John Lewis’ Christmas Advert Song Comes From A Beloved Reality Star

Titled “The Beginner,” the hotly-anticipated John Lewis Christmas 2022 advert is a winner. The moving ad follows a man as he tries to master skateboarding, before the arrival of his skateboard-loving foster daughter. Despite many falls, he refuses to give up on the endeavour and finally picks up a few tricks, and a sprain. The sequence ends with the man and his partner welcoming their foster child to her new home, where they instantly connect over skateboarding.

John Lewis is famed for including covers of well-known songs in their Christmas ads. In 2010, Ellie Goulding covered Sir Elton John’s hit “Your Song, ” while in 2013, Lily Allen sang a version of Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know.” This time round, U.S. singer and actor Mike Geier is behind a slow-moving cover of Blink-182’s 1999 classic “All The Small Things,” and it works like magic.

Geier, 58, has had a long career in the music industry. In the ‘90s, the singer was part of an Elvis Presley tribute band called Kingsized. But he’s best known for performing as his alter ego, a melancholic clown act titled the Puddles Pity Party.

He reached the quarterfinals of America’s Got Talent in 2017 as Puddles, performing Sia’s hit song “Chandelier” in his first audition. Geier also made a cameo in an episode of The Conners, a spin-off of Roseanne and went on to do a residency at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Fans of the act can keep updated via the official Puddles Pity Party Instagram profile.