How ‘Last Meals’ Host Josh Scherer Channeled Food and Death Into 100 Episodes of a YouTube Talk Show | Exclusive
Josh Scherer’s YouTube show “Last Meals” started out as a silly way to show his fans what he wanted to eat before he died.
The death-row meal concept quickly turned into something bigger as the chef and digital host found himself contemplating his own mortality and the existential questions surrounding death. Mythical Kitchen’s series, which initially showed viewers how to make garlic bread from scratch, evolved into something greater.
“I remember, I’m making a carne asada burrito – my favorite food on the planet – and I’m talking about grief,” Scherer explained to TheWrap on the set of his YouTube cooking series. “Inside my own head, I’m like, ‘Everyone’s gonna hate this, dude. Why are you doing this?’”
His hesitations were quickly proven wrong as feedback from fans indicated that they wanted more. Scherer’s candid musings on his personal relationship with food and grief and his vulnerability on the topics resonated with people — all while giving them a visual delight of gluttonous food.
This gave the host an idea to bring new faces into the kitchen. Scherer kicked off the cooking series four years ago and booked Tom Hanks as his seventh guest. (The host noted the movie star pulled up 15 minutes early, driving himself in his Prius to the Burbank set.) A hundred episodes later, guests have shared their intimate last words, childhood family recipes and their own struggles with food.
For the 100th episode, which TheWrap witnessed on set, Scherer welcomed Elijah Wood. The chef had a hefty course load for the “Lord of the Rings” star. The lunch spanned over two-and-a-half hours, featuring omakase sushi, artisan pizzas and chicken fried steak.
A team of chefs whipped up food fresh for the actor, while also sourcing pastries from local bakeries in the Los Angeles area. The test kitchen turned into a full service one on a warm afternoon in Burbank, as a team of chefs prepared dishes while the video team prepared the set for the taping.
Each course told a story. Each piece of omakase – prepared by an in-house sushi chef – covered a different film from Wood’s discography. Scherer, completely off-book, without a teleprompter or cards, walked the star through his decades-long career, veering the conversation from personal stories to set advice he got from his mom as a child actor.
The “Ready Or Not 2” actor even teased why he hasn’t made his directorial debut yet. Watch the exclusive clip below.
Research has always been the fun part for Scherer. He said he listens to countless audiobooks in the gym preparing for his guests. When it comes to sourcing the guests’ requests for “Last Meal,” the Mythical Kitchen team will scan the world for the very best.
“We go through very painstaking efforts to try to recreate something very faithfully from their childhood or to create a unique experience that we think can sort of draw a connection between their life and food,” Scherer explained.
The team has notably contacted someone’s mother on Facebook for her authentic costillas and salsa verde recipe, sourced sausages from a 150-year-old Polish vendor for Jason Kelce and even created a real-life Krabby Patty for Noah Kahan.
Scherer shared that, for Elizabeth Olsen’s episode, he reached out to the head chef at L.A. hotspot Anajak Thai for one special request from the actress.
“I hit up Justin the chef, who, not to be that guy, but I knew before they were cool and asked ‘Elizabeth Olsen wanted this whole grilled fish. Is there any way we could pick up the fish preparation from you?’” he said. “He goes, ‘I’ll just give you my grill.’”
The chef set up the grill in the studio’s parking lot to prepare the fish fresh on-site for the “WandaVision” actress. Moments like this add to the scrappiness and preparation required to bring “Last Meals” to life.
Per Scherer, as he courses out the meal for his guests, he also thinks of it in terms of light to heavy — not just in terms of the food.
“You start off with making sure they’re plugging the project that they came to ultimately promote, but also in a way that isn’t just very surface level,” he explained. “Then, sort of gradually, you work your way into finding out their innermost motivations behind all the stuff that they’ve done.”
He learned that you cannot anticipate too much as the host, even with hours of preparation in and outside the kitchen.
“Every interview just kind of takes a different shape in my own mind,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re actually sitting here, it does not take that shape, and you have to completely pivot and kill your darlings.”
Scherer has found that celebrities have been receptive to the new format as they make their press rounds. Hilary Duff, who stopped by the studio earlier this year, told the host it was refreshing to show up and eat her favorite foods as opposed to the traditional radio spots she did to promote her music in the early 2000s.
The host is a multi-hyphenate in his own right, publishing several cookbooks, hosting digital series for Mythical Kitchen and producing content across platforms. Scherer noted that this entrepreneurial spirit was necessary in the early stages of his career, and has since benefitted as he grows the show’s footprint.
As more celebrities turn to digital platforms to promote upcoming projects, Scherer told TheWrap that the separation between traditional and digital entertainment has become obsolete.
“In a couple years, I think it’s just going to go back to being entertainment. Everything’s just an app on a smart TV,” he said. “Everybody’s playing on the same field, which is frightening because it’s tremendously chaotic, and the industry is going through a really weird time right now.”
He added: “It seems cliche, but I think to retain your sanity, you simply have to believe in the fact that if you are making good art, content, videos, a show, whatever you want to call the thing that you’re making, you got to believe that that will figure out a way to be distributed.”
The 100th episode of “Last Meals” with Elijah Wood will premiere on Mythical Kitchen’s YouTube channel on Thursday.
The post How ‘Last Meals’ Host Josh Scherer Channeled Food and Death Into 100 Episodes of a YouTube Talk Show | Exclusive appeared first on TheWrap.