Last December, Will Zweigart came across an online picture of a terrified child crying on the lap of a man dressed as Santa Claus and had a thought: This Santa deserves his own website. And thus, "Sketchy Santas" was born. Within a day Zweigart had purchased the domain and set up the site, and just three days later, "Sketchy Santas" had over half a million hits. By the time Ashton Kutcher tweeted about it to his legions of fans, Will realized that he had created something big.
Thousands of people submitted awkward, sad or just plain creepy pictures of themselves with Santa. What were once private relics of harrowing childhood experiences quickly became hilarious web fodder for the masses
"Sketchy Santas: A Lighter Look at the Darker Side of St. Nick" is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters and other retailers.
Sketchy Santas
Will Zweigart didn't set out to create what is arguably the most popular holiday-themed user-submitted blog on the internet -- he was just goofing around. "I'm always creating different Tumblr sites or blog posts that I think are funny," Zweigart explained, "and I cover all kinds of memes for Aol's Urlesque, but you never really know what's gonna take off."
Amazingly, Sketchy Santas hit the five million pageview mark within its first month, becoming the go-to humor site of the holiday season. And this year, the site's thousands of fans know just what to ask Santa to get them for Christmas. Yep, you guessed it: Sketchy Santas is now a book!
"The book serves as your field guide for identifying sketchy Santas in the wild," says Zweigart. "It is by and for the fans, made up almost entirely of their horrifying childhood memories."
To help people recognize a sketchy Santa, Will Zweigart offers a comprehensive look at nine different characteristics that may indicate that your Santa is sketchy.
Clues such as inebriation, wardrobe malfunctions and inappropriate hand placement are all telltale signs of sketchiness. You can find the whole list in "Sketchy Santas: A Lighter Look at the Darker Side of St. Nick."
Readers can look forward to a stocking-full of new material in the book, including new photos, captions, and a detailed historical overview of how Santa grew from anonymous Turkish saint to global pop culture hero.
Zweigart also examines how the increased demand for Santas, particularly at suburban malls, eventually created the downward quality spiral that helped inspire the successful website.
Interested in being part of the "Sketchy Santas" social media promotion? Check into Foursquare on your cell phone from any Santa's lap to receive a free horsey ride.
New York City residents and tourists can also look out for several unannounced "pop-up events" which will consist of unsavory characters dressed as Santa consuming the controversial alcoholic energy drink Four Loko on a bench. If you see this happening, run and jump into one of their laps and you will win a special prize. Admittedly, we're a little nervous to discover just what that prize may be.
Think a scary Santa is the worst thing that can happen to a kid at Christmas? How about seeing Rudolph killed by a traffic light? Yeah, that's worse.
RebeccaE,12-19-2010, 8:07PM
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U.D.,12-19-2010, 8:56PM
Because he is a big fake and a liar. He does not give any presents that have not been paid for by someone else. People who cannot control their kids use this fake and monster as a theat.
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Beardsley57,12-19-2010, 10:13PM
People are raising a bunch of neurotic, dysfunctional kids these days. Santa is not scary! Mean little ankle biting children...now that is SCARY! You have to feel bad for these poor saps who play mall/dept. store Santas. Their clients scream and yell, puke, poop, and pee on them, yet they are expected to be jovial and glad to see the little blighters. I would much rather deal with a pit of cobras.
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Elmer Fudd is Love :-?,12-19-2010, 10:36PM
Santa #1: Looks like someone snapped the photo right after shooting him with a mouth harpoon. I would say the the camera operator was sketchy. Kind of looks like Ashton too.
Santa #2... aka: San T clause: That's just funny, I think it was grandpas idea. Now there was a guy with a sense of humor. Cousin always took everything he said the wrong way... So grandpa had to talk backwards to him... Poor kid, gotta love him though.
Santa #3: Sketchy santa for sure. Santa's old, maybe drunk... Tired, and just wants to go home. Old Nick says "Hope this is the last kid, 'cause I'm about to drop this one."
Santa #4: Poor kid... Poor Santa. Enough said.
Santa #5: Quite sketchy and cheeky. Old times weren't always the good times. Let's keep U.D. and santa seperate for a while.
Santa #6: Not quite as sketchy as #3 thank goodness. Same deal though. Somebody get those kids a fresh Santa.
Santa #7: Good santa, angry kid. She could be the camera operator from santa #1. Possibly Ashtons sister?
Santa #8: Good Santa, scared kid. Hopefully Santa got him cheered up before the little guy slipped off his knee.
Santa #9: Sketchy santa. Santa says "Don't make me use this kid on ya!" Bad santa, bad, bad santa! Must be the last time U.D. ever sat on santas lap.
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Timothy Beauchamp,12-20-2010, 2:05AM
I'm in photograph #6 with my older brother Kash, and little sister Ann Rene. I was old enough to understand when my older brother Kash advised us (bossed us around) before going to get our photo taken with Santa, "Whatever you do, DON'T CRY or Santa won't give us any toys for Christmas!" I was determined not to cry, and that is why I look so stoic, but if you notice I am bowing my body away from "Hangover Santa" while looking at the photographer like "What the heck?!!?" My little sister, Ann Rene, on the other hand, did what my brother and I should have done, had we not been believed the line we had to be good or no presents, and she just went completely hysterical! To this day, I remember getting our photograph taken with Santa and my thinking at the time that something was definitely "VERY, VERY WRONG" with him and I couldn't wait to get away from him! Haha!
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