Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:00):
Uh hoi, hoi.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, hello there, my co-host of this show, I Tell
Stories.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I don't know where to go with it.
Sometimes I don't know what tosay when we're talking at first.
Here, my friend, we just foreverybody out there, literally
like I call Owen, and then heanswers, and then I just take it
from there and we start ourshow.
There's no prep or plan here atI Tell Stories, my friend.
Today, though, on the otherhand, we are going to speak
about someone that is near anddear to our friend Owen, the
(00:33):
Nick McMichael's heart here, andI come to like him quite a bit
too myself Anthony Bourdain.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Anthony Michael Bourdain was a deaf author,
travel, television show host andone-of-a-kind character.
What I took most from watchinghis shows was his remarkable
ability to convey to the viewerwhat life was like for real
people around the globe.
I mean, this guy wasn't ridinga tour bus with a blubbery,
fanny-packed, draped American togo see the Eiffel fucking Tower
, and while he stayed in swankyhotels at times and dined on
(01:01):
food fit for those whooutclassed royalty, he clearly
cared about us regular people,whatever.
Yeah, so we'll get into some ofthe.
(01:27):
There's too much to discuss,really.
I mean, I've never seen anepisode that I didn't take
something away from.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Right, yeah, there's no way to cover this man's life
in entirety, that's for sure.
I mean really anybody, but likethis guy, Holy shit, Like one
day we could do like athree-hour episode on him, I'm
assuming here how he lived.
Pretty interesting guy, I don'tknow.
Did you have any talking pointsyou wanted to start with, or do
you just want to roll my friendJust?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
roll yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Okay, well, anthony Bourdain, known to his friends
by Tony typically Anytime, likeit's somebody who is very
friendly with this guy, theycall him Tony, which seems to be
pretty common for Anthony's outthere.
Hey right, so in his early life,though he was born in 1956 in
New York City, you know, heactually didn't have any like
(02:20):
desire to cook.
I read a thing with his brotherwhere, like, they were just
like no, he did not cook as akid, no, he did not cook as a
teenager or a young adult.
You know, he basically wasdoing his thing, ended up going
to some college, right, and, uh,not doing very well, apparently
, or not caring to do very well,and his parents had a serious
(02:41):
talk with him about you know how, basically, he's wasting their
fucking money, like a lot ofkids out there probably do,
right, and he ended up getting ajob at a restaurant and cooking
, and I think that's where itall kind of started, from what I
understand, you know.
So that's a pretty big deal tothink about this guy.
You know, it wasn't like hispassion initially, but boy, did
(03:04):
it ever become that shit right?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, yeah, and I know far more about the.
You know about the TV programsand his life after being a chef.
I thought it was interesting tosee him go back to Leal.
I think you watched thatepisode where he had to go back
and try and do what he didnightly just a few years later
(03:29):
and it looked I mean, it lookedbrutal.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And that's something I remember him.
You know they're showing thisis a busy restaurant in New York
City.
I can't fathom how much of astressful just fast paced
doesn't describe it.
Full, just fast pace doesn'tdescribe it.
But it shows, you know, showswhat's going on to get you your
yeah, your steak that you'vedecided to go out and eat.
Until he says you know, uh,think about this when you go to
(03:53):
reach for your, your wallet,thinking about tipping your your
server, or I don't know howthat place operates, but I know
a lot of places I like to go.
The tips are spread evenly fromthe hostess to the guy busting
his ass washing dishes, becausethey each deal with different
difficulties.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, you know so, yeah, I do agree with that.
Most of the places I worked atno offense to that comment, my
friend, but I've worked at a fewrestaurants and they do not
split tips with the cooks.
Most places absolutely do not.
It's probably more likely thelocal restaurant or the
family-owned, and those are theones you should go to anyway,
people.
You shouldn't go to the fuckingRight.
(04:34):
Those are the ones I do go to.
Yeah, I know, I know exactly.
I just wanted to point that outreal quick.
Man, people need to supportthese family restaurants, I
think.
But yes, that is a thing whenyou're when you're.
One thing that he said in aninterview that I was listening
to he's like people don'tunderstand how physically
demanding cooking can actuallybe, and he was saying this as he
(04:56):
was talking about, like youknow, himself in his early 40s,
early to mid, and he's like Iknew I was about done, I was
spent.
He's like it is physicallydemanding to go in there day in
and day out and try to cook thesame thing, exactly the same,
every time, over and over andover again.
(05:18):
You know, and that struck me.
I'm like it.
Damn right, man, it is.
It would be difficult as fuckto work at some of these
restaurants, like these peopledo, and be able to replicate
what they've done before all thetime.
So that way it's a consistentthing for people who enjoy that
specific meal.
You know, blew my mind, oh, soyeah.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Was there a particular region that he went
to that made you, like, reallywant to go there?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
oh, I mean, I know there's so many to pick from,
but um, on the show, the onesthat I was, yeah, I mean, well,
I loved how he went to mexico.
That was probably my favorite,but I, uh, I was very interested
in the one and I want to say hewent to Saudi Arabia when he
was with that woman.
Yeah, that was just afascinating thing and it really
(06:10):
to me stood out who he was as aperson, because he had picked
between some finalists of wherehe was going to go.
You know, these writers orchefs or whatever they may have
been, I can't remember now andhe picked it.
Just fans, I believe.
Just fans, that's right.
That's right.
Okay, yeah, and he picked thiswoman from Saudi Arabia who was
one of the only women in thecountry who had an independent
(06:32):
broadcasting type thing that shecould do without men present,
you know, and he was so big onhighlighting these areas where,
you know, we look at him out onthe news and you think, oh, it's
just sand and everybody's somean and hateful and all this,
this and that.
No, the normal people are verykind, typically, like these are
all people around the world, andthat was one of his biggest
(06:54):
messages, you know, and when Iwas also listening to him talk,
he had been to France at somepoint earlier in his life and
the Bahamas or something youknow, but like nothing major and
he was a pretty average Joe,like you know, and it wasn't
like he was super well traveled.
He wasn't like you know, Idon't know.
(07:15):
And then they just afterKitchen Confidential, you know
it all took off from there andhe just was so perfect for the
role.
So sorry to make that long anddrawn out, my friend, but
there's a lot of places I seethat he went on that show.
That made me very much moreinterested in the culture and
the region in general.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean yeah, yeah, I think, uh, what stands out over?
I mean there's so many, but sansebastian, that's in it.
I think it's autonomous, butit's Basque country of Spain and
that looked just magical.
Would not do it justice, Isuppose.
But yeah, there are.
(07:55):
You know, I might watch anepisode tomorrow and be oh no,
that's number one.
But yeah, like you were sayingabout the Saudi Arabia, that
almost at least as much, if notmore, than any other.
The people seem to be jokingaround and smiling and yeah,
that's not the picture paintedfor us.
No, us Westerners no, andthat's you know.
(08:17):
That's something that I noticedPeople seem genuinely pleased
to have, even in the middle ofnowhere in Laos.
