Coming to Steamboat Springs this month, the Queen’s Cartoonists is celebrating the holiday season with the themed program, “Holiday Hurrah: Yule Love It!”

The local stop is part of a tour of 27 cities throughout North America, Europe and the United Kingdom. The tour began in October and will continue through April and features a group that The Wall Street Journal summed up with a question: “Who needs another Broadway show when you can hire a jazz combo playing music from Bugs Bunny cartoons?”

On Dec. 19, the Queen’s Cartoonists are set to perform at 7 p.m. at the Strings Music Festival. Tickets start at $55. For more, go to StringsMusicFestival.com or call 970-879-5056 ext. 105.

According to event organizers, the Queen’s Cartoonists are keenly aware of all things holiday-oriented and completely ridiculous. And the musical ensemble has set out to find the best of the best — and best of the worst — in holiday-related cartoons, films and jazz. 

The Queen’s Cartoonists’ performances are synchronized with the films projected on stage. While the projections of animated films dazzle the audience, the band re-creates original soundtracks note-for-note, or writes their own fresh compositions to modern pieces.

Tying everything together is the Queen’s Cartoonists’ brand of comedy, featuring anecdotes about the cartoons and their composers, stream-of-consciousness humor and elements of a musical circus.

Created in 2015, the band, hailing from as far away as Australia, Bulgaria, and Washington, DC, now all reside in Queens, New York. The group is led by Joel Pierson on piano and includes Greg Hammontree on trumpet and trombone, Mark Phillips on clarinet and soprano saxophone, Drew Pitcher on flute and tenor saxophone and Rossen Nedelchev on drums, as well as a rotating cast of bassists. 

The band is welcoming back guest vocalist Tara Lynne Khaler for the holiday smorgasbord, which pairs traditional numbers (“White Christmas,” “Jingle Bells,” “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah,” etc.), with jazz arrangements and classic cartoon characters including Betty Boop, Bugs Bunny, Popeye the Sailor Man and Porky Pig.

They will even feature their favorite “screwball holiday classics,” like the movie “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.”

The Queen’s Cartoonists have performed in a wide variety of venues, including opening for the New York Philharmonic, selling out the Blue Note Jazz Club, a residency at Konzerthaus Berlin and an extended run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

They have been featured in over 50 publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The L.A. Times, The San Diego Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, NPR and Mashable.