-Our next guest
is a talented actor you know from his work
on" Shameless." He stars in FX's "The Bear," which is streaming
exclusively on Hulu. Let's take a look. -It's crumbly.
The oven's too dry. You need to fill
a baking sheet with water, put it on the oven floor,
throw in another batch, okay? -Don't tell me how to do my job.
-Just do it! ♪♪ Yo!
Somebody come try this, cousin! -Yeah, right! -How you doing, Chef? -Chef. What's going on?
What do you think? -It's redundant and white,
just like you. -Heard, heard, heard. -Salt. Heat. It's tender.
-Mmm! Mmm! -It's nice? We happy?
-[Bleep] -Please welcome to the show
Jeremy Allen White, everybody! [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ Welcome to the show!
I'm so happy you're here. -I'm so happy to be here.
Thank you for having me. -I feel like this is
the show of the summer. This is the show
I talk to people about the most. Everybody's enjoying it. I know you filmed it in Chicago
in the winter, so a bit of time. -Yes.
How does it feel, though, the response?
-Man, it's so nice. Like, we were trying
to make a show, I think, where, like, back-of-house
and the kitchen industry would kind of, like,
give us a head nod, and I hope maybe we'd have,
like, a niche audience that would enjoy it enough
that we could keep doing more. But I'm incredibly overwhelmed
by how it's really connected with so many people,
and it feels good. -You play sort of
a renowned chef who returns to a family business
making sandwiches. It is so -- The kitchen scenes
are so chaotic. And -- But I feel like one of the reasons
people are so energized by watching it
is everybody loves eating food. And the idea of getting to
watch, like, what actually goes through -- even just
to make a beef sandwich. -Absolutely.
Every restaurant now that I look at is a miracle. Like, especially in cities
like New York, Chicago, L.A. I had no idea
just how much went into it. And, yeah, it's incredible.
I have a lot of respect. I've spent a lot of time now
with chefs, cooks, and the sacrifice of time,
the commitment, loss of, like, personal life. It's really -- It's astounding,
and it's commendable. -I know you did some training
in working kitchens while you were preparing.
-Oh, yeah. -Did the chefs appreciate
you're an actor but also hate you a little bit
when you were slow? -Yeah, I walked into
every kitchen apologizing just like,
"I'm sorry I'm here, too. But, like,
please be patient with me." And, yeah, it was really nice. Like, I think everybody
kind of knew the deal, but -- but there was one time
I was working at this restaurant called Pasjoli. It's in Santa Monica. If you guys
are ever out there, go. It's excellent. Chef Dave Beran is chef there. He was really generous
with his time. Everybody kind of knew the deal. But one day I was in there,
I was prepping, and there was a new line cook,
and I hadn't met her before, and she was telling me
what to do. She told me to do, like,
a three-quarter dice on some vegetables. I started cutting.
They weren't great. And I told her,
"You know what? I'm an actor. I'm not a chef." And she just goes, "No, I know." She could just tell
by how I was cutting. Like, there's no -- no way. -I like that it was more likely
that an actor had come in
to research a role... -Than I was actually a chef?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. -And then you went to -- You took some classes
at the Culinary Institute. -Yeah, yeah.
-Do you feel like, based on how quickly
you pick things up, you would have been
good at this? -No. Honestly.
-Thank you for the honesty. -I mean, I got it. You know, I got really good
at the knife work. It's all repetition, really.
It's just time. But no. Like, it wasn't -- It wasn't natural for me,
I'll say, yeah. -So, these Italian
beef sandwiches -- they look so good on the show.
-Yeah. -I would imagine
that you had to eat your fair share of them. -I ate a lot of them on set.
I'm also a big fan. I've spent a lot of time
in Chicago over the years, and I love the sandwich. Like, it is what like the Philly
cheesesteak is for Philly. It's really important
to the culture there in Chicago. And I ate a lot. A lot of hot dogs,
a lot of Italian beefs. Dozens. -We have a --
We had an intern run out. There's a place in Brooklyn
called Dog Day Afternoon. -Oh, whoa.
-And so these are their -- These are their
Italian beef sandwiches. -Oh, wow.
-We've heard good things. I mostly just want to -- Here's
what I really want to do. 'Cause I heard they're good. I want to take a bite
of an Italian beef sandwich next to you and make the face
that the people on the show make every time they eat
one of your sandwiches. That's my favorite part
of the show, is -- -Sure, sure. Here. Cheers. -Cheers.
-Cheers. Here we go. -This is a Chicago custom.
You cheers your sandwich. -That's what you do. -Mmm! Mmm!
-Mmm. And then they never
take another bi-- It's like it's so good that
they're like, "That's fine." -"I'm not going to let you
have another bite." I'm gonna take them home
with me. Um, on the show, your character calls
everybody "Chef," and everybody calls you "Chef." And you explain it.