These people weren't watchinghis program, but they, they
invited him into and that'sthat's when it stuck with me
quite a bit that you could tellit was really bothering.
Not bothering, that's too mildof a term, but it very visibly
(08:41):
upset Tony when he he sat downwith a man who, laos, wasn't
even part of the Vietnam War,but they're close enough.
There's still landminesexploding and this man had lost
his leg and an arm and couldn'tdo his work anymore as a farmer.
And the man asked Bourdain, youknow, does this make you
(09:04):
uncomfortable seeing it?
And Bourdain, you know, doesthis make make you uncomfortable
seeing it?
And he said you know that hewas horrified that it happened,
but that every American shouldsee the effects of war because
we don't see it here.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
No, we don't see the actual.
We see, like, the rubble of thebuildings.
You might see a couple peoplebeing pulling out on stretchers
and there's some semi gruesomestuff, but that is that is
scratching the surface.
People, that's.
That's nothing compared topeople being dismembered and all
these things.
It's very, very gruesome, verygruesome on this is taking a
(09:41):
dark turn.
Yes, it has, my friend.
Hey, you know, I'll switch itand fix that up, I hope guys.
I can't remember who the quotecome from, but I was reading and
one of the funniest things I'dever seen that described him
perfectly was cheerfully dickish.
That is great, yeah, because hewas always so nice he really
(10:04):
was but he'd have some likeslightly snarky comments that
weren't derogatory or nothing,but he was.
He was cheerfully dickish.
He would kind of joke and fool.
He's a big, big joker man.
I I also read some stuff wherehe was in his early life.
He used to walk around with twosamurai swords, like that's
what he wore everywhere he went.
That's not a joke, just likehow he was.
(10:26):
He's a real character of sorts.
One of the things that I foundthat was as I dig through my
notes people please bear with me, it was just neat and I'm going
to quote this guy, davidRemnick, editor-in-chief of the
New York Times.
So here he is.
(10:47):
My wife came home one day andshe said look, there's a really
nice woman at the newspaper.
Her son is a writer.
She wanted you to take a lookat his work, which seemed
adorable.
Right, a mother's ambition fora son.
I took this manuscript out ofits yellow envelope, not
expecting much.
I started to read.
It was about a young cookworking at a pretty average
steak and fry place on LowerPark Avenue avenue.
(11:10):
I called this guy up on thephone.
He answered in his kitchen.
I said I'd like to publish thiswork of yours in the new yorker
.
I hope that's okay.
That was the beginning ofanthony bourdain being published
.
So I I told you about this andI got it wrong.
His mom brought it to to thefreaking chat.
I thought he was the one whowrote this letter, but I know it
(11:30):
was.
His mom pushed it and, uh, youknow he's like there's not a
more perfect person for this.
He's actually kind of a heck ofa writer and that's something
that shocked me when I waslooking more into him, that it
seemed like that possibly couldhave been his passion, like his
first passion, that and heseemed seemed to really enjoy
music as well, like all of usfor the most part, who have a
(11:52):
soul.
And he had written a book.
He'd written some novels, Iguess, and apparently even he,
to his credit, which he isself-deprecating in a joking way
, which most great people are, Ifeel, and he had written a book
about Typhoid Mary.
Written, written, thank you see.
(12:12):
That's why I don't write books,though I write raps, yo.
No, I'm just kidding Anyway.
So nonetheless, he'd written abook about Typhoid Mary.
Do you know who that is?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I know the name of it , though I'm not Will Burst,
right I?
I know the name of the dope,I'm not Will Burst.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right, I'll just give a quick background.
Typhoid Mary was a lady back inthe day in New York and she was
a carrier of typhoid butwouldn't be sick.
She was always asymptomatic,right?
Is that how they say?
That I feel, yeah, yeah, okay,cool.
So basically she kept spreadingit everywhere and just would
(12:49):
refuse not to kind of deal.
So eventually they ended uplike locking her up on an island
in New York and this is a bigdeal and you can look into it.
But I might actually have toread this book because he's kind
of a lot of people praise hiswriting about Typhoid Mary as
like a great historical piece,like very like scholarly of
sorts.
You know what I mean.
(13:09):
So that was pretty cool to knowabout him.
And he he didn't see thiskitchen confidential book
blowing up.
It came out of nowhere.
I had also read that he workedat a he after he was on the New
York times bestseller list.
He's like, yeah, this isprobably going to go away.
So he, just he was.
He went back to work and hekept working until basically he
(13:29):
got offered like something to dowith writing a script for a
movie that apparently wasincluding Brad Pitt at the time
and then ended up being somesort of TV series.
Didn't know that either.
This guy lived a hell of a life.
Yeah, he did a lot of shit, soI do also think that you know
(13:52):
his job, as he ended everythingwhen he was touring the world
would be like the perfect jobfor you.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Just being honest, yeah, yeah, I'll put in my
application.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah, let me uh I'll have to get in contact with
those people that that hired him.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
And let's get at the food network yeah, remember, I'm
saying he wrote a book.
I thought, no, you know, Iwrote a book.
I thought no one would read,yeah, and then start on a
television show.
I thought no one would watch.
And oops, yeah man, but againthat's that adds to.
Like his charm is that he's nothe.
I've heard I heard a couplepeople who clearly weren't very
(14:26):
familiar with calling himarrogant, and I think either
they don't understand what thatmeans.
I think they mistook the snarkyhumor.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Because he was never anything but gracious.
And you know, like we talkedabout the eating, Not that any
part of a warthog soundsdelightful, but he ate some of
the worst, after a dirt omelet,essentially, but that's all
these people in Namibia had andthey were offering it to him.
So he said I'm just going tosit through the worst meal of my
(14:58):
life because this is their onlyoption and that was more
important than, as I said, allknow all the fine foods and the
wonderful accommodations andstuff it was.
That wasn't what the show wasabout, right?
And then it is funny, the stuffI noticed.
He says Jeebus all the time,which I do as well.
(15:19):
Yeah, and just little.
The shots at Q-list celebritiesare always hilarious.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, he does.
He has a good sense of humor,man, he really.
The other things that were saidabout Anthony Bourdain by his
camera crew is that he literallynever complained.
He's like he never complainedabout anywhere.
We went any car ride, nothing.
He's like you just basicallywith him, made sure you had
plenty of Marlboro Reds andyou're just fine Like he loved
(15:47):
interacting with the people,even when they were just a bit
irritating him.
Made sure you had plenty ofMarlboro Reds and you're just
fine like he.
He loved interacting with thepeople, even when they were just
a bit irritating.
The main thing that he wasknown to say to them was like,
just stick close to me, guys.
Like.
He was kind of shy, you know,and people wouldn't assume that
of him being as he's a well wasa large celebrity, you know, in
his world especially.
But I think he was and he wasinternationally known like
(16:10):
nobody's business and maybe alot of people in the States
don't recognize that, unlessthey're like us, I suppose.
