Transcript
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Sunday on the Pod with... Casey, Flo and Rosa.
Speaker: Welcome to Sunday on the Pod.
Speaker: Sunday on the Pod is a podcast all about musical theatre.
Speaker: However, this podcast isn't just for performers, but it's for anyone who loves musical theatre.
Speaker: Each episode we cover musicals that some of you may love, some of you might hate, or maybe you've never heard of them before.
Speaker: Either way, we will be singing and dancing about them.
Speaker: If you didn't already know, we pick a musical and discuss its plot, the show's creators, dissecting specific songs lyrically, musically, delving into any juicy gossip in our brand new segment called Stage Door Secrets,
Speaker: And my personal favourite, putting on our very own casting director hats and choosing a fantasy cast with another brand new segment, the Mega Mix Casting.
Speaker: And to make it even better, this episode is a Christmas special.
Speaker: So what are you waiting for?
Speaker: Sit back and enjoy the pod.
Speaker: And just a reminder to everyone that the best way to support our show is by rating and reviewing us wherever you listen.
Speaker: So we're available on Spotify and Apple podcasts and you can keep up with us on socials.
Speaker: We're at Sunday on the pod on Insta and Twitter.
Speaker: And you can also find us on our Facebook page Sunday on the pod.
Speaker: And I believe we may have a new TikTok Sunday on the pod.
Speaker: Am I right, Casey?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Sunday on the pod.
Speaker: Watch out world.
Speaker: Watch out Gen Z.
Speaker: I think we're all Gen Z, aren't we?
Speaker: Yeah, I think we are.
Speaker: I'm just on the cusp.
Speaker: Gen Z ends... No, wait.
Speaker: Gen Z... Millennials end 1996 and Gen Z starts 97.
Speaker: Oh, I'm like, well, I'm 98.
Speaker: I'm definitely a Gen Z nerd.
Speaker: I'm March 97.
Speaker: So you're Millennial Zed.
Speaker: Am I?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, I'm Gen Z. I'm Gen Z!
Speaker: I'm Gen Z!
Speaker: Please, I'm Gen Z!
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: How are we all feeling about Christmas?
Speaker: Not being funny, a little bit scared because it's two weeks away.
Speaker: It's two weeks away, which is insane.
Speaker: And I haven't got any Christmas presents.
Speaker: And I'm just like, well, okay, I should have done Black Friday shopping.
Speaker: But I didn't.
Speaker: I missed it.
Speaker: And yeah, a little bit panicky, but it was fine.
Speaker: I know I made like, literally in November, I made my Christmas spreadsheet with like my budget.
Speaker: Like what their budget was.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, she's a spreadsheet queen.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And then populated maybe two presents for those and I'm now like oh great it's the 11th of it's the 11th of December as we're recording this and I have two out of ten Christmas presents bought so I am planning.
Speaker: I'm quite organized but there are like
Speaker: There's now one person who I'm really struggling for because I pride myself on giving great presents.
Speaker: Every year I go above and beyond and I probably do spend too much money on people, but I just love it.
Speaker: I really love giving gifts, but I am that annoying person.
Speaker: Yeah, but I love sitting there, watch people open them and I'm like,
Speaker: What do you think?
Speaker: Makes a lot of people feel very uncomfortable.
Speaker: I've seen the memes where it's like, mum's on the sofa watching you open the presents.
Speaker: And it's like that little boy with a mug of tea.
Speaker: That is me.
Speaker: Which, yeah, makes some people very uncomfortable, but I'm like, I just love giving.
Speaker: Oh, that's really cute.
Speaker: And very in tune with what we're covering today.
Speaker: So it's a Christmas special, guys.
Speaker: Our first ever Christmas special.
Speaker: What else could it be on this very special Christmas episode other than a Muppets Christmas Carol?
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: There are actually several other...
Speaker: Christmas musicals out there but we decided that this one was the way to go we chose something a little bit more classy I think I think that's what we meant for we were like what is the most acting Christmas yeah we thought White Christmas that classic um no we'll go with the Muppets Christmas Carol please I have no regrets there's a very good reason it's a cult classic it's a family favourite
Speaker: And at the end of the day, it's just a heck lot of fun.
Speaker: It's very, very funny.
Speaker: It's a very, very funny movie.
Speaker: And you kind of don't really get all the humour when you're a kid.
Speaker: And then when you watch it as an adult, you're like, this is actually quite clever.
Speaker: It's really nostalgic for me because this is one of those that was on every single Christmas as a child.
Speaker: This was all, like, we always watched this at least once.
Speaker: So it feels like, it feels like home.
Speaker: It feels like home to me.
Speaker: It feels like home to me.
Speaker: It's Casey Tiny Tim.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: Actually, there's actually loads of extra characters in this that literally sound like that.
Speaker: They're like, oh, cool, God.
Speaker: I think there's a turkey that's in a barrel.
Speaker: It's like, please don't pluck me, sir.
Speaker: It's so stupid.
Speaker: I know you do have to reckon with though like when it's like um that kind of uh it's not anthropomorphic yeah anthropomorphic I think um when it's like animals and humans mixing and at the like obviously at the end of A Christmas Carol this isn't a spoiler because if you don't know the story of A Christmas Carol
Speaker: I'm concerned.
Speaker: Where have you been?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: When Scrooge is like, yeah, where have you been?
Speaker: When Scrooge is like to Kermit, like, do you want to come over for a big turkey feast?
Speaker: And you are like, that's a frog eating a turkey.
Speaker: That is a frog eating a turkey.
Speaker: Also, he's married to Miss Piggy and they have four children, two of which are frogs and two of which are pigs.
Speaker: I know, but I just don't want to overthink it too much.
Speaker: I don't want to start thinking about how those children were conceived or how they didn't become some sort of freak cross-breeding experiment.
Speaker: But do you know what I love about that, though?
Speaker: At some point in the kind of Muppets history, when Miss Piggy and Kermit
Speaker: maybe they were like, oh, they're putting them in a family setting.
Speaker: I don't know if this was the first time that they've had a family in any Muppets thing.
Speaker: But genuinely, there would have been a group of writers whose job that day would have been to discuss what are the possible outcomes of a frog-pig hybrid.
Speaker: And can we show that to children?
Speaker: And clearly what they went with, because it is so horrifying, no, we'll have two pigs and two frogs.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I really love them.
Speaker: The daughters really make me laugh.
Speaker: They're just like mini Miss Piggies and they're actually called Bettina and Belinda.
Speaker: And I've never noticed that.
Speaker: Bettina and Belinda.
Speaker: That's so funny.
Speaker: They are so cute.
Speaker: Oh, I love Miss Piggy.
Speaker: So Muppets Christmas Carol then.
Speaker: You will all know this, but it's of course based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Mr Charles Dickens.
Speaker: Of course, it's one of his most kind of famous works.
Speaker: But what you might not know, it was first published in 1843 by the publishers Chapman and Hall.
Speaker: it was actually written during a time where Britain was going through a kind of renaissance period about Christmas traditions.
Speaker: Um, so obviously Christmas caroling, that was like a really popular thing, but they were also had the invention of kind of newer traditions, which was the kind of decoration of Christmas trees and sending Christmas cards.
Speaker: So Christmas was kind of undergoing a period of, um,
Speaker: latching on to the old traditions and trying out new ones.
Speaker: So a lot of kind of academics have said that the character of Ebenezer Scrooge, transforming from a kind of selfish curmudgeon to a kinder, more giving man is actually an allegory for Christianity.
