I thought about playing Mrs. Claus and telling stories about her life with Santa. But with all the bumps and joys. And I added the challenge of not allowing myself to use any Christmas songs for that section. It was all musical theatre songs with a couple of standards thrown in. It was a small section that people really enjoyed so much that several years later I developed her into a whole 50 minute act. She became the first act and then in the second act, I come out as myself and sing my version of Christmas songs, with anecdotes and audience interaction. And SHUT UP, IT’S CHRISTMAS! was born.