But he, yeah, man, this guy wasvery gracious, he was all about
exploring and showing and beingkind and you know, just like
the Mexico episode, he was sucha big like advocate for, you
know, mexican immigration andjust immigration in general.
(16:32):
He's like who the fuck do youthink cooks all the food in the
kitchen?
It's all a bunch of Mexicanguys.
He's like it doesn't matterwhere you're at New York, it's
like some French restaurant.
Bunch of Mexican guys.
You know, anywhere you are,yeah, leal.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Carlos was the head chef, you know when he went back
, this is ages ago now, but,yeah, pretty much the entire
kitchen staff at one of the, asI understand, one of the nicer
French restaurants in the UnitedStates.
Yeah, the kitchen is allMexican, hardworking, right
People making you elegant,elegant food.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yeah, and I mean there's yeah.
Yeah, he was such an advocatefor people and the under, you
know, the underservedcommunities of the world.
And you know one thing that wassaid about him as well, that
some one of his friends says andit kind of seemed to ring true
with a lot of people when I wasreading about him was the world
(17:27):
is a lonelier place withoutAnthony Bourdain, and I was like
damn.
Well said yeah man, I feel ittoo, and I barely just got on
the Bourdain train here, man.
I mean I'd seen the shows backin the day and stuff, but I'd
never been much of a FoodNetwork guy or any of that sort
of stuff.
But boy, I wish I would have,because it's not even about food
.
I mean, fuck, it was to bringit back to Nibia or whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Where was that at?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Nibia.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Okay, I can't say it properly, or, as the cheese puff
calls it, nambia.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Nambia All right, gotcha.
So he was eating a fuckingwarthog butthole.
They like, literally like itwas the intestine with the anus
on the end of it, and he wasdoing it to respect their
fucking culture.
And you could tell he was likeoh my god, I don't want to do
this, but I'm going to becausethank you so much for showing me
this and doing what you do andletting me be a part of it, you
(18:20):
know?
So, yeah, the seal eyeball.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
The Canadian Inuit killed a seal and then just
there's nothing down, just likeon the kitchen floor on the
linoleum just butchering it up,and then the eyeball is like an
offering of like.
You know you're an honoredguest, so yeah, he's definitely.
I'm an adventurous eater.
I thought until watching MrBourdain like yeah, there is
(18:48):
stuff I would not go near.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I'd call him Sir Bourdain, like knighted and all,
but I think he wouldn't likethat.
I think he'd just like to becalled Tony.
But he earns the right to me.
That guy's amazing.
The more I learn about him, themore I'm like fuck dude.
This guy's great, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
And that's something I saw.
David Chang is another veryfamous chef and seems like a
very, very kind man as well, andhe said, everywhere he went
with Tony, people came up and henever turned anyone down, never
said he wouldn't take a picturewith him or sign something, or.
And I guess david shank saidhow do you do this?
(19:33):
This has got to be justexhausting, you don't?
You don't get a moment um outin public without, and he said
it.
Bourdain said you know, if thisis the worst I have to do is be
gracious to people who enjoywhat I'm doing, then you know
I'm great with that, yeah, soagain, just like Go ahead, man.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I just Sorry I guess I'm cutting you off, but to add
to that, there was an interviewI listened to with him and he
was talking about similar thingsand he's like you know, yeah,
it is kind of annoying whenyou're at the airport and you
just got off a plane and youhave to use the bathroom really
bad and people are coming up toyou as some guy recognizes you
(20:15):
and wants to take a picture andtalk and you're like, oh, I just
got to use the bathroom.
He's like but this is what thehell?
This is so much better thansetting up a steam table at a
restaurant.
He said it's.
He's like what do I have tocomplain about it?
That's the least I have to doto make this guy's day shit, you
know, and I'm like gosh amazing.
I wish we all had this attitude.
(20:36):
How he lived that way yeah, andthat's for such.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
You know, I've always who I see on TV, or you know,
even musicians I listen to.
I get that they're they're realpeople and maybe they wouldn't
be, you know, wouldn't live upto my expectations or hopes, I
guess.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And I absolutely, especially from hearing and not
just after he was gone, but justhearing what others had to say
about him.
Both you know contemporariesand that what we saw on the
screen was actually him.
You know, I have faith in that.
You know, obviously there'sdramatic license or whatever.
You have to kind of play somethings out, but there's no
(21:18):
bullshit with Anthony.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Bourdain.
That's something he talks abouta lot.
Everything I read where it waslike an interview-style thing
and he's really just kind ofbeing himself and telling people
about shit was he would go totalk about like what do you miss
about cooking Right or in thekitchen and all these things.
And one of the only things hereally actually missed was
(21:42):
there's no fake shit, man.
He's like you can't go in thereand, just you know, say you're
about something you're not,because guess what, everybody's
going to find out you're not thenext day.
You know like he.
He's like some of the realestpeople that I've ever worked
with were in kitchens and he'slike that's what I miss, you
know, and the camaraderie ofthat.
You know it wasn't the cooking,it wasn't.
Obviously it's very laboriousand it's not probably the best
(22:05):
pay, and I know it's notactually the best pay in most
circumstances.
So you know all those things,but he's like it is absolutely
not fake.
He was not about bullshit, buthe wasn't a dick about it either
.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
But he, just, he was very, he lived in a very real
fashion.
My friend, I think, yeah, yeah,for sure.
That was when he went back tocook and he was talking to
Carlos and Carlos was tellinghim he seemed like a very young
guy I hope he was kind ofkidding.
He was saying his cholesterolwas 270.
And Tony was like wow, that'shigh.
And Tony said you know, we usedto talk about pussy and now
we're talking about cholesterol.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Oh, my God, I know what a guy.
What a guy.
No, he worked hard, played hard, lived life.
On his own terms, he was a verygenuine person.
I haven't read any of his books, but I do think I'm going to
pick up that Typhoid Mary one,to be honest with you and
(23:12):
possibly Kitchen Confidential,just because, even though he
talks shit about it, I imaginehe kind of likes it too's.
That's how I would be about it.
I suppose in a way I don't know, that wasn't my best work,
because you know how you dosomething and then years later
you're like you know, I don'tknow.
That's that's the gist.
He didn't.
He wasn't about like uh, justgloating, I suppose.
(23:32):
Right, famous as he was, youknow, and the uh?
The other thing that caught mepretty funny was is he's like uh
, what country are you mostpopular in this?
Uh, this writer, a gq, was anarticle I took a lot of source
from.
There's a great gq article onanthony bourdain where they
interview a lot of his friendsand family, the camera crew, but
(23:53):
it's all just brief uh quotes,you know, and stuff.
A lot of his friends and family,the camera crew, but it's all
just brief quotes, you know, andstuff a lot of the times and he
was like, well, he's like nospecific country necessarily,
but he, he was like it wouldalways seem to be a tourist from
some other country, like if I'min, you know, I'm just gonna
throw stuff out here If I'm inGreece.
It was somebody from China whorecognized me.
(24:14):
He's like it was the weirdestthing.
He's like everywhere I went,like they'd be.