Speaker: Obviously, Charles Dickens was a Christian, and it is meant to be kind of who the Christian man or woman should strive to be, someone who is like kind and generous and giving to those in need.
Speaker: That's really interesting.
Speaker: I know, isn't it interesting?
Speaker: I'd never clocked that before.
Speaker: But I suppose it's like a good Samaritan kind of thing, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The themes of poverty and the kind of ill treatment towards the working classes was apparently said to be inspired by a visit that Charles Dickens took to a place called the Field Lane Ragged School.
Speaker: So ragged schools were, quote unquote, charitable organisations for poverty-stricken children that offered kind of, I think they were funded through Church of England and
Speaker: And they offered free education, food, clothing and accommodation because basically, how horrible is this?
Speaker: A lot of poverty stricken children weren't allowed to attend Sunday school.
Speaker: Yeah, their kind of unkept appearance, probably because they were up the chimneys, was seen as like unseemly for Sunday school.
Speaker: So they weren't allowed to go.
Speaker: So these schools were kind of, I think they began as kind of Christian organisations to be like, well, we need to reach out to the poor and make sure that they're involved in it.
Speaker: in religion, but also then extended to be more pastoral and actually caring for like their hunger needs and their, you know, basic human rights needs.
Speaker: So Charles Dickens went to visit one of them and he was so upset by the story that he decided to create a Christmas Carol.
Speaker: Um, the story was published on the 19th of December, 1943, and it was sold out by Christmas Eve.
Speaker: So Dickens was, yeah, come on Christmas Eve, baby.
Speaker: And of course, it would go on to become one of Dickens' most favoured and successful works.
Speaker: And did you know that it has never been out of print since its first publication?
Speaker: So since 1843, it's been in continuous print because it's just such a popular book.
Speaker: And I thought this was really sweet.
Speaker: Dickens himself actually did public readings of the story.
Speaker: So he started obviously doing that in 1843 and he died in 1870.
Speaker: Guess how many public readings he did of A Christmas Carol?
Speaker: Wait, give those dates again.
Speaker: When was it?
Speaker: So it was published in 1843 and he died in 1870.
Speaker: So it's 27 years.
Speaker: Oh God, probably like 500.
Speaker: Oh, right.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Always overzealous with it.
Speaker: 200.
Speaker: Okay, there it's anticlimactic.
Speaker: 127, which I still think is really impressive.
Speaker: It's a lot.
Speaker: It's a lot.
Speaker: He's a busy man, you know.
Speaker: He was writing David Copperfield.
Speaker: That is true.
Speaker: He has got other books he's also working on.
Speaker: So A Christmas Carol, of course it's been adapted countless times for stage and screen, but the idea for the Muppets film adaption actually came about following Jim Henson's death in May 1990.
Speaker: For those who don't know, Jim Maury Henson, which I always think is a funny middle name or first name,
Speaker: Maury Povich was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor and filmmaker.
Speaker: I was like inventor, hold on a second because inventor to me, I just think of something like really, I think of like Wallace and Gromit when I think of inventor.
Speaker: I was like, what did he invent?
Speaker: This is so exciting.
Speaker: I think it's just,
Speaker: From what I could see, it was just like different mechanisms for puppetry, which is cool, but like, it's not as exciting as if it was like, you invented an invisible wallet.
Speaker: Like that would have been fun.
Speaker: Why would you need an invisible wallet?
Speaker: I know, what a random thing to pluck out of here.
Speaker: Actually, I think it's quite helpful because pickpockets... You'd never get mocked again.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So Jim Henson most notably created The Muppets and Fraggle Rock, which was a kind of similar puppet-based show, which I've never seen, but my dad always calls us Fraggle Rock.
Speaker: He's like, what are you up to, Fraggle?
Speaker: Fraggle Rock?
Speaker: And I've never really understood that, but clearly that's a reference for him.
Speaker: He also, th is is kind of little known, he also directed The Dark Crystal in 1982 and the worldwide phenomenon,
Speaker: labyrinth in 1986 which starred david bowie um flo will obviously delve into jim henson a little bit later on but for now let's focus on why we're here it's the muppets so uh unless you've been living under a rock uh fraggle rock um
Speaker: The Muppets are an ensemble cast made up of puppets, fun, known for their large presence across many iconic family-friendly American TV shows.
Speaker: So they first appeared, I believe, in Sesame Street.
Speaker: And then, of course, they had The Muppet Show, which ran for five years and received four Emmy Awards and 21 nominations.
Speaker: 21 nominations for the Muppets so they were cleaning up imagine being like a really serious dramatic actress and you're up in the same category and a Muppet takes the award you'd be like yeah fair enough nowadays it's like Jeremy Strong for his performance in Succession and he's up against like Kermit like Meryl Streep sat there for like Sophie's Choice and Miss Piggy takes her out like
Speaker: So Jim Henson created the Muppets in the 1950s and the word Muppet is actually a combination of the words Marinette and Puppet, which is not as clever as I think he thought it was.
Speaker: Hey, look, I didn't know that.
Speaker: So my mind is slightly blown.
Speaker: Kermit the Frog, who is arguably his most famous Muppet, was actually one of Henson's first creations.
Speaker: The Green Frog takes the part of the kind of everyman protagonist in all of the Muppet shows, films and productions and is well known for his long courtship of Muppet gay icon, Miss Piggy.
Speaker: Small variation on that name.
Speaker: We call my cat Miss Pigatha sometimes because we think it's a good name.
Speaker: There is a rumor that Kermit was named after a childhood friend of Jim Henson, which he actually had.
Speaker: So he did have a childhood friend called Kermit, but there's actually smoke and mirrors around this because Jim Henson also had multiple colleagues called Kermit, which I just, I've never heard that name.
Speaker: I've never heard that name.
Speaker: Unless it's in regard to the frog.
Speaker: It's crazy.
Speaker: So there was Kermit Love, which, what a beautiful name.
Speaker: That is gorgeous.
Speaker: Kermit Love.
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: And Kermit Calman Cohen, who I think one was like a writer, one was like a producer, who were also reportedly the inspiration for the character.
Speaker: So he just knew a bunch of Kermits, which I just think is mad.
Speaker: Back to the Muppets Christmas Carol then.
Speaker: After Jim Henson died, a talent agent called Bill Haber went to Henson's son, Brian, who is also a puppeteer.
Speaker: We'll move on to the massive...
Speaker: almost monarchy of the puppet world that is the Henson family later but they went to Brian with the idea for the adaption and said to him that they'd actually already sold the idea to ABC which I think is a really odd thing to do is to like sell your idea for a Muppets film adaption then go to the son of Jim Henson and be like oh my god I've had this great idea you should do it also I've already sold it it just seems really odd by the way it's all we're already doing it so hurry up
Speaker: Brian didn't seem too phased by this weird move, though, as he ended up producing and directing the film.
Speaker: The script was written by Jerry Jewell, who has been a racer for the Muppets for years.
Speaker: And there's a couple of fun little facts here that I thought would be would be nice.
Speaker: As a nod to the original story, Dickens...
Speaker: appears as the kind of narrator and he's played by Gonzo because they said he was like the least unlikely Muppet to be cast as Dickens and he thought that was funny and they also lift basically 95% of Dickens' narration and like script from the film directly from A Christmas Carol so it's Dickens like third person narrative describing the streets and stuff that Gonzo actually says which I've never clocked that before that it's actually lifted directly from the book
Speaker: and Rizzo the Rat, which is just a great drag name, I think.
