October 22, 2021 • 41 mins
In this episode, host Geoffrey Zakarian speaks with celebrity chef Jeff Mauro. Even though Jeff’s large Italian-American family cultivated a lifelong love for great food, he initially latched onto his early aptitude for performance and comedy. The pair discuss the bumpy road to bridging those two professional skills, and reflect on their experiences hosting the Food Network show The Kitchen together.
Check out Jeff Mauro’s new book, “Come On Over,” here: https://comeonover.com/the-cookbook/
For more information on "Four Courses With Geoffrey Zakarian" follow Geoffrey on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/geoffreyzakarian
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
My name is Jeffrey Zarrian, and you're listening to four
Courses with Jeffrey z Carian from my Heart Radio. In
four courses, I'll be taking you along for the ride
while I talk with the top talent of our time.
In each conversation, I focus on four different areas from
my guests life and career. And during those four courses,
I'm going to dig deep in and cover new insights
(00:25):
and inspirations that we can all use to fuel ourselves
to push forward. My guest for this episode is a
celebrity chef and fellow Food Network host. He got to
start with Network TV when he won his final season
of Food Network Star, and he's known for his love
and aptitude for great sandwiches. Without further delay, let's get
into my conversation with the sandwich King and my dear
(00:47):
friend Jeff Morrow. All right, what do you think? Are
you ready? Like I say before every song when the
Jewel Bags play this up? Uh, Mr Jeff Morrow, A
good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on four Courses.
It's about time, That's all I gotta say to that.
It's about time for our first course. I wanted to
(01:11):
ask Jeff about his childhood in Chicago, growing up as
one of fifteen cousins in a large Italian American family.
Ever the comedian, It turns out he delivered some of
his earliest performances at the kids dinner table. Let's go
back to sort of your four and five. You're you're
in Illinois and you're around, you're on the table. What
is the first to smell of food that you can
(01:33):
sort of think that when you smell it, it's like
in the furniture, you know that smell? Right? Yeah? What
is it? That smell? Because that smell was at my
house growing up, at my grandma's house, at my aunt's house.
And it's that like deep simmering red sauce. I mean,
like cooked for a day, never saw the fridge, simmered
(01:54):
and then delitted and then sat overnight and then simmered again.
And it was Sunday, and it was started early, and
it's sent intensified with each hour as that sauce reduced
and became even more like sweet and tomato eat and fragrant.
I mean it's visceral, Like I smell that walking into
(02:16):
my own house and if Sarah's making any tomato based
sauce and it's like it brings me back to those
meals every Sunday in my Grandma Cays and pause, my
Grandpa Joe's house, the same house my mom grew up
in a two bedroom, four kids, two adults, no basement,
no upper stairs, just two bedrooms and every piece of
(02:38):
furniture covered in plastic. And that's not even a joke.
So there's nowhere comfortable to sit except around the table.
And there'd be eighteen, you know, the kids would be
in the kitchen at the little nook table the four
mica top and the built in booth, and we like
eight of us would squeeze there and all the adults
and whoever older kids would squeze around the table and
it would be the same menu. Sausage, meatballs, ravy, musta
(03:00):
choli salad and you know, c K four TCMO jugs
of wine. And I remember, it takes me back there. Man,
it was like the greatest gift I ever got where
those times every Sunday. You know, my my mom has
three siblings. Everybody had four kids, and we're all in
the same so there's sixteen. First, well, my uncle had
three kids. It's easier to say that way. He was
(03:21):
a slacker, right, you only had three or three from
two different marriages, so he you know, he was a
wild child. He was doing the best he could know
exactly my break, I know, right, three slacker. So I
have all these cousins that am extremely close with, like
my cousin Joe's coming over for his Friday bear with
me on the front porch at four o'clock, you know. So,
and it all centered around that, not only the food,
but that smell, that particular smell. How did the work too?
(03:45):
Was there like an attendant that would like help someone
get in and out of the bathroom? And how many
bathrooms you have for all those people? Oh, in my
my grandparents house one one bathroom? Hot that work? Yeah,
there was a guy there. He was He had denten,
he had lister, he had a cook, a couple of
packs of light cigarettes, you know, some fart spray all that.
(04:06):
You threw him a buck or a sawbuck if you
had a good week and you need be on your way. No,
I remember, I mean like sometimes after dinner, Yeah, there
was a lineup saying I mean you know that's I
never thought about that. I mean to me, it was
always like the bed situation for my mom growing up
in that house. The bathroom was the real issue. I
think now that I think about it, real issue, right,
(04:26):
And we're like, if we don't have like two bathrooms
with three bathrooms, we freak out right. It's like it's
not possible. Oh my god. I mean there's literally three
showers in my house that have never been used. That's
what happens to you're an international television start did you
store Do you store all your podcast equipment in one
shower like we do here? And uh, it's so much crap.
But you got all this recording stuff. Where does it go?
You know, it's like a mess. Well, you could see
(04:47):
my room from this is like, I don't know, fifteen
by eighteen. This room, it's not big. And I have
all the instruments from my band, all my instruments. Lorenzo's
right next door. I don't know. Men just with with
the space. I guess it's in blood to be resourceful
like that. I love the sauce smell. I think that
in my house. I can tell you that this there
(05:08):
was similar smells, but it was both the onions and
lentils and lamb, and I swear it turned the wallpaper
a different shade of color over thirty or forty years. Fat,
you know, the fat that comes out and just it
comes out in a mist right and it has to
go somewhere. Yeah, And there was no like high powered
external exhaust fans blowing in those kitchens right now they
(05:31):
blew it back in. It went up and then blew
right your face. It was like what was what glasses on?
You couldn't see what you're cooking in the first five minutes.
I remember, I'd like go to parties and so I
just you know, I have that big garlic smell and
the sauce smell on me, and I can dance with
young ladies and like you smell like Italians foods. Well,
(05:52):
you seem to have gotten a real dose of food
in the way that I think that most people in
this business have. They really get it from the the ancestors.
They get it from being around it so much they
don't even know they're getting it. But then somehow you
got the acting bug and you decided like this might
not be what you want to do. You wanted to
you were doing something else. What happened, Well, the power
(06:17):
of food was right from it. It was like stupid.
How how noticeable it was, right, I mean like around
boom right there, young, we're eating where you know, every
celebration revolved around trades of food, right home cooked meals, eating, chewing, smiling, laughing.
But what I love, like my first stage was not
the stage. It was those tables. And I had a
(06:38):
lot of cousins, a lot of siblings, a lot of
loud people hard to get attention. I can be mean,
I could be loud or I could be funny. And
for me, it was like that's what developed that muscle
early on, and that you know kind of zest for
performance was like this is my venue. I'm like, I'm
I learned, and I get a laugh from the uncle
(06:59):
and I get from the other uncle who's harder to
make laugh, and You're like, I gotta stick. I got
a routine and this is I love this like I
love being Even then you get invited to the adult
table a little more. You know, I worked the you know,
I cut my teeth at the kid's table and then
I I you know, i'd get the uh, I get
the bump up to the adult table after a couple
of years and maybe get a little nipple wine and
(07:21):
were at a cigar and worked the room. But I'll
never forget like one of the most defining moments I
was my grandpa's funeral. Right, it was the luncheon, which
I lunch from a young age. That was like that
was my zone luncheon I called I killed never met
a funeral runch and right didn't crush. And in my
(07:42):
uncle's that was back when Andrew Dice Clay was popular,
and we said, you know, my brother would have a
tape of a tape of a tape that was we
couldn't let your parents because of all the swearing and
the raunchy humor, right, super rated r especially for like
a sixth grade but we would like put in our
cassette players are are Walkman's wed like ride or bike,
And I memorized everything. So my dad and my uncle's
(08:04):
they pull me in the room like the side room, right,
and there be like go ahead. I'm like what Dad,
He's like, He's like, give me, give me a cigarette unlit,
right and give me like go ahead, do do the dice.
And I'd sit there and I'd be like macar de
gar dack, Why do you always make me? I'm like
cock and I would do that sixth grade. I mean,
(08:28):
you know, ten years old and like not no ants
in sight, not my mom, nobody because and my dad
like gave me the swear not like you could swear.
And from that moment on, I was like, done, this
is what I do. That is a fantastic and I know,
like that the Andrew Dice was I would say that
(08:49):
Dave Chappelle of his time. He was just I mean
maybe that was just cerebral but super controversial. Where to
the point was I mean, like, you know, I mean
pretty misogynistic all the things that you know, we're growing
getting past Jeffrey, but it's uh, I mean, well maybe
that's why, you know, maybe that's why humor the geared
towards eighth graders. So that was really it. I mean
(09:15):
that was ten year old. You're a ten year old.
You're a comic. I think you're loving the feedback. That
feedback is everything. And someone laughs at a joke. It's
like someone cooking at dinner and saying this is the
least and they clean their play. You like just you
just want to do more and more and more and more.
It's hard to get to that point, you know, right,
like It's hard to gain the skills and experience to
(09:36):
put a plate of food out there that people want
to stop up, you know, with the last bit of
table bread. It's hard to get a routine in or whatever,
the confidence to talk to a room of three people
or three hundred people. But man, once you get there
and you get the instant feedback in the response, you know,
a laugh and a smile, the same as like a
in a chew. So now you're on stage. You're in
(09:59):
high school and performing. How cool is that? Mm hmm.
I went to a high school, a big, very diverse,
very just intense high school with a pretty amazing pedigree.
You know, we've had actors, comedians. Ray Kroc went to
my high school. Ernest Hemingway went to my high school.
