Friday, February 20, 2009

Contest Announcement and Reason #91 Why I'll Never Have a Show on Food Network

Celebrity chef Tyler Florence, my neighbor (he lives in Mill Valley, just North of SF), and good friend (he has no idea who I am), just announced a video recipe contest sponsored by Macy's, called Macy's Keeps America Cooking.

The contest's theme is explained in the video below. I suggest watching it twice, since if you'
re like me, the first time I could only focus on trying to figure out what was the deal with that dude's accent. I'm hoping to partner with TF's people on future projects, so help a brother out - go enter the contest and tell'em Chef John from Food Wishes sent you.

As far as reason #91 for why I'll never have a show on food network, two words: demo tape. Every online cooking contest, reality cooking show audition, Food Network open call, et al., requires you send in some kind of demo tape, or video, so they can see you in "action."

But, not cooking action, they want to see personality, and lots of it. I think after watching the gentleman in the video sample below, you'll see where I'm going with this. Let's just say my style may be a bit subdued for the producers of these shows. Bam!

All kidding aside, I am a fan of Tyler, and his cooking style (hey, you think they just let anyone create menu items for Applebee's?), so I'm happy to help spread the word about this contest. The prizes are pretty sweet, including a trip to San Francisco! You can get all the specific info at the Macy's Keeps America Cooking contest website. Good Luck!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

This clip gave me a headache to watch. Weird accent on the Macy-man. Kind of Jersy-British with a Southern twist, maybe? The smoothy-man's attempt at a manly, deep-voice, was strange, too.

Chef John, you should make a compilation of your funny one-liners and then send that as your demo tape. YOU are a sure winner, and YOU belong on the food network!

Unknown said...

lol that rap was ridiculous!
You know, I think a Chef John rap would be pretty fly :D

Anonymous said...

Wow. Just stay the same as you are. The alternative (which we have just seen) is too painful to contemplate!

Anonymous said...

Another painful video. Your vids you make are AWESOME--these other folks like Julian and this are just...painful.

I was on the AmericanFood site and clicking around About to see others--and no one else has your 'quality' of videos or consistancy for good recipes.

Chef John, you could seriously mess this guy up if you simply did a puppet show video cooking a dish. You rock. Hey--a puppet show...hmmm a puppet could be the next food network star. try it! :)
-cb

Anonymous said...

As you may know, Rudy Guilianni is out of work, what you don't know is that he's doing voice overs for out of work third rate ex New Yawk actors living, too long now, down in Florida.

Even Emerill lacked the pizzaz they wanted. Perhaps a gig on the Fine Living Channel?

Charlemange said...

Tyler Florence is a good chef and nice looking too, but I always found Food 911 to be a bit boring. I don't even watch Food Network anymore as it is full of useless tripe.

Chef John said...

mmmmm....useless tripe

Greg said...

How do I get those two minutes and seven seconds of my life back?

An Ng. said...

Greg: You can't. But you can always clean your eyes with Chef John's video recipes.

Anonymous said...

Hey John...

If I enter and win that trip to San Fran, do I get to meet you in person? I'll cook you dinner.

Itsmee said...

This video made me want to vomit. I lost my apetite after watching these tools. This is why I dont watch TV and this is why I love your site. It doesnt make me feel squirmish and weird when I watch it. Im just learning about cooking good food from a friendly teacher with a good sense of humor (not over the top fake TV bull$&#@).

BTW - Chef John...any good recipes for useless tripe?

Gulfdiver said...

David Letterman had the Macy's guy on his "TOP 10 PEOPLE WHO NEED TO GET KICKED IN THE JIMMIES"

:)

Anonymous said...

Hey "No Contest...etc" It's the same guy, with the fake mole removed. I was just waiting for his rap character to finish with "woorrrrrd".

Chef John, one of the things I like best about your blog is your low-key style. It makes it more fun to concentrate on the food. I watch Anne Burrell for contrast! >snark<

Anonymous said...

Oh, my that was scary. I believe you would be excellent on the food television channel. Your reaction to Charlemange's mention of the tripe on the Food Network, me thinks a light bulb went off in your head and we will be seeing a video of how to properly cook tripe, the food, that is.
.

Anonymous said...

Join the movement to end fake rap and help stop the suffering.

http://www.petitiononline.com/fakerap/petition.html

Watchman said...

That was weird.

Anonymous said...

food network doesn't have anything on you chef john. keep it buttery.

Anonymous said...

That rap guy was awful, joke or not ugh =.=
Chef John, if it means not turning into that thing, I'd rather you not get a show on Food Network, even though I honestly think it would be nice for you.

Your cooking humor is the best humor compared to this guy.

soreal said...

in all honesty, ur style in presenting is the best!!

quick, concised , to the point , no lack of eye candy to ;P