Speaker: Yeah, I was about to say.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: To the main stage, Rizzo the Rat.
Speaker: Category is trash.
Speaker: oh no oh no bless him um and he's meant to kind of serve as like a greek chorus style narrative tool um so abc were so impressed by the film script that they decided to change the film um from a tv movie to a fully funded feature and they cast
Speaker: juggernaut film star, Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, who reportedly said upon his casting, I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Speaker: I will never wink.
Speaker: I will never do anything Muppety.
Speaker: I am going to play Scrooge as if it's an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me.
Speaker: which I think definitely comes across in the film.
Speaker: Like he is, he's taken his moment and it's very good.
Speaker: And it's good to see that sincerity because it works so well as a juxtaposition to the silliness of the Muppets.
Speaker: That was a sentence.
Speaker: That was definitely a quote of the episode.
Speaker: The juxtaposition of the Muppets.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: also which i think is quite interesting he actually took inspiration for the role from uh this is what he said wall street cheats and embezzlers because he thought they represented a very good picture of meanness and greed which i would agree with but i think that's interesting that that's where he took his inspo from so filming then it plays in england at sheppard studios and a couple of thoughts about the production and
Speaker: The film obviously required the puppets and the actors to be in the same shot for the majority of the film, but because obviously the Muppets are maybe like, well, a foot and a half, two foot, they actually had to remove the floors in the studio to allow Michael Caine to walk across the planks below so that he was at like a, not like a similar height to Muppets because obviously they are smaller, but like at a height that they could be in the same shot.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And he walked on the planks kind of between the Muppets and like the people who control the puppets.
Speaker: They also handmade all the buildings for the kind of like London street shots.
Speaker: But to give the illusion, which is like a fairly like normal trick, I think in film production, that the streets were longer.
Speaker: They obviously made, they painted the buildings at the front, the forefront of the shot to be like normal.
Speaker: And then the ones in the back to be like shorter, because obviously it gives the illusion that it's like going down a street.
Speaker: But during the last musical sequence, it feels like Christmas.
Speaker: Great song.
Speaker: They do like a crane shot that overlooks like the whole of London.
Speaker: And obviously it overlooks the building set.
Speaker: So it's really obvious.
Speaker: It's like, why have we got all these tiny, tiny buildings?
Speaker: But Brian Henson said quite interestingly, which I think just shows what a good time they were having on set, that they noticed it during filming and they were just like, it's fun.
Speaker: Like it's fun.
Speaker: Which I quite like.
Speaker: So it was released theatrically in 1992.
Speaker: And despite only making a moderate amount of the box office, probably because it was competing with the release of Home Alone 2 and the kind of Disney superstar film Aladdin.
Speaker: And it did actually have quite middling reviews at the time.
Speaker: It has gone on to become a kind of beloved family favourite and a bit of a sleeper hit.
Speaker: It continues to remain a popular Christmas movie and Michael Caine's very sincere and honestly pretty profound performance has gone on to impress critics and audiences alike.
Speaker: So, quick question, a little bit of trivia.
Speaker: How much do you think it made overall at the box office?
Speaker: Bear in mind, this is 1992.
Speaker: I'm going to go... I'm going to say 87 million.
Speaker: Was that a million or a million?
Speaker: 87 million.
Speaker: Casey, you'd be a very good accountant, I think.
Speaker: Yeah, you'd be sick.
Speaker: Million, million.
Speaker: Love.
Speaker: I am going to go a little bit lower.
Speaker: I think 1992...
Speaker: I'm gonna say like 20 million.
Speaker: And the Christmas winner is it's Flo.
Speaker: It made 27.2 million.
Speaker: Oh that's still a lot.
Speaker: I mean it's a lot of money and I think compared to I can't remember what the budget was but I think it was like it made its budget at a big profit.
Speaker: I think the budget was like something like 12 million I think.
Speaker: Yeah, because really, what are you paying for?
Speaker: The Muppets already exist.
Speaker: What are you paying for?
Speaker: Like, what are you paying for?
Speaker: They're also not real.
Speaker: You're not getting paid a day rate.
Speaker: So true.
Speaker: What are the Muppet expenses?
Speaker: What are they?
Speaker: oh dear um no of course there are actors behind the muppets who are incredibly impressive and i hope they got paid very well um yeah but only 27.2 million um which is just and bear in mind that's just at box office so it's probably gone on to make so much more in streaming services and dvd releases and stuff like that but it's not big
Speaker: But it's weird that they did it at the same time as Aladdin because Aladdin is such like a big Disney movie.
Speaker: That's just weird that they decided to drop at the same time.
Speaker: Well, I mean, it's hard not to, I guess, because it's Christmas and it was ABC.
Speaker: And I think Disney then bought the rights for it afterwards.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's a it's a tough one.
Speaker: So Muppets Christmas Carol made twenty seven point two million.
Speaker: How much do you think one of its competitors, Aladdin, made at the box office in 1992?
Speaker: I'm going to say what Casey said, which was like 57 million.
Speaker: I'm going to say, I'm going to say a billion.
Speaker: A million billion.
Speaker: A billion.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: I'm aiming high.
Speaker: I have no concept.
Speaker: Is kind of... I don't think... I don't think... No, she is closest.
Speaker: I'm going to go with she's closest.
Speaker: Even though I think technically Flo is.
Speaker: It was 504.1 million.
Speaker: Whoa!
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: I can't believe that.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Muppets.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: Well, on that note, I am gonna talk a little bit about the creatives who are based in that movie.
Speaker: So, we've already kind of touched on him, but I'm gonna go back.
Speaker: So the director, the producer, was a guy called Brian Henson, who you may or may not heard of just previously, if you were listening.
Speaker: He is a puppeteer, director, producer, voice actor, and chairman of the Jim Henson Company.
Speaker: As you may already know, his father was Jim Henson, who was the creator of the Muppets.
Speaker: And quite interesting, Brian, obviously being a voice actor, he performed in other movies in his early career, including Jack the Pumpkinhead, oh, sorry, Jack Pumpkinhead in Return to Oz, which I didn't know.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: And principal performer for Audrey 2 Puppet in Little Shop of Horrors.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I saw it and I was like, no way.
Speaker: In the movie.
Speaker: Yeah, so he's controlling the mouth.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Okay, talk about when worlds collide.
Speaker: Yeah, incredible.
Speaker: But also, do you want to hear something even more spooky?
Speaker: So you know you were talking about Labyrinth earlier.
Speaker: He was the voice of Hoggle in the film.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Oh, I am Hoggle.
Speaker: Isn't that crazy?
Speaker: Yeah, that's him.
Speaker: That's very good, Katie.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That was very good.
Speaker: I could do a really good array of the voices of Labyrinth.
Speaker: I can also do, don't go that way.
Speaker: Would have gone straight to that castle.
Speaker: So niche.
Speaker: So the next guy I'm going to talk about is the writer and his name is Jerry Jewell, spelt J-U-H-L.
Speaker: He is a television and film writer and I found an interesting quote.
Speaker: So the sister of Brian Henson, Lisa Henson, she said that Jerry has so much of the humour
Speaker: which i thought was so sweet i know what an absolute sweetheart um so yeah so he was the head writer on the muppet show from season two to five and
Speaker: as comedian Jack Burns wrote season one.
