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<< Back to Top Secret Recipes TV Appearances
Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee #1
June 1993 |
When I first found out Top Secret Recipes was going to be featured on this popular morning show, I realized what a big break it could be. The timing would be right, that's for sure. Just as the book hit the shelves, "Reege" and Kathie Lee would raise it high on national TV and tell America about it. Yikes! National TV?! Live national TV! Now there's a party I'd never been to before. Okay, I was freaking out.
Now I had to come up with a good way to demonstrate the quality of the recipes in the book. We decided to do this taste-test thing where Regis would put on a blindfold, then Kathie Lee would feed him -- one bite from the brand-name product and then a bite from the clone I had made. Then he'd have to guess which is which. Trouble is, since I hadn't done this before, I wasn't sure if it would even work.
Call at the studio is super early, like around 7 a.m. or something like that. That means I have to get up at the crack of dawn...which is just about when I had finally fallen asleep. Nervous? Ah...yeah.
At the studio, when the preparation was complete on all the food, it was time for a run-through with executive producer Michael "Gelman" Gelman. We plan to taste-test Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Big Macs, Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink, Aunt Jemima Maple Syrup, and Twinkies. Regis will put on a blindfold, Kathie Lee will feed him. Okay, I got it.
Show starts. My segment comes up. Regis looks around and says to the audience, "you might be wondering 'where's Kathie Lee?' I saw her leave the set and she never came back! Oh, well." Of course, I didn't have any idea where she went. She was very pregnant at the time. Might that have something to do with it? Okay, so it looks like there's gonna be no Kathie Lee for the segment as we had planned. We can go with it.
Time for the taste tests. Regis picks up his blindfold and tentatively puts it on. I start feeding him Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Before he's done chewing I get a little anxious and try to shove another one in his mouth and he starts yelling at me, "give me a chance to finish, will ya?!" The audience laughs. Regis finally bites into the next one and has a decision: "The first one was the real thing...I can tell because of the texture and the way it was molded." Yes. He had it right. Gulp. I'm wondering if this taste test was a good idea.
As we move on to the Big Mac, and as I'm thinking I'll get him with this one (it's a great clone) we are joined by Regis' embarrassed co-host. Kathie Lee apologizes, saying that she was "in the ladies room." Now it's her turn to feed him. She grabs one burger, and feeds him, then the other. He guesses, "The first one is the Big Mac, the second one is...Todd Mac." Kathie Lee says, "Wrong...Big Mac breath." Yes! One for me. Kathie Lee takes a bite for herself (photo 1). Pregnant, remember?
Next comes Yoo-Hoo. I'm thinking I should be able to get him here too. The clone recipe for Yoo-Hoo is right-on. We even put the Top Secret Recipes version in a Yoo-Hoo bottle so that they would feel the same. Regis starts a-chuggin' 'em down (photo 3). He taste the real one first and then the phony. He's baffled. He tastes them both again. He's still baffled. He says they're so close he can't even tell the difference, and doesn't even venture a guess. "It's the second one." Kathie Lee tells him. One more for Top Secret Recipes! I'm feeling pretty good by now.
When we come back from the break Regis joins me in the kitchen to help demonstrate how to make cole slaw just like the stuff you can order at KFC (photo 4). Now, I should explain something here. KFC Cole Slaw was not my first choice as a demonstration recipe. In fact, at the top of the show, Regis says, "Now get this. Of all the great recipes in the book, guess what he's going to show us? KFC Cole Slaw!"
Actually, it was the producers who felt that since Regis had been having heart trouble we should choose one of the healthier items from the book and not something with meat or too much fat in it. So they picked KFC Cole Slaw. And what about those Big Macs he munched on during the taste test? Don't ask. One thing I've learned about these shows -- you do what the producers ask you to do. Then maybe you get invited back.
After the show aired, Top Secret Recipes became a hit. The book was selling out of bookstores across the country. Many stores were even holding long waiting lists for customers who wanted the book. Since no one had expected this type of demand the initial press runs were small. The publisher just had to keep printing more and more. It was incredible. And this was the show that started the ball rolling.
Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee had helped the book become a bestseller.
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