Kelsey Grammer on Honoring Veterans and the Meaning of Christmas | 12.26.25

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: "Kelsey Grammer on Honoring Veterans and the Meaning of Christmas"

Date: December 26, 2025
Hosts: John Bickley (Daily Wire Executive Editor), Georgia Howe
Guest: Kelsey Grammer

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Overview

This special episode of Morning Wire features veteran actor Kelsey Grammer discussing his new film The Christmas Ring, the significant role veterans played in its production, and the deep influence of his Christian faith on his life and choices in Hollywood. The conversation is warm, candid, and filled with reflections on honoring service members, grappling with faith in the entertainment industry, and the enduring power of Christmas and redemption.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Christmas Ring: A Salute to Veterans

• [02:27] Kelsey Grammer discusses how the film incorporated real veterans and active service members:
  • Large scene featured “about a hundred actual veterans and service members.”
  • Emphasized honoring their sacrifice, especially relevant around Veterans Day.
  • Noted the story is built around a WWII D-Day event, commemorating ongoing service and sacrifice.
  • Quote:

    "It was just an opportunity to salute the troops... It commemorates their sacrifice a little bit and the continuing sacrifice of service members." – Kelsey Grammer [02:43]

• [03:20] Gary Sinise Foundation’s involvement:
  • John notes their help in recruiting veterans; Kelsey’s connection to Gary as a friend but surprise at his involvement.

2. Faith and Role Selection in Hollywood

• [03:53] Alignment of roles with faith:
  • Kelsey describes receiving the script for Jesus Revolution after a period of loneliness and seeking meaning:

    “I just want to do something that means something that has some meaning... And the next morning that script came.” – Kelsey Grammer [04:19]

• Grammer doesn’t specifically seek “faith-based” roles, but values stories of redemption, love, forgiveness, and transformation.
• He credits his openness about his faith as drawing him into more faith-oriented projects, while still playing a diverse range of characters:

  "I would never deny Christ. I would never deny him. And so that brought me into the... faith based film production world. I don't do just those movies, but... yeah, I like this guy." [04:57]

• Discusses the importance of real, flawed characters:

  "The lives of the real people that it's based on were messy. They lived messy lives." – John Bickley [05:45]
  "Well, that's what Jesus is for, you know, that's why I came along... The world was a mess." – Kelsey Grammer [06:00]

3. Reflections on the Meaning of Christmas

• [06:00] Grammer beautifully articulates the “Christmas story”:
  • Notes how God chose to enter “mayhem” via innocence; the story’s continuous relevance.

  • "Into this mayhem, the beauty of a new life, of a redemptive life is such a gift. And we get to watch it every year at Christmas... it's our story." [06:33]

4. Portraying Both Light and Dark Characters

• [07:16] – [08:51] Grammer explains why he takes on a variety of roles, even negative ones:
  • He’s about to play a “shyster” and has played dark characters like Macbeth.
  • The importance lies in portraying the range of authentic human experience.
  • The act of “loaning the truth of what we know about experience to the characters” for authenticity.
  • Connects themes from superhero movies (like playing Beast in Avengers) to the “Jesus story”—redemption against impossible odds.

5. Hollywood’s Shifting Landscape on Faith

• [09:23] John and Kelsey discuss increasing space for faith-focused films:
  • Some skeptics in Hollywood still remain, but recognition is increasing that there’s an audience (and profit) for such content.
  • Expresses that most Americans still value faith, family, and everyday goodness.

  • "Most of the people in America actually still really like God, Jesus and all that sort of stuff... these are corny values, but still, there they are." – Kelsey Grammer [09:35]

• Critiques over-reliance on government to solve social problems:

  “I always believed that social programs were society’s business and not the government’s...” [10:26]

6. Upcoming Projects & Variety in Career

• [10:58] – [11:58] Grammer shares about new roles:
  • Upcoming “shyster” role
  • Turbulence – Ballooning mishap over Alps
  • A film involving sharks (“haven’t fought a shark before”)
  • Claws – Action in Malibu featuring a rogue mountain lion
  • Embraces range in roles, both dramatic and adventurous:

    “Everything together they throw at me. I'm going to take it on.” [11:58]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the real meaning of Christmas:

  "God chose to send a baby to save the world. A baby that would need other people to save him. It's pretty fascinating... Into this mayhem, the beauty of a new life, of a redemptive life is such a gift." – Kelsey Grammer [06:22]

• On faith and authenticity:

  "I don't go around proselytizing or speaking the born again lingo very well. But I would never deny Christ. I would never deny him." – Kelsey Grammer [04:53]

• On audience values:

  "Most of the people in America actually still really like God, Jesus and all that sort of stuff... these are corny values, but still, there they are." – Kelsey Grammer [09:38]

• On career variety:

  “Everything together they throw at me. I'm going to take it on.” – Kelsey Grammer [11:58]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:27] – Veterans’ involvement in The Christmas Ring
• [03:53] – Role of faith in choosing parts
• [06:00] – Reflection on Christmas, redemption, and the broken world
• [09:35] – Changing faith dynamics in Hollywood + American values
• [10:58] – Upcoming roles and projects

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Tone & Language

The episode is conversational, reflective, and earnest—balancing reverence for faith and respect for service members with light touches of humor and insider Hollywood anecdotes. Grammer is forthright about his convictions but avoids preachiness, emphasizing authenticity and the universality of storytelling.