Speaker: Jewel co-wrote the Muppets movie with Jack Burns, so the writer of season one, for which the two shared a Saturn Award nomination for best writing.
Speaker: He was then also nominated for a shared Emmy four times, and his writing on The Muppet Show finally winning the award in 1981 for outstanding writing in a variety music or comedy programme.
Speaker: Oh, that's so cute.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: I wonder who I was.
Speaker: That was a dumb question.
Speaker: I was going to say he went up on stage to collect the award, but it's obviously.
Speaker: It was probably Jerry.
Speaker: It was probably Miss Piggy.
Speaker: And I think the other really important person to include in this particular one is Miles Goodman, who wrote the music.
Speaker: And he does a lot of composition for TV and film.
Speaker: I think it's also interesting.
Speaker: He did a lot of orchestration for other movies.
Speaker: So he scored the music for Footloose in 1984.
Speaker: He did About Last Night in 1986.
Speaker: Little Shop of Horrors in 1986, Dirty Rotten Scandrels in 1988, and he did Sister Act 2 in 1993.
Speaker: Sister Act 2, Back in the Habit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So he's got a real array of different movies that he does, which is just like, you would never put Muppet's Christmas Carol with Sister Act, but it just shows that he's got a lot...
Speaker: he's got a lot of uh got a lot of strings to his bow um do you know that me and my sister when we were younger essentially watched three films on repeat for about 10 years and it was sister act one and two we counted it as one film um about a boy which was definitely inappropriate um and the lunaticians movie
Speaker: Those were like our three films that we were just obsessed with.
Speaker: What an eclectic mix.
Speaker: I know, it's so awesome.
Speaker: It says a lot about you, Rosa.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I still love the stretch one and two though.
Speaker: Ugh, Whoopi Goldberg.
Speaker: But yeah, so he's done a lot and he gained a reputation under kind of like that genre of film music as the king of comedy.
Speaker: So they had a really, really strong team for the Muppets.
Speaker: So if you didn't already know what the plot was, I'm going to give you a little brief overview.
Speaker: So the story follows the same plot as A Christmas Carol, which we know, with the only changes being that some of the characters are, you guessed it, played by Muppets.
Speaker: This includes the narrators Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat, which are my favourite.
Speaker: They are my favourite edition, I think.
Speaker: The story follows Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly financier.
Speaker: Financier?
Speaker: Is that the right word?
Speaker: Financier.
Speaker: Financier.
Speaker: Financier.
Speaker: I actually had to Google what that word meant because I just thought he worked in a bank and it turns out he doesn't.
Speaker: He doesn't.
Speaker: He is a financier.
Speaker: who is bitter and angry at the world around him.
Speaker: An unkind, emotionless man, on Christmas Eve, a holiday he very much dislikes, he is visited by the ghosts of his former business partners and told he will be visited by three more ghosts that evening.
Speaker: Throughout the night, a terrified Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, and through these visits, Scrooge is faced with the reality in which his actions have affected those around him, and how he will be thought of in the future.
Speaker: Most notably, the way his actions have affected one of his workers at the firm, Bob Cratchit, whose positive attitude has often annoyed Scrooge.
Speaker: But through seeing Bob's home life, living in poverty with his wife and children, one of whom is assumed to be critically ill, Scrooge softens and realises the way his actions are affecting those closest to him.
Speaker: After these visits, Scrooge awakens on Christmas Day, a new man, buying turkey for Christmas dinner and donating it to the Cratchit family and spreading positivity for Christmas.
Speaker: Oh, the Christmas spirit.
Speaker: And making a frog eat turkey.
Speaker: I still can't get past it.
Speaker: Also, presumably Miss Piggy's also eating that.
Speaker: So it's a pig eating a turkey.
Speaker: Also, there's got to be some pigs in blankets on the table.
Speaker: Is Miss Piggy bringing her children to watch?
Speaker: It's like a cannibal thing.
Speaker: It's freaking me out.
Speaker: I think you just need to not overanalyze it too much and just suspend the disbelief and let the Muppets be Muppets.
Speaker: I think that's what we've got to do with this.
Speaker: okay fine so quick rundown then of the muppets versus their a christmas carol counterparts we have the great gonzo as charles dickens we have a kermit the frog as bob cratchit we have miss piggy as his wife emily cratchit we have a rizzo the rat as a kind of co-narrator we have fozzy bear as fozzy wog which is very cute
Speaker: We have Robin the Frog, which is Miss Piggy and Kermit's son, playing Tiny Tim Cratchit.
Speaker: We have Waldorf and Statler playing the Marley and Marley, which is Scrooge's old business partners.
Speaker: And we have Sam Eagle playing the schoolmaster.
Speaker: In terms of human actors, we have, of course, Michael Caine playing Scrooge.
Speaker: We have Steve McIntosh as Fred, Ebenezer Scrooge's nephew.
Speaker: Meredith Braun as Belle, who's Scrooge's former love interest.
Speaker: Robin Weaver as Clara, who is the niece-in-law and Fred's wife.
Speaker: And then we have Jessica Fox as the ghost of Christmas past.
Speaker: Music
Speaker: So obviously there's lots of different adaptations of A Christmas Carol.
Speaker: What makes this one extra special is obviously we've got Muppets, but it also includes lots of music.
Speaker: So, Casey, what is your favourite song from A Christmas Carol?
Speaker: It is very hard to choose, but I went with Bless Us All purely because it makes me sad.
Speaker: It's such a cute, wholesome little song sung by Tiny Tim.
Speaker: It's kind of at the point where the family is talking about
Speaker: like the hardships that they're going through and what like the they're facing, especially with the illness that tiny Tim has, but it's never explicitly mentioned, is it?
Speaker: So you're right, Casey.
Speaker: Um, Dickens never explicitly said what tiny Tim's illness was, but, um, it's kind of been proposed that it is probably renal tubular acidosis, uh, which is a type of kidney failure causing the blood to become acidic.
Speaker: Um, um,
Speaker: It's also been proposed that it could be rickets because obviously there's the kind of leg crutch thing that he has and he's very unwell, he has an infection.
Speaker: Both illnesses were treatable during that time but fatal if not treated, obviously if you were kind of working class, if you were living in poverty, you might not have the means to kind of buy the medicines necessary.
Speaker: So this song is kind of Tiny Tim giving hope to the family for Christmas because I think they're all...
Speaker: it's so upsetting sorry they're all kind of like down on the look and not having a great time and the family is fighting and he brings them all together with this cute little song I'm just going to read to you one of my favourite verses bless us all who gather here the loving family that I hold dear no place on earth compares with home and every path will bring me back from where I roam
Speaker: Lyrical genius It's just really cute And it's really nice to see Because this is kind of also Th is is why I chose the song This is kind of also the moment where you see Scrooge's heart Start to like soften Yeah he says like What a remarkable boy
Speaker: Just like that.
Speaker: Just like that.
Speaker: Brilliant.
Speaker: It's really like the moment where you can see Scrooge's heart start to soften and he's seeing the error of his ways and how greed and things don't really... They're not really a necessity in the Christmas holidays.
Speaker: Moving on to bless us all that as we live, we always comfort and forgive.
Speaker: We have so much that we can share with those in need.
Speaker: We see around us everywhere.
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: It's just so heart wrenching, isn't it?
Speaker: And he's, if we follow back that kind of Christian allegory of Scrooge becoming the kind of persona that every Christian should strive to be, Tiny Tim is obviously meant to be a kind of Jesus figure.