You know, it's very historic, and it's kind of right
(10:21):
on just the beginning of the western suburbs of Chicago,
so shares a border with the city. So you get
this immense diversity, and it's a big place to go
to a freshman, and you just get chewed up if
you don't have a pair on you or some confidence.
I mean there's four floors, people throw pennies at you.
It's terrible. So I found I was like, I'm gonna
go there and I'm doing like all the theater right,
(10:42):
and so you get cast as a little bit part whatever.
But I worked up pretty quickly, and that kind of
gave you a safe space. I wasn't necessarily like a
theater kid in high school, but I loved performing. Like
I didn't really hang out with the theater kids. I'm
not like disparaging the theater kids, but if you want
to high school, you know, if you want, And they
did their own thing, and there were the true kids
(11:03):
out there that were in it for that moment on stage,
the art form. But you know, for me, it was
I wanted the laughs. I wanted the comic roles. I
wanted the accents all that stuff. So I guess I'm
lucky for having that such a young exposure. Even before that,
my parents driving me to downtown to go to the
Second City youth programs and learn improv from third grade on.
(11:25):
You know, my dad saw me on stage at a
third grade play. That's my son, that's my son. Well,
you know my dad. If if you met Gus like
you think like this is the father that's gonna throw
his kids into wrestling in football because big kids. The
minute he saw me on stage and that you know whatever,
crappy third grade play and I came out playing King
George the Fourth with the spot on British accent and
(11:47):
a capon in a in a crown. He was like,
this kid, we're gonna push this, you know, we're gonna
support it. Anything stagewise that would throw me into in
(12:12):
our second course, I had to understand how Jeff's love
for the performance translated into a career not just on
the stage but in the kitchen. He studied radio and
television at Bradley University, where he actually began working behind
the scenes. I didn't do like any on camera stuff.
They're nothing. It was all editing, you know, shooting, lighting, sound, editing,
(12:34):
and I was like more editing focus because it was
a small program, but we had big, brand new building
they built. But a very old school news guy who
like were a scarf, you know, like a ankerchif scarf
and like a cowboy had but he was from nowhere
in the West. He kind of taught us like how
to edit. Well, so that's one skill I've really utilized
in this stage of my life, is like how to
(12:55):
edit video because we do it all the time on
social media. For him, these reels and all these things,
it helps to have a background knowledge. But I would,
you know, you do all the pre requisites. I get
sees and everything. And I crushed the television stuff because
you'd sit in an editing bay, you shoot the video,
you do the news packages for the Bradley News program,
(13:17):
and you're like the shooter and the editor. And I
just like, I don't even want to shoot anymore. I
just want to edit the video. I mean, I'd sit
in a booth for like eight hours a day. You know,
you smoke a little the bit, do you drink of
the broco loots the next thing, you know, and so
midnight and you got the whole thing done. But I
was also in a band my my entire four years.
We're called Brother Ron, the only band on campus. And
(13:39):
it was so weird because it's only kids, and it
was in downtown Peoria, which was like full of bars,
so there was Peoria bands, but we were the only
Bradley band. We were the house band at the biggest
bar every Wednesday, and we play all the other bars
on the weekends. So I never had to ask my
like my parents, like I made my own money playing
in a band. We rehearsed in the basement of the
(14:00):
fraternity and we played covers. We had maybe about a
dozen original songs that nobody really cared about, but of
course they wanted to Rolling Stones Dave Matthews, Ben and
I was a full time steward for the fraternity to
make my room and board. So we ran the kitchen,
did all the There was a you know, a chef
(14:21):
quote unquote chef that would cook for the fraternity guys,
and I would do all the shopping, cleaning, lay out
the food, make sure it's cleaned up after everything. And
I loved it because I, you know, I worked in
Delhi's way, you know, throughout high school and butcher shops
and all that. So I was like pay for my board,
room and board. So two thousand graduated and then came
along a little musical called Tony and Teena's Weddings. So
(14:44):
how did that happen? And how? I mean that was
a big deal. It was a big deal. How did that?
How did they get to you? They do like auditions
or do they call theater? Yeah, how did they do that? Well,
it's really not a musical. It was dinner theater more
like improv full immersion Italian American wedding. Right. We didn't sing,
(15:04):
but there was like not like choreograph dancing, you know,
most of it was improv. There were choreographed moments. But
I started out in it because when I graduated college, right,
I had this beautiful radio and television degree from a
liberal arts college that you know, I paid off student
loans until I was you know, thirty two. Parents helped out.
Of course, probably Gusts and Pam watching like anything, but like,
(15:24):
you know, the old fashioned way. And I'm like, meanwhile,
I'm looking for a job in TV. And my cousin Dave,
he was a shot in the city for whatever train
was executive shop. He's like, I want to get I
want to open a Delhi. Come on board with me.
I know, you know you've worked in Delhi's blah blah blah.
You're creative. So next day we're ripping out, carpet, painting
the walls, doing everything. I'm building the menu from scratch.
(15:45):
We're ordering all the meats and vegge and opening up.
And then that same week we opened my dad's Like, hey,
I met the producer of Tony and Tina's wedding. Do
you want an audition? My dad was tremendous in helping
me throughout my career as far as like setting up
a stage for right, give me, supporting me, both him
and my mom, not just my old man. So I'm like, yeah,
So my dad's like, I'll line it up. And I'm like,
(16:07):
but I've never seen the show. I don't know what amditioning.
He's like, oh, we'll go. I'll get his tickets too.
So the irony is I went and auditioned on a
Friday night. I was with Sarah back then too, so
I was twenty one. I remember she came along like
the second time she met my family. And I go
to this room and it's a wedding hall. I mean
it is a banquet that holds three d and fifty people, right,
And there's a chapel next door, like a full chapel
(16:29):
with pews and stained glass in a pulpit and all
that stuff. And I go audition right before they go on,
like an hour or two, and I see the cast
members kind of walking, and then he cleared this thing
in the director Joey to Mosca, his brother Anthony's brother goes,
all right, let's do some improv. You know. He's like
kind of like a raliotic type guy. You know. I
was like, really tough guy, let's see what you got.
(16:51):
And I'm like, oh, I'm scared shitless. And they brought
in some of the cast members and we did like
an hour of improv. And here I am auditioning for
an Italian wedding, something I've been to four thousand times
in my life. Full blooded Italian American Chicago. So I'm
playing in a Chicago Italian American. I nailed it. They
hired me right there and then like to open the
(17:11):
doors and my family comes in and we sit down
and then we watched the show. It was awesome. But
I started as a waiter for I don't know, six months,
so we had to create our own character and stick
with it and serve the food because it was dinner
and the sausage, salad, pasta, and bread. And then finally
he's like, okay, now you can be a groomsman, you know.
And then he's like, okay, now you can be the
(17:32):
best man. So it took me a couple of years,
but then I finally made it up to Tony after
he made me lose weight and he said that, he said,
you lose twenty pounds, you could be Tony and I lost, Like,
So what was the was there a script? There were moments,
there were beats in the show that there were lines
right at the end in the church there are lines,
(17:52):
and then the live band, live dancing, drinks, two bars.
People are hammered right every offering you drugs. It was crazy.
It was like like when you hear about like SNL
back in the day, you know what I mean, or
like Second City because we're in the same building with
Second City. So we see the Second City people and
they turn their nose up at us, but we're like,
screw you were getting paid, you know, I didn't make
(18:14):
much at the at the end, I was making like
sixty eight bucks a show, being the lead of the show.
But I did that for four years in uh four years,
four years, seven shows a week. Mattenee's exhausting. Every other
Wednesday was the daytime matinee for the Blue Haired crew.
They bust them in from all like the old Folks Home,
and it was so horrible. It's horrible. You know, it's
a raucous drunk. You know, it's supposed to be lively
(18:37):
when you have you know, hundred and seventy two ninety
year olds watching you, I mean, like, when's the coffee?
Why is there no coffee. It's kind of a ballsy
premise to serve dinner and make that the show. It's
kind of like fantastic. At the same time, that's kind
of hard because every time you don't know what to expect.
The crowd could be like into it. The crowd could
(18:58):
be not into it, the crackerld drink too much. They
could like It's like, how does that work? How do
you gather feedback from something that's so like live all
the time. I don't know. Yeah, it's you know, every
night was different. There were countless people too, who thought
it was a real wedding like that we're kind of
duped into it and we were not. We would be
fined if we broke character, like we would get severe
(19:20):
trouble if they saw us talking to a family, even
if we knew him. We had to stay in character.
So we would do table work. So I think the
greatest skill I got from that was working any room anywhere.
I love that when we're at a live demo for
a corporate audience, or at a food festival for a
drunken audience, whatever it's They're all different rooms. So I
(19:41):
had to go to each table, work the table, make
them laugh, boom boom boom, onto the next table, night
after night, thirty six tables. That's incredible. So what what
did you do during the day. I we worked at
the deli. So I worked a full day at the die.
Get their six in the morning, prep, make soup, make
sauce is, then make sandwiches, do the caterings, have all
(20:03):
the people come in, serve them. Boom. I get in
the car, go home, shower up, put on the white tucks,
and go to Tony Tina's wedding till eleven o'clock every
night every weekend. But it was a very successful play,
like we were doing. I was there when eleven happened
and that had a bit, you know, it kind of
dropped off some of that crowd. But before that, I mean,
(20:25):
you do three fifty at night, which is a lot.
That's very impressive. I didn't know it was for four years.
It's exhausted. I mean if I was you know, four,
I mean, if I was forty four, it i'd be very,
very tired. Back then, it was like, Okay, I like
what I'm doing during the day, I'm very fulfilled. I'm
(20:45):
working in the Delhi, I'm slicing me I'm talking to
customers all day, and then I go get to be
a professional comedian at night. I was like, I'm doing it.
