Food Network owes a lot to Emeril Lagasse and his trendsetting show, Emeril Live. While you might
think you know the show, here are some dishes even diehard food fans don't know about Emeril Live.
Emeril Lagasse was undeniably the star of the show on Emeril Live,
but that doesn't mean he didn't bring on extra talent from time to time. The '90s
show featured a number of celebrities during its 10-year run, with notable guest-star appearances
from Patti LaBelle, Michael McDonald, Joe Perry, Sammy Hagar, Patton Oswalt, and Jimmy Buffett.
When Lagasse hosted celebrities, he made sure to make the episode as special as possible,
introducing his guests enthusiastically and making even more delectable
meals than usual. When Aretha Franklin guest-starred, Lagasse told the audience,
"Tonight, I'm entertaining royalty. [...] The place is ready to explode!"
When Franklin finally made her entrance, the crowd went wild, and everyone sang together for a moment
before the cooking began. The two celebrities then made Franklin's peach cobbler together.
"Well, I'm gettin' ready to get down."
Charlie Daniels, on the other hand, spent his time with the band rather than in
the kitchen on the "Gotta Have Garlic" episode. As you might guess, the episode
features Lagasse making garlic-centric recipes like soup, dressing, and jam.
Lagasse was the true definition of "on fire" when he signed the contract for Emeril Live. The show
was an immediate success, winning the hearts of Americans with the host's authenticity and spirit.
When it began airing, Lagasse's success snowballed and the personable chef rapidly became a national
celebrity. In fact, back when tickets had to be purchased over the phone, the sheer volume
of calls for Emeril Live once caused a small town's telephone switchboard to stop working.
Along with exponentially gaining fans, the awards immediately started pouring in. Emeril Live began
airing in 1997, and that very year the show won a CableACE Award for "Best Informational
Show." Although many fans enjoy the show for more than cooking tips, like Lagasse's exclamations
and the live band, it also provided the public with useful kitchen knowledge.
Also in 1997, Time rated Emeril Live among the top shows on the air, no small feat for a new show
with a formula that was completely unheard of. The following year, GQ listed Lagasse among its "Men
of the Year." The more attention Lagasse received, the more people he charmed. The first few years of
Emeril Live were definitely Lagasse's time in the sun, and he has the receipts to prove it.
Lagasse's earlier appearances on the Food Network weren't terribly successful. In
fact, his first show, How to Boil Water, was a dismal failure. Next,
he tried a scripted show called The Essence of Emeril. Lagasse hated it,
and it did little to showcase the chef's natural charisma and captivating personality.
"Food is my life. I love to cook. I love to eat. I love wine."
As the saying goes, the third time's the charm. Lagasse's next shot with the Food
Network allowed him the creativity to do whatever he wanted for an hour,
and he let his imagination fly. His new show wouldn't just be him in a kitchen demonstrating
how to cook. It would be a multifaceted, genre-defying show with a band, live audience,
and a cooking segment all in one program. It was the most out-there cooking show of its time.
A couple of decades ago, Lagasse was the chef everyone was talking
about on the Food Network. Not only was Emeril Live a unique,
award-winning twist on cooking shows, but it was also the most popular show of its time.
In From Scratch: Inside the Food Network, author Allen Salkin writes:
"Back then, most viewers thought Food was the Emeril Network. His show was
on every weeknight at 8 p.m. and he overshadowed all the other stars."
Emeril Live and Essence of Emeril were the two top-rated
shows on the network when they first came out.
This was prior to the Food Network's pivot
to reality TV-focused programming and before Lagasse's old-school charm was
replaced by flashier cooking stars like Sunny Anderson and Bobby Flay.
"It's become this, you know, food is a competition, like a sport."
Although the Food Network currently features chefs traveling the country
in search of food or leading high-stakes cooking contests, Lagasse reigned when
it was a simpler game. Back in the late '90s and early 2000s, Lagasse's classic
and personable approach to entertainment was what brought viewers to the network.
Lagasse was used to being the king of the Food Network, so when the network
began to want different things from him, he resisted. Despite consistent feedback
from the executives, he refused to get with the program, and Emeril Live was canceled.
The show's slow downfall began in 2004 when the new president of the network,
Brooke Johnson, began doing audience research to learn how viewers perceived the channel.
Many viewers saw it as a basic cooking channel, offering little more than recipes.
"And we're going to discuss sponge cakes!"
Cooking shows were gaining popularity, and the network's competition was growing,
with other channels offering more exciting entertainment.
Despite being told to try new things, Lagasse wasn't ready to give up his unique formula. When
Johnson eventually told him that the show needed to end, Lagasse was in full denial, responding,
"You're full of it."
Emeril Live was canceled, leaving Lagasse devastated, resentful and confused that the
network was moving on without him.
"What have I gotten myself into?"
When the head of marketing, Susie Fogelson,
suggested Lagasse go on Iron Chef or Next Food Network Star he scoffed and replied,
"How about 'platinum chef?' Have you thought of that?"
For Lagasse, cancellation was a hard blow.
Along with being a top-notch chef, Lagasse is also a talented musician. Audience members
got to see this side of him during Emeril Live. Although the band for Emeril Live was
run by musician Leonard Gibbs, Lagasse would often join the band on the drums
before commercial breaks. His playing added a spark of fun and spontaneity to the show,
as audience members got to experience the exuberant chef in new ways.
