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In October 2020, months into the pandemic\u2019s decimation of the restaurant industry, Dan Levy got the idea for \u201cThe Big Brunch,\u201d the uplifting HBO Max cooking competition that revolves around his favorite meal of the day. Levy was in bed at the time, and sprung up to \u201cwrite it down from start to finish.\u201d The next day, he called his managers to tell them about it, and when they asked Levy what exactly the show would be, he presented it to them in \u201cgreat detail.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we sat together on a seafoam green banquette, facing the open kitchen in which the chefs cook on the show\u2019s bistro-inspired set \u2014 designed by David Korins, of \u201cHamilton\u201d fame \u2014 it was clear that those details are very important to \u201cThe Big Brunch.\u201d<\/p>\n
As is the show\u2019s heart, with which fans of Levy\u2019s \u201cSchitt\u2019s Creek\u201d are by now well-acquainted. Levy has friends who are chefs, he said, and he feels that gathering around a restaurant table, now more than ever, is important. \u201cThe desire to bring people together through a shared common experience is something that I thought was really beautiful and profound,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The final two episodes of \u201cThe Big Brunch\u201d \u2014 Levy\u2019s first self-generated project since \u201cSchitt\u2019s Creek\u201d ended its six-season run in April 2020, and would then go on to a historic Emmys sweep in every major comedy category \u2014 drop on HBO Max on Thanksgiving Day. In its final two episodes, the \u201cBig Brunch\u201d group will go from five semifinalists to three finalists, and then to one winner (no spoilers here), who will receive a cash prize of $300,000.<\/p>\n
That payoff is larger than those bestowed by other cooking competitions for a reason. \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to feel performative,\u201d Levy said. \u201cI really wanted the prize to change somebody\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBig Brunch\u201d executive producer Andrew Fried, the president of the show\u2019s producer Boardwalk Pictures, echoed Levy\u2019s sentiment about wanting to change the winner\u2019s life. \u201cIf we didn\u2019t accomplish that, it was sort of like, what\u2019s the point?\u201d he said during an interview from the production office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Big Brunch\u2019s\u201d good-vibes-only ethos also leans hard on the chefs\u2019 \u201creal, personal narratives,\u201d as Fried put it, which began with a group of 10. Which is all to emphasize that \u201cthere are no losers on our show,\u201d Fried said, and even those eliminated early have been given \u201ca platform to amplify themselves and their brands.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the early years of Bravo\u2019s groundbreaking \u201cTop Chef\u201d assembled talented casts of fine-dining chefs with backgrounds in French cooking, all of whom wanted to open their own restaurants, well \u2014 the cast of \u201cThe Big Brunch\u201d shows how much times have changed. Among the show\u2019s semi-finalists are J Chong, a queer woman originally from Toronto who specializes in Cantonese cuisine; Roman Wilcox, a vegan chef from El Paso, Tx., who runs a community diner in a food desert; and Daniel Harthausen, who specializes in Korean-Japanese cooking, and has a successful pop-up restaurant in his hometown of Richmond, VA. It\u2019s such a varied group that even the show\u2019s judges \u2014 chef Sohla El-Waylly and restaurateur Will Guidara \u2014 have learned from them. For El-Waylly, who was one of the stars of Bon App\u00e9tit\u2019s popular \u201cTest Kitchen\u201d YouTube channel, and then helped lead the summer 2020 uprising against the magazine\u2019s tokenizing and underpaying of the channel\u2019s BIPOC chefs, the shift has been a long time coming. \u201cThere was a time where everything had to be French to be considered fancy or technical,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s nice to see that we\u2019re so far past that here.\u201d<\/p>\n
El-Waylly added that Wilcox\u2019s vegan creations in particular have opened her eyes: \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of stuff I\u2019ve never had before. I\u2019m just like, \u2018Whoa, maybe I could be vegan!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m being introduced to new things,\u201d said Guidara, who\u2019s the co-author of four cookbooks, and the former co-owner of Make It Nice, the restaurant group that included Eleven Madison Park. \u201cAnd there\u2019s this dynamic in the relationship where I feel totally comfortable saying, \u2018I don\u2019t have a reference point for this \u2014 explain this to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Nor does every chef in the cast simply want to open their own restaurant. As executive producer Sarina Roma, also of Boardwalk Pictures, put it: \u201cEvery single person in the culinary world has a different dream \u2014 you might want to write a cookbook, you might want a food truck, you might want a cooking show. How can we support those chefs in getting what their specific dream is?