I'm making it. I was doing it, you know what
I mean, Like I was living the dream, but I
just wasn't making any money at anything. I mean, and
that's you cannot expect it to. I mean, so you
so you said, Okay, I'm gonna take I'm taking Tony,
(21:06):
I'm taking the salami, and I'm going to l a exactly,
It's exactly what I had in my car. You wanted
to do your own show. So tell me about that
show and how did that? How did that come about? Well,
my cousin who supported you, So Sarah did, of course
because she's a nurse. So she got a nursing contract
job that moved us across the country and put us
in a foot woman. Of course, right, we were engaged
(21:28):
at the time and I'm like, let's do this move
and she was she supported it. But my cousin Joe Ballerini,
who is a very successful screenwriter filmmaker. Were the same age, Like,
so I was twenty four right, making six day bucks
a show, making thirty dollars a day at the deli,
and he's like selling scripts for like six hundred grand,
and I'm like holy, and he's like, come on out,
(21:51):
we can do something. I'm like, dude, are you sure.
He's like, no, come and visit. We'll shoot a pilot.
We'll do the food pilot. We'll start pitching around. He's like,
I got context. I'm crushing it. So I was like, okay. So,
I mean the night I moved Sarah and I moved
right and we're out with Joe. He introduced me to
my buddy, my first friend out there, who is his friend.
(22:13):
He went to USC film school with Ali Khan. So
Ali and I became fast friends, and we're like, let's
do this thing. We're gonna shoot these wild gonzo parties
in the hills at my cousin Joe's house in the hills,
and we'll edit them and we'll put some music and
we'll put it on YouTube. And that YouTube was like
non existent then, and then we'll pitch it to networks
(22:34):
and production companies and we'll get a deal and we'll
make it. And we did that. We did all that
for three years, and we had chef Jeff and Ali.
We had a couple of sizzles. We had a pilot.
We shot a pilot that we never saw with the
production company. We had representation from U t A, which
is a big, amazing out there. We were in rooms
(22:56):
with Spike TV, MTV. We were never in Food Network. Kay,
they probably like, look at these two schloves. It was like, no,
this is not our demographic. But we hustled it. Man.
We did everything all the while I was I was
in the groundlings doing improv all the way up to
the writing lamp, getting on stage there writing and producing
my own sketch comedy shows with all my other friends
(23:17):
that moved in comics from Chicago. We're called the beef
Stand and we just we did all this and that
was It was just grind, grind, and no after no
after no. Like everything was a no, right, every single thing.
It was never a yes. And I was like, I'm
sick of this. If I want to be taken seriously,
I need to go to culinary school. I need to
(23:39):
take the food seriously, I'm working on the other chops.
I need to work on these chops and meet myself
in the middle. I'm never gonna I never wanted to
be the best chef in the world. I never was
going to be the funniest comic in the world. But
I could be the funniest chef in the world. If
I stick on that, I'll create an angle. I'll do
it with sandwiches and my love from the deli world.
And so that's what I did. I rolled over. I
said to Sarah, and good, let's go. I'm gonna go
(24:00):
and roll in. That culinary school is called um There's
a Court on Blue affiliate in Hollywood called the Kitchen Academy.
It was a year program, and I worked full time,
went to school every night for six hours and you
don't get out of there until midnight after cleaning for
three Like that's what they don't tell you go to
culinary school. You're cleaning matts. It's like, Biggs, I'm like,
(24:22):
oh my God, and I'm like yelling at these kids
right because I'm in my mid twenties and and I'm
really ready. I never gave a ship about school until
I paid for it fully myself and I was like,
I'm getting these, man, and I loved it. I mean
I loved every minute. I learned a ton and I
sharpened those skills, and I worked in restaurants, I staged,
I did my extern chips, and by the time I
(24:43):
was graduated, I auditioned for the first time for Food
Network Start while in l A and I got a callback,
like my first callback for our third course. I wanted
(25:07):
to hear more about that callback, which was just the
beginning of Jeff's journey to breaking through in the industry.
Even though he eventually won season seven of Food Network Star,
his first audition was for a spot on season four.
Things seem promising at first. When the Food Network producer
called Jeff back after his first audition with some good news.
He's like, dude, you're a shoeing. It's like you got this.
(25:28):
And I'm like, hey man, I hate to break it
to you, but I'm already scheduled to move back home
in like six weeks or whatever. So he's like, hey man,
it's a problem. You can do this from anywhere. So
we moved back home and I was like, I'm gonna
go home. My soul is going to be back in
Chicago and I'm gonna get the third call back and
I'm gonna get on the show. I did everything I could,
and it was just like the Cosmos being like, you
(25:50):
just need to be where you are with your family,
ready to start your own family. You know, we were
married at the time. We didn't want to start a family,
but it's hard to do out in l a if
you don't have a pot to pisson. And then I
never got a call back, like never. A couple of
months went on, and then it was December, which was
like I don't know, six months, five months after I
moved back home, and I got a call and it
(26:10):
was Jennifer Sullivan. She's like, they want to fly you
out to New York next week for the final round
of auditions in Audition and Food Network Studios Chelsea Market.
I'm like, wow, that's when it was back then. Yeah.
I was like, I did it. I made it. I'm done.
I made it, mom, I'm going to the big times.
I got the call, so I went there. You know,
(26:31):
I sat and waited in Chelsea Market next to the
Lobster Place, and that right there, chugging coffee, smelling wet
lobster and seafood terrible. It was terrible. That that's a
terrible corner. Oh and I'm like, oh my god, am
I gonna get the job? And I killed him. I
swear I got a standing ovation and I was the
last one of the night. I missed my flight, so
I got on the plane early next day. You know,
(26:52):
it's like a connecting flight through Atlanta. They put me
in a hotel in Queen's. Only the finest right, only
the finest thing. So but it was my first time
in New York. For me, it was like, you know,
my Mary Tyler more moment. I'm like taking a subway
to Type Square and twirling about and I'm waiting. I mean,
I waited by the phone for months, and then I
(27:14):
finally called the I had the number on my phone.
She's like, yeah, we're sorry, someone should have called you.
You didn't make the show. And I was crushed. And
then the next year I was like, let's give it
a shot. So I threw in a video. Nothing. Year
after that, like I'll give it one more shot. Nothing.
And then the fourth time I was like, I'm gonna
give it one more shot. And I remember I didn't
(27:35):
tell Sarah. I was auditioning again, sending in a video.
Right in Sarah's like, did you send in a video
to Food Network star this year? And I'm like, yeah,
I did. She's like, well, we should have talked about this.
I'm like wow, She's like, I don't know, man, I
think this is it and this is the year. I'm like,
you don't know nothing about me. I only fail, you know.
I'm like, I'm only It's gonna be another no. But
(27:55):
by that time I was I was running a cafe
and a building. I was a private show for a
large mortgage company, so I'd feed three people a day,
had a couple of people under me. It was an
ideal job. I got paid decently, great hours, making sandwich,
just slice in meat. You know, it's like my own deli. Right,
It's like no risk on my end, It's perfect. I
(28:15):
sent in the video and then I got a call
back like a day later. It happened so quick. And
then they're like, tomorrow, we're putting you on a plane
back to New York for the final rounds of auditioning.
And then I went there and I did the whole thing.
Background check, have you ever smoking? Prostitute? Have you what
drugs have you done? Have you ever hit somebody? I'm like, yeah,
I punched a guy a couple of years, probably not listening.
(28:37):
It was outside my cousin's restaurants. That doesn't count. It
was scrubbed. But before I got on that plane, she goes,
you know you're gonna make the show. You get on
that plane and make that show, and you're gonna get
on the show in our lives are gonna change forever.
I'm like, God, no way, right, And she was so right,
because I got off that plane and then it's all
happened in like six days. It was so fast, right,
all this pent up energy for like it to happen
(29:00):
so quick. And they're like, you were flying you out
January twenty one. I'll never forget the date. You're gonna
give up all your crap, all your phones, everything, and
you're gonna live in this house for two and a
half months, and you're gonna do the show. And if
you win, you win, you win this. If you don't,
you can't say nothing for three months and blah blah blah.
You know, so obviously I I went and I ended
up winning, And Sandwich said Sandwich King right, and I
(29:25):
knew if I had a good point of view, and
that point of view was like I was trying to
carry it through all those other auditions and I was like,
this is it. In the moment, I kind of like
set it out loud the first challenge. I think people
are like, damn, I should have thought of that, you know,
and when you know, because nobody, nobody staked that claim
yet that was all mine and nobody said I'm I'm
(29:45):
gonna teach the fundamentals of queling area through the artistry
of sandwich creation with a sense of humor. So in
reality was it was Tony and Tina's wedding. But for real,
you were like working the tables every night and there
was no problem. It sounds like it was the easiest
thing you've ever done. Really, I mean, because I know
you and it was like, I'm just gonna make something up.
(30:06):
I'm gonna go with it. Yeah, So you won season
seven and how was that? Like, what was the prize
and what was the back I don't remember what the
prize was back then. Today, Cash, I'll tell you that much.
It was it was a show. I got a six
episode season of Sandwich King that premiered. So the irony
is because of our ND eight we had to go
(30:26):
back to work as normal, like we couldn't quit our jobs.
Of course, if we got fired, it was one thing,
but especially since I won, They're like, you have to
go back to work. You have to pretend everything is
normal in your life. I was like, I've been going.
