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Watch Christopher Walken Roast a Chicken

Posted by Robyn Lee, July 30, 2007 at 6:30 PM

Christopher Walken could probably do anything (including doing nothing) and be a source of captivating entertainment. Watch him guide you through a recipe for roasted chicken and pears—instant fun! Too bad he doesn't have his own cooking show. [via Metafilter]

Related: Walken discusses the idea of hosting his own cooking show in an old issue of now-defunct Shout NY magazine:

"The thing is, I’m not a great cook," he offers modestly. "But it doesn’t matter. Part of the thing about cooking shows is that it’s just interesting to see somebody do something. You almost can’t go wrong. If you watch one, and you time it, they do 18 minutes and the rest of it is breaks. So if you can keep people amused for 18 minutes, you’ve got a cooking show." This is no fleeting aspiration; he’s put in the hours.

"Oh, I’ve got it checked out. The problem is, what if it became popular?" Walken asks rhetorically. "That would be the end of me. You know, to get famous for something on TV, that’s very tricky." I inform him that he’s already famous, having made over 70 movies – even winning an Oscar. "That’s different, you know. I don’t have my own show."

But imagine if he did. Would he draw on some cinematic forebears, like the cooking scenes from The Godfather or Goodfellas? What would he do with the rows of gleaming knives, the open flames? Actually, Walken’s influences are just slightly tamer.

"Julia Childs was the best, " he gushes with the zeal of a schoolboy. "But they’re all interesting, I love ‘Iron Chef.’ I love that. They dub it, so it’s a little bit like a Godzilla movie. The Iron Chef’s making seven courses and every one of them contains peaches. Mackerel and peaches. Disgusting, you know. Tofu with peaches. That’s a really good show." Walken’s show would be more of a variety act, though. An assistant, maybe some scantily clad girls.

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