(NEXSTAR) — Christmas is surrounded by traditions. Whether it’s hiding a pickle ornament in your tree, replaying that specific Mariah Carey song on repeat, celebrating Festivus, or some other practice rooted in cultural or societal history, there are any number of traditions you can count on this time of year.
Among those is the return of a commercial released nearly three decades ago.
Titled "Faint," Red M&M and Yellow M&M are seen walking into a living room to put out red and green M&M’s. Yellow asks Red, “So you think Santa will like these red and green M&M’s?” His companion responds, “I don’t know, I’ve never met the guy.”
As they enter the room, passing a decorated Christmas tree, they encounter none other than Santa Claus himself. Red and Santa simultaneously exclaim about the other existing before both faint from surprise.
The commercial, which debuted in 1996, is barely more than 15 seconds, but every holiday season, it returns to our televisions. There have been some tweaks to the script, like in 2004, when Mars — the makers of M&M’s — added in the voice-over line, “Chocolate is better in red and green.” In 2017, Mars even produced a sequel in which Yellow M&M fills in for the man in red.
While you can likely recall the spot moment-for-moment (even without our account above), can you identify the actors voicing the M&M’s?
If you watch "Futurama," or a slew of other animated series, the voice of Red may sound familiar. Before becoming Philip J. Fry in “Futurama,” voice actor Billy West appeared as the Red M&M.
You may also recognize West's voice from Disney’s “Big City Greens,” Nickelodeon’s “CatDog” and “The Ren & Stimpy Show,” the 1996 film “Space Jam,” and many more animated shows, films, and video games.
West previously explained that he developed Red’s voice by looking at the animated character and leaning into “a wise-guy sort of thing.”
“What Billy brought to it is charm,” David Daniels, the animation director for “Faint,” told Uproxx in 2023. “He’s great. It’s a great voice. And Yellow is the lovable lunk, which allows you to not think so badly about Red.”
Who is the “lovable lunk?” Someone you may see during other advertisements while watching “Futurama," J.K. Simmons.
Simmons — who, coincidentally, stars in the recently-released holiday film, “Red One” — has spent more than a decade portraying Professor Nathaniel Burke of the University of Farmers in ads for Farmers Insurance. You can also see him here, on the company’s website, and here, in an ad promoting Farmers as well as his newest movie.
But before being a professor or portraying the bearded man in red for a holiday film, Simmons voiced the Yellow M&M. Despite the long-running success of the holiday ad, Daniels said he believed “a lot of other people could have played Yellow.”
Still, Simmons has held onto the role.
Simmons replaced his “Patriots Day” co-star John Goodman as the voice of the Yellow M&M while West took over Red M&M from “Saturday Night Live” alum Jon Lovitz. You can hear Goodman and Lovitz in this 1995 spot advertising the newest M&M color, blue. (While some suggested the Yellow and Red M&M’s were designed to look similar to Simmons and West, a rumor Simmons has addressed, you can see both characters in the blue M&M’s ad.)
This isn’t the only rerunning commercial you’ll see during the holiday season. Hershey’s Kisses-as-ringing-bells and Corona’s Christmas palm tree are also known to air year after year — albeit without stars like West and Simmons.