People are gonna think I was at rehab or that joined,
you know what I mean, Like I'm not from like
a place where people like, where were you went to
to the Kenny Bunkport for the summer? No? You know,
(30:48):
did you winter in Palm Springs? No? I went to
you know, it was like either rehab or prison, that's
the only option. So people were like, where the hell
do you go? I was like, so my excuse was
and it was the only Johnny improviser here, right, I
was like, Oh, I went to learn uh saloon me
crafting with Mario Batalli in New York City and may
(31:10):
or may not have been filmed. I swear that's what
I said, which I thought was pretty good considering like
it was like, oh, that sounds like pretty cool, and
I can understand why he went to go do that
for so long. But uh. And then when it was
finally announced, the cast was finally announced, it was like, Okay,
I can breathe, I can stop lying about this fracta
so you know, Suli Maria Adventure. But then for the
(31:33):
next thirteen weeks, everybody's like, did you win? Do you
win this week? Do you go home this week? You
can tell me. Come on, we know each other, Just
tell me you win, Just tell them. Oh so much
of that. And then by the end, I was like,
I'm done. Like I remember, I was supposed to leave.
My last day was on a Friday. The finale was
on a Sunday of Food Network Star. I didn't make
it pass launch on Thursday. I just walked out. The
(31:55):
owner screwed me, and he told a local news outlet,
two of them that I won already, and they interviewed me,
and I spent my last day at work in a
conference room with the company's legal team in Food Networks
legal team fanning me with a lawsuit because I preached
my n d A, which I didn't. Why would I mean,
I made it that far. I'm not gonna tell the
(32:15):
guy in the last day that I won, especially the
news that team was not taking it many people. I
had the same issue with Iron Chef, who was six
months and it was like, really, you know, how do
you contain that it's Kali. It's like your static right,
You're like, wow, are you like you don't even know
what's going on. For our fourth and final course, I
(32:40):
wanted to ask Jeff about his latest book and how
he's passing time at home during the pandemic. But first
Jeff and I reflected I wanted his like to launch
The Kitchen, which we co host together along with Sonny Anderson,
Alex Gornas, Shelley, Katie Lee, and myself. Your wife was right,
she said you're gonna do this, is gonna change our lives,
and it did. And then you got a call for
I think it was too that I'm fourteen for the Kitchen. Yeah,
(33:02):
I remember Jesus Man ten years. So we got the call.
I was at the restaurant and I'm sitting there and
I get this call and I'm like, oh my god's
the network And there's like, well, the network calling you
is the double edged sword. It's good or bad. It's
never like how you doing, let's talk. It's always like
why did you do this? Or here's a new job,
(33:22):
so it's like you never know what it's gonna be,
or you're being fired or something. So and I we
auditioned for that show, and I remember, I'm like, I
had a feeling I was going to be in the show,
you know what I mean. I've auditioned enough in my
life for stuff. I knew when I get the job,
and I knew I got the job for this, And
then they kind of told me that much. And I'm like, well,
who else is in there? Like, oh, they're still piecing
(33:43):
together a couple of the other ones. I'm like, well,
who am I being? They're like Sunny. I'm like done,
I go perfect Joys like Katie. I'm like, oh, that
would be great. I didn't know where at the time.
And then I was like please because we auditioned to
gethers with Jeffrey. I'm like, dude, it is a classic trope, right,
it's the straight man the funny man. It's been done
because it works, and it'll work in this format in
(34:04):
the network. I don't think there's no natural pairing that
works like that, and it's all new for them. They've
never done this sort of thing. But man, I was
so happy when I was like they told me you
were involved and that all happened on that call, and
I was like, it was very nerve nerve racking because
it was like, oh my god, what's my schedule going
to be? Like now, how much am I going to
be away from home? Is it going to be? It
(34:24):
might be gone for a month, you know what I mean.
Like that's like a whole another People don't realize, Yeah,
the work's great, but all my work takes me away
from home. So that's like you're excited, but you're also
nervous because you have this family that depends on you.
Like we got used to not going anywhere. It was
awesome and like being at home, like you genuinely love
your family. I love my family. I don't want to,
you know, but it only it doesn't get easier. And
(34:47):
I'll remember I was remember auditioning with you, and I
remember that Katie, and I remember Marcella, and I remember
there are so many other characters. I think there were
five or six auditions which I was I was un
chopped and I was like, oh yeah, they're gonna call me.
Oh yeah, I'm in, you know, And that was no
and not it. It was like you got audition. Oh
(35:08):
my audition, I said, Okay, I thought I was like
I thought it was like a look see, Well that
was just stupid of me. But I also thought it
was a fantastic group of people. And you know they
they got it right. I told Karen and I told Beth,
I'll produced the first time. After the first show, I
think this is gonna last a long time because I said,
it's authentic and we don't even need it. We don't
(35:31):
need the script, and we would like pissed that they
have a script, like get that. Just give me the sandwich,
will make it. That's fine. We know what to do.
And that's what today people don't realize about that show
is there's really no script because we're all very authentic
at what we do and don't know how to do it.
I know the producers have to produce it and they
have to get the beats in, but it's a very
(35:53):
free willing show, which I think is why people like it,
because it makes you and everyone who has a personality
they can be themselves. And I think that's why you
you bring to the show, this sense of like freewheeling
fund that that you've learned your stuff and like going
back to see what you did working Tony and Tina's
and doing the Delhi and then doing Sandwich King and
(36:16):
now coming on and basically this must have been like
a layup because it's like you're doing one of six
parts and like I gotta rest for five parts that
this is easy. It really is, and it's not laziness.
It's the enjoyment of the give and take of an ensemble.
Like to me, I was like, you know, I'm a
vitual class clown. You've been you know, in quote unquote
(36:37):
classrooms with me enough Jeffrey, where you know I thrive
in that space. And this was like I'm getting paid
to be a class clown. I mean, like literally, how
would I So you know, I didn't want to mess
it up. I don't. I wanted to do my part,
be serious about the food obviously. But at the end
of the day, it's like the show gets better because
we're all evolving along with it in growing having children
(37:01):
and family. Katie you know, evolved to a marriage and
then being a mother on her own. In bringing on
Alex is like this whole different viewpoint. I mean, it's
it's such a fun journey and you know, you know,
I believe you're right. I concur with you that this
show will last a very long time. Yeah, it's just
it's one of those things you can't not watch it.
(37:22):
You know, it's like Entourage or the Sopranos, and the
Sopranos stopped. They stopped because they had to. If it
didn't have to, it still would have been on because
it's very topical and it's you relate to it, and
that's why I think the show works. So you're here,
this is one you just published an incredible book, Come
on over, which is I've read it and it's so you.
(37:43):
And I think the first time I saw the jacket
with you with the phone and I was like, this
is so perfect. And I think that, you know, we
used to review all the time because you know, everybody
had a book on the show. I didn't have a book.
You don't have a book, And it was like so
mean but so funny, but it makes so much sense.
It's it's perfect. Yeah, it's a bear man, it's you know.
(38:04):
I think why I didn't have a book until this
year was the work involved. I mean, I was busy
enough to I want to add more like sitting down
writing time, which is hard to find, and I knew
I wanted to make it great and there was nothing.
When that title came to me, I was like, now
I can write this book. I know what this book
is going to be about. Who's in a homage to
(38:24):
and what recipes will be in there, and what stories
And it just flew out of me quickly. I mean
not quickly. I mean it takes two years from start
to finish to get a book on the shelves from
the inception of it. And I wrote this book. I mean,
like the head notes some are very lengthy, two pages long,
which might be a little much, but I don't know,
and I wanted to get the stories. Now It's like
(38:45):
you publish a book and you're like, hey, I can
make the next one even better because I know how
to write a cookbook now, be I have so many
more recipes and stories that I want to put out there.
So I'm not saying I want And of course, what's
better than a cookbook? Two cookbooks? So what's happening? What's
what's on the horizon for you? I see you're surrounded
(39:05):
by the instruments. You're a very prolific musician. You love music,
and on the set you're always playing. Much of the
chagrine of some of your co hosts to listen to
you play the same fucking rift four times. I know.
I'm so sorry. During they had me in a separate
room and they moved my room temporarily, they said, because
I was so loud playing guitar and singing. So I apologize.
(39:27):
It keeps me fresh, you know, when I can. Part
of my job right is to be quick as quick
as humanly possible on that show, right, like to come
up with that singer as quick as possible. I keep
myself tight by playing the music in between. But yeah,
I mean I play every day. I have a band.
They were just over yesterday. We were rehearsing, and we
play out. We've had We've had three gigs so far.
(39:48):
I love it. And they're all guys that live blocks
from me. It's a basement dad band I call ourselves.
All our sons are friends. By the way, they're all
the same age, so we party together no matter what.
We might as well play music. My model in the
house is, you know, we create something every day here,
whether it's a podcast or a song or whatever. Just
use our creative spirit. Anyway possible, and this just adds
(40:09):
to that and it makes me happy. It's my thing.
We could talk all day, because we we always talk
all day, but it's the pleasure to spend an hour
with you. You're the best. You know, Thank you too.
You know, everybody listening Jeffrey is my Everybody asked you
who's your who's your greatest mentor? And I always answer
you and you're like, well, that's you know, obviously you're
just being I was like, no, you're You're somebody most
(40:30):
definitely to look up to, and I mean that. Thank you,
jeff Thank you for spending time. Have a fantastic afternoon
and a great weekend. Ma man fucko, thanks very much
for listening to Four Courses with Jeffrey Zcurian, a production
of I Heart Radio and Corner Table Entertainment. Four Courses
(40:53):
is created by Jeffrey Zcurian, Margaret Scarrion, Jared Keller, and
Tara Helper. Our exact producer is Christopher Hasiotis. Four Courses
is produced by Jonathan Haws Dressler. Our research is conducted
by Jesselyn Shields. Our talent booking is by Pamela Bauer
at Dogtown Talent This episode was edited and written by
(41:14):
Priya Mahadevan and mixed by Joe Tistle. Special thanks to
Katie Fellman for help as recording engineer. For more podcasts
from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
My name is Jeffrey Zarrian, and you're listening to four
Courses with Jeffrey z Carian from my Heart Radio. In
four courses, I'll be taking you along for the ride
while I talk with the top talent of our time.