And then he said in Paraguaywas one of the places where he
actually had people waiting forhim in his hotel lobby.
He was, he was pretty big inParaguay.
He said, yeah, pretty cool man,I like this.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Well, he made a a hoff reference.
So it's frightened, I can't.
I wish I thought everything Iwrote down in that book I didn't
bring with me, but it wassomething like the terrifying um
affinity for david haffelhoffmusic in germany like yes,
another, and I forget it was inAsia, I know that, but he, oh
yeah, shanghai he referred to.
I don't even remember exactlywhat the dish was, but as
(25:01):
jellied mop water oh gross, thatsounds disgusting, yeah and
yeah, when he was in Koreaapparently you can rent like any
DVD and just watch it in thislittle room he was like I hope
they have Steven Seagal movies.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, geez, yeah, God, steven Seagal and his ponytail,
yeah, yeah, oh, hey, yeah, ohhey.
So I did find that his firstsubmitted, they call it.
He submitted an unsolicitedessay and it's the one I was
talking about with his mother orwhatnot is don't eat before
(25:44):
reading this, and he submittedit to the New Yorker and it goes
as follows the piece candidlyrevealed the gritty and
glamorous realities ofprofessional kitchens, from
late-night drug use to theinsanitary practices of rushed
chefs.
And that's where he got hisstart.
It like really just blew upfrom there and that's how he got
his kitchen confidential bookdeal.
Like all this stuff just keptcoming and I feel he was very
(26:08):
deserving of it.
Too Rarely do I 100% feel thatLike just you just get the
impression when you startlearning about this guy that
holy fuck, what a great humanbeing.
I don't know.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean we say that about peopleat times and you know there are
a lot of people that are famousout there, that are nice, like
(26:29):
we were just talking about keanureeves.
Uh, soon to be friend of theshow, I hope one day.
I don't know, we'll see whathappens.
But a Bill and Ted fame and howgreat he is, but like no, this
dude was like.
You know, everything I readabout him it doesn't seem like
it's just people polishing upsomething because he's passed or
anything like that, they'rejust.
(26:49):
They're just so like ah, tonywas something else man, he was
amazing, you know, and he wasknown for in college when he had
some roommates apparently hewould do a lot of practical
jokes like he'd turn the blenderon in the other room and start
screaming and freak people outlike stuff like that.
He was, you know, so maybe,yeah, I know, right, so a little
(27:12):
over the top sometimes in hisyouth, especially judging from
the samurai swords he worearound town apparently, which is
hilarious.
And another thing, another notewith things like that is he was
very proficient with nunchucks,apparently.
So these are all things.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Okay, I didn't know that.
I knew he was big on jiu-jitsu,so she took the end of his life
.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Oh, wow, yeah, I didn't See there is so much.
I mean where it is.
Hopefully, if anything, guys,this sparks some interest.
What show would you recommendthem to watch, since you're more
of a connoisseur of Bourdainthan I am?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Honestly, like I said , said every single episode I
not only enjoyed, I like tooksomething away from it.
Yeah, um, and so I really waslate to the party.
A cook's tour was this firstthat I have not seen?
I don't, I'm gonna go back andtry and find it, but I'm working
my way through no reservations.
Which was next and I meanthat's amazing, but I was really
the only one I watched while itwas on the air.
Was that Parts Unknown?
And I mean you win anyway.
(28:19):
There's just yeah, there's justno way he can't be entertaining
, informative, and I mean I dolove, I do love the food porn,
you know, cause some of it's,some of it's stuff you don't
want to see yeah, like Englishblood cake.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
That's pretty gross.
No yeah, not doing it.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Nope.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, or that Icelandic festival he went to
where it's all like goat's headsand that was weird.
It's sharp.
Yeah, he was so funny.
He got offered that at everyrestaurant and every time he ate
it he's like oh my God, thisagain he's like this is
literally the worst fuckingthing I've ever ate in my life,
and that was.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And then the drink in Peru.
Remember that one?
I do not, I think it was yucca.
Which yucca?
But to ferment it like a womanin the village would chew on the
stuff and then her saliva wouldessentially like ferment the
stuff into an alcoholic beverage.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Oh my God, I you know , I've seen that on a different
thing, but I can't believe.
I believe he did that.
I believe he was there and didthat.
I just that's fair, that'samazing.
Yeah, that is a thing, and, uh,I don't know what I seen it on,
but it was yucca, indeed, youknow so.
But man, this guy, uh, yeah, Iencourage you guys to check out,
no reservations, and just startit from episode one, which I
(29:39):
believe is the iceland episode,isn't it?
It is, yeah, yeah, and he, uh,yeah, he's pretty cool man, like
there's no getting around it, Imean life.
Well, I mean, he went to everycontinent, I'm guessing right,
because, except for Antarctica,I suppose, but no, he went to
Antarctica.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Of course he did.
Of course he fucking did.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Did he have dinner on the space station?
That's what I want to know next, because jeez, oh man, but no,
definitely check out AnthonyBourdain.
Guys, I'm gonna.
I would love to give, uh, youknow, maybe like a nod to a book
for you guys to read or whatnot, but I have yet to read them,
so I don't want to do that rightnow, but myself included yeah,
(30:25):
I have kitchen confidential, soI'll read it and send it to you,
okay yeah, you should, man, forsure you know, if I don't,
hopefully I might pick up a copybefore that.
My friend, you know, um, gotcha,yeah, might as well, right?
Um, I don't know, man, is thereanything else you want to kind
of touch on here with him, is I?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
guess we have to.
I thought about just not eventouching on the obvious and just
really okay, just going withall Right.
But we do have to acknowledgethat on June 8, 2018, anthony
Bourdain took his ownextraordinary life.
As I drove west to beautifulIsland Park, idaho, to celebrate
my mother's birthday that day,I felt a strange void.
(31:07):
I wouldn't pinpoint the onlyoccurrence I've had to relate it
to until all these years later,but I felt a sense of loss of
someone I'd never met.
I now remember the feeling whenkurt cobain allegedly took his
own life when I was barely ateenager.
Even at that young age, Iremember telling mom that I was
more saddened by the fact thatsomeone I felt stood for the
right causes was gone than theloss of an entertainer.
Yeah, it was a fine evening, asall as all of the case, at the
(31:30):
cabin my folks built in themid-70s mussels in white wine,
garlic sauce over linguine andwonderful wine in conversation
to pair with the meal and Istill couldn't shake the empty
feeling.
Looking out over the flats ofthe Alpenglow and the hills with
the ever-majestic Tetonsvisible to the southeast, I
wondered what Anthony Mourdainwould have thought of this place
.
I thought about the likelihoodhe even knew Island Park existed
(31:50):
, much less visited.
Even knew Island Park existed,much less visited.
I think he would have loved it.
You're a great inspiration,uncle Tony.
We miss you.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Damn straight my friend yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
And if you or anyone you know is suffering from
issues involving mental health,please, please, reach out for
help.
Someone cares more than youknow.
Oh gosh, yeah, much loveeverybody, thank you.
