Bourdain the Entertainer

[Florida]

I was reading a local magazine yesterday and I was surprised to come across this:

Anthony Bourdain at the Chicago Theatre

Really? Is this a joke? Is Bourdain now doing standup? Is Bourdain trying to cut in on Guy Fieri’s Road Show? Seriously, what is this?

Not believing this to be an actual event, I looked into it a bit further. Not only is it a real event ( http://www.thechicagotheatre.com/events/anthony-bourdain-410.html ), but Bourdain is on tour and ticket prices (for Chicago) range between $43 - $78. Personally, for $78, Bourdain better be cooking me dinner, though I somehow doubt dinner is included.

So two questions:

1) Has Bourdain become a caricature of himself?

2) Has anyone been to one of these? What does an evening with Mr. Bourdain actually entail? Cooking? Comedy? Reading an excerpt from Gone Bamboo?

[lancastermike]

Tony is cashing in while he can. And why not? if people are willing to pay to listen to him he should take it. I find his act tired and tedious, but lots of folks seem to love him.

Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching

[KD1191]

1) Has Bourdain become a caricature of himself?

To no more of an extent than he has on No Reservations. If you still watch the show and enjoy it, you'll likely enjoy him live. As far as I can tell, he's the same self-deprecating cook he's always been, but now he realizes it takes a bit of dog & pony show to continue making the oodles of money that support him and his family in a posh lifestyle.

2) Has anyone been to one of these? What does an evening with Mr. Bourdain actually entail? Cooking? Comedy? Reading an excerpt from Gone Bamboo?

I saw him in Waukegan, IL in November (whoever booked that location should be shot), and he told stories (many of them funny) and then answered questions. The stories included things like the time he met Sandra Lee and getting a fruit basket from Rachel Ray. The Q&A could have been much better organized. It was mostly fan boys (and girls) gushing for a minute or two before spitting out some mundane question (Why didn't you visit the North shore on the Chicago ep of NR?).

There was a meet & greet afterward for those who purchased the highest tier of tickets and my wife and I got to chat with him for a bit while he was signing a couple books. I got the distinct impression that he considers the tour a necessary evil. He really wanted to get down to the city to try Big Star (he was effusive in his praise of Paul Kahan), but he had to be on a plane to Michigan at 6 AM the next day for another appearance. We talked a little about Vietnam, where we were both headed a few weeks later. He seemed as excited as ever to get back there.

[percyn]

A quick glance indicates that the ticket is being auctioned (for a charitable cause?)

While I have not paid to see AB, I did attend an appearance at the free library where he gave his "talk" and took questions from the audience. All I can say is that it was a fun time with the obligatory expletives and banter that would never make it on basic cable.

Wish this event was closer, I would attend again, simply to hear the audience questions - and his responses.

[Peter the eater]

I've got a DVD of Jamie Oliver's stage show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London from ten years ago. It's a bit odd, with the cooking props, scripted comedy, audience participation and drum kit for the lamb curry segment. Mildly entertaining.

[Fat Guy]

It's a series of speaking engagements. Such events are usually held in venues of appropriate size calibrated to the celebrity and drawing power of the speaker. If it's the Dalai Lama they do it at Yankee Stadium or on the DC Mall. If it's Bourdain they do it in a nice-size theater. If it's me they do it in the small room upstairs at the Y.

I don't see anything objectionable or even particularly noteworthy here. And in Bourdain's favor, one has got to admit that he has kept it real a whole lot better than 99% of people who achieve his level of television celebrity.

[Florida]

It's a series of speaking engagements. Such events are usually held in venues of appropriate size calibrated to the celebrity and drawing power of the speaker. If it's the Dalai Lama they do it at Yankee Stadium or on the DC Mall. If it's Bourdain they do it in a nice-size theater. If it's me they do it in the small room upstairs at the Y.

I don't see anything objectionable or even particularly noteworthy here. And in Bourdain's favor, one has got to admit that he has kept it real a whole lot better than 99% of people who achieve his level of television celebrity.

I would agree, there is nothing “objectionable” here. If he wants to sell something (bottled steak sauce, books, speaking engagements, whatever) he is more than welcome to. No criticism there. I personally won’t be dropping any money to hear Bourdain speak, but, obviously there are many who will.

However, Bourdain seems to have no issue complaining about TV Food Network and the celebrity status of their personalities. But isn’t this exactly the same thing? To give credit to the TV Food talking heads, at least they’re applying heat to food and actually producing something.

As for keeping it real, I would disagree. As much as I absolutely detest Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray never calls herself a chef and Bobby Flay owns multiple, profitable restaurants. Bayless, Lagasse, Dufrense, Ducasse, Batali. They all own restaurants and, while they may not be the ones actively cooking your meal, I am quite positive they are actively involved in their businesses. If anyone is pretending to be someone they’re not, it’s Bourdain.

[Porthos]

Bayless, Lagasse, Dufrense, Ducasse, Batali. They all own restaurants and, while they may not be the ones actively cooking your meal, I am quite positive they are actively involved in their businesses. If anyone is pretending to be someone they’re not, it’s Bourdain.

Um, do you have to be an owner to be considered a good chef? Bourdain was a chef for many years (Bio Link).

I don't mind if you don't care for him, just be sure you aren't disseminating mis-information.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Porthos (log)

[IndyRob]

If you go to hulu.com and search for Bourdain there's a video of a talk he gave that's about an hour long. Short talk, followed by Q&A (Actually, this might get you there directly: Oops, no it didn't. Try the hulu search).

