So The Bear makes you want to be a chef
You might just enjoy yelling
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Dear Shaun,
What the hell is The Bear? Should I watch it? My son wants to be a chef now, but all I hear in the other room is yelling. Is there a correlation? Please help.
-The Bear Necessities
Dear The Bear Necessities,
Okay, The Bear is a show. It features the actors Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Oliver Platt, and celebrity chef Matty Matheson, as well as plenty of features and cameos…including Chicago. (“The city is like a character in this show.” —an Emerson student who didn’t watch the assignment).
This year, the third season is out and people are very excited for it. FX and Hulu released the show all at once, so you can binge it. If you are into “prestige television,” it’s as if The Bear was created by a robot for that exact genre. It has a child star in Allen White (Shameless) making the case for a serious adult acting role, it has unbelievable guest stars really chewing all of the scenery, very good music, and it often veers from conventional forms (there is literally one of those the-whole-episode-in-one-take episodes in season 1).
The show is great. Probably one of my favorite shows of the past decade. It is funny, sweet, intense, and has a real clear voice, no matter how problematic. When talking with a friend about the show, we both agreed we love it because of its ethos: reaching for your best work sometimes ruffles feathers and pushes relationships to the edge. That there really is a right way to do things—just to be good and successful. That the more people you throw into that mix, the harder it becomes, but it’s that much more rewarding when you get cooking.
There is a right way to run a comedy show, and so many people don’t do it. So when people think of going to comedy and they go to a poorly run show, they will be deterred. Just like some folks don’t want to open a new restaurant because so many fail. That’s because so many people get into it for the wrong reasons (i.e. a place to drink with friends from high school or launder your fireworks-selling scheme).
Now here is where the crux of your question lies: You said your son wants to become a chef because of this show. That’s tough. The environment is toxic. People skills are not the strong suit of most of these characters. Harkening back to the “good way to run something” and “getting to the best thing,” that is a pretty good reason to want to get into cooking and the service industry. But if he is into screaming, pulling guns, accidentally drugging a kid’s birthday party, or swearing and yelling in a walk-in closet, then you really got to talk this kid into insurance or something. That’s where the money is—the world is ending and we all need a policy on it.
Send any and all questions to woocomedyweek@gmail.com with the subject line "Bad Advice."
NEWS
Another slow week for me! Come hang at the Open Mic at Ralph’s every Tuesday. I have some fun shows creeping up at the end of the month.
We do have a very funny show at Ralph’s Rock Diner on August 2. It features Ahmed Bharoocha (Dream Corp LLC, Conan) and it is going to be a blast. Ahmed started in Boston and Providence and used to come to all of the old crappy shows I used to put on decades ago. Ahmed is a singular voice of epic comedic timing. You’re going to love him. Get tickets here.
