George Washington here
Join in any reindeer games (like football)
“Rudolph the red nosed reindeer,
you’ll go down in history!” (like Lincoln)
Wisconsin, late 80s
I am also familiar with the “Elvis” version. And the underwear.
like the toothpaste
like Pinocchio
like George Washington
like Monopoly
Well, continuing with the fractured Christmas carols:
“Chipmunks roasting on an open fire, makes a tasty Christmas treat…”
“Oh what fun it is to ride in Grandma’s Chevrolet…”
“Walking 'round in women’s underwear…”
“Then all the reindeer loved him (loved him)
As they shouted out with glee”
is the official lyrics instead of
“Then all of the other reindeer (reindeer)
Laughed and Shouted out with glee…”
I have the correct lyrics in my post. I’m just saying. 
Fine.
Pouts.
But EVERYTHING else is the … Well, you get it.
Elvis. Definitely Elvis. And I would know…in my high school choir’s Christmas concerts, I was the bass “soloist” who’d sing the extra lines in a high falsetto. Always got a good laugh to hear one of the dudes who just boomed out the bottom part of the Hallelujah chorus squeak out “LIKE A LIGHT BULB!” 
What I remember from when I was a kid (late '80s in the Southeast) was:
…shouted out with glee (Whoopee! or Yippee!)
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, you’ll go down in history!” (Like toothpaste!)
I figured this was because toothpaste is a famous invention, but that it was also a joke because you don’t learn about toothpaste in history. Until today I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of using a famous historic person’s name at that point, although it makes a lot more sense that way.
Oh, the insult I learned was funny face, and the reindeer game was football.
George Washington is how we always sang it.
I’ve lived in a lot of places (and worked in a lot of pre-schools) and I’ve never heard it as anything but “like Columbus!” when I’ve heard it done at all. It fits so much nicer into the rhythm scheme than “like George Washington.”
Anything on you tube about this, so that I could get a better idea?
Thanks
Q
They sing it the first time without any repeats but the 2nd time around they add the extra words (yippee and Columbus). I still think Columbus does not flow quite as well as Napoleon or George Washington because of the stress of the syllables. YMMV
+1
Donner and Blitzen were originally named Dunder and Blixem.
Or Dunder and Mifflin. Can’t you see Rainn Wilson dressing up as Santa for the Office party?
I had never heard the add-ons until my kids started coming home from school singing them. They always said “like Elvis” for the history part.
Exactly!
Chicago area, late 50s
Reindeer
like a lightbulb
saw it
like a light bulb
Reindeer
like dummy (Dumbo, stupid,asshole)
Rudolph
like football (Scrabble, Parchesi, Monopoly)
Like a light bulb
Loved him
yippee!
Reindeer
like Lincoln (Columbus, Washington)
I’ve heard several variants over the years. The version I consider "standard " is in plain text with the less common versions following in parentheses.
+1 for Napoleon. That was how we’uns up NH way sang it every year. And the game, for us, was Monopoly.