\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout \u201cThe Big Brunch\u201d competition, the judges have focused on giving meaningful critiques, even in the rare moments when a chef has whiffed: There are no Simon Cowells here. \u201cThe whole thesis of this is they\u2019re gonna go off and do something bigger,\u201d Guidara said. \u201cWhether they win this or not, this is a platform that should support their bigger dreams. And that\u2019s just \u2014 that\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s just trying to do their best,\u201d El-Waylly said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been really fun to see how much they\u2019ve grown since the first episode.\u201d (During my late-March set visit, I tasted everything made for the Nov. 24 holiday-themed seventh episode, which included lobster mashed potatoes and vegan soy curls, among other revelations. And I can happily testify to the quality of the chefs\u2019 food.)<\/p>\n
Levy is currently in Europe filming \u201cGood Grief,\u201d his feature directorial debut for Netflix, which he also stars in and wrote. But on \u201cThe Big Brunch\u201d set, he was reminded of \u201cSchitt\u2019s Creek,\u201d his co-creation with his father Eugene that propelled him into stardom.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Schitt\u2019s Creek\u2019 was all about texture and feel and detail,\u201d he said, \u201cand making sure that not only were the scenes we were writing funny, and that the actors were doing the most with it \u2014 but that the actual world we were creating was thoughtful and enjoyable and aspirational in a way that was comforting to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing I noticed watching the cooking in action was that the chefs were helping each other, despite being competitors. \u201cThere\u2019s five people left, and if you\u2019re still in it, you can taste it, right? Like you can actually see yourself winning,\u201d Guidara said, marveling. \u201cAnd at the end of everyone\u2019s time, they\u2019re all helping each other plate!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does feel, oddly, like the characters who are playing in the sandbox we\u2019ve created embody the spirit of the show from the first day that we developed it,\u201d Fried said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think we could have forced that.\u201d<\/p>\n
That spirit is exactly what Levy wanted from \u201cThe Big Brunch.\u201d \u201cNothing should be negative, everything should be supportive,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want anyone to feel bad, even if they end up going home. They have to know that even just being here was a win in and of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Things have changed since March at HBO Max, with the pain of post-merger cost-cutting casting a shadow over Warner Bros. Discovery. But on the set of \u201cThe Big Brunch,\u201d the principles seemed excited about the possibility that this could be a franchise.<\/p>\n
\u201cHell yeah!\u201d Roma responded when asked whether Boardwalk would want to do a second season. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d Fried said in agreement. \u201cWe\u2019ve tapped into something here that adheres to a lot of the convention of these shows that we love \u2014 and veers just off of it to create something that is unique and singular.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levy\u2019s vote, of course, is the one that matters most. And yes, he\u2019d very much want to do more, thank you. \u201cI never thought I would go back into unscripted television unless it meant something,\u201d he said. \u201cI had no idea just how special this whole thing would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the teamwork he likes most of all \u2014 with his fellow judges, with the production, and most of all, among the contestants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really emotional affirming experience to watch camaraderie like that,\u201d Levy said. \u201cBecause I\u2019m so accustomed to just people tearing each other down.\u201d<\/p>\n
View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dan Levy\u2019s Big Idea Behind \u2018The Big Brunch\u2019: \u2018Nothing Should Be Negative, Everything Should Be Supportive\u2019: In October 2020, months into the pandemic\u2019s decimation of the restaurant industry, Dan Levy got the idea for \u201cThe Big Brunch,\u201d the uplifting HBO Max cooking competition that revolves around his favorite meal of the day. Levy was in
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