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Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
Legendary and elusive Jim Henson holiday special Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas has appeared on YouTube for your holiday viewing pleasure. Charming and delightful and full of Muppet magic. This runs 55 minutes.
posted by Dawn Trask-Dontell on Dec 04, 2025 at 8:17 PM
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Oh nice, I've never seen the Kermit the Frog bookends before
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:32 PM
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One of my favorite co-workers in the past was a long time muppet designer and we had a long long conversation about Emmet because I loved it so
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:58 PM
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I remember this being on HBO a lot in the 80's, having been made in the late 70's. Lots of Paul Williams music, and interesting staging. Even way back then, you had the cursive/block-letter young vs. old thing at 25:42.
posted by netowl at 9:17 PM
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If you,ve never seen this, do yourselves a favor. It's so delightful and funny and sweet.
posted by supermedusa at 9:21 PM
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Once you've watched it, there's an important series of outtakes to witness.
posted by myopicman at 11:09 PM
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Whelp, I can't watch because I will crumble into a pile of tears and ash.
posted by Token Meme at 11:17 PM
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Riverbottom Nightmare Blunt Rotation is this anything
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:16 AM
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There was a wonderful off-Broadway live production in 2021 – I took my wife who grew up on the original. It was the first show we saw after Covid shut down Broadway, the audience was masked and social-distanced, but it was so good to be in a room even partially full of happy laughing people again!
posted by nicwolff at 5:42 AM
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Me too Token Meme, this is one of the funniest but also most heartfelt things the Jim Henson organization has ever made.
I just had reason to notice! The "Muppet Home Video" VHS release is cut down from this version in at least one significant way, the "Grandma's Bathing Suit" song is missing the stanza about the pirate! I promise that's not salacious despite how it may read!
posted by JHarris at 6:51 AM
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This is my Christmas tradition. I love love love this show. I don't know why. And I've converted my wife to a believer - she shows it to her high school students on a slow pre-Christmas break day every year. They universally love it. So friggin' cute!
Also, one of our ensemble groups during drum corps season back in the day was "Emmit Otter's Drum Corp Christmas" and they played "Hole in the Washtub". So fun.
posted by charred husk at 7:13 AM
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This is just delightful, and Mrs. Example and I watch it every Christmas without fail and occasionally refer to it during the rest of the year.
"Look at the birds up in the tree."
"We're not birds! We're a jug band!"
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:13 AM
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"Look at the birds up in the tree."
My wife and I go birding and I'm constantly growling this line.
posted by charred husk at 7:16 AM
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Bar-B-Que! Lifts my spirit I swear that it never fails...
posted by djseafood at 7:31 AM
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I've got a lot of happy family memories around this Jim Henson special. We really loved The Muppets. I still remember the surprise at how somber the tone was of the Emmet Otter special. We had been looking forward to a new Muppets show after weeks of tv ads. I suppose our expectations were the hyper kinetic zany silliness of The Muppet Show, and were unprepared for the lovely depth of dramatic story telling. We found it captivating and charming, and a little sad.
As an adult, I don't re-watch it every year, but I do still love it and I do re-watch it once in a while.
The outtakes were amazing and they really made me smile. Honestly, I could binge watch SO MANY HOURS of Muppet outtakes like that.
posted by digibri at 8:03 AM
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Every time the special is posted somewhere, I'm compelled to post this extended series of outtakes where Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson slowly lose their minds as they're made to do the same scene over and over again because of an uncooperative drum.
posted by Quindar Beep at 9:21 AM
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so mr supermedusa has never seen EOJBC (which is a travesty, a HERESY in my family) and has been resistant...
he is a little old for the Muppet Show Generation. I was a teen when it was on but we watched it every weekend, my parents too, laughing our asses off. It was not just for kids, not at all like Sesame Street. Readers...
HE HAS CONSENTED TO WATCH IT THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so excited. Finally!! I have to go tell my sisters. We have a triple bill now:
Emmet Otter
Die Hard
The Long Kiss Goodnight
it's going to be a merry xmas indeed!!
posted by supermedusa at 9:38 AM
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"Half of fifty cents.... half of fifty cents..."
"Now where'd I put that teapot?"
I really need to introduce my kids to this one.
posted by pianoblack at 10:24 AM
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Oh thanks for the alert! It's been a minute since I've seen it, though I know a friend is obsessed with it and has it in many forms. I rarely cry at shows but welp, at least I know ahead of time to get out the tissue for this.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:02 AM
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That's why the missing otter in Zootopia is named Emmett.
posted by Mitheral at 12:24 PM
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One thing to note is that this was made right before The Muppet Movie, and includes characters in the middle of a pool of water (log vs boat), a muppet on a bicycle (the kermit open and close), the puppets themselves were more articulated and had more expressions/moves of movement/costumes/props than the usual "whatnot with different hair" of the lower-resolution TV shows, so it feels like Jug Band was a test-bed for all of the things that went into The Muppet Movie, and then The Storyteller and The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, etc. -- it was the first step in a huge leap of puppet techniques and technology that made some of the great films of the 80s and beyond.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:55 PM
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This is based on a book by Russell Hoban, who you may know as the author of the Frances books for kids and Riddley Walker for grownups.
posted by Redstart at 2:20 PM
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One of my all-time favorites. I knew I had eclectic musical taste as a kid because I loved the jug band *and* the nightmare band.
posted by caviar2d2 at 4:26 PM
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You guys introduced me to Emmet Otter. Thank you!
posted by acrasis at 6:26 PM
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okay so this year's rewatch brought the observation: hey, actually, what IS up with Chuck the Bear's stage costume just kind of being a straight-up Elton John outfit, anyway
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:59 PM
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In case you need a uke tab of "Where the River Meets the Sea".
posted by achrise at 6:17 PM
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