'A Philly Special Christmas Special' Animated Video Releases Thursday

PHILADELPHIA — Just when you thought they had done it all, The Philly Specials are releasing a stop-motion holiday special on YouTube this Thanksgiving.

Eagles linemen Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata (AKA The Philly Specials) will star in a new nine-minute, stop-motion animated holiday special titled "A Philly Special Christmas Special," same as the sophomore holiday benefit album releasing digitally on Dec. 1.

The short will premier at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving on YouTube.

Created by Philadelphia-based animation studio unPOP, the special finds Kelce, Jordan and Lane attempting to rally their friends together for a holiday performance and features songs from "A Philly Special Christmas Special" (Vera Y Records).

All in all, the nine-minute film took 5,000 hours over five months to complete, included 20 hand-crafted puppets with hand-sewn clothing, and 5,000 individual photographs displayed at 24 frames per second.

"The Philly Specials’ A Philly Special Christmas, which featured Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson singing holiday classics was such a huge success they decided to release another one this year, and they asked US to create a short film,” unPOP’s co-founder Peter Heacock said. "Of course, we jumped at the chance — there’s no denying that we’re super fans of the team. This was a dream job."

Fans will see Kelce riding a donkey and singing "Dominick the Donkey" and Mailata shines in "All I Want for Christmas Is You." In the video, cameos by famous friends and family, including Patti LaBelle and Travis Kelce, and iconic Philly references.

"When you think of Christmas, you think warmth, vintage, and the classics. Kelce and the gang are putting on a holiday variety show," unPOP co-founder Marie Hart said. "It’s a drama about Kelce trying to outperform the album they made last year, but also how they want to win the Super Bowl this year… all while learning about the true meaning of the season."

The Philly Specials have released three singles from the LP including "All I Want for Christmas," "This Christmas" and "Fairytale of Philadelphia" – a duet between Jason and Travis Kelce on a reimagining of The Pogues’ classic, which has over 2 million streams across platforms and has reached No. 1 on iTunes.

"A Philly Special Christmas Special" is available now for vinyl preorder online here, and will be available on all digital platforms on Dec. 1. This year, proceeds from the vinyl sales will benefit Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Toy Drive and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station.

Following the runaway success of their debut LP, A Philly Special Christmas, Kelce, Johnson, and Mailata have reunited with producer Charlie Hall and executive producer Connor Barwin (Vera Y Records) to release their second holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special. Recorded during the NFL off season and comprised of ten holiday classics and an original tune by Kelce,
"Santa’s Night," A limited-edition LP will be released on red vinyl, a double disc of A Philly Special Christmas Special and 2022’s A Philly Special Christmas will be released on limited edition gold vinyl in addition to the album being released digitally and available on all streaming services.

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Recorded and mixed once again by Nick Krill, the trio called upon local musicians including Patti Labelle, Amos Lee, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, DMHotep (Sun Ra Arkestra), Kevin Hanson (The Fractals, Huffamoose), Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Waxahatchee, members of The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, mewithoutYou, and The Silver Ages Choir amongst others to truly make this a Philly special.

"A Philly Special Christmas" was released on Dec. 23, 2022, digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including No. 1 on the Compilation Albums Chart. A Philly Special Christmas donated over $1.25M to local charities including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and fulfilled the wish lists of Philadelphia School District teachers via Donors Choose.