How do you makeover a 65-year-old American institution to be more relevant and contemporary? That’s the interesting challenge facing the folks over at Archie Comics.

Here’s a Wall Street Journal article about what’s going on and here’s a good blog post about it all (via longtime comics pro Mark Evanier).

I hope YouTube doesn’t yank these clips before you’ve had a chance to watch them … or ever, for that matter.

For getting into the holiday spirit, it simply doesn’t get any better than Darlene Love singing “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)” on Letterman. Here are clips from 2005, 2004 and 1995.

Nothing else comes close.

DECEMBER 30 UPDATE: Here’s the 2006 edition.

…and they let you watch them do it over on this site, which includes SantaCam, celebrity messages, a history of Santa (and a calculator tracking how many cookies he’s eaten!) and much more.

Happy Festivus!

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.”
—Lily Tomlin