Speaker: He's like the sacrificial lamb, I guess, to make Scrooge see the air...
Speaker: to make Scrooge see the error of his ways and he's also held up as this like this kind of pure child who has never sinned just like innocent full filled with love I guess so I think it's meant to be like an allegory for like godson Jesus who only all that man knew was love um also sang by a tiny green frog
Speaker: he's so cute he is adorable and his tiny little crutch that he has is so cute and then at the end of the song is like we said you obviously see like scrooge's like persona start to change a little bit and he's kind of seeing like seeing the lights as it were um but the bit where he goes tell me does tiny tim live um kind of shows you that he's
Speaker: not so mean after all and he does care yeah that was his like first big thing isn't it tell me please and then uh um gonzo does turn around at that point and says he didn't die which is one of my favorite parts of the film is that just in this i swear he does die in every other version
Speaker: Yeah, the whole point is that he would have died and that's one of the catalysts for Scrooge changing is that if he doesn't change his ways, then they'll never get the money to... Do you know what I mean?
Speaker: To heat the home and to blah blah blah.
Speaker: So without the money or without the kindness, then yeah, Tiny Tim won't live.
Speaker: And that's one of the big things that he sees that upsets him.
Speaker: Now you've said that, I do remember the scene.
Speaker: saying this remember i literally watched this four days ago but this is my memory but uh when the ghost of christmas future shows him like the next christmas it's just a tiny crutch by the fire oh yeah oh stop it i know it's heartbreaking oh baby
Speaker: And on that note, my favourite song, actually one of my favourites, because there's lots of bangers in this show, but one of my favourites is One More Sleep Till Christmas, which is sung by the star, Kermit the Frog, which is a little bit more cheery.
Speaker: And it's kind of like, it's quite peppy, kind of as like a Christmas song goes.
Speaker: So the music has written in that it should be performed moderately bright, which kind of gives it away.
Speaker: It's in 4-4 tempo, which is quite like a standard time signature, so nothing too daring or complicated.
Speaker: The piece starts in mette forte, which is kind of like middle loud, so it's nothing too kind of quiet.
Speaker: And yeah, like it's a very peppy, lighthearted start, and it really kind of makes you feel that excitement about Christmas.
Speaker: as any good Christmas song should do.
Speaker: And so it's performed in G major.
Speaker: So it's a very kind of happy song, which kind of contradicts quite nicely with the kind of bar humbug beginning that everyone knows about Scrooge, where it's like the Muppets are like, we're still really looking forward to Christmas.
Speaker: Like it's that really like sweet, like
Speaker: almost like comedic element to the movie.
Speaker: It's like a song that you have to bob your head from side to side.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's super cute.
Speaker: So the first verse uses the same, uses the same motif.
Speaker: quite a lot, sometimes embellishing it, sometimes having a few variations, but it's that kind of beginning one that's like, there's magic in the air, like they use that over and over.
Speaker: So it's like, it's a very simple melody, which is very easy to sing along to, as is any good Christmas song, like it's nothing too majorly complicated, because people need to be able to sing along to it.
Speaker: As it kind of goes on, it embellishes the piano and the orchestration behind it,
Speaker: kind of underneath that verse one into verse two and what I really like is that it involves lots of kind of instruments that are quintessentially very very British so it has not British quintessentially very very Christmassy so it has like a really gorgeous like trumpet line which I always think reminds me of like ding dong merrily on high like it always has like that kind of element to the song and it has this really cute like tinkling sound which is
Speaker: Kind of adds because it's like a children's Christmas movie, but it's also that like Christmas, like, I think it's a xylophone, but it's that like tinkling magic sound, which is very Christmassy, very Disney-esque.
Speaker: And then it kind of, the music like drives you into verse two.
Speaker: which then introduces like this like really cheeky like Miraka line underneath so it's kind of like adding that like playful nature underneath the line it also really helps to kind of drive the rhythm of the song and kind of make it a bit more like excitement and the building because obviously the song is about one more sleep till Christmas so they're trying to build that in we then go into a bridge so it's quite a very standard structure musically it's like first one verse two bridge
Speaker: instrumental break verse three like that's it that's the structure uh the instrumental break i love because it's even more embellishments on that orchestra line
Speaker: has lots of like call and response motifs and kind of mirroring between the different orchestra parts which I always kind of thought was a bit like how the Muppets interact with each other and how like even you've got like big Muppets, small Muppets but they all like they're all very like chatty with one another it's that like hustle and bustle which I thought was quite sweet and you kind of hear like... Yeah they are so hustle and bustle-y.
Speaker: Yeah, especially in that like opening song, Scrooge, there's like that whole like bit where they're all like kind of walking around, which is really cute.
Speaker: They're a true ensemble.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: Which I think is nice that it's mirrored in like the like the music is that it is there's no I mean, there's a there's obviously lots of solos, but the kind of big numbers, they really make use of that ensemble singing, which is just so nice.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: But within that instrumental line, it also has really gorgeous moments.
Speaker: Like there's a really beautiful like soaring string motif that comes in and like a clarinet line as well.
Speaker: So it's really building and building in this kind of instrumental.
Speaker: And then it kind of softens into verse three.
Speaker: finishing with Kermit singing his solo line, after all, there's only one more sleep till Christmas.
Speaker: And that is literally just a vocal line and a strings line.
Speaker: And the music has written in what's called a ritardando, which is shortened rit dot, meaning to gradually decrease in tempo, which kind of is like, I mean, again, it's like a very Christmassy thing.
Speaker: Any like old school Christmas carol, Disney Christmas carol,
Speaker: it always ends like like it always has like a slow like classic Disney ending um and I also think just like because I mean guys I love a good music kind of analysis it also finishes on a major which basically like a major finish for song feels very like conclusive has a false stop to the end of the song um which again is just like a very kind of Disney thing to do where like the song has a
Speaker: has a really like good ending um but yeah it also has that lovely like you think it's finished because he goes one more sleep till Christmas and then it stops yeah yeah I like that it just always makes me laugh whenever I hear it's so sweet yeah but I think I think that's part of like how the Muppets are like they're always trying to do something that's a bit like cheeky and a bit comedic so yeah
Speaker: Yeah, big honorable mention song-wise to Scrooge because I think it is one of the best numbers in the show.
Speaker: It is absolutely genuinely like a great opening.
Speaker: Like obviously we are, this is a silly Christmas episode.
Speaker: We're not holding the Muppets Christmas Carol to the same standard that we would of other musicals and other lyrical, other lyric and songwriting.
Speaker: um but I think Scrooge really holds up as a fantastic opening number it sets the scene for where we are it introduces the hierarchy of characters it introduces the villain it introduces the main kind of dramatic um premise of the show I think it is a genuinely fantastic number like as an opening number goes it's so good and I love like I love the
Speaker: like the refrain but I'd love those little silly three-part harmonies as well they're just so cute and complete like they're very like easy listening to because it's obviously meant for children but it's a song that brings me a lot of joy
Speaker: Now, I was going to say, but also everyone's favourite lyric is the little mice that sit in the hole that are like, no cheese is for us, meeses.
Speaker: Like, that is the best line in the whole show.
Speaker: So if you're listening to this right now, just go and watch Scrooge and just watch the opening number because it is so cute the way that they did it.
Speaker: And the good news is that the mice do actually get cheese.
Speaker: Yeah, it's just so...
Speaker: There is a happy ending.
Speaker: It's storytelling done right.