Uh hoi, hoi.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, hello there, my co-host of this show, I Tell
Stories.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I don't know where to go with it.
Sometimes I don't know what tosay when we're talking at first.
Here, my friend, we just foreverybody out there, literally
like I call Owen, and then heanswers, and then I just take it
from there and we start ourshow.
There's no prep or plan here atI Tell Stories, my friend.
Today, though, on the otherhand, we are going to speak
about someone that is near anddear to our friend Owen, the
(00:33):
Nick McMichael's heart here, andI come to like him quite a bit
too myself Anthony Bourdain.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Anthony Michael Bourdain was a deaf author,
travel, television show host andone-of-a-kind character.
What I took most from watchinghis shows was his remarkable
ability to convey to the viewerwhat life was like for real
people around the globe.
I mean, this guy wasn't ridinga tour bus with a blubbery,
fanny-packed, draped American togo see the Eiffel fucking Tower
, and while he stayed in swankyhotels at times and dined on
(01:01):
food fit for those whooutclassed royalty, he clearly
cared about us regular people,whatever.
Yeah, so we'll get into some ofthe.
(01:27):
There's too much to discuss,really.
I mean, I've never seen anepisode that I didn't take
something away from.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Right, yeah, there's no way to cover this man's life
in entirety, that's for sure.
I mean really anybody, but likethis guy, Holy shit, Like one
day we could do like athree-hour episode on him, I'm
assuming here how he lived.
Pretty interesting guy, I don'tknow.
Did you have any talking pointsyou wanted to start with, or do
you just want to roll my friendJust?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
roll yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Okay, well, anthony Bourdain, known to his friends
by Tony typically Anytime, likeit's somebody who is very
friendly with this guy, theycall him Tony, which seems to be
pretty common for Anthony's outthere.
Hey right, so in his early life,though he was born in 1956 in
New York City, you know, heactually didn't have any like
(02:20):
desire to cook.
I read a thing with his brotherwhere, like, they were just
like no, he did not cook as akid, no, he did not cook as a
teenager or a young adult.
You know, he basically wasdoing his thing, ended up going
to some college, right, and, uh,not doing very well, apparently
, or not caring to do very well,and his parents had a serious
(02:41):
talk with him about you know how, basically, he's wasting their
fucking money, like a lot ofkids out there probably do,
right, and he ended up getting ajob at a restaurant and cooking
, and I think that's where itall kind of started, from what I
understand, you know.
So that's a pretty big deal tothink about this guy.
You know, it wasn't like hispassion initially, but boy, did
(03:04):
it ever become that shit right?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, yeah, and I know far more about the.
You know about the TV programsand his life after being a chef.
I thought it was interesting tosee him go back to Leal.
I think you watched thatepisode where he had to go back
and try and do what he didnightly just a few years later
(03:29):
and it looked I mean, it lookedbrutal.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And that's something I remember him.
You know they're showing thisis a busy restaurant in New York
City.
I can't fathom how much of astressful just fast paced
doesn't describe it.
Full, just fast pace doesn'tdescribe it.
But it shows, you know, showswhat's going on to get you your
yeah, your steak that you'vedecided to go out and eat.
Until he says you know, uh,think about this when you go to
(03:53):
reach for your, your wallet,thinking about tipping your your
server, or I don't know howthat place operates, but I know
a lot of places I like to go.
The tips are spread evenly fromthe hostess to the guy busting
his ass washing dishes, becausethey each deal with different
difficulties.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, you know so, yeah, I do agree with that.
Most of the places I worked atno offense to that comment, my
friend, but I've worked at a fewrestaurants and they do not
split tips with the cooks.
Most places absolutely do not.
It's probably more likely thelocal restaurant or the
family-owned, and those are theones you should go to anyway,
people.
You shouldn't go to the fuckingRight.
(04:34):
Those are the ones I do go to.
Yeah, I know, I know exactly.
I just wanted to point that outreal quick.
Man, people need to supportthese family restaurants, I
think.
But yes, that is a thing whenyou're when you're.
One thing that he said in aninterview that I was listening
to he's like people don'tunderstand how physically
demanding cooking can actuallybe, and he was saying this as he
(04:56):
was talking about, like youknow, himself in his early 40s,
early to mid, and he's like Iknew I was about done, I was
spent.
He's like it is physicallydemanding to go in there day in
and day out and try to cook thesame thing, exactly the same,
every time, over and over andover again.
(05:18):
You know, and that struck me.
I'm like it.
Damn right, man, it is.
It would be difficult as fuckto work at some of these
restaurants, like these peopledo, and be able to replicate
what they've done before all thetime.
So that way it's a consistentthing for people who enjoy that
specific meal.
You know, blew my mind, oh, soyeah.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Was there a particular region that he went
to that made you, like, reallywant to go there?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
oh, I mean, I know there's so many to pick from,
but um, on the show, the onesthat I was, yeah, I mean, well,
I loved how he went to mexico.
That was probably my favorite,but I, uh, I was very interested
in the one and I want to say hewent to Saudi Arabia when he
was with that woman.
Yeah, that was just afascinating thing and it really
(06:10):
to me stood out who he was as aperson, because he had picked
between some finalists of wherehe was going to go.
You know, these writers orchefs or whatever they may have
been, I can't remember now andhe picked it.
Just fans, I believe.
Just fans, that's right.
That's right.
Okay, yeah, and he picked thiswoman from Saudi Arabia who was
one of the only women in thecountry who had an independent
(06:32):
broadcasting type thing that shecould do without men present,
you know, and he was so big onhighlighting these areas where,
you know, we look at him out onthe news and you think, oh, it's
just sand and everybody's somean and hateful and all this,
this and that.
No, the normal people are verykind, typically, like these are
all people around the world, andthat was one of his biggest
(06:54):
messages, you know, and when Iwas also listening to him talk,
he had been to France at somepoint earlier in his life and
the Bahamas or something youknow, but like nothing major and
he was a pretty average Joe,like you know, and it wasn't
like he was super well traveled.
He wasn't like you know, Idon't know.
(07:15):
And then they just afterKitchen Confidential, you know
it all took off from there andhe just was so perfect for the
role.
So sorry to make that long anddrawn out, my friend, but
there's a lot of places I seethat he went on that show.
That made me very much moreinterested in the culture and
the region in general.
You know what?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean yeah, yeah, I think, uh, what stands out over?
I mean there's so many, but sansebastian, that's in it.
I think it's autonomous, butit's Basque country of Spain and
that looked just magical.
Would not do it justice, Isuppose.
But yeah, there are.
(07:55):
You know, I might watch anepisode tomorrow and be oh no,
that's number one.
But yeah, like you were sayingabout the Saudi Arabia, that
almost at least as much, if notmore, than any other.
The people seem to be jokingaround and smiling and yeah,
that's not the picture paintedfor us.
No, us Westerners no, andthat's you know.
(08:17):
That's something that I noticedPeople seem genuinely pleased
to have, even in the middle ofnowhere in Laos.
