Fake Santa

Average-Doer
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	Santa Claus Fake Santa The Impostor (by Buddy)
Origin	Elf
Occupation	Mall Santa (formerly) Leader of the fake Santas
Powers/Skills	Brute strength
Hobby	Dressing up as Santa Claus
Goals	Entertain the children while dressing up as Santa (formerly)
Family	No information
Friends	No information
Enemies	Buddy Hobbs
Type of Neutral Character	Wrathful Brute

The Fake Santa is a minor antagonist in Elf. In Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas, he is known as The Fake Santa #1 because he is the first fake Santa and the leader of the fake Santas in the special.

He is played by Artie Lange in the film and is voiced by Jay Leno in Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas.

Why aren't they heroic or villainous?

• The worst action he did is attempting to attack Buddy for taking off his fake beard, without causing serious injuries, which makes him a jerk, not a villain.
• He seems to be affable towards the children, as the reason he pretends to be Santa is because he is only trying to do his job and make them happy, and only attacked Buddy because he took his beard off.

Personality

The Fake Santa appears to be cheerful to the children, but when confronted by Buddy, he is actually dismissive, rude. When things are taken too far between him and Buddy, the mall Santa becomes really violent and destructive when he attempts to attack Buddy (and possibly even attempt to murder him as he threatened to do so). He has to be restrained by the manager indicating that he actually has anger issues (likely even before Buddy confronted him).

History

The Fake Santa appeared at Gimbel's one morning and jubilantly greeted the children there, including Buddy. When Buddy came up to the Fake Santa, he could instantly tell that he wasn't the real Santa Claus. Buddy angrily told him that he sat on a throne of lies, and he smelled like beef and cheese instead of Santa (as he has the smell of cookies and milk).

The Fake Santa got increasingly angry with Buddy and tried to get him to stop, even angrily threatening him with murder in front of Paul, the first boy in line. When Buddy tore the fake Santa's beard off to expose him as a fraud, the kids screamed in horror. Then, the Fake Santa violently got into a big fight with Buddy and angrily started smashing all the decorations, including the LEGO New York City. Wanda, the store manager, tackled the Fake Santa, saving Buddy, though the Fake Santa was fighting and pushing Wanda off whilst he was getting up with Buddy yelling; “He's not Santa!”.

The Fake Santa was presumably taken away, likely being fired from his job, never to be seen again.