In each conversation, I focus on four different areas from
my guests life and career. And during those four courses,
I'm going to dig deep in and cover new insights
(00:25):
and inspirations that we can all use to fuel ourselves
to push forward. My guest for this episode is a
celebrity chef and fellow Food Network host. He got to
start with Network TV when he won his final season
of Food Network Star, and he's known for his love
and aptitude for great sandwiches. Without further delay, let's get
into my conversation with the sandwich King and my dear
(00:47):
friend Jeff Morrow. All right, what do you think? Are
you ready? Like I say before every song when the
Jewel Bags play this up? Uh, Mr Jeff Morrow, A
good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on four Courses.
It's about time, That's all I gotta say to that.
It's about time for our first course. I wanted to
(01:11):
ask Jeff about his childhood in Chicago, growing up as
one of fifteen cousins in a large Italian American family.
Ever the comedian, It turns out he delivered some of
his earliest performances at the kids dinner table. Let's go
back to sort of your four and five. You're you're
in Illinois and you're around, you're on the table. What
is the first to smell of food that you can
(01:33):
sort of think that when you smell it, it's like
in the furniture, you know that smell? Right? Yeah? What
is it? That smell? Because that smell was at my
house growing up, at my grandma's house, at my aunt's house.
And it's that like deep simmering red sauce. I mean,
like cooked for a day, never saw the fridge, simmered
(01:54):
and then delitted and then sat overnight and then simmered again.
And it was Sunday, and it was started early, and
it's sent intensified with each hour as that sauce reduced
and became even more like sweet and tomato eat and fragrant.
I mean it's visceral, Like I smell that walking into
(02:16):
my own house and if Sarah's making any tomato based
sauce and it's like it brings me back to those
meals every Sunday in my Grandma Cays and pause, my
Grandpa Joe's house, the same house my mom grew up
in a two bedroom, four kids, two adults, no basement,
no upper stairs, just two bedrooms and every piece of
(02:38):
furniture covered in plastic. And that's not even a joke.
So there's nowhere comfortable to sit except around the table.
And there'd be eighteen, you know, the kids would be
in the kitchen at the little nook table the four
mica top and the built in booth, and we like
eight of us would squeeze there and all the adults
and whoever older kids would squeze around the table and
it would be the same menu. Sausage, meatballs, ravy, musta
(03:00):
choli salad and you know, c K four TCMO jugs
of wine. And I remember, it takes me back there. Man,
it was like the greatest gift I ever got where
those times every Sunday. You know, my my mom has
three siblings. Everybody had four kids, and we're all in
the same so there's sixteen. First, well, my uncle had
three kids. It's easier to say that way. He was
(03:21):
a slacker, right, you only had three or three from
two different marriages, so he you know, he was a
wild child. He was doing the best he could know
exactly my break, I know, right, three slacker. So I
have all these cousins that am extremely close with, like
my cousin Joe's coming over for his Friday bear with
me on the front porch at four o'clock, you know. So,
and it all centered around that, not only the food,
but that smell, that particular smell. How did the work too?
(03:45):
Was there like an attendant that would like help someone
get in and out of the bathroom? And how many
bathrooms you have for all those people? Oh, in my
my grandparents house one one bathroom? Hot that work? Yeah,
there was a guy there. He was He had denten,
he had lister, he had a cook, a couple of
packs of light cigarettes, you know, some fart spray all that.
(04:06):
You threw him a buck or a sawbuck if you
had a good week and you need be on your way. No,
I remember, I mean like sometimes after dinner, Yeah, there
was a lineup saying I mean you know that's I
never thought about that. I mean to me, it was
always like the bed situation for my mom growing up
in that house. The bathroom was the real issue. I
think now that I think about it, real issue, right,
(04:26):
And we're like, if we don't have like two bathrooms
with three bathrooms, we freak out right. It's like it's
not possible. Oh my god. I mean there's literally three
showers in my house that have never been used. That's
what happens to you're an international television start did you
store Do you store all your podcast equipment in one
shower like we do here? And uh, it's so much crap.
But you got all this recording stuff. Where does it go?
You know, it's like a mess. Well, you could see
(04:47):
my room from this is like, I don't know, fifteen
by eighteen. This room, it's not big. And I have
all the instruments from my band, all my instruments. Lorenzo's
right next door. I don't know. Men just with with
the space. I guess it's in blood to be resourceful
like that. I love the sauce smell. I think that
in my house. I can tell you that this there
(05:08):
was similar smells, but it was both the onions and
lentils and lamb, and I swear it turned the wallpaper
a different shade of color over thirty or forty years. Fat,
you know, the fat that comes out and just it
comes out in a mist right and it has to
go somewhere. Yeah, And there was no like high powered
external exhaust fans blowing in those kitchens right now they
(05:31):
blew it back in. It went up and then blew
right your face. It was like what was what glasses on?
You couldn't see what you're cooking in the first five minutes.
I remember, I'd like go to parties and so I
just you know, I have that big garlic smell and
the sauce smell on me, and I can dance with
young ladies and like you smell like Italians foods. Well,
(05:52):
you seem to have gotten a real dose of food
in the way that I think that most people in
this business have. They really get it from the the ancestors.
They get it from being around it so much they
don't even know they're getting it. But then somehow you
got the acting bug and you decided like this might
not be what you want to do. You wanted to
you were doing something else. What happened, Well, the power
(06:17):
of food was right from it. It was like stupid.
How how noticeable it was, right, I mean like around
boom right there, young, we're eating where you know, every
celebration revolved around trades of food, right home cooked meals, eating, chewing, smiling, laughing.
But what I love, like my first stage was not
the stage. It was those tables. And I had a
(06:38):
lot of cousins, a lot of siblings, a lot of
loud people hard to get attention. I can be mean,
I could be loud or I could be funny. And
for me, it was like that's what developed that muscle
early on, and that you know kind of zest for
performance was like this is my venue. I'm like, I'm
I learned, and I get a laugh from the uncle
(06:59):
and I get from the other uncle who's harder to
make laugh, and You're like, I gotta stick. I got
a routine and this is I love this like I
love being Even then you get invited to the adult
table a little more. You know, I worked the you know,
I cut my teeth at the kid's table and then
I I you know, i'd get the uh, I get
the bump up to the adult table after a couple
of years and maybe get a little nipple wine and
(07:21):
were at a cigar and worked the room. But I'll
never forget like one of the most defining moments I
was my grandpa's funeral. Right, it was the luncheon, which
I lunch from a young age. That was like that
was my zone luncheon I called I killed never met
a funeral runch and right didn't crush. And in my
(07:42):
uncle's that was back when Andrew Dice Clay was popular,
and we said, you know, my brother would have a
tape of a tape of a tape that was we
couldn't let your parents because of all the swearing and
the raunchy humor, right, super rated r especially for like
a sixth grade but we would like put in our
cassette players are are Walkman's wed like ride or bike,
And I memorized everything. So my dad and my uncle's
(08:04):
they pull me in the room like the side room, right,
and there be like go ahead. I'm like what Dad,
He's like, He's like, give me, give me a cigarette unlit,
right and give me like go ahead, do do the dice.
And I'd sit there and I'd be like macar de
gar dack, Why do you always make me? I'm like
cock and I would do that sixth grade. I mean,
(08:28):
you know, ten years old and like not no ants
in sight, not my mom, nobody because and my dad
like gave me the swear not like you could swear.
And from that moment on, I was like, done, this
is what I do. That is a fantastic and I know,
like that the Andrew Dice was I would say that
(08:49):
Dave Chappelle of his time. He was just I mean
maybe that was just cerebral but super controversial. Where to
the point was I mean, like, you know, I mean
pretty misogynistic all the things that you know, we're growing
getting past Jeffrey, but it's uh, I mean, well maybe
that's why, you know, maybe that's why humor the geared
towards eighth graders. So that was really it. I mean
(09:15):
that was ten year old. You're a ten year old.
You're a comic. I think you're loving the feedback. That
feedback is everything. And someone laughs at a joke. It's
like someone cooking at dinner and saying this is the
least and they clean their play. You like just you
just want to do more and more and more and more.
It's hard to get to that point, you know, right,
like It's hard to gain the skills and experience to
(09:36):
put a plate of food out there that people want
to stop up, you know, with the last bit of
table bread. It's hard to get a routine in or whatever,
the confidence to talk to a room of three people
or three hundred people. But man, once you get there
and you get the instant feedback in the response, you know,
a laugh and a smile, the same as like a
in a chew. So now you're on stage. You're in
(09:59):
high school and performing. How cool is that? Mm hmm.
I went to a high school, a big, very diverse,
very just intense high school with a pretty amazing pedigree.
You know, we've had actors, comedians. Ray Kroc went to
my high school. Ernest Hemingway went to my high school.
You know, it's very historic, and it's kind of right
(10:21):
on just the beginning of the western suburbs of Chicago,
so shares a border with the city. So you get
this immense diversity, and it's a big place to go
to a freshman, and you just get chewed up if
you don't have a pair on you or some confidence.
I mean there's four floors, people throw pennies at you.
It's terrible. So I found I was like, I'm gonna
go there and I'm doing like all the theater right,
(10:42):
and so you get cast as a little bit part whatever.