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Summary Takeaway

Kelsey Grammer uses his platform to honor veterans, celebrate faith’s redemptive power, and champion down-to-earth values—both on screen and off. His eclectic career, from sitcom royalty to faith-based dramas to action-packed new roles, is driven by a search for authenticity, meaning, and opportunities to tell stories that matter. This episode is a heartening celebration of the enduring hope found in Christmas, the importance of honoring service, and the possibility of goodness and redemption—both in fiction and in life.

Transcript

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[Host 1]

A very Merry Christmas. The following is previously released episode that we hope will help keep that Christmas spirit alive. Since rising to fame in the beloved series Cheers and its hit spinoff Frasier, Kelsey Grammer has continued to take on big roles at a frenetic pace. Along with racking up awards over the years, the actor has set himself apart as a Hollywood star who's fearless about sharing his Christian faith.

[John Bickley]

In this episode, we sit down with the decorated actor to discuss his new film the Christmas Ring, the role military veterans played in its making, and the way his faith in Christ has shaped his career. I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. This is a weekend edition of Morning Wire.

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[John Bickley]

Joining us now to discuss his new film, the Christmas Ring, written by Christian author Karen Kingsbury, is Kelsey Grammer. Kelsey, first of all, we're all big fans of you. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Sure, man. It's a pleasure.

[John Bickley]

So we wanted to talk to you about, well, a number of things, but first, your new film, which is a very relevant wrinkle to it. We just celebrated Veterans Day this week, and the Christmas Ring actually involved, at one point, about a hundred actual veterans and service members. Can you tell us about that?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, they inhabited the film, at least in one of the big scenes, with some veterans and some active duty members as well, and retired and reservists. But it was just an opportunity to salute the troops. The whole story is sort of based upon a World War II D day dropping behind enemy lines. It commemorates their sacrifice a little bit and the continuing sacrifice of service members. And so that being around on Veterans Day was important to the filmmakers.

[John Bickley]

I know that, and I understand that Gary Sinise and his foundation played a role in finding some of those veterans to populate the film.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, I didn't know about. I didn't really know about that because Gary and I are pretty good friends. And he actually checked in with me, what do you think of this movie? And I said, well, it's a nice story, you know, so I hope I helped, you know, facilitate some of that. But, yeah, I think it went pretty well. And, you know, we didn't. We didn't reinvent the wheel or anything, but it's a nice story about, you know, redemption and love and forgiveness and about Jesus, you know, so it's. It's a. It's a nice movie.

[John Bickley]

Yeah, I wanted to ask you exactly about that. In fact, the role of faith in this film. The author of the book that it's based on is Karen Kingsbury. She's a Christian author. You've recently starred in Jesus Revolution, a powerful film. You played the role of Chuck Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapel, where I actually used to go to church. In fact, how important is it to you to play roles that you feel align with or at least sort of have some sort of relationship to your religious perspective?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, well, I don't actually go about trying to play them too much, actually. The night before I read the script for Jesus Revolution, I was sitting there in a kind of a quiet reverie and a little bit lonely and, you know, wondering what was next for me. And I said, you know, I just want to do something that Means something that has some meaning. And the next morning that script came and, okay, I guess this is it. And I called my agent and about two hours I said, yeah, I'm gonna do this movie. It was, it was important to me. But what was funny was it didn't really kind of resonate for my life until I was doing an interview. I think it was Cali or, you know, on the east coast. And somebody talked about, you know, well, what's your feeling about Jesus and all that. And I said, well, you know, the truth is I'm a believer and I don't go around proselytizing or speaking the born again lingo very well. But I would never deny Christ. I would never deny him. And so that brought me into the. Brought me into the fold, I guess, of the sort of faith based film production world. I don't do just those movies, but quite happy that this role came up. And I thought, well, yeah, I like this, this guy. He seems like an interesting fella and has a nice turnaround in the movie and opens up his heart again. That's always, that's always a good lesson.

[John Bickley]

Yeah. And your portrayal of Chuck Smith was, first of all, really terrific. It clearly grounded the film. It's the heart of the film. This is a very complicated story. It's not straightforward. The lives of the real people that it's based on were messy. They lived messy lives.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, that's what Jesus is for, you know, that's why I came along. There's a good. I work with these guys, Operation Restored Warrior. They talk about the world Jesus was born into. The world was a mess, filled with, you know, infanticide, killing babies, all kinds of just horrific stuff. Roman rule was not the greatest thing in the world. A lot of violence. And God chose to send a baby to save the world. A baby that would need other people to save him. It's pretty fascinating. And I always loved that idea that into this mayhem, the beauty of a new life, of a redemptive life is such a gift. And we get to watch it every year at Christmas. We get to see the same story told again and again. And it's our story.

