If it is laughter and quirkiness you want, then you won’t go wrong with the Swedish Cook Muppets show. The Muppets are world renowned and adding a Swedish Cook to their repertoire just makes it even funnier. Read our guide for more facts & informat
It is said that the humanoid character “the Swedish Chef” was conceptualized one day while one of its original puppeteers Jim Henson was driving to work. Jim was learning how to speak mock Swedish and was listening to a tape in the car and trying to make a chicken sandwich using this silly sounding language. It apparently sounded ridiculous, but at the same time extremely funny. So much so, that people at traffic lights used to stare at him a little funny. The first Swedish cook muppets show aired in 1975, with Richard Hunt performing the hands of the puppet at that time.
Our little chef boasts human hands on the show as apposed to gloves like his counterparts. Only in photo shoots will you find the chef sporting his standard Muppet hands.
A parody of chefs around the world
The Swedish Cook Muppet also wears a white chef’s hat, but sports bushy eyebrows that completely hides his eyes and a big old moustache to boot. He also handles many kitchen utensils similar to a live chef that necessitated the actual puppeteer’s hands to be free, for ease of handling food and other kitchenware.
The sketches
Mostly the Swedish Cook muppets sketches begin with him singing his signature tune in Mock Swedish. Usually he has some spoons or other utensils in his hands at each opening. These utensils tend to fly out of his hands and crash into something behind him as he starts his cooking lesson.
After the pleasantries have been taken care of, the Chef settles down to prepare a recipe. It is semi-comprehensible of course, with only a few English words thrown in to give the audience a hint of what he is actually making, or trying to make.
No ordinary chef
Armed with unorthodox culinary equipment such as tennis racquets or even firearms (to get those stuck pancakes off the ceiling), he usually messes up the recipe somehow while the ingredients and equipment get the better of him.
The Swedish Chef Muppets show is a hit all over the world and can sometimes bring you to tears of laughter. Nobody can resist singing along at the end of the show when he always shouts “Börk, Börk, Börk!” as his utensils go flying around him.