Speaker: They identify a problem at the start of the show.
Speaker: There's no cheeses for us Mises.
Speaker: And by the end, it's been resolved.
Speaker: There's cheeses for Mises.
Speaker: It's just fantastic, dramatic resolution.
Speaker: One of my favorite dramatic moments in the whole show is
Speaker: We're Marley and Marley.
Speaker: So good.
Speaker: Why is that song so good?
Speaker: It's so good.
Speaker: I also love those characters.
Speaker: The campy little old men that sit in the theatre box.
Speaker: What a great choice for their characters.
Speaker: The song for our listeners is they are Scrooge's old business partners and they come and tell him that he's going to be visited by the three ghosts of Christmas past, present, future.
Speaker: But they are just, yeah, as Casey said, kind of camp.
Speaker: Like, it's really odd.
Speaker: And they also, that bit where they're like, we're Marley and Marley.
Speaker: It's so great to me.
Speaker: It's so good.
Speaker: I just love the way that Michael Caine interacts with the Muppets.
Speaker: He truly does treat them like fellow actors.
Speaker: I feel like he was acting as if he was in a BBC drama movie.
Speaker: Well, he said he was acting as if he was at the Royal Shakespeare Company and they were doing a production of A Christmas Carol.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: In retrospect to that, in the Muppets movie that Tim Curry is in, he fully accepts himself as a Muppet.
Speaker: And they are both brilliant.
Speaker: They are both brilliant performances.
Speaker: But it works.
Speaker: I think Michael Caine has to do that for this because it's an English classic.
Speaker: Contrast.
Speaker: it's yeah exactly it's a literary masterpiece and they treat it I would say you know very they are not making fun of a Christmas carol they're just translating it into a Muppet world but the reason why it works is because we have Mike and it's like I don't know whoever came up with the idea of like no we need a human Scrooge
Speaker: Like that, whoever, they cracked the success, I think, to that show.
Speaker: They could have easily had Gonzo as Scrooge, I guess.
Speaker: Like that would have fit in.
Speaker: But it's just, there's something much more, I don't know.
Speaker: It just works so much better having like a human there and having like an actor with, you know, such calibre as Michael.
Speaker: Michael Caine.
Speaker: Michael Caine.
Speaker: Michael Caine.
Speaker: So it's Christmas and as you probably already heard, we've had a little bit of a switch around.
Speaker: So Casey has taken one of the songs for this episode, which means Rosa is taken on stage.
Speaker: So I'm just going to run you through a little bit of trivia and a little bit of gossip behind the scenes of a Muppets Christmas Carol.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: First things first, there's a missing song.
Speaker: There is a song that was written and filmed for the show called When Love Is Gone.
Speaker: And it's sung by the character Belle, who is Scrooge's kind of ex-lover.
Speaker: So she, it's basically, he is proposed to Belle, but he's not married her.
Speaker: It's been a couple of years.
Speaker: And she says, when are we going to get married?
Speaker: And he's like, we don't have enough money for it yet.
Speaker: But really, they do have enough money.
Speaker: And actually, does that really matter?
Speaker: You're just in love.
Speaker: And she basically is saying that his obsession for money has overtaken his love and affection for her.
Speaker: And it was cut from the film by executives who basically thought it was too difficult, I think, for children to understand the kind of nuances of love and and things like that.
Speaker: But it was included during the film's credits, its original release.
Speaker: So Brian Henson, obviously who directed the film, he really disagreed with the execs decisions to cut When Love Is Gone.
Speaker: And it's since become like quite a popular song.
Speaker: So there's a kind of really odd situation with this where they've released and re-released DVD versions of A Muppet's Christmas Carol.
Speaker: They've done like different anniversary showings, they've done Blu-ray, they've done a whole host of different like additions.
Speaker: And it's very on off whether they include the sequence or not because it's filmed and it's part of the film.
Speaker: And the version that I watched ahead of recording this episode did include it, but they basically just pick and choose like when they want to include it and when they don't.
Speaker: I think it's when it's maybe like when it's like an anniversary, it's more geared towards adults being nostalgic, I guess.
Speaker: So they include it.
Speaker: On the streaming service, it didn't have it included.
Speaker: Now it does on Disney Plus, they have it included, but as an added feature, like when you go into, you can click through and say bonus features of the film.
Speaker: And as recently as 2018, it was still causing drama.
Speaker: Brian Henson actually claimed that Disney had lost the film negatives and the video master, so it wasn't able to be included in anything else.
Speaker: Disney archivists then were like, oh no, we found it, don't worry.
Speaker: And now it's included, as I said, on the Disney Plus streaming version of the film in the kind of extra section.
Speaker: So it's like a really weird thing where there's like still this constant push and pull about whether they include this song.
Speaker: And it's a great song.
Speaker: I do understand that it's maybe a little bit adult for children, but it's not adult in the sense that there's anything rude or there's anything obsessing.
Speaker: She's just singing quite like a plain, like our love's gone, you love money too much.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think a lot of it would just go over kids' heads.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think they thought kids would find it boring.
Speaker: Yeah, I probably would.
Speaker: If I was a kid, I'd be like, oh, next.
Speaker: I want to see Miss Piggy as Miss Cratchit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh my god, Miss Piggy at the end when she's like, oh, I've got something to say to you, Mr. Scrooge.
Speaker: I love Miss Piggy.
Speaker: She's an icon.
Speaker: She, honestly, an icon.
Speaker: And you know, and I don't like all the Jennifer Coolidge, like people making fun of Jennifer Coolidge because I think she's genuinely fantastic.
Speaker: If you haven't seen season one and two of The White Lotus, Jennifer Coolidge is genuinely exceptional.
Speaker: But I do agree when people are like, get her to play Miss Piggy.
Speaker: Live action Miss Piggy.
Speaker: She would be so funny and like ironic and yeah.
Speaker: So on with the stage, the secrets, open the door.
Speaker: Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets and patriarch of the Henson family empire.
Speaker: He reports they had a pretty bad first marriage to his first wife, Jane and Abel.
Speaker: He had all five of his children with Jane.
Speaker: But due to his busy work schedule and obsession with his creative work on the Muppets, he himself admitted that he had very little time to spend with her or their children.
Speaker: So when the children were really young, he was just not around and their marriage kind of dissolved.
Speaker: His children have also reported saying the best way of being around their father when they were younger was to work with him.
Speaker: And that is very interesting because...
Speaker: all five of them ended up working for the Henson, the Jim Henson company.
Speaker: So I think that's a really interesting like thing that people talk about, especially in America, people talk about Jim Henson as being like,
Speaker: he's like a Mr. Rogers type figure.
Speaker: Like he was like a father to many children who watched the Muppets and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: And like, that's quite an interesting, like dark juxtaposition, I guess is actually because of his obsession.
Speaker: I don't think he wasn't a bad father.
Speaker: He was just kind of absent.
Speaker: And I think it's very interesting that all of his children have clung on to puppetry and have clung on to the Muppet empire.
Speaker: Also, they're making a lot of money from it.
Speaker: So vividly, I think that's really fascinating.
Speaker: So a quick rundown then of the Henson family five, as I'm calling them.
Speaker: Let's hope that they come out with an album.
Speaker: We have... I got the reference.
Speaker: We have Lisa Henson.
Speaker: She is the oldest daughter and she is the current CEO of the Jim Henson Company.
Speaker: And she oversees all Muppet TV and Filmworks.