In fact, after graduating high school, Lagasse was offered a full scholarship to the New England
Conservatory of Music, but he passed it up to follow his culinary aspirations. He got a degree
from Johnson and Wales University, then trained in Europe to further perfect his technique. So while
Lagasse's heart may be in the kitchen, there's no denying that he's a multi-talented man.
Part of the charm of Emeril Live was Lagasse's interaction with the
audience. He would typically walk through the crowd, shaking hands and patting the
shoulders of his adoring fans. His show was so much more than just a cooking series,
offering audience members a real immersion into Lagasse's world. Throughout each episode,
he bantered and joked with fans, and he was even known to give out tasty bites of what was cooking.
In some instances, he doled out ham, biscuits, and fruit. While at other times, he showered
the audience with seasonings. The generous and unpredictable host was even known to throw sweets
like ice cream and frozen Snickers bars to amp up the audience. The potential of getting a bonus
gift added to the novelty of Emeril Live, giving the audience yet another reason to love the show.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty, and, looking back, we can all see that Emeril Live was a raging success
for the majority of the time that it aired. Before the premiere, however, not everyone was so sure
about it. Even though Emeril Live was an immediate hit, the show had naysayers from the start.
In his book about the Food Network, Allen Salkin notes that Joe Langhan,
one of its founders, thought Lagasse was the least likely
of all the stars on the network to succeed as a celebrity chef.
"You gotta have a little what's-that-here sauce. Oh, yeah."
This negative impression wasn't helped by terrible ratings for the chef's
first two shows. After flopping so dramatically,
it was hard to imagine that Lagasse had star potential. However, as the records show,
Lagasse just needed to find the right show to display his talent and personality to the world.
No matter what you think about Lagasse, no one can deny that he marches to the beat of his own drum.
He stole the hearts of food lovers across America with his ridiculous TV persona, making cooking fun
and action-packed for even the most hopeless home chefs. Lagasse showed his wild side with
a variety of antics, but his unforgettable phrases were some of his signature moves.
"Bam bam bam bam bam bam."
Lagasse seems to have invented his own vocabulary, coining words and
phrases like "bam," "happy happy happy," and "Let's kick it up a notch!" One unexpected
result of his success was that Food Network lovers around the country adopted his lingo,
affectionately quoting him as they cooked his recipes and went through their days.
"Well, then, I guess it's time to take it up a notch."
Not only did Lagasse change the way people experienced cooking television,
but he gave his fans a whole new set of expressions. In the days of Emeril Live,
his Emeril-isms were well-known by all, whether you watched the show or not.
The appeal of Emeril Live wasn't its highly technical cooking methods or
Lagasse's detailed instructions for making a top-notch dinner. While the show offered
practical cooking techniques and allowed viewers to feel confident in the kitchen,
its main draws were more about the entertainment and fun of the band, jokes,
and overall performance. More than just being a crazy version of your classic cooking show, this
Food Network staple has since been described as the "wildest show" ever produced by the network.
"WOOOOOO!"
Best-selling author David Sheff wrote,
"Emeril Live is the most popular, wildest cooking show to ever appear on American television."
In fact, because of his unhinged behavior and constant, over-the-top antics,
Lagasse was nicknamed the "Jerry Seinfeld of the Food Network."
Watching Emeril Live could be less like watching a cooking show and more like
a circus with Lagasse as the featured act. He'd throw food at the audience,
sporadically yell out "Bam!" and "gahhhlic!" and crack jokes with his fans. The impressive part
is that, in every episode, he still managed to cook a delicious meal. Although by now
the Food Network has aired a number of series that are out-of-the-box,
Emeril Live still hangs on to the title of wildest cooking show in the network's history.
It's been established that this '90s and early 2000s show was the talk of the town in its heyday,
but more importantly, Emeril Live played a key part in making the Food
Network popular. Back in the day, it was a small network trying to find its audience,
far from the household name it is today. As NPR wrote,
"No one thought a scrappy startup dedicated to food would go anywhere."
This was the general view of the Food Network when Emeril Live premiered back in 1997. The
fledgling network's shows had low ratings and were far from being a success. Then Emeril Live
changed everything with its sky-high ratings and ardent followers. When Lagasse's first show was
produced in the early '90s, the Food Network had a following of 6.8 million homes. A decade later
when Emeril Live was canceled, that number had jumped to over 90 million. The Food Network's
skyrocket to success was in large part due to Lagasse and his out-there cooking show.
When most food fans think of Emeril Live, they remember Lagasse's chaotic and lovable presence.
Whether the host was saying "gahhhhlic" in his distinctive East Coast accent or passing out
sweets during commercial breaks, this iconic Food Network show was about so much more than cooking.
Along with being a seminal show that could never quite be replicated, Emeril Live was the first
food show to merit a seven-figure contract. Back in the '90s, Lagasse was the man of the hour,
and the Food Network chose to up its game with him rather than Bobby Flay or Mario
Batali. For Emeril Live, the network offered Lagasse a three year contract at $333,334 each
year. They then advertised the agreement as a "million-dollar deal" to showcase the network's
financial health to affiliates. At the time, a million bucks over three years was a big deal,
which only goes to show Lagasse's popularity and value as one of the original Food Network stars.