--- title: Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert Staged A War Over Christmas description: Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert arguing over Christmas tree decorations is the only holiday debate worth watching canonical: https://time.com/5062415/tom-hanks-and-stephen-colbert-fight/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-13T15:38:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:49:16.254Z og:title: Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert Had a Spirited Christmas Debate og:description: Hanks and Colbert arguing over decorations is the only holiday debate you need og:url: https://time.com/5062415/tom-hanks-and-stephen-colbert-fight/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d5a9a9599e7df78/6988f4d57cdbacef8fd5b3ed/hankscolbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1483 og:image:height: 834 og:image:alt: HanksColbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert Had a Spirited Christmas Debate twitter:description: Hanks and Colbert arguing over decorations is the only holiday debate you need twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d5a9a9599e7df78/6988f4d57cdbacef8fd5b3ed/hankscolbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert Arguing Over Decorations Is the Best Holiday Dad Debate > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3244bdd5-bab6-4226-9678-bd265b0958e3&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 13, 2017 3:38 PM UTC  by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 13, 2017 3:38 PM UTC Tom Hanks has a lot of feelings about the proper way to decorate a [Christmas](http://time.com/5062382/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas/?xid=homepage) tree—and so does Stephen Colbert. When Hanks stopped by _The Late Show_ on Tuesday night, the two stars ripped into each other more intensely than kids tearing off wrapping paper on Christmas morning. “If you don’t understand the beauty of a symmetrically designed and decorated Christmas tree, get off my show!” Hanks [hollered](http://time.com/5061306/sriracha-arrest-pizza/?xid=homepage) at Colbert. While technically Hanks was a guest on _The Late Show_ and couldn’t really kick Colbert off his own show, the point was as clear as a bell ringing out during _Santa Claus is Coming To Town_. The argument arose when it turned out that Hanks is pro-“carcinogenic” tinsel, pro-putting lights on from the top of the tree to the bottom, and generally pro-“more shiny objects on the tree the better.” While Hanks’s wife, Rita Wilson, is opposed to tinsel, Colbert was with him on the decorations front, until they reached a sticking point that arose when Colbert admitted his love of multi-colored Christmas lights. “Do they flash at least?” asked Hanks, looking shocked and dejected. Colbert responded, “That’s insane! We’re not landing a plane!” It was a full on war on [Christmas](http://time.com/5060787/kfc-colonel-sanders-santa-shirt/?xid=homepage) lights after that. Don’t you hate it when your dads argue at [Christmastime](http://time.com/5061792/amazon-prime-charity/?xid=homepage)? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5062415/tom-hanks-and-stephen-colbert-fight/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5062415/tom-hanks-and-stephen-colbert-fight/"},"headline":"Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert Arguing Over Decorations Is the Best Holiday Dad Debate","datePublished":"2017-12-13T15:38:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:49:16.254Z","description":"“If you don’t understand the beauty of a symmetrically designed and decorated Christmas tree, get off my show!” yelled Hanks","url":"https://time.com/5062415/tom-hanks-and-stephen-colbert-fight/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","stephen colbert","Tom Hanks","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d5a9a9599e7df78/6988f4d57cdbacef8fd5b3ed/hankscolbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d5a9a9599e7df78/6988f4d57cdbacef8fd5b3ed/hankscolbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HanksColbert","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5062415/tom-hanks-and-stephen-colbert-fight/","name":"Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert Arguing Over Decorations Is the Best Holiday Dad Debate"}}]}] ```