Jimmy Fallon’s best-selling children’s book of 2020 5 more beds until Christmas comes to life in a new animated special, telling a story inspired by real-life worship.
“One day I was picking up my daughter from school and she said, ‘How many more do they sleep until we go to Grandma’s? “I thought it was so cute,” said the Tonight show host and father of two (right). “I thought there should be a book, 5 more beds until Christmas, because when I was a child I looked forward to Christmas with my sister so much. He still does. “I’m a light bulb away from being the Griswolds!” “
(Credit: NBCUniversal)
Sleeps follows the adventures of an unnamed boy “who is so excited for Christmas that he cannot sleep, so he has planned the last five [nights] perfectly, ”says Fallon. Writers Jon Foster and James Lamont (The Adventures of Paddington) fleshed out the countdown, adding an angle of the child’s mom starting to date, with another family joining in the holiday celebration.
The cartoon also features a “whole new kind of CG animation, like stop-motion, but it’s almost painted,” enthused Fallon, contributing both to the storytelling and to an original song. And from the start he is responsible for Sleeps‘canine star. “Contractually my dog was to be in the book and the special,” he says of the child’s best friend Gary. “My dog has an amazing agent.”
5 more beds until Christmas, Premiere, Friday November 26, 8:30 am / 7:30 am, NBC