This is a modified transcription of an episode of Dyer’s Daily podcast. Between 2018 and 2023, the podcast series featured Jamie Dyer speaking for three minutes about a chosen subject, completely off the cuff. For a list of episodes on the official podcast page, see here.
This was part of the Disney100 series of Dyer’s Daily podcasts, where Jamie picked an element of Disney to discuss in their 100th anniversary year. This time, the millennial broadcaster and writer discussed the 1992 film The Muppet Christmas Carol. This episode was originally released in 2022.
Please note: This transcript has been cleaned up to make it easier to read, but still maintains the same thoughts and ideas.
One story that I think has almost a million adaptations and versions is Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. If you’re listening to this and you’re a fan of Disney and the fact that they’ve owned The Muppets since, uh, 2004, then you’ll probably think that The Muppet Christmas Carol is one of the best interpretations of the story.
I mean, my family—we watch that film once a year, sometimes on Christmas Eve, sometimes a bit earlier, and every year it just gets more magical, doesn’t it? It came out in the early ‘90s—1992, to be exact—starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge. And his performance is brilliant.
He plays it absolutely straight, no matter how crazy the stuff going on around him is—things that fit right into the Muppet universe. Having Gonzo play a version of Charles Dickens to tell the story just ties it all together beautifully. And the songs are so evocative—it really feels like Christmas.
The film captures Dickens’ influence in popularizing so many things we associate with Christmas celebrations that aren’t tied to the religious part of the holiday. The Muppet Christmas Carol is that movie, isn’t it? The one you can watch over and over again, constantly finding new things to notice or think about.
It stuns me every time, and this year on Disney+, they’ve put back The Love Is Gone. Is that the name of the song? Anyway, it’s the song they removed for certain releases—it was on VHS, but wasn’t in the theatre version. So, everyone who saw it on VHS back in the day thinks, “Well, this is part of the film, right?” But they said, “Oh, it slows things down a bit.” I look forward to seeing how it affects the story now.
But yeah, The Muppet Christmas Carol, man—what more is there to say? It really tugs at the heartstrings. It’s on somewhere this year, so try and watch it. It’s an absolutely amazing Dickens adaptation. Go on. You know you want to.