I imagine it's the same sort of format. Although it's about two years old, he's already showing signs of being over the Rachel thing. But provides some insight into thoughts on what he considers good and evil in a TV Food Celeb.

Edited March 25, 2010 by IndyRob (log)

[Florida]

Bayless, Lagasse, Dufrense, Ducasse, Batali. They all own restaurants and, while they may not be the ones actively cooking your meal, I am quite positive they are actively involved in their businesses. If anyone is pretending to be someone they’re not, it’s Bourdain.

Um, do you have to be an owner to be considered a good chef? Bourdain was a chef for many years (Bio Link).

I don't mind if you don't care for him, just be sure you aren't disseminating mis-information.

Bourdain doesn't actively run a kitchen. And no one is paying him to cook. They're paying for entertainment, or, rather as Fat Guy puts it (in different words) his celebrity status. Now, back in one of the threads on Alice Waters, many of the senior members of this site indicated Alice Waters was not a chef. Am I to consider Alice Waters as "not a Chef" despite her continued involvement in Chez Panisse, but Tony Bourdain as "a chef" eventhough he hasn't cooked professionally in years?

However, this is all beside the point. I think we're all aware Bourdain was a chef. As an FYI, I also was a chef, but since I no longer work in the profession, I don't feel inclined to retain the title.

[KD1191]

I don't think anyone here, or Bourdain himself, is claiming that he IS a chef (though he is technically still "Chef-at-large" at Les Halles, I believe). The fact that he is not currently cooking professionally does not preclude him speaking about his years of experience as a chef, or his decade of travelling the world exploring various cuisines with the trained eyes/tongue of a former chef.

Whether one would be willing to pay for such insight, is up to the individual. Personally, I won tickets to the event in Chicago, so I will be there. I had a good time at the previous event, but I don't feel the need to ever pay again to hear what I assume will be basically the same spiel.

Edited March 25, 2010 by KD1191 (log)

[jsmeeker]

Seems like an "Evening with Kevin Smith" sort of thing to me.

If you are a fan of Bourdain, for whatever reasons, (his cooking, books, TV, etc.) I think you would enjoy an event like this. Maybe not enough to PAY for it, but I think you would enjoy listening to him tell some stories and what not. I know I would. If you don't like Tony, that's cool too. Not everybody does.

[Fat Guy]

People pay to see lots of stuff. The determination tends to get made by supply and demand, not by the observations of people who aren't interested in a particular form of content. I can't relate to why anybody would pay to see Britney Spears in concert. I'd rather pay $30 to see Bourdain than $100 to see her, or even $1 to see her. But in the end the only issue is whether there are enough people willing to pay to see Bourdain to fill the room. And I imagine there are.

[weinoo]

As for keeping it real, I would disagree. As much as I absolutely detest Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray never calls herself a chef and Bobby Flay owns multiple, profitable restaurants. Bayless, Lagasse, Dufrense, Ducasse, Batali. They all own restaurants and, while they may not be the ones actively cooking your meal, I am quite positive they are actively involved in their businesses. If anyone is pretending to be someone they’re not, it’s Bourdain.

Who, exactly, is Tony pretending to be? He's certainly not pretending to be the active chef of a restaurant.

[KD1191]

As for keeping it real, I would disagree. As much as I absolutely detest Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray never calls herself a chef and Bobby Flay owns multiple, profitable restaurants. Bayless, Lagasse, Dufrense, Ducasse, Batali. They all own restaurants and, while they may not be the ones actively cooking your meal, I am quite positive they are actively involved in their businesses. If anyone is pretending to be someone they’re not, it’s Bourdain.

Who, exactly, is Tony pretending to be? He's certainly not pretending to be the active chef of a restaurant.

He went out of his way to dissuade people of the notion that he is any sort of chef last night. Someone asked him if he'd been contacted about doing Top Chef Masters, and he said no and that he wouldn't last 2 seconds against actual talented chefs. He dropped plenty of names (Batali, Colicchio, Ripert) but said there was no way any of these friends would hire him to work in their kitchens.

The show was fine, but he could have used a bit more new material. He told the Blue Mosque, Sandra Lee & Rachel Ray fruit basket stories, as well as the one about indoctrinating his daughter to hate Ronald McDonald, for the umpteenth time. Preached on how to be a good traveler, and how even vegetarians should accept meat from well-meaning foreigners when in their land...all things I've heard from him before.

His discussion of what the whole idea of "keeping it real" could possibly mean was an interesting sort of meta-digression. It's clear he's not happy about the product placement in the show, but understands that it's a necessary result of when people stop watching commercials. Though, he didn't really connect the idea that the speaking engagement itself might be seen as "selling out". Personally, I think there's the possibility he could succeed in an HBO environment...for one, he's far more foul mouthed than even I would have believed, and it's natural he'd be more comfortable when uncensored, plus the lack of a need for sponsors could have interesting results.

All in all, I was happy to attend on the promoter's dime, but wouldn't pay to see him again unless it was in some more interesting venue/vehicle. Q&A was even more poorly handled this time than in Waukegan (just stand & shout)...but some of the questions were actually interesting. (Asked if he could only make one more show where would he go, he said he would return to El Bulli before it closes.) That said, having the last question be a guy proposing to his girlfriend was awfully gratuitous.

[KCWilkinson]

That said, having the last question be a guy proposing to his girlfriend was awfully gratuitous.

ROFL. Of all places, why a Bourdain event?