We didn’t know how right we’d be when we guessed Seth Rogen’s next movie would involve an encounter with SantaCon.
The “Untitled X-Mas Project” filmed across from the newly opened Seoul Chicken in the wee hours of this morning, and none other than Jason Mantzoukas (fresh off the season premiere of The League) and Jason Jones (Rob Riggle 2.0 on The Daily Show) played drunken, menacing Santas (you know, these guys).
Watch the video above and you’ll see Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the film’s stars, get taunted for being alone on Christmas, whereupon he clocks Mantzoukas and yells, “That’s for disrespecting the spirit of Christmas!” Then the brawl begins in earnest.
“You’re the fucking problem!” Gordon-Levitt shrieks, clearly at his wit’s end. We’re assuming that by this point in the flick, he’s had a falling out with his bros, played by Rogen (who was on-set but not in this scene) and Anthony Mackie.
Two Jasons and a Joseph rehearse. (Photo: Daniel Maurer)
“You’ve got some serious misguided anger,” Jones observes, holding Gordon-Levitt back as he slips and slides on some imaginary ice (the Christmas Eve illusion was completed with out-of-season steam and snow). “This really feels like it’s about something else… I do not want to hurt you…”
“I want to hurt him,” says Mantzoukas, stepping up to deliver a punch to the head. “He sucker-punched me.”
“I’m an orthopedic surgeon, okay?” Jones says after Gordon-Levitt hits the ground. “And you started it.”
Finally, Mantzoukas delivers the punchline along with a swift kick to the gut: “I teach third grade, bitch!”
Watch another take below, and let this be a timely reminder to book a ticket out of town as soon as this year’s SantaCon date is announced.