Speaker: And she's currently serving as an exec producer for Guillermo del Toro's new adaption of Pinocchio.
Speaker: So excited.
Speaker: And the upcoming feature film, The Portable Door.
Speaker: We have our boy, director of Muppets Christmas Carol, Brian Henson.
Speaker: He's the oldest son and he is currently chairman of the board for the Jim Henson Company and also an award-winning director, producer, actor, writer for film and television.
Speaker: And he is also an avid puppeteer.
Speaker: We have Cheryl Henson.
Speaker: She's the middle daughter and she is president of the Henson Foundation, which promotes the art of puppetry in America and offers grants to puppet artists and theatres.
Speaker: Second to last then, we've got John Henson.
Speaker: He is the second oldest son and he sadly passed away in 2014 after a fatal heart attack.
Speaker: Before his death, he was a very skilled carpenter and another avid puppeteer performing the character of Schwedums for over 10 years for the Muppets and serving as a board member for the Jim Henson Company.
Speaker: And lastly, we have Heather Hansen and she is the youngest daughter and she is again a kind of contemporary puppet artist whose work, and this is in her own words, promotes harmony and healing for the planet through artistic spectacle and discussion.
Speaker: And Muppets.
Speaker: She also sits on the board of directors for the Jim Hansen Company.
Speaker: So all five of them
Speaker: It's like Succession.
Speaker: I want to see Succession, but it's the Jim Henson company.
Speaker: It's the Muppets.
Speaker: Oh my goodness.
Speaker: Could you imagine a new HBO show?
Speaker: Because realistically, I know that Lisa's the oldest.
Speaker: She's the CEO.
Speaker: I don't know what was... It feels like there must have been a Succession-style battle for that top CEO position.
Speaker: Oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Could you imagine a Muppets... Could you imagine a show as serious as Succession about the Henson family, but they're played by Muppets?
Speaker: played by Muppets.
Speaker: Miss Piggy.
Speaker: Miss Piggy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, Miss Piggy would be the CEO.
Speaker: Miss Piggy would absolutely own being CEO.
Speaker: I'm just picturing her like in an office in like all black with like feet up on the desk.
Speaker: Cigarette in hand.
Speaker: Yeah, cigarette.
Speaker: She would have like a black joker matching pearl earrings like a little like boot clay jacket with pearl buttons.
Speaker: I can see it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And like a martini in one hand.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely a martini.
Speaker: Yeah, I want to see it.
Speaker: In fact, I'm going to pattern that right now, anyone listening.
Speaker: If there's ever going to be a succession style show about the Henson's, that is me putting my claim on the idea, copywriting it, and they will be all played by Muppets.
Speaker: So a bit of a scandal then.
Speaker: In 2017, the Jim Henson Company fired actor Steve Whitmore, who had voiced and operated Kermit between 1990 and 2017.
Speaker: So Cheryl Henson spoke out about the decision in a Facebook post, weirdly.
Speaker: I don't know why she's putting out public statements through Facebook.
Speaker: That's so early 2000, isn't it?
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Excellent.
Speaker: And she said that this is honestly, this is drama.
Speaker: Steve's performance of Kermit has strayed far from my father's good hearted, compassionate leader of the Muppets.
Speaker: Steve performed Kermit as a bitter, angry, depressed victim.
Speaker: Worst of all, in the past few years, he has not been funny or fun.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: Surely that's the writer's fault, not the actor, the voice actor.
Speaker: Also, who's directing it?
Speaker: If he's performing Kermit as bitter, angry, depressed, get him to do another take, guys.
Speaker: You have the power to stop this.
Speaker: Kermit, we just need a bit more pep.
Speaker: Can we have some... We just need you to be the compassionate leader of the Muppets that we know that you are.
Speaker: And he's like, alright guys, just give me a minute.
Speaker: It's pretty tough being me.
Speaker: That's all you guys want.
Speaker: I'm going into full on Kermit monologue about how his life's gone downhill in the past few years carry on that was like a big meme for yeah I was about to say what is that meme where Kermit the frog is in a car and he's singing a song what is that meme there is something I only know the one where he's falling from the building have you ever seen that
Speaker: oh yes but you know what no wonder his life has gone downhill i know what it is it's usher he sings um baby i don't mind he does that song do you guys know what i'm talking about oh yeah yeah yeah oh my god that is yeah i do remember that anyone at home that's like what are you talking about we're gonna we'll put a little and we'll put like the little clip and you can watch it because it's very very good
Speaker: I was going to say, no wonder his life's gone downhill because he had a very public breakup with Miss Piggy that was all over the news.
Speaker: I know, I remember that.
Speaker: It was like release public statements.
Speaker: I was like, these beings aren't sentient, so why are they getting the divorce?
Speaker: But like, is that the Jim Henson company?
Speaker: Actually, we should try and trace that to see if that was put out by them officially, because if so, mental behavior.
Speaker: Also, if that's been deciding at board meetings, I'm really confused about it.
Speaker: Right, guys, first of all, this relationship isn't working.
Speaker: We need to break up Kermit and Miss Piggy, release a statement, put it on Facebook.
Speaker: They've been on Facebook, yeah.
Speaker: And then they got back together though, right?
Speaker: I wasn't aware.
Speaker: Oh, I think... That's not what he has told me!
Speaker: So in retaliation to the Facebook post, Steve Whitmore, the actor, the fired actor, wrote an open letter after his firing and said, for me, the Muppets are not just a job or a career or even a passion.
Speaker: They are recalling an urgent, undeniable, impossible job.
Speaker: Impossible to resist way of life.
Speaker: I don't mean to be laughing because obviously I've been fired.
Speaker: This is my life's work since I was 19 years old.
Speaker: That is sad.
Speaker: I feel that I'm at the top of my game, top of his game.
Speaker: And I want all of you who love the Muppets to know that I would never consider abandoning Kermit.
Speaker: or any of the others, because to do so would be to forsake the assignment entrusted to me by Jim Henson, my friend and mentor, but even more my hero.
Speaker: So he's kind of alluding there that Jim Henson passed the Kermit baton, because Jim Henson used to voice Kermit.
Speaker: On to him.
Speaker: Cheryl, in another Facebook post, loves a Facebook post, this gal.
Speaker: She said that her father never directly asked him to take over the role.
Speaker: It was actually Brian Henson who approached him about it.
Speaker: Whitmore also reportedly said that Jim Henson came to him in a dream the night before shooting his first scene as Kermit and gave him his blessing.
Speaker: And this was for A Muppet's Christmas Carol.
Speaker: So it was the night before he started filming for A Muppet's Christmas Carol.
Speaker: He dreamed that Jim Henson came to him as a dream, came to him in a dream and said like, you have my permission.
Speaker: i don't think he was as a muffet but in my head the spirit of kermit it's me the ghost of kermit past you have all my permissions but don't sleep with miss piggy
Speaker: So some quickfire fun facts about the film.
Speaker: Miss Piggy was almost cast as the ghost of Christmas present, but they wanted to keep it within the kind of Muppet lore and keep her and Kermit in their famous romantic partnership.
Speaker: And Miss Piggy instead took on the role of Emily Cratchit.
Speaker: Brian Henson also confirmed, this is quite sweet,
Speaker: The shooting star seen in the famous One More Sleep Till Christmas number is actually a nod to the first Muppet movie in 1979 where the Kermit sees a shooting star and it's a nod to Jim Henson who died two years previous.