These people weren't watchinghis program, but they, they
invited him into and that'sthat's when it stuck with me
quite a bit that you could tellit was really bothering.
Not bothering, that's too mildof a term, but it very visibly
(08:41):
upset Tony when he he sat downwith a man who, laos, wasn't
even part of the Vietnam War,but they're close enough.
There's still landminesexploding and this man had lost
his leg and an arm and couldn'tdo his work anymore as a farmer.
And the man asked Bourdain, youknow, does this make you
(09:04):
uncomfortable seeing it?
And Bourdain, you know, doesthis make make you uncomfortable
seeing it?
And he said you know that hewas horrified that it happened,
but that every American shouldsee the effects of war because
we don't see it here.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
No, we don't see the actual.
We see, like, the rubble of thebuildings.
You might see a couple peoplebeing pulling out on stretchers
and there's some semi gruesomestuff, but that is that is
scratching the surface.
People, that's.
That's nothing compared topeople being dismembered and all
these things.
It's very, very gruesome, verygruesome on this is taking a
(09:41):
dark turn.
Yes, it has, my friend.
Hey, you know, I'll switch itand fix that up, I hope guys.
I can't remember who the quotecome from, but I was reading and
one of the funniest things I'dever seen that described him
perfectly was cheerfully dickish.
That is great, yeah, because hewas always so nice he really
(10:04):
was but he'd have some likeslightly snarky comments that
weren't derogatory or nothing,but he was.
He was cheerfully dickish.
He would kind of joke and fool.
He's a big, big joker man.
I I also read some stuff wherehe was in his early life.
He used to walk around with twosamurai swords, like that's
what he wore everywhere he went.
That's not a joke, just likehow he was.
(10:26):
He's a real character of sorts.
One of the things that I foundthat was as I dig through my
notes people please bear with me, it was just neat and I'm going
to quote this guy, davidRemnick, editor-in-chief of the
New York Times.
So here he is.
(10:47):
My wife came home one day andshe said look, there's a really
nice woman at the newspaper.
Her son is a writer.
She wanted you to take a lookat his work, which seemed
adorable.
Right, a mother's ambition fora son.
I took this manuscript out ofits yellow envelope, not
expecting much.
I started to read.
It was about a young cookworking at a pretty average
steak and fry place on LowerPark Avenue avenue.
(11:10):
I called this guy up on thephone.
He answered in his kitchen.
I said I'd like to publish thiswork of yours in the new yorker
.
I hope that's okay.
That was the beginning ofanthony bourdain being published
.
So I I told you about this andI got it wrong.
His mom brought it to to thefreaking chat.
I thought he was the one whowrote this letter, but I know it
(11:30):
was.
His mom pushed it and, uh, youknow he's like there's not a
more perfect person for this.
He's actually kind of a heck ofa writer and that's something
that shocked me when I waslooking more into him, that it
seemed like that possibly couldhave been his passion, like his
first passion, that and heseemed seemed to really enjoy
music as well, like all of usfor the most part, who have a
(11:52):
soul.
And he had written a book.
He'd written some novels, Iguess, and apparently even he,
to his credit, which he isself-deprecating in a joking way
, which most great people are, Ifeel, and he had written a book
about Typhoid Mary.
Written, written, thank you see.
(12:12):
That's why I don't write books,though I write raps, yo.
No, I'm just kidding Anyway.
So nonetheless, he'd written abook about Typhoid Mary.
Do you know who that is?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I know the name of it , though I'm not Will Burst,
right I?
I know the name of the dope,I'm not Will Burst.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right, I'll just give a quick background.
Typhoid Mary was a lady back inthe day in New York and she was
a carrier of typhoid butwouldn't be sick.
She was always asymptomatic,right?
Is that how they say?
That I feel, yeah, yeah, okay,cool.
So basically she kept spreadingit everywhere and just would
(12:49):
refuse not to kind of deal.
So eventually they ended uplike locking her up on an island
in New York and this is a bigdeal and you can look into it.
But I might actually have toread this book because he's kind
of a lot of people praise hiswriting about Typhoid Mary as
like a great historical piece,like very like scholarly of
sorts.
You know what I mean.
(13:09):
So that was pretty cool to knowabout him.
And he he didn't see thiskitchen confidential book
blowing up.
It came out of nowhere.
I had also read that he workedat a he after he was on the New
York times bestseller list.
He's like, yeah, this isprobably going to go away.
So he, just he was.
He went back to work and hekept working until basically he
(13:29):
got offered like something to dowith writing a script for a
movie that apparently wasincluding Brad Pitt at the time
and then ended up being somesort of TV series.
Didn't know that either.
This guy lived a hell of a life.
Yeah, he did a lot of shit, soI do also think that you know
(13:52):
his job, as he ended everythingwhen he was touring the world
would be like the perfect jobfor you.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Just being honest, yeah, yeah, I'll put in my
application.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah, let me uh I'll have to get in contact with
those people that that hired him.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
And let's get at the food network yeah, remember, I'm
saying he wrote a book.
I thought, no, you know, Iwrote a book.
I thought no one would read,yeah, and then start on a
television show.
I thought no one would watch.
And oops, yeah man, but againthat's that adds to.
Like his charm is that he's nothe.
I've heard I heard a couplepeople who clearly weren't very
(14:26):
familiar with calling himarrogant, and I think either
they don't understand what thatmeans.
I think they mistook the snarkyhumor.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Because he was never anything but gracious.
And you know, like we talkedabout the eating, Not that any
part of a warthog soundsdelightful, but he ate some of
the worst, after a dirt omelet,essentially, but that's all
these people in Namibia had andthey were offering it to him.
So he said I'm just going tosit through the worst meal of my
(14:58):
life because this is their onlyoption and that was more
important than, as I said, allknow all the fine foods and the
wonderful accommodations andstuff it was.
That wasn't what the show wasabout, right?
And then it is funny, the stuffI noticed.
He says Jeebus all the time,which I do as well.
(15:19):
Yeah, and just little.
The shots at Q-list celebritiesare always hilarious.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, he does.
He has a good sense of humor,man, he really.
The other things that were saidabout Anthony Bourdain by his
camera crew is that he literallynever complained.
He's like he never complainedabout anywhere.
We went any car ride, nothing.
He's like you just basicallywith him, made sure you had
plenty of Marlboro Reds andyou're just fine Like he loved
(15:47):
interacting with the people,even when they were just a bit
irritating him.
Made sure you had plenty ofMarlboro Reds and you're just
fine like he.
He loved interacting with thepeople, even when they were just
a bit irritating.
The main thing that he wasknown to say to them was like,
just stick close to me, guys.
Like.
He was kind of shy, you know,and people wouldn't assume that
of him being as he's a well wasa large celebrity, you know, in
his world especially.
But I think he was and he wasinternationally known like
(16:10):
nobody's business and maybe alot of people in the States
don't recognize that, unlessthey're like us, I suppose.
But he, yeah, man, this guy wasvery gracious, he was all about
exploring and showing and beingkind and you know, just like
the Mexico episode, he was sucha big like advocate for, you
know, mexican immigration andjust immigration in general.