But I worked up pretty quickly, and that kind of
gave you a safe space. I wasn't necessarily like a
theater kid in high school, but I loved performing. Like
I didn't really hang out with the theater kids. I'm
not like disparaging the theater kids, but if you want
to high school, you know, if you want, And they
did their own thing, and there were the true kids
(11:03):
out there that were in it for that moment on stage,
the art form. But you know, for me, it was
I wanted the laughs. I wanted the comic roles. I
wanted the accents all that stuff. So I guess I'm
lucky for having that such a young exposure. Even before that,
my parents driving me to downtown to go to the
Second City youth programs and learn improv from third grade on.
(11:25):
You know, my dad saw me on stage at a
third grade play. That's my son, that's my son. Well,
you know my dad. If if you met Gus like
you think like this is the father that's gonna throw
his kids into wrestling in football because big kids. The
minute he saw me on stage and that you know whatever,
crappy third grade play and I came out playing King
George the Fourth with the spot on British accent and
(11:47):
a capon in a in a crown. He was like,
this kid, we're gonna push this, you know, we're gonna
support it. Anything stagewise that would throw me into in
(12:12):
our second course, I had to understand how Jeff's love
for the performance translated into a career not just on
the stage but in the kitchen. He studied radio and
television at Bradley University, where he actually began working behind
the scenes. I didn't do like any on camera stuff.
They're nothing. It was all editing, you know, shooting, lighting, sound, editing,
(12:34):
and I was like more editing focus because it was
a small program, but we had big, brand new building
they built. But a very old school news guy who
like were a scarf, you know, like a ankerchif scarf
and like a cowboy had but he was from nowhere
in the West. He kind of taught us like how
to edit. Well, so that's one skill I've really utilized
in this stage of my life, is like how to
(12:55):
edit video because we do it all the time on
social media. For him, these reels and all these things,
it helps to have a background knowledge. But I would,
you know, you do all the pre requisites. I get
sees and everything. And I crushed the television stuff because
you'd sit in an editing bay, you shoot the video,
you do the news packages for the Bradley News program,
(13:17):
and you're like the shooter and the editor. And I
just like, I don't even want to shoot anymore. I
just want to edit the video. I mean, I'd sit
in a booth for like eight hours a day. You know,
you smoke a little the bit, do you drink of
the broco loots the next thing, you know, and so
midnight and you got the whole thing done. But I
was also in a band my my entire four years.
We're called Brother Ron, the only band on campus. And
(13:39):
it was so weird because it's only kids, and it
was in downtown Peoria, which was like full of bars,
so there was Peoria bands, but we were the only
Bradley band. We were the house band at the biggest
bar every Wednesday, and we play all the other bars
on the weekends. So I never had to ask my
like my parents, like I made my own money playing
in a band. We rehearsed in the basement of the
(14:00):
fraternity and we played covers. We had maybe about a
dozen original songs that nobody really cared about, but of
course they wanted to Rolling Stones Dave Matthews, Ben and
I was a full time steward for the fraternity to
make my room and board. So we ran the kitchen,
did all the There was a you know, a chef
(14:21):
quote unquote chef that would cook for the fraternity guys,
and I would do all the shopping, cleaning, lay out
the food, make sure it's cleaned up after everything. And
I loved it because I, you know, I worked in
Delhi's way, you know, throughout high school and butcher shops
and all that. So I was like pay for my board,
room and board. So two thousand graduated and then came
along a little musical called Tony and Teena's Weddings. So
(14:44):
how did that happen? And how? I mean that was
a big deal. It was a big deal. How did that?
How did they get to you? They do like auditions
or do they call theater? Yeah, how did they do that? Well,
it's really not a musical. It was dinner theater more
like improv full immersion Italian American wedding. Right. We didn't sing,
(15:04):
but there was like not like choreograph dancing, you know,
most of it was improv. There were choreographed moments. But
I started out in it because when I graduated college, right,
I had this beautiful radio and television degree from a
liberal arts college that you know, I paid off student
loans until I was you know, thirty two. Parents helped out.
Of course, probably Gusts and Pam watching like anything, but like,
(15:24):
you know, the old fashioned way. And I'm like, meanwhile,
I'm looking for a job in TV. And my cousin Dave,
he was a shot in the city for whatever train
was executive shop. He's like, I want to get I
want to open a Delhi. Come on board with me.
I know, you know you've worked in Delhi's blah blah blah.
You're creative. So next day we're ripping out, carpet, painting
the walls, doing everything. I'm building the menu from scratch.
(15:45):
We're ordering all the meats and vegge and opening up.
And then that same week we opened my dad's Like, hey,
I met the producer of Tony and Tina's wedding. Do
you want an audition? My dad was tremendous in helping
me throughout my career as far as like setting up
a stage for right, give me, supporting me, both him
and my mom, not just my old man. So I'm like, yeah,
So my dad's like, I'll line it up. And I'm like,
(16:07):
but I've never seen the show. I don't know what amditioning.
He's like, oh, we'll go. I'll get his tickets too.
So the irony is I went and auditioned on a
Friday night. I was with Sarah back then too, so
I was twenty one. I remember she came along like
the second time she met my family. And I go
to this room and it's a wedding hall. I mean
it is a banquet that holds three d and fifty people, right,
And there's a chapel next door, like a full chapel
(16:29):
with pews and stained glass in a pulpit and all
that stuff. And I go audition right before they go on,
like an hour or two, and I see the cast
members kind of walking, and then he cleared this thing
in the director Joey to Mosca, his brother Anthony's brother goes,
all right, let's do some improv. You know. He's like
kind of like a raliotic type guy. You know. I
was like, really tough guy, let's see what you got.
(16:51):
And I'm like, oh, I'm scared shitless. And they brought
in some of the cast members and we did like
an hour of improv. And here I am auditioning for
an Italian wedding, something I've been to four thousand times
in my life. Full blooded Italian American Chicago. So I'm
playing in a Chicago Italian American. I nailed it. They
hired me right there and then like to open the
(17:11):
doors and my family comes in and we sit down
and then we watched the show. It was awesome. But
I started as a waiter for I don't know, six months,
so we had to create our own character and stick
with it and serve the food because it was dinner
and the sausage, salad, pasta, and bread. And then finally
he's like, okay, now you can be a groomsman, you know.
And then he's like, okay, now you can be the
(17:32):
best man. So it took me a couple of years,
but then I finally made it up to Tony after
he made me lose weight and he said that, he said,
you lose twenty pounds, you could be Tony and I lost, Like,
So what was the was there a script? There were moments,
there were beats in the show that there were lines
right at the end in the church there are lines,
(17:52):
and then the live band, live dancing, drinks, two bars.
People are hammered right every offering you drugs. It was crazy.
It was like like when you hear about like SNL
back in the day, you know what I mean, or
like Second City because we're in the same building with
Second City. So we see the Second City people and
they turn their nose up at us, but we're like,
screw you were getting paid, you know, I didn't make
(18:14):
much at the at the end, I was making like
sixty eight bucks a show, being the lead of the show.
But I did that for four years in uh four years,
four years, seven shows a week. Mattenee's exhausting. Every other
Wednesday was the daytime matinee for the Blue Haired crew.
They bust them in from all like the old Folks Home,
and it was so horrible. It's horrible. You know, it's
a raucous drunk. You know, it's supposed to be lively
(18:37):
when you have you know, hundred and seventy two ninety
year olds watching you, I mean, like, when's the coffee?
Why is there no coffee. It's kind of a ballsy
premise to serve dinner and make that the show. It's
kind of like fantastic. At the same time, that's kind
of hard because every time you don't know what to expect.
The crowd could be like into it. The crowd could
(18:58):
be not into it, the crackerld drink too much. They
could like It's like, how does that work? How do
you gather feedback from something that's so like live all
the time. I don't know. Yeah, it's you know, every
night was different. There were countless people too, who thought
it was a real wedding like that we're kind of
duped into it and we were not. We would be
fined if we broke character, like we would get severe
(19:20):
trouble if they saw us talking to a family, even
if we knew him. We had to stay in character.
So we would do table work. So I think the
greatest skill I got from that was working any room anywhere.
I love that when we're at a live demo for
a corporate audience, or at a food festival for a
drunken audience, whatever it's They're all different rooms. So I
(19:41):
had to go to each table, work the table, make
them laugh, boom boom boom, onto the next table, night
after night, thirty six tables. That's incredible. So what what
did you do during the day. I we worked at
the deli. So I worked a full day at the die.
Get their six in the morning, prep, make soup, make
sauce is, then make sandwiches, do the caterings, have all
(20:03):
the people come in, serve them. Boom. I get in
the car, go home, shower up, put on the white tucks,
and go to Tony Tina's wedding till eleven o'clock every
night every weekend. But it was a very successful play,
like we were doing. I was there when eleven happened
and that had a bit, you know, it kind of
dropped off some of that crowd. But before that, I mean,
(20:25):
you do three fifty at night, which is a lot.
That's very impressive. I didn't know it was for four years.
It's exhausted. I mean if I was you know, four,
I mean, if I was forty four, it i'd be very,
very tired. Back then, it was like, Okay, I like
what I'm doing during the day, I'm very fulfilled. I'm
(20:45):
working in the Delhi, I'm slicing me I'm talking to
customers all day, and then I go get to be
a professional comedian at night. I was like, I'm doing it.