[John Bickley]

And it's a story that never gets old, does it? You've talked openly in the past about the role faith in general has played for you and how important it is. And I think you touched on it there. This hope for the beauty of a new life in redemption and that ultimately that brings people together. Do you look for at least an element of that in terms of the projects you get Involved with.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, you know what? I'm. I'm. I'm about to go play a role where the guy's a kind of a shyster, sort of. Not evangelist, but what you would call a fanatic who turns out to be kind of a very negative kind of guy. But see, that's what they say, you know? I mean, the devil can quote chapter and verse, you know.

[John Bickley]

Right, right.

[Kelsey Grammer]

These elements exist. And so I'm just. I just believe I'm supposed to, as an actor, play everything that comes to at me that, you know, is part of the human experience. And I mean, like, I played Macbeth years ago. Macbeth is a very dark character to play. I'm used to walking around going, like, maybe I better say a prayer every time before I play him or something else. But we are designed to play these roles because we have a kind of an understanding that makes us. People can believe we inhabit those roles. You know, they accept us in different roles. And so we loan what I like to call. We loan the truth of what we know about experience to the characters so that they sound authentic, that they seem real, that they seem like, oh, I believe that's possible. And that's. So I do everything. I mean, and I'm doing. We just did another Avengers. I play Beast again in the Avengers movie. And that's about faith, too, in a lot of ways. I mean, let's face it, you know, we're saving each other. We're fighting the good fight. It's against impossible odds, and triumph comes to them. That's the Jesus story, isn't it?

[John Bickley]

Indeed. And like you said, as long as a character and a story are grounded in reality, to me, the truth always leads to the higher truth, to Christ. So a film can be dark but still have a moral grounding. And like you're saying, you're playing a role which maybe points people toward the consequences of sin. That in itself is a faith message.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Right. And it's not. It's not necessarily the victory. You know, the victory doesn't live necessarily in that evil. So, I mean, it's. You know, it's. It's a funny world out there. It's. We. We navigate the best we can.

[John Bickley]

Right. And swell. It's messy. Now, obviously, you've played a lot of roles. The landscape has changed for Hollywood in so many ways in recent decades. How have you seen that dynamic playing out in terms of your career?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, well, listen, there's some Die Hards here. They're sticklers for, you know, they just don't like religion. They're not going to go for it. They're not going to be part of it. But there are others who are. And that's, that's great. I just think Hollywood finally realized that, you know, there's money out there for these kind of movies as well. You know, most, most of the people in America actually still really like God, Jesus and all that sort of stuff and like one another. And they want the kids to ride in a neighborhood, ride their bikes in neighborhoods where they're safe. They, you know, these are corny values, but still, there they are. And that's part of America and a place where you can aspire to do something and nobody says you can't do it, or the only way you're going to be able to do it is if the government gives you some money for it. No, we do this. People do this. I always believed that social programs were society's business and not the government's anyway. So that's, you know, who I am. But we have an obligation to one another and our government can't actually fulfill it for us.

[John Bickley]

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. We've been documenting on this show what looks to be a trend in entertainment. Like there's more of a space for faith focused films lately. And I do think, like you're saying actually capitalism can end up promoting for its own purposes, you know, a lot of good things that people really do want to see this stuff. There's a real hunger for it.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[John Bickley]

So what's coming next for you? You've got this shyster role coming. What else is on the horizon for you?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, I'm planning that next. I'm gonna go shoot that. We've got one in a can that's coming out pretty soon called Turbulence, which is really, really fun. A day trip on a hot air balloon over the the Alps is short circuited by a nutty woman. That's okay.

[John Bickley]

Yeah, it happens.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And I don't do so well. Somewhere around the middle of the film, we pitch my guy off the basket. Goodness, there's another one coming up when I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna be fighting some sharks and there's just fun stuff I get a chance to do. I haven't fought a shark before, so I'm gonna do that one.

[John Bickley]

Just don't jump a shark, whatever you do.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, exactly. And I. Oh, I've got another one coming up in Malibu where I'm gonna, I'm gonna shoot for a week. It's called Claws where a mountain lion's gone a little crazy. Killing some people I end up fighting.

[John Bickley]

All right, so you fight gravity, sharks and a mountain lion.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Everything you can. Yeah, everything together they throw at me. I'm going to take it on.

[John Bickley]

Sounds like a lot of fun. So things not slowing down for you at all, even with the holidays here coming up? Kelsey, thank you so much for talking with us. Just a total joy and great luck with the upcoming projects.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thanks, man. Good to see you. It's a pleasure.

[John Bickley]

That was Kelsey Grammer talking about his new film the Christmas Ring, available now to rent or buy online. And this has been a special edition of Morning Wire.

[Kelsey Grammer]

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[John Bickley]

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