It's like the sign of respect of everybody in the profession. Have people started yelling out
to you, "Hey, Chef," yet? -Yes, chef. Yes. They -- I have this restaurant
I love to go to in my neighborhood here in
New York. It's called Rolo's. Again, if you guys are in the
neighborhood, go check it out. And I go there all the time,
so they know me a little bit. But three days after the show
came out, I went there. Everybody --
"Chef." "Yes, Chef." And it's so -- it's so nice
because like, again, kind of what I was
saying before, like, we connected, I think, with the back-of-house
and the industry in a way that I think the show
seems real to them, and I don't know
if that's been done yet. And so, yeah, I feel --
I feel very lucky to be able to walk into a restaurant
and not be booed out, but to be called, you know.
"Yes, Chef." -I don't know if you've had
this happen. I know people that have worked
in restaurants and worked in kitchens, and I've
asked them if they watch it. And someone said, "Yeah,
but I can't keep watching." I'm like, "Oh, is it
not like a restaurant?" They're like,
"No, it's way too much..." -Too much like a restaurant.
Yes. Yeah, I heard that. There's this wonderful article
that came out in "Bon Appétit,"
which was so cool they were even writing
about our show. But, yeah, they talked to a lot
of chefs, and, you know, a lot of people have a -- It's -- It's like --
It's a tough environment. And that's what we were
trying to show. And so, yes,
I think it was a little bit traumatizing for --
for some chefs to watch. -You know, watching it,
sometimes I was so in awe of the choreography that must have been required
from all of you, because much like a kitchen
at a restaurant, especially like that, I mean,
I think most kitchens are way tighter
than you expect them to be. -Of course. Yeah.
-But just the level of the acting, while keeping
in mind that you all had to -- You know,
you're moving around with -- Whether they're
prop knives or not. Like, it seemed like a dangerous
scene to be doing. -Totally. Yeah. I mean,
it was really nice. So that was something
I knew I could fake, is sort of, like, the movement
through a kitchen, what that looks like. I was able to, like,
study these really wonderful cooks and chefs
and figure out that movement. But, yeah, it's a tight spot. There's a lot of people, and there's a real dance,
like, to the movement, but handling knives and pans
and all that stuff, that kind of helped me
as an actor because you kind of get out
of your own way a little bit. You can't -- You can't
be thinking too much about what you're saying
or how you're saying it because you have, like,
another action. Like, I think a prop is like a really good friend
to an actor, so... So, yeah, I was happy to have
all that stuff to do for sure. -You have --
You have fantastic hair, and your act-- your acting
in this is wonderful. Your hair alone.
Because it's all over the place. Like, I feel like the hair --
your hair in a kitchen is, like, where
it was meant to be. -For sure. For sure.
I mean, I agree. I wanted -- I saw --
I read this book, Marco Pierre White's book,
and there's this photo of him on the front of the book,
and he's got all this long hair. And so I was like, I really
want to grow my hair out and kind of have a little nod
to Marco Pierre White. And so I did it. I thought it looked great
on the show, but it's weird. A lot of people are calling
out -- and they're not wrong -- that I should have been
wearing a cap. I should have been wearing,
like, something because, like,
so much of Carmy's hair is probably
in all those sandwiches. -Yeah, that's a fair part.
That's a fair point. But yet every time people take
a bite, they don't seem to mind. -Right.
And how I can't put a hat on. -Yeah.
It always looks like the hair that if you needed something
from somebody and you asked them and they had that hair,
you'd be like, "Oh, you're not right.
You can't handle this." -Sure. Yes.
-You have the hair of somebody who's one task past
what they can deal with. -Totally. Yes. The entirety
of the show is -- Yes. -You had some professional
chefs, including Matty Matheson, who's been a guest on this show who's an incredibly
charismatic guy who's an actor
on the show, as well. -Yeah.
[ Applause ] -So Matty, who was, you know, incredibly funny
and charismatic when he's here. Wonderful on the show.
-Yeah. -And also was sort of
a technical advisor. -Totally. 100%. -And I know, also, the show's
creator -- his sister. -Chris Storer's sister,
Courtney Storer, is a wonderful chef
at a restaurant. Or she used to be
at a restaurant. Jon & and Vinny's
in Los Angeles. She's really talented. And her and Matty were in charge
of a lot of stuff. But for me personally,
I told them, "If you see me
doing something goofy, if you see me doing something that does not make sense
in the kitchen, please yell, 'Cut.' Stop me." And Matty would, all the time. -Matty does not strike me as a guy
who would have any hesitation. -No, no, no.
-Well, that's good. -But he's excellent.
I mean, like, the show -- The show looks the way it does
and feels the way it does because of of Matty
and Courtney. Like, they're real chefs,
and they're excellent. -Well,
it's a really special show. Congratulations to you
and everybody who worked on it. And thanks so much
for being here. I really can't thank you enough.
Jeremy Allen White, everybody. FX's "The Bear" is
streaming exclusively on Hulu. We'll be right back
with more "Late Night."