Speaker: And every single Muppet movie since they have had a shooting star to kind of acknowledge Jim Henson's passing.
Speaker: Aww.
Speaker: Aww.
Speaker: Now this bit is very exciting because we have the chance to do our very own fantasy casting using our brand new Megamix casting.
Speaker: This part is the show where Rosa will give us a cast from any random show or production and we, which is just Casey and Flo, we will then cast, we will then cast the Muppets Christmas Carol.
Speaker: So without further ado, who do we have auditioning today, Rosa?
Speaker: So I would like to caveat this by saying...
Speaker: That we do need, you've got to bear in mind not only their Christmas Carol character, but also the Muppet who played them.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: If that makes sense.
Speaker: You have to consider who you would cast in a dual role, almost.
Speaker: That's quite complicated.
Speaker: So, I have for you today the cast of Kimmy Schmidt.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I love that show.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I think I'm going to go out there strong and say Titus as the ghost of Christmas past.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: Very interesting.
Speaker: How come?
Speaker: I think that I really enjoy the Ghost of Christmas Past performance.
Speaker: But I think it's just a really jolly role and really extravagant.
Speaker: And I feel like
Speaker: Titus could do that.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: I would personally love to see Carol Kane, who plays Lillian.
Speaker: I love Carol Kane.
Speaker: As Scrooge.
Speaker: I think it would be really good.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, it's interesting that you said that because I think... Oh, I've forgotten the actress's name who plays Kimmy Schmidt, but I think that she would be... Ellie Kemper.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah, I love her.
Speaker: I think that she'd do a really good Kermit.
Speaker: Like, I think she'd do...
Speaker: Bob Cratchit.
Speaker: Yeah, she would, yeah.
Speaker: Or maybe Gonzo.
Speaker: I think she'd be a very good narrator as well.
Speaker: I also, my girl Jane Krakowski, who plays Jack Lich, I can't decide where to put her.
Speaker: Oh, really?
Speaker: Because I think she's funny in so many roles.
Speaker: She would obviously be a great Miss Piggy,
Speaker: Yeah, she would be.
Speaker: I would love to also see her do like, I don't know, like, I almost, it's just pure silliness.
Speaker: Like, she's just so funny to me.
Speaker: But yeah, she would be a great, I think naturally she would go as a Miss Piggy.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's where I'd cast her.
Speaker: Also, I really love that scene, the first scene she's in in Kimmy Schmidt, where she goes, Kimmy, would you like a bottle of water?
Speaker: And takes it out of the fridge.
Speaker: And Kimmy's like, oh no.
Speaker: And she goes, okay, and just throws it into the trash.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: Me and Ewan actually, we got home from like a night out the other night and we watched just a 20 minute Jacqueline.
Speaker: Is it Jane Krakowski that's like no shoes on the carpet and then Amy Sedaris like flings.
Speaker: Mimi Canassas, no shoes on the rug.
Speaker: And then Amy Sedaris as Mimi Canassas does.
Speaker: Honestly, Flo, if you and listeners, if you have never seen this sequence,
Speaker: It is Jacqueline, so Jane Krakowski's character has bought this like million dollar rug because she's trying to give up this appearance that she's still really, really rich and she's really protective over the rug.
Speaker: She has a kind of like quite odd, like upper class, like what are they called?
Speaker: Like Stafford wives, Stafford wives.
Speaker: like a Stepford-wide kind of character called Mimi Kanassus and it's played by Amy Sedaris so physical comedy's coming and um it's just this one scene and Mimi Kanassus bursts into the room and she's about to walk over the rug and Jane Krakowski goes Mimi Kanassus no shoes on the rug and Amy Sedaris I don't know how she does it she in about what 0.5 seconds does this weird flip
Speaker: thing with her feet and she kicks off both of her heels and it is truly one of the finest pieces of physical comedy I've ever seen in my life it makes me laugh to my core it is so so fun and then she just goes on with her line it's like maybe Kinesis no shoes on the rug anyway like it's so quick like it's like bang bang bang you don't even register that's happening oh hilarious and actually Jon Hamm
Speaker: would be an absolutely hilarious, like, if you did that thing where he, like, double plays himself as Marley and Marley.
Speaker: I think that would be so funny.
Speaker: Jon Hamm.
Speaker: Actually, Gonzo, so the narrator, Gonzo, I actually think it could be Titus' boyfriend.
Speaker: You know, is it Mikey?
Speaker: Mikey Polithano.
Speaker: Oh, yes.
Speaker: Yes, the builder.
Speaker: I think he would be really good.
Speaker: Is he like a builder?
Speaker: Yeah, the builder.
Speaker: Yeah, I think he would be a great Gonzo narrator.
Speaker: I think that would really work.
Speaker: And Mimi Kanasis, aka Amy Sedaris, any of the, you know, the really frightening, is it the Ghost of Christmas?
Speaker: What's the one that's like a child?
Speaker: That's like the Ghost of Christmas present, but she used to terrify me as a child.
Speaker: She's really scary.
Speaker: I think Mimi Kanasis, Amy Sedaris would be great at that.
Speaker: Because it's really frightening.
Speaker: It's like, Mr. Scrooge.
Speaker: Like, what?
Speaker: So we have, as it stands, we have Jane Krakowski, whose character in Unbreakable Kameeshmit is Jacqueline Berhees, playing Miss Piggy.
Speaker: We have Titus Burgess, or Titus Androma Dominic Kameeshmit, as the ghost of Christmas past.
Speaker: We have Carol Kane, Lillian, as Mr. Scrooge, which honestly I would pay such good money to see.
Speaker: I think she would end up with an Academy Award.
Speaker: She's fantastic.
Speaker: um we have Jon Hamm in a duo role as Marley and Marley um Ellie Kemper uh aka Kimmy Schmidt as our Bob Cratchit and we have Michael Carlson aka Mikey Politano as Gonzo aka Charles Dickens the narrator
Speaker: We also have Amy Sedaris playing the horrible, ghoulish baby Ghost of Christmas Present.
Speaker: I think that's a pretty good cast.
Speaker: I think we have done well with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and I would love to see Titus Burgess sing all of the numbers from A Christmas Carol.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much, everyone, for joining us for our silly short Christmas episode.
Speaker: We love The Muppet's Christmas Carol, and we would invite anyone who hasn't watched it in a while or who has never seen it to go and revisit it.
Speaker: You've got Michael Caine acting as Bloody Shakespeare Socks Off.
Speaker: You've got Miss Piggy as Miss Cratchit.
Speaker: And you've got Cheeses for Armises.
Speaker: Come on, what more could you possibly want from a film?
Speaker: It is exceptional.
Speaker: We just want to say a huge thank you to all of our listeners here from Sunday on the Pod.
Speaker: We've had a fantastic first year.
Speaker: We've absolutely loved bringing you our hot takes and our analysis of your favourite shows.
Speaker: And we really want to continue doing this next year and in the years to come.
Speaker: So please, as a Christmas gift to us, rate and review us wherever you listen.
Speaker: And please share us with your friends and family.
Speaker: Pass the word around.
Speaker: It really helps us build up more of an audience for our little show.
Speaker: We hope whatever you're doing over this winter break, that it is relaxing and it's filled with love and time with family and friends.
Speaker: And all that's left to say really is Kermit bless us, everyone.
Speaker: And just like that, we've been cheeses for us.
Speaker: Mises.
Speaker: Happy holidays.
Speaker: Bye.
Speaker: Bye.
Speaker: That's cute.
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