(16:32):
He's like who the fuck do youthink cooks all the food in the
kitchen?
It's all a bunch of Mexicanguys.
He's like it doesn't matterwhere you're at New York, it's
like some French restaurant.
Bunch of Mexican guys.
You know, anywhere you are,yeah, leal.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Carlos was the head chef, you know when he went back
, this is ages ago now, but,yeah, pretty much the entire
kitchen staff at one of the, asI understand, one of the nicer
French restaurants in the UnitedStates.
Yeah, the kitchen is allMexican, hardworking, right
People making you elegant,elegant food.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yeah, and I mean there's yeah.
Yeah, he was such an advocatefor people and the under, you
know, the underservedcommunities of the world.
And you know one thing that wassaid about him as well, that
some one of his friends says andit kind of seemed to ring true
with a lot of people when I wasreading about him was the world
(17:27):
is a lonelier place withoutAnthony Bourdain, and I was like
damn.
Well said yeah man, I feel ittoo, and I barely just got on
the Bourdain train here, man.
I mean I'd seen the shows backin the day and stuff, but I'd
never been much of a FoodNetwork guy or any of that sort
of stuff.
But boy, I wish I would have,because it's not even about food
.
I mean, fuck, it was to bringit back to Nibia or whatever.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Where was that at?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Nibia.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Okay, I can't say it properly, or, as the cheese puff
calls it, nambia.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Nambia All right, gotcha.
So he was eating a fuckingwarthog butthole.
They like, literally like itwas the intestine with the anus
on the end of it, and he wasdoing it to respect their
fucking culture.
And you could tell he was likeoh my god, I don't want to do
this, but I'm going to becausethank you so much for showing me
this and doing what you do andletting me be a part of it, you
(18:20):
know?
So, yeah, the seal eyeball.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
The Canadian Inuit killed a seal and then just
there's nothing down, just likeon the kitchen floor on the
linoleum just butchering it up,and then the eyeball is like an
offering of like.
You know you're an honoredguest, so yeah, he's definitely.
I'm an adventurous eater.
I thought until watching MrBourdain like yeah, there is
(18:48):
stuff I would not go near.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I'd call him Sir Bourdain, like knighted and all,
but I think he wouldn't likethat.
I think he'd just like to becalled Tony.
But he earns the right to me.
That guy's amazing.
The more I learn about him, themore I'm like fuck dude.
This guy's great, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
And that's something I saw.
David Chang is another veryfamous chef and seems like a
very, very kind man as well, andhe said, everywhere he went
with Tony, people came up and henever turned anyone down, never
said he wouldn't take a picturewith him or sign something, or.
And I guess david shank saidhow do you do this?
(19:33):
This has got to be justexhausting, you don't?
You don't get a moment um outin public without, and he said
it.
Bourdain said you know, if thisis the worst I have to do is be
gracious to people who enjoywhat I'm doing, then you know
I'm great with that, yeah, soagain, just like Go ahead, man.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I just Sorry I guess I'm cutting you off, but to add
to that, there was an interviewI listened to with him and he
was talking about similar thingsand he's like you know, yeah,
it is kind of annoying whenyou're at the airport and you
just got off a plane and youhave to use the bathroom really
bad and people are coming up toyou as some guy recognizes you
(20:15):
and wants to take a picture andtalk and you're like, oh, I just
got to use the bathroom.
He's like but this is what thehell?
This is so much better thansetting up a steam table at a
restaurant.
He said it's.
He's like what do I have tocomplain about it?
That's the least I have to doto make this guy's day shit, you
know, and I'm like gosh amazing.
I wish we all had this attitude.
(20:36):
How he lived that way yeah, andthat's for such.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
You know, I've always who I see on TV, or you know,
even musicians I listen to.
I get that they're they're realpeople and maybe they wouldn't
be, you know, wouldn't live upto my expectations or hopes, I
guess.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And I absolutely, especially from hearing and not
just after he was gone, but justhearing what others had to say
about him.
Both you know contemporariesand that what we saw on the
screen was actually him.
You know, I have faith in that.
You know, obviously there'sdramatic license or whatever.
You have to kind of play somethings out, but there's no
(21:18):
bullshit with Anthony.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Bourdain.
That's something he talks abouta lot.
Everything I read where it waslike an interview-style thing
and he's really just kind ofbeing himself and telling people
about shit was he would go totalk about like what do you miss
about cooking Right or in thekitchen and all these things.
And one of the only things hereally actually missed was
(21:42):
there's no fake shit, man.
He's like you can't go in thereand, just you know, say you're
about something you're not,because guess what, everybody's
going to find out you're not thenext day.
You know like he.
He's like some of the realestpeople that I've ever worked
with were in kitchens and he'slike that's what I miss, you
know, and the camaraderie ofthat.
You know it wasn't the cooking,it wasn't.
Obviously it's very laboriousand it's not probably the best
(22:05):
pay, and I know it's notactually the best pay in most
circumstances.
So you know all those things,but he's like it is absolutely
not fake.
He was not about bullshit, buthe wasn't a dick about it either
.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
But he, just, he was very, he lived in a very real
fashion.
My friend, I think, yeah, yeah,for sure.
That was when he went back tocook and he was talking to
Carlos and Carlos was tellinghim he seemed like a very young
guy I hope he was kind ofkidding.
He was saying his cholesterolwas 270.
And Tony was like wow, that'shigh.
And Tony said you know, we usedto talk about pussy and now
we're talking about cholesterol.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Oh, my God, I know what a guy.
What a guy.
No, he worked hard, played hard, lived life.
On his own terms, he was a verygenuine person.
I haven't read any of his books, but I do think I'm going to
pick up that Typhoid Mary one,to be honest with you and
(23:12):
possibly Kitchen Confidential,just because, even though he
talks shit about it, I imaginehe kind of likes it too's.
That's how I would be about it.
I suppose in a way I don't know, that wasn't my best work,
because you know how you dosomething and then years later
you're like you know, I don'tknow.
That's that's the gist.
He didn't.
He wasn't about like uh, justgloating, I suppose.
(23:32):
Right, famous as he was, youknow, and the uh?
The other thing that caught mepretty funny was is he's like uh
, what country are you mostpopular in this?
Uh, this writer, a gq, was anarticle I took a lot of source
from.
There's a great gq article onanthony bourdain where they
interview a lot of his friendsand family, the camera crew, but
(23:53):
it's all just brief uh quotes,you know, and stuff.
A lot of his friends and family,the camera crew, but it's all
just brief quotes, you know, andstuff a lot of the times and he
was like, well, he's like nospecific country necessarily,
but he, he was like it wouldalways seem to be a tourist from
some other country, like if I'min, you know, I'm just gonna
throw stuff out here If I'm inGreece.
It was somebody from China whorecognized me.
(24:14):
He's like it was the weirdestthing.
He's like everywhere I went,like they'd be.
