I will be teaching a remote class core texts in philosophy this spring starting mid-January and I'd love you to join me for details

please see partially examine life.com slash class This is pretty much Popp a Culture Podcast today without a human celebrity guest that might make us relatable.

Today we consider the muppets from their inception through their recent offerings created long after most of the original participants have died or retired.

I'm Mark Linton Meyer here doing a sort of generic Jim Hanson, monsterish voice,

maybe we're Ralph the dog, something in that neighborhood.

I'm Al Baker and I can only think of one song about rainbows and what's on the other side.

I'm Sarah Lynn Breck and I still don't know why Grover never got his own movie.

My name is Lawrence Ware and I legitimately think that Muppets Take Manhattan is a very, very great film.

Hmm. All right. This was a request for the holiday season from Mr. Al Baker.

Why don't you start us off on why this holds a special place in your heart?

Give your backstory.

My Christmas tradition is largely based around watching movies and TV show Christmas specials and I watch the same ones every year and without fail there's some of them come and go but there are two movies that always make my Christmas watch list one is It's a Wonderful Life and the other one is a Muppets, Christmas Carol.

And I think it is entirely appropriate to put those two movies in the same league.

It's a wonderful life is an undisputed masterpiece of

cinema. Muppets Christmas Carol in my view is the best family Christmas movie

that anyone has ever made. It's also in my view the best rendition of a Christmas Carol that has ever been

produced and so talking about the Muppets at Christmas seemed like an excellent

opportunity for us to all agree that the Muppets of Christmas Carol is the best

Christmas movie that's ever been made. But further to that, I think the

Muppets are a fascinating cultural phenomenon that are not discussed enough. I can't think of another, certainly not another

modern example of a crop of celebrities like the Muppets who don't exist. They're not real people, but are treated in the popular culture.

Everybody is just incredibly happy in the popular culture to entertain the fantasy. Kermit the frog is a guy who lives in a house in LA and occasionally goes on TV and makes movies.

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