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<< Back to Top Secret Recipes TV Appearances
The Gayle King Show
November 1997 |
Well, here's another show that I had a chance to visit before it was quickly cancelled.
Gayle is Oprah's best friend. With Oprah's help, Gayle created her own 30-minute daytime talk show in 1997. Oprah also helped her find guests. It was my appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show that got me the gig with Gayle.
The top of the show went to Joey Green, the man who has discovered dozens of wacky uses for brand-name products. He shows the audience how to slice cake with dental floss and shave with peanut butter
In the next segment I'm with Gayle and I tell the story of the first few recipes I created for the books, including the Big Mac clone. In unison we recite the Big Mac song: "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun (photo 1)."
Then we start making the Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza clone. I show how to make the crust first, while explaining that the secret is using bread flour and letting the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator for a day or two (photo 2).
Once the dough is rolled flat, I demonstrate how to fill the crust with cheese -- it's really very easy. Pizza Hut uses mozzarella string cheese sticks and just rolls the dough over the cheese so that it will bake into the crust when cooked (photo 3).
She then asks if any companies are upset that I am cloning their products and I explain that I make it clear these are not actually the corporate recipes, but a way we can recreate the taste of the products at home using store-bought ingredients.
After the break, Gayle says, "Everybody knows you can't have a good piece of pizza without havinga Snickers Bar. So that's what Todd is going to make next for us."
The middle of the candy bar has already been made, so I just take that nougat, caramel and peanut center and show how to use a couple of forks to dip the center into melted milk chocolate chips (photo 5).
As I dip the candy bar, Gayle asks, "Are you a cook by trade?"
"No way," I say. "Do I look like a cook? (photo 6)"
Then we go to a taste test and one audience member who often makes chocolates for herself tastes the real Snickers Bar and then the clone. Gayle asks her which is the real one (photos 7 & 8).
She thinks for a while and finally says, "They both taste about the same."
"You really can't tell?' Gayle asks.
"I really can't tell," she says.
Gayle looks over at me, "All right, Todd!" And the audience applauds. One down, one to go.
Gayle moves over to the next taste tester and saysthat now it is time to test the Pizza Hut pizza. She asks the woman if she eats Pizza Hut and she says, "Yes."
Gayle says, "Isn't it fun eating on TV, talking with your mouth full? What's your name?"
The woman just looks at Gayle and starts laughing because now she actually does have her mouth full and cannot answer the questions (photo 9). She starts laughing and the audience cracks up.
She finally swallows and says that her name is Paula.
Paula munches down into the next piece of pizza and is thinking about it. "They are really close."
Gayle says, "Now you are not just saying that because you don't want to hurt his feelings?"
"No, I'm not. They are really close." Paula says, "They are really similar," and then takes a wild guess. She gets it right.
After the break we come back for one quick segment with Joey Green and some kids from the audience. He has another wacky use. He says you can finger paint with shaving cream and food coloring. Gayle squirts shaving cream onto a black piece of cardboard and we add a few drops of food coloring (photo 12).
Then we all get in there and spread the stuff around on the cardboard making a great mess (photo 13). As we continue to smear the goo around the colors blend to make a beautiful brown sludge.
Joey extends his hand and we get in a quick, slimy handshake (photo 14).
Then Gayle puts up her hand and we high five with a splatter, spraying some of the brown sludge right into Gayle's hair (photo 15).
I guess all that finger-painting was kinda fun and it made for good TV, but I didn't know until after the cameras had powered down that I would have stained, multi-colored fingers and hands for the next few days.
Had a great time on this show. Gayle was one of the most enjoyable hosts I've had a chance to work with, and the crew was great. It's too bad the show was quickly yanked. |
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