And then he said in Paraguaywas one of the places where he
actually had people waiting forhim in his hotel lobby.
He was, he was pretty big inParaguay.
He said, yeah, pretty cool man,I like this.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Well, he made a a hoff reference.
So it's frightened, I can't.
I wish I thought everything Iwrote down in that book I didn't
bring with me, but it wassomething like the terrifying um
affinity for david haffelhoffmusic in germany like yes,
another, and I forget it was inAsia, I know that, but he, oh
yeah, shanghai he referred to.
I don't even remember exactlywhat the dish was, but as
(25:01):
jellied mop water oh gross, thatsounds disgusting, yeah and
yeah, when he was in Koreaapparently you can rent like any
DVD and just watch it in thislittle room he was like I hope
they have Steven Seagal movies.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, geez, yeah, God, steven Seagal and his ponytail,
yeah, yeah, oh, hey, yeah, ohhey.
So I did find that his firstsubmitted, they call it.
He submitted an unsolicitedessay and it's the one I was
talking about with his mother orwhatnot is don't eat before
(25:44):
reading this, and he submittedit to the New Yorker and it goes
as follows the piece candidlyrevealed the gritty and
glamorous realities ofprofessional kitchens, from
late-night drug use to theinsanitary practices of rushed
chefs.
And that's where he got hisstart.
It like really just blew upfrom there and that's how he got
his kitchen confidential bookdeal.
Like all this stuff just keptcoming and I feel he was very
(26:08):
deserving of it.
Too Rarely do I 100% feel thatLike just you just get the
impression when you startlearning about this guy that
holy fuck, what a great humanbeing.
I don't know.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean we say that about peopleat times and you know there are
a lot of people that are famousout there, that are nice, like
(26:29):
we were just talking about keanureeves.
Uh, soon to be friend of theshow, I hope one day.
I don't know, we'll see whathappens.
But a Bill and Ted fame and howgreat he is, but like no, this
dude was like.
You know, everything I readabout him it doesn't seem like
it's just people polishing upsomething because he's passed or
anything like that, they'rejust.
(26:49):
They're just so like ah, tonywas something else man, he was
amazing, you know, and he wasknown for in college when he had
some roommates apparently hewould do a lot of practical
jokes like he'd turn the blenderon in the other room and start
screaming and freak people outlike stuff like that.
He was, you know, so maybe,yeah, I know, right, so a little
(27:12):
over the top sometimes in hisyouth, especially judging from
the samurai swords he worearound town apparently, which is
hilarious.
And another thing, another notewith things like that is he was
very proficient with nunchucks,apparently.
So these are all things.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Okay, I didn't know that.
I knew he was big on jiu-jitsu,so she took the end of his life
.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Oh, wow, yeah, I didn't See there is so much.
I mean where it is.
Hopefully, if anything, guys,this sparks some interest.
What show would you recommendthem to watch, since you're more
of a connoisseur of Bourdainthan I am?
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Honestly, like I said , said every single episode I
not only enjoyed, I like tooksomething away from it.
Yeah, um, and so I really waslate to the party.
A cook's tour was this firstthat I have not seen?
I don't, I'm gonna go back andtry and find it, but I'm working
my way through no reservations.
Which was next and I meanthat's amazing, but I was really
the only one I watched while itwas on the air.
Was that Parts Unknown?
And I mean you win anyway.
(28:19):
There's just yeah, there's justno way he can't be entertaining
, informative, and I mean I dolove, I do love the food porn,
you know, cause some of it's,some of it's stuff you don't
want to see yeah, like Englishblood cake.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
That's pretty gross.
No yeah, not doing it.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Nope.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, or that Icelandic festival he went to
where it's all like goat's headsand that was weird.
It's sharp.
Yeah, he was so funny.
He got offered that at everyrestaurant and every time he ate
it he's like oh my God, thisagain he's like this is
literally the worst fuckingthing I've ever ate in my life,
and that was.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And then the drink in Peru.
Remember that one?
I do not, I think it was yucca.
Which yucca?
But to ferment it like a womanin the village would chew on the
stuff and then her saliva wouldessentially like ferment the
stuff into an alcoholic beverage.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Oh my God, I you know , I've seen that on a different
thing, but I can't believe.
I believe he did that.
I believe he was there and didthat.
I just that's fair, that'samazing.
Yeah, that is a thing, and, uh,I don't know what I seen it on,
but it was yucca, indeed, youknow so.
But man, this guy, uh, yeah, Iencourage you guys to check out,
no reservations, and just startit from episode one, which I
(29:39):
believe is the iceland episode,isn't it?
It is, yeah, yeah, and he, uh,yeah, he's pretty cool man, like
there's no getting around it, Imean life.
Well, I mean, he went to everycontinent, I'm guessing right,
because, except for Antarctica,I suppose, but no, he went to
Antarctica.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Of course he did.
Of course he fucking did.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Did he have dinner on the space station?
That's what I want to know next, because jeez, oh man, but no,
definitely check out AnthonyBourdain.
Guys, I'm gonna.
I would love to give, uh, youknow, maybe like a nod to a book
for you guys to read or whatnot, but I have yet to read them,
so I don't want to do that rightnow, but myself included yeah,
(30:25):
I have kitchen confidential, soI'll read it and send it to you,
okay yeah, you should, man, forsure you know, if I don't,
hopefully I might pick up a copybefore that.
My friend, you know, um, gotcha,yeah, might as well, right?
Um, I don't know, man, is thereanything else you want to kind
of touch on here with him, is I?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
guess we have to.
I thought about just not eventouching on the obvious and just
really okay, just going withall Right.
But we do have to acknowledgethat on June 8, 2018, anthony
Bourdain took his ownextraordinary life.
As I drove west to beautifulIsland Park, idaho, to celebrate
my mother's birthday that day,I felt a strange void.
(31:07):
I wouldn't pinpoint the onlyoccurrence I've had to relate it
to until all these years later,but I felt a sense of loss of
someone I'd never met.
I now remember the feeling whenkurt cobain allegedly took his
own life when I was barely ateenager.
Even at that young age, Iremember telling mom that I was
more saddened by the fact thatsomeone I felt stood for the
right causes was gone than theloss of an entertainer.
Yeah, it was a fine evening, asall as all of the case, at the
(31:30):
cabin my folks built in themid-70s mussels in white wine,
garlic sauce over linguine andwonderful wine in conversation
to pair with the meal and Istill couldn't shake the empty
feeling.
Looking out over the flats ofthe Alpenglow and the hills with
the ever-majestic Tetonsvisible to the southeast, I
wondered what Anthony Mourdainwould have thought of this place
.
I thought about the likelihoodhe even knew Island Park existed
(31:50):
, much less visited.
Even knew Island Park existed,much less visited.
I think he would have loved it.
You're a great inspiration,uncle Tony.
We miss you.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Damn straight my friend yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
And if you or anyone you know is suffering from
issues involving mental health,please, please, reach out for
help.
Someone cares more than youknow.
Oh gosh, yeah, much loveeverybody, thank you.
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