I'm making it. I was doing it, you know what
I mean, Like I was living the dream, but I
just wasn't making any money at anything. I mean, and
that's you cannot expect it to. I mean, so you
so you said, Okay, I'm gonna take I'm taking Tony,
(21:06):
I'm taking the salami, and I'm going to l a exactly,
It's exactly what I had in my car. You wanted
to do your own show. So tell me about that
show and how did that? How did that come about? Well,
my cousin who supported you, So Sarah did, of course
because she's a nurse. So she got a nursing contract
job that moved us across the country and put us
in a foot woman. Of course, right, we were engaged
(21:28):
at the time and I'm like, let's do this move
and she was she supported it. But my cousin Joe Ballerini,
who is a very successful screenwriter filmmaker. Were the same age, Like,
so I was twenty four right, making six day bucks
a show, making thirty dollars a day at the deli,
and he's like selling scripts for like six hundred grand,
and I'm like holy, and he's like, come on out,
(21:51):
we can do something. I'm like, dude, are you sure.
He's like, no, come and visit. We'll shoot a pilot.
We'll do the food pilot. We'll start pitching around. He's like,
I got context. I'm crushing it. So I was like, okay. So,
I mean the night I moved Sarah and I moved
right and we're out with Joe. He introduced me to
my buddy, my first friend out there, who is his friend.
(22:13):
He went to USC film school with Ali Khan. So
Ali and I became fast friends, and we're like, let's
do this thing. We're gonna shoot these wild gonzo parties
in the hills at my cousin Joe's house in the hills,
and we'll edit them and we'll put some music and
we'll put it on YouTube. And that YouTube was like
non existent then, and then we'll pitch it to networks
(22:34):
and production companies and we'll get a deal and we'll
make it. And we did that. We did all that
for three years, and we had chef Jeff and Ali.
We had a couple of sizzles. We had a pilot.
We shot a pilot that we never saw with the
production company. We had representation from U t A, which
is a big, amazing out there. We were in rooms
(22:56):
with Spike TV, MTV. We were never in Food Network. Kay,
they probably like, look at these two schloves. It was like, no,
this is not our demographic. But we hustled it. Man.
We did everything all the while I was I was
in the groundlings doing improv all the way up to
the writing lamp, getting on stage there writing and producing
my own sketch comedy shows with all my other friends
(23:17):
that moved in comics from Chicago. We're called the beef
Stand and we just we did all this and that
was It was just grind, grind, and no after no
after no. Like everything was a no, right, every single thing.
It was never a yes. And I was like, I'm
sick of this. If I want to be taken seriously,
I need to go to culinary school. I need to
(23:39):
take the food seriously, I'm working on the other chops.
I need to work on these chops and meet myself
in the middle. I'm never gonna I never wanted to
be the best chef in the world. I never was
going to be the funniest comic in the world. But
I could be the funniest chef in the world. If
I stick on that, I'll create an angle. I'll do
it with sandwiches and my love from the deli world.
And so that's what I did. I rolled over. I
said to Sarah, and good, let's go. I'm gonna go
(24:00):
and roll in. That culinary school is called um There's
a Court on Blue affiliate in Hollywood called the Kitchen Academy.
It was a year program, and I worked full time,
went to school every night for six hours and you
don't get out of there until midnight after cleaning for
three Like that's what they don't tell you go to
culinary school. You're cleaning matts. It's like, Biggs, I'm like,
(24:22):
oh my God, and I'm like yelling at these kids
right because I'm in my mid twenties and and I'm
really ready. I never gave a ship about school until
I paid for it fully myself and I was like,
I'm getting these, man, and I loved it. I mean
I loved every minute. I learned a ton and I
sharpened those skills, and I worked in restaurants, I staged,
I did my extern chips, and by the time I
(24:43):
was graduated, I auditioned for the first time for Food
Network Start while in l A and I got a callback,
like my first callback for our third course. I wanted
(25:07):
to hear more about that callback, which was just the
beginning of Jeff's journey to breaking through in the industry.
Even though he eventually won season seven of Food Network Star,
his first audition was for a spot on season four.
Things seem promising at first. When the Food Network producer
called Jeff back after his first audition with some good news.
He's like, dude, you're a shoeing. It's like you got this.
(25:28):
And I'm like, hey man, I hate to break it
to you, but I'm already scheduled to move back home
in like six weeks or whatever. So he's like, hey man,
it's a problem. You can do this from anywhere. So
we moved back home and I was like, I'm gonna
go home. My soul is going to be back in
Chicago and I'm gonna get the third call back and
I'm gonna get on the show. I did everything I could,
and it was just like the Cosmos being like, you
(25:50):
just need to be where you are with your family,
ready to start your own family. You know, we were
married at the time. We didn't want to start a family,
but it's hard to do out in l a if
you don't have a pot to pisson. And then I
never got a call back, like never. A couple of
months went on, and then it was December, which was
like I don't know, six months, five months after I
moved back home, and I got a call and it
(26:10):
was Jennifer Sullivan. She's like, they want to fly you
out to New York next week for the final round
of auditions in Audition and Food Network Studios Chelsea Market.
I'm like, wow, that's when it was back then. Yeah.
I was like, I did it. I made it. I'm done.
I made it, mom, I'm going to the big times.
I got the call, so I went there. You know,
(26:31):
I sat and waited in Chelsea Market next to the
Lobster Place, and that right there, chugging coffee, smelling wet
lobster and seafood terrible. It was terrible. That that's a
terrible corner. Oh and I'm like, oh my god, am
I gonna get the job? And I killed him. I
swear I got a standing ovation and I was the
last one of the night. I missed my flight, so
I got on the plane early next day. You know,
(26:52):
it's like a connecting flight through Atlanta. They put me
in a hotel in Queen's. Only the finest right, only
the finest thing. So but it was my first time
in New York. For me, it was like, you know,
my Mary Tyler more moment. I'm like taking a subway
to Type Square and twirling about and I'm waiting. I mean,
I waited by the phone for months, and then I
(27:14):
finally called the I had the number on my phone.
She's like, yeah, we're sorry, someone should have called you.
You didn't make the show. And I was crushed. And
then the next year I was like, let's give it
a shot. So I threw in a video. Nothing. Year
after that, like I'll give it one more shot. Nothing.
And then the fourth time I was like, I'm gonna
give it one more shot. And I remember I didn't
(27:35):
tell Sarah. I was auditioning again, sending in a video.
Right in Sarah's like, did you send in a video
to Food Network star this year? And I'm like, yeah,
I did. She's like, well, we should have talked about this.
I'm like wow, She's like, I don't know, man, I
think this is it and this is the year. I'm like,
you don't know nothing about me. I only fail, you know.
I'm like, I'm only It's gonna be another no. But
(27:55):
by that time I was I was running a cafe
and a building. I was a private show for a
large mortgage company, so I'd feed three people a day,
had a couple of people under me. It was an
ideal job. I got paid decently, great hours, making sandwich,
just slice in meat. You know, it's like my own deli. Right,
It's like no risk on my end, It's perfect. I
(28:15):
sent in the video and then I got a call
back like a day later. It happened so quick. And
then they're like, tomorrow, we're putting you on a plane
back to New York for the final rounds of auditioning.
And then I went there and I did the whole thing.
Background check, have you ever smoking? Prostitute? Have you what
drugs have you done? Have you ever hit somebody? I'm like, yeah,
I punched a guy a couple of years, probably not listening.
(28:37):
It was outside my cousin's restaurants. That doesn't count. It
was scrubbed. But before I got on that plane, she goes,
you know you're gonna make the show. You get on
that plane and make that show, and you're gonna get
on the show in our lives are gonna change forever.
I'm like, God, no way, right, And she was so right,
because I got off that plane and then it's all
happened in like six days. It was so fast, right,
all this pent up energy for like it to happen
(29:00):
so quick. And they're like, you were flying you out
January twenty one. I'll never forget the date. You're gonna
give up all your crap, all your phones, everything, and
you're gonna live in this house for two and a
half months, and you're gonna do the show. And if
you win, you win, you win this. If you don't,
you can't say nothing for three months and blah blah blah.
You know, so obviously I I went and I ended
up winning, And Sandwich said Sandwich King right, and I
(29:25):
knew if I had a good point of view, and
that point of view was like I was trying to
carry it through all those other auditions and I was like,
this is it. In the moment, I kind of like
set it out loud the first challenge. I think people
are like, damn, I should have thought of that, you know,
and when you know, because nobody, nobody staked that claim
yet that was all mine and nobody said I'm I'm
(29:45):
gonna teach the fundamentals of queling area through the artistry
of sandwich creation with a sense of humor. So in
reality was it was Tony and Tina's wedding. But for real,
you were like working the tables every night and there
was no problem. It sounds like it was the easiest
thing you've ever done. Really, I mean, because I know
you and it was like, I'm just gonna make something up.
(30:06):
I'm gonna go with it. Yeah, So you won season
seven and how was that? Like, what was the prize
and what was the back I don't remember what the
prize was back then. Today, Cash, I'll tell you that much.
It was it was a show. I got a six
episode season of Sandwich King that premiered. So the irony
is because of our ND eight we had to go
(30:26):
back to work as normal, like we couldn't quit our jobs.
Of course, if we got fired, it was one thing,
but especially since I won, They're like, you have to
go back to work. You have to pretend everything is
normal in your life. I was like, I've been going.
