Dropout’s latest show, Gastronauts, brings some chaotic comedy to the world of cuisine. Hosted by Jordan Myrick, Gastronauts brings together an impressive roster of professional chefs in an initially standard cooking competition format. However, the challenges they’re given are all thought up by the stable of comedians who lead various other Dropout productions.
The result is a gleefully goofy and infectiously fun take on the cooking show that notably never forgets to show off some impressive culinary skills. During an interview with TVBrittanyF, Gastronauts host Jordan Myrick discusses her personal history with food, the key to finding the right competitors for the show, and exploring the cooking competition genre from an openly comedic approach.
TVBrittanyF: Starting off, congrats on Gastronauts! It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve got to admit, my wife — who is a BIG baking and cooking show fan — absolutely loved it.
Jordan Myrick: Nice! Okay, cool. I’m glad. I feel like that’s the hardest get right now. With comedy fans, I feel like we have a natural buy-in. I need to get the Top Chef watchers, The Great British Bake-Off fans. I need to get the people who are serious about the form.
Given the show’s focus on food and your own clear love for good cooking, what’s your own experience with food?
I have always loved cooking. I grew up cooking a lot in my house, and I’ve just always had a knack for it. Starting in kindergarten, I was like, ‘Mom, it’s fine. I will be preparing my own lunches for school.’ I grew up watching the Food Network, so I’ve loved watching people cook for as long as I can remember. I’ve worked in tons of restaurants, in like every position you could work in. So food has always been something very near and dear to me, and I’m excited to get to infuse it into my comedy career.
Speaking of that fusion, what was your approach to finding the right balance between the show’s comedic elements and the genuine challenge that comes with a cooking show?
I think the big guiding point for us is that we wanted it to feel truthful, but also positive. I think really setting the chefs up for success was important for us. We wanted there to be, you know, urgency and feel like a real competition, but we also wanted everyone to be able to enjoy the whole thing. So I think providing challenges that felt goofy and fun and low stakes, where people could be as creative as possible, was something that was really something we wanted to bring to the forefront.
What are the right ingredients that make a perfect chef and judge for Gastronauts?
I think picking chefs was pretty cut and dry, because we were like, ‘We want people who are obviously good at cooking, but more importantly, we need people who enjoy being on camera, which is not all chefs.’ So that really helped narrow it down. We were so lucky. We got so many wonderfully talented people. In terms of the judges, we wanted people who are funny, but we wanted to see them all over the spectrum.
We have episodes where people are so knowledgeable about food and techniques and ingredients. And then we have episodes with people who absolutely know not a singular thing about anything they’ve ever eaten. I think being able to have that balance makes it nice for the viewer. It makes it feel like everybody is represented, regardless of how you feel about food. Everybody has something to say about food, even if they don’t really know much about it.
I’ve seen the first episode, and I can 100% see what you mean thanks to Oscar Montoya.
[Laughing] I was really disappointed in Oscar. I’ve known Oscar for so many years. We used to be in a children’s theater company together, and I’ve never… if you were to ask me, I would say, oh, ‘Oscar, a fellow gay person. I’m sure Oscar’s an incredible chef who knows tons about herbs.’ Oscar’s an idiot when it comes to food. I had absolutely no clue. I learned so much about a friend and was deeply disappointed [Laughter]. That being said, his challenge is incredible. You really can get anything from anyone.
We’ve already seen the kind of variety of challenges that can exist in this show just in episode 1. What are the key elements that make for a good challenge in the show?
We wanted all the challenges to feel really creative but really different. We tried to mix up the episodes based on like, if this person wants to do this challenge and this person wants to do that challenge, if they’re too similar let’s have them in two different episodes. We wanted things to all feel creative but in kind of different lanes. So you get a nice, varied episode.
That being said, I think what makes a good challenge is people bringing in something that is close to them. That they actually care about. Oscar, for example, loves action figures. So [his challenge for the chefs to make action figure food] is real to who Oscar is. Him getting to fulfill that kind of fun food fantasy is so exciting and enjoyable to watch.
There really just is this infectious sense of fun in Gastronauts. Why was that an important element to nail down in the show?
I think there’s absolutely no point in doing something like this if it’s not going to be fun. I haven’t been to culinary school, and as much as I feel like I am well-versed in the world of food, there is approximately 1 billion different types of cuisines and culinary techniques. None of us are experts. I think it was important for us to realize that. I also think it’s important for everyone to realize that food is for all people.
A lot of times, you see a very white, European-centric version of food. You see things being deemed as good if they are very expensive, if they are very exclusive. And to me, I think that’s ridiculous. I think that everyone should know that good food, interesting food, is something that all cultures have. It’s something that everyone should have access to, in my opinion.
I totally agree. I was a military brat growing up, meaning I moved plenty of times. It also introduced to a lot of different cultures and cuisines.
Yeah, absolutely! I grew up moving around a lot as well, and it was always kind of our first invitation into any community. It was a way for me to get to know people. I would always say yes to eating anything. I think that got me a lot of mileage with friends. Like, people would be like, ‘Do you want to come to my house? My mom is making dinner.’ And then I would be like, “Yes, I’ll eat anything.” When I would get to their house, their parents would always be like, ‘You’re a very good eater.’ And I was like, “Yes, I am. Please invite me back to hang out with your child again.”
There were so many ways we got… growing up, my parents didn’t eat meat. So growing up, there were not a lot of options for us in the late 90s, early 2000s in eating outside of the house. But Indian food was always the one thing we could eat and the one place we could always go and never feel weird. Like, I remember the first time we went into an Indian restaurant. We were like, “Do you guys have any options that don’t have meat in it?” And they were like, ‘Duh. What are you stupid? Sit down.’ [Laughter]. And it was perfect. I think food is such an important part of getting to experience other people’s cultures, and I think that’s so important. It should be accessible.
What would you say has been the biggest surprise of Gastronauts?
This feels kind of like a fake answer, but it is true. Really, nothing went wrong. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it was the most smooth production I’ve ever been on in my entire life. I’ve been on the set of hundreds of productions. It was just so seamless. I think what shocked me the most, though, is how good the food was. I had read so many interviews and so many behind-the-scenes things with people who had hosted food shows like Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons and all these people.
If you’re eating the food, the food is cold. So you have to imagine what the food is like hot. There are so many kind of technical things that go into it that would never affect your eating normally. So I was kind of braced to be like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna eat a lot of kind of bad and cold food that I’ll have to imagine what it tasted like when it was hot and good.’ But shockingly, we were really moving at a clip, and I was tasting food that was hot. I was shocked by that.
I’ve got to ask — what is your favorite type of food?
My two favorite types of food are Indian food and Thai food. My favorite food in general is dosa, which is like an Indian lentil crepe. That’s my favorite food in the entire world. We have some people that bring in some Indian food. Thinking on Thai, I feel like we have a lot of like Thai-inspired flavors. I ate so many things that if you were like, did you eat a tire on Gastronauts? I’d be like, maybe? I don’t really remember. It was all so good.
Gastronauts is now streaming on Dropout.
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