Chef!
I just bought the 3-series box set of "Chef!" This was a BBC comedy series that ran from 1993 to 1996 featuring Lenny Henry ...no relation, despite our sharing the same surname and he too being African-American ...no wait, he was born in Dudley, West Midlands, England, so he'd be African-Englishman, or would that be EurAfrican. But wait, he's of Jamaican descent, so that would make him EuroJamaican.
Oh, what the hell, he's a Black guy who lives in England. A very funny Black guy who joins the ranks of Richard Pryor, and Chris Rock as my favorite "Black" comedians. But this isn't your usual "Black" comedy; race is a non-issue. The major difference in Lenny Henry's approach is language, the English language with all of its subtleties and nuances, which Lenny utilizes for maximum impact...with acerbic perfection -- as only the British can.
The main premise of "Chef!" is an English chef opens a high class restaurant ("Le Chateau Anglais") featuring haute French cuisine. But unlike "Basil Fawlty" with his aspirations of grandeur, Gareth Blackstock can really cook. The comedy comes from the tyrannical way he runs his kitchen, riding roughshod over the kitchen staff of wannabe chefs with insults and verbal abuse, and with threats of physical violence that never materialize ...unlike Basil who reprimands Manuel with actual physical attacks.
Oh, what the hell, he's a Black guy who lives in England. A very funny Black guy who joins the ranks of Richard Pryor, and Chris Rock as my favorite "Black" comedians. But this isn't your usual "Black" comedy; race is a non-issue. The major difference in Lenny Henry's approach is language, the English language with all of its subtleties and nuances, which Lenny utilizes for maximum impact...with acerbic perfection -- as only the British can.
The main premise of "Chef!" is an English chef opens a high class restaurant ("Le Chateau Anglais") featuring haute French cuisine. But unlike "Basil Fawlty" with his aspirations of grandeur, Gareth Blackstock can really cook. The comedy comes from the tyrannical way he runs his kitchen, riding roughshod over the kitchen staff of wannabe chefs with insults and verbal abuse, and with threats of physical violence that never materialize ...unlike Basil who reprimands Manuel with actual physical attacks.
 | In the scene to the left, we see Gareth obviously infuriated with Everton, one of the kitchen staff. |
Gareth [and the restaurant] have just been interviewed by a prestigious gastronomic magazine, however, when the issue comes out, it features an article about Everton, (one of the kitchen staff) --
After Gareth has prepared a meal to [what he considers] perfection, a customer asks for extra salt --
Gareth has appointed Lucinda "sous chef" and she's having to deal with a gastronomic mishaps ...a bandage that Everton was wearing has "disappeared" --
Gareth putting on his chef's hat --
Gareth instructing Everton to clean up the kitchen --
Gareth speaking to one of his kitchen staff --
Again, Gareth speaking to one of his kitchen staff --
Gareth's wife speaking to him --
Gareth speaking to one of the waiting staff --
Lenny has also starred in some comedy feature films, playing Josephus the genie in "Bernie and the Genie" (with Alan Cumming), and in "True Identity", where he plays Miles Pope, a Black man masquerading as a White guy in order to elude the "mob". He also had a small part (as the shrunken head) in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". Gareth, however, is by far my favorite of his alter egos.
Quote of the Week: "Don't let a suitcase full of cheese become your big fork and spoon."
Crispin: Show it to him, Everton.
Everton: Well, I...
Crispin: Look, he's bound to see it sooner or later. It's much better to have courtesy on your side.
Everton: I was afraid he might be a bit pissed off.
Crispin: Oh no, he won't be pissed off.
Everton: Oh, good...
Crispin: He'll be incandescent with blind and barbaric fury. Next to Chef, Mount Pinatubo will be an irritating, unripe zit. The killing fields of Kampuchea will be as a bouncy castle.
After Gareth has prepared a meal to [what he considers] perfection, a customer asks for extra salt --
Gareth: I hate you more than you can possibly imagine!
Gareth has appointed Lucinda "sous chef" and she's having to deal with a gastronomic mishaps ...a bandage that Everton was wearing has "disappeared" --
Lucinda: Everton, I'm the sous chef, do you know what that means?
Everton: It means you're the second in command, sorta thing.
Lucinda: It means I'm the second in command in the finest restaurant in England. Now the head chef leaves me in charge for an hour and suddenly we're serving fricassee of used Elast-O-Plast! I hate you Everton. I want you to die.
Gareth putting on his chef's hat --
Gareth: Lucinda, I have adorned myself with the culinary condom.
Gareth instructing Everton to clean up the kitchen --
Gareth: Everton, please remove the maggots, rat carcasses, and corpses of shocked health inspectors and make the place fit for the preparation of sodding food!
Gareth speaking to one of his kitchen staff --
Gareth: You have as much chance of becoming a top chef as John Major has of becoming a stand-up comedian.
Again, Gareth speaking to one of his kitchen staff --
Gareth: You are a pea-brained, prat-faced, pompous, pillock-headed cretin. If you took an intensive course of intelligence injections and studied till you drop, then one day you might make it to moron third class failed.
Gareth's wife speaking to him --
Janice: You've been fighting with the customers?
Gareth: Well, somebody's got to do it.
Gareth speaking to one of the waiting staff --
Gareth: So please go away ...and please re-arrange the contents of this plate so that someone in the latest stages of malnutrition will at least take a passing interest in it.
Lenny has also starred in some comedy feature films, playing Josephus the genie in "Bernie and the Genie" (with Alan Cumming), and in "True Identity", where he plays Miles Pope, a Black man masquerading as a White guy in order to elude the "mob". He also had a small part (as the shrunken head) in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". Gareth, however, is by far my favorite of his alter egos.
Quote of the Week: "Don't let a suitcase full of cheese become your big fork and spoon."
posted by gieau_sf (9:45:00 AM)
-- All non-relevant comments will be (have been) deleted!
2 Comment(s):
Nice creative blog, keep up the good work!
Carl King
"You are a pea-brained, prat-faced, pompous, pillock-headed cretin." Not you, of course, but I do like that quote...
although I am not sure what pillocks are.
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