People are gonna think I was at rehab or that joined,
you know what I mean, Like I'm not from like
a place where people like, where were you went to
to the Kenny Bunkport for the summer? No? You know,
(30:48):
did you winter in Palm Springs? No? I went to
you know, it was like either rehab or prison, that's
the only option. So people were like, where the hell
do you go? I was like, so my excuse was
and it was the only Johnny improviser here, right, I
was like, Oh, I went to learn uh saloon me
crafting with Mario Batalli in New York City and may
(31:10):
or may not have been filmed. I swear that's what
I said, which I thought was pretty good considering like
it was like, oh, that sounds like pretty cool, and
I can understand why he went to go do that
for so long. But uh. And then when it was
finally announced, the cast was finally announced, it was like, Okay,
I can breathe, I can stop lying about this fracta
so you know, Suli Maria Adventure. But then for the
(31:33):
next thirteen weeks, everybody's like, did you win? Do you
win this week? Do you go home this week? You
can tell me. Come on, we know each other, Just
tell me you win, Just tell them. Oh so much
of that. And then by the end, I was like,
I'm done. Like I remember, I was supposed to leave.
My last day was on a Friday. The finale was
on a Sunday of Food Network Star. I didn't make
it pass launch on Thursday. I just walked out. The
(31:55):
owner screwed me, and he told a local news outlet,
two of them that I won already, and they interviewed me,
and I spent my last day at work in a
conference room with the company's legal team in Food Networks
legal team fanning me with a lawsuit because I preached
my n d A, which I didn't. Why would I mean,
I made it that far. I'm not gonna tell the
(32:15):
guy in the last day that I won, especially the
news that team was not taking it many people. I
had the same issue with Iron Chef, who was six
months and it was like, really, you know, how do
you contain that it's Kali. It's like your static right,
You're like, wow, are you like you don't even know
what's going on. For our fourth and final course, I
(32:40):
wanted to ask Jeff about his latest book and how
he's passing time at home during the pandemic. But first
Jeff and I reflected I wanted his like to launch
The Kitchen, which we co host together along with Sonny Anderson,
Alex Gornas, Shelley, Katie Lee, and myself. Your wife was right,
she said you're gonna do this, is gonna change our lives,
and it did. And then you got a call for
I think it was too that I'm fourteen for the Kitchen. Yeah,
(33:02):
I remember Jesus Man ten years. So we got the call.
I was at the restaurant and I'm sitting there and
I get this call and I'm like, oh my god's
the network And there's like, well, the network calling you
is the double edged sword. It's good or bad. It's
never like how you doing, let's talk. It's always like
why did you do this? Or here's a new job,
(33:22):
so it's like you never know what it's gonna be,
or you're being fired or something. So and I we
auditioned for that show, and I remember, I'm like, I
had a feeling I was going to be in the show,
you know what I mean. I've auditioned enough in my
life for stuff. I knew when I get the job,
and I knew I got the job for this, And
then they kind of told me that much. And I'm like, well,
who else is in there? Like, oh, they're still piecing
(33:43):
together a couple of the other ones. I'm like, well,
who am I being? They're like Sunny. I'm like done,
I go perfect Joys like Katie. I'm like, oh, that
would be great. I didn't know where at the time.
And then I was like please because we auditioned to
gethers with Jeffrey. I'm like, dude, it is a classic trope, right,
it's the straight man the funny man. It's been done
because it works, and it'll work in this format in
(34:04):
the network. I don't think there's no natural pairing that
works like that, and it's all new for them. They've
never done this sort of thing. But man, I was
so happy when I was like they told me you
were involved and that all happened on that call, and
I was like, it was very nerve nerve racking because
it was like, oh my god, what's my schedule going
to be? Like now, how much am I going to
be away from home? Is it going to be? It
(34:24):
might be gone for a month, you know what I mean.
Like that's like a whole another People don't realize, Yeah,
the work's great, but all my work takes me away
from home. So that's like you're excited, but you're also
nervous because you have this family that depends on you.
Like we got used to not going anywhere. It was
awesome and like being at home, like you genuinely love
your family. I love my family. I don't want to,
you know, but it only it doesn't get easier. And
(34:47):
I'll remember I was remember auditioning with you, and I
remember that Katie, and I remember Marcella, and I remember
there are so many other characters. I think there were
five or six auditions which I was I was un
chopped and I was like, oh yeah, they're gonna call me.
Oh yeah, I'm in, you know, And that was no
and not it. It was like you got audition. Oh
(35:08):
my audition, I said, Okay, I thought I was like
I thought it was like a look see, Well that
was just stupid of me. But I also thought it
was a fantastic group of people. And you know they
they got it right. I told Karen and I told Beth,
I'll produced the first time. After the first show, I
think this is gonna last a long time because I said,
it's authentic and we don't even need it. We don't
(35:31):
need the script, and we would like pissed that they
have a script, like get that. Just give me the sandwich,
will make it. That's fine. We know what to do.
And that's what today people don't realize about that show
is there's really no script because we're all very authentic
at what we do and don't know how to do it.
I know the producers have to produce it and they
have to get the beats in, but it's a very
(35:53):
free willing show, which I think is why people like it,
because it makes you and everyone who has a personality
they can be themselves. And I think that's why you
you bring to the show, this sense of like freewheeling
fund that that you've learned your stuff and like going
back to see what you did working Tony and Tina's
and doing the Delhi and then doing Sandwich King and
(36:16):
now coming on and basically this must have been like
a layup because it's like you're doing one of six
parts and like I gotta rest for five parts that
this is easy. It really is, and it's not laziness.
It's the enjoyment of the give and take of an ensemble.
Like to me, I was like, you know, I'm a
vitual class clown. You've been you know, in quote unquote
(36:37):
classrooms with me enough Jeffrey, where you know I thrive
in that space. And this was like I'm getting paid
to be a class clown. I mean, like literally, how
would I So you know, I didn't want to mess
it up. I don't. I wanted to do my part,
be serious about the food obviously. But at the end
of the day, it's like the show gets better because
we're all evolving along with it in growing having children
(37:01):
and family. Katie you know, evolved to a marriage and
then being a mother on her own. In bringing on
Alex is like this whole different viewpoint. I mean, it's
it's such a fun journey and you know, you know,
I believe you're right. I concur with you that this
show will last a very long time. Yeah, it's just
it's one of those things you can't not watch it.
(37:22):
You know, it's like Entourage or the Sopranos, and the
Sopranos stopped. They stopped because they had to. If it
didn't have to, it still would have been on because
it's very topical and it's you relate to it, and
that's why I think the show works. So you're here,
this is one you just published an incredible book, Come
on over, which is I've read it and it's so you.
(37:43):
And I think the first time I saw the jacket
with you with the phone and I was like, this
is so perfect. And I think that, you know, we
used to review all the time because you know, everybody
had a book on the show. I didn't have a book.
You don't have a book, And it was like so
mean but so funny, but it makes so much sense.
It's it's perfect. Yeah, it's a bear man, it's you know.
(38:04):
I think why I didn't have a book until this
year was the work involved. I mean, I was busy
enough to I want to add more like sitting down
writing time, which is hard to find, and I knew
I wanted to make it great and there was nothing.
When that title came to me, I was like, now
I can write this book. I know what this book
is going to be about. Who's in a homage to
(38:24):
and what recipes will be in there, and what stories
And it just flew out of me quickly. I mean
not quickly. I mean it takes two years from start
to finish to get a book on the shelves from
the inception of it. And I wrote this book. I mean,
like the head notes some are very lengthy, two pages long,
which might be a little much, but I don't know,
and I wanted to get the stories. Now It's like
(38:45):
you publish a book and you're like, hey, I can
make the next one even better because I know how
to write a cookbook now, be I have so many
more recipes and stories that I want to put out there.
So I'm not saying I want And of course, what's
better than a cookbook? Two cookbooks? So what's happening? What's
what's on the horizon for you? I see you're surrounded
(39:05):
by the instruments. You're a very prolific musician. You love music,
and on the set you're always playing. Much of the
chagrine of some of your co hosts to listen to
you play the same fucking rift four times. I know.
I'm so sorry. During they had me in a separate
room and they moved my room temporarily, they said, because
I was so loud playing guitar and singing. So I apologize.
(39:27):
It keeps me fresh, you know, when I can. Part
of my job right is to be quick as quick
as humanly possible on that show, right, like to come
up with that singer as quick as possible. I keep
myself tight by playing the music in between. But yeah,
I mean I play every day. I have a band.
They were just over yesterday. We were rehearsing, and we
play out. We've had We've had three gigs so far.
(39:48):
I love it. And they're all guys that live blocks
from me. It's a basement dad band I call ourselves.
All our sons are friends. By the way, they're all
the same age, so we party together no matter what.
We might as well play music. My model in the
house is, you know, we create something every day here,
whether it's a podcast or a song or whatever. Just
use our creative spirit. Anyway possible, and this just adds
(40:09):
to that and it makes me happy. It's my thing.
We could talk all day, because we we always talk
all day, but it's the pleasure to spend an hour
with you. You're the best. You know, Thank you too.
You know, everybody listening Jeffrey is my Everybody asked you
who's your who's your greatest mentor? And I always answer
you and you're like, well, that's you know, obviously you're
just being I was like, no, you're You're somebody most
(40:30):
definitely to look up to, and I mean that. Thank you,
jeff Thank you for spending time. Have a fantastic afternoon
and a great weekend. Ma man fucko, thanks very much
for listening to Four Courses with Jeffrey Zcurian, a production
of I Heart Radio and Corner Table Entertainment. Four Courses
(40:53):
is created by Jeffrey Zcurian, Margaret Scarrion, Jared Keller, and
Tara Helper. Our exact producer is Christopher Hasiotis. Four Courses
is produced by Jonathan Haws Dressler. Our research is conducted
by Jesselyn Shields. Our talent booking is by Pamela Bauer
at Dogtown Talent This episode was edited and written by
(41:14):
Priya Mahadevan and mixed by Joe Tistle. Special thanks to
Katie Fellman for help as recording engineer. For more podcasts
from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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