“Gastronauts”: Play with your food

Cooking competitions can be stressful. Either the judges are cheeky, the time limit is too strict or the ingredients are too limiting. Some justify this with a wave of the hand and the words, “That’s the point.” Some programs dare to differentiate themselves from “Chopped” or “Cutthroat Kitchen” or the program where Gordon Ramsay sends people into a three-story building if you remember it. Great British Bake-Off is considered wholesome television (except for the occasional cultural microaggression) and Nailed It! is cognizant of the fact that things often go wrong in these competitions. Even when this is the case, cooking competitions tend to become predictable. So what would it look like to turn these conventions on their head?

Enter Dropout’s newest show: “Gastronauts.”

For those unfamiliar with the company, Dropout is a comedy-based media group operating out of the West Coast. Most of their shows revolve around a consistent cast of comedians and occasional special guests – previous guests have included Tony Hawk (famous skateboarder), Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad” and “The Mandalorian”) and Wayne Brady (“Whose Line is it”) Whatever?” and his own reality show) and Rachel Bloom (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and an upcoming Netflix special) – with improvisations or in the style of humorous game shows. So how do you translate that into a cooking show? When I heard that Dropout was producing a comedy cooking show, I assumed they would throw the actors into the metaphorical frying pan and force them to demonstrate their cooking skills in front of the camera. Instead, the show takes an even better approach to fusing comedians and chefs: the actors are the judges, dreaming up the challenges that professional chefs must overcome.

Humor doesn’t arise from perceived inadequacies or poor kitchen skills, but the show’s entertainment value lies in how creative professionals can accommodate comedians’ ridiculous requests and give them free rein to ask for whatever they want. The pilot showed a wide range of possible requests. The first host, Brennan Lee Mulligan (“Dimension 20,” “BIGGER!”), demanded a heavy meal, not out of decadence, but out of sheer weight. Following this challenge, Isabela Roland (HBO’s “Sex Lives of College Girls”) presented an Ingredient Challenge: Prepare a meal that features butter as the main ingredient. Finally, Oscar Montoya (“Minx” and “Bless the Harts”) takes the show’s “fun with food” premise to heart and asks the chefs to create a snack that he could play with as an action figure.

All three challenges, while ridiculous in some ways, showcase the subtle brilliance of the show. While most wouldn’t expect great culinary insight from the fun space-themed competition show, the challenges presented on the show are actual challenges and require the pros to consider multiple elements of their cooking and actually make it edible. It’s easy to make something fun out of ingredients, but making it taste good is a challenge in itself. Host Jordan Myrick keeps the show sane and grounded. His experience with previous food challenges on her flagship shows Good Mythical Morning and Mythical Kitchen makes her a perfect host for a show that’s all about taking the most frivolous menus seriously. Myrick acts as an intermediary between the hosts and the chefs, and her gentle demeanor, coupled with the ability to build natural chemistry with any competitor or guest judge, makes for a highly entertaining watch.

It would be really easy for “Gastronauts” to get a little icky with the challenges, but one episode later, the show has proven that no matter how ridiculous the judges’ instructions may be, the chefs are ready to cook and deliver the best (and most appetizing) possible.