In a 2012 episode of The Office, the character Dwight Shrute comes to work dressed as Belsnickel, a disheveled, switch-wielding screwball who gives out presents and punishments for Christmas.

Dec. 12—The Belsnickel — wearing furs, smeared in soot and waving a bundle of birch switches — visited children in the schoolhouse during Christmas on the Farm in Kutztown on Saturday, Dec. 7.