'Too Many Cooks' Almost Took Us Into 'The Matrix'
"We showed a different view of reality where everyone is still but they’re moved by these lizard people."
Four years after the release of Too Many Cooks, Inverse spoke with 10 key people who helped bring the surreal sitcom parody to life, from creator Casper Kelly to the puppeteer who made Smarf, to the extra who stole the show as a surprise villain. The result is this 6,000-word oral history about making weird art on the fly that you think no one will see — and having it “go viral” at around 20 million views.
Among the stories in this history assembled by Inverse: Too Many Cooks later became a musical. The creators finally confirm they just ripped off the logo from Full House. The actor who played the killer would keep a machete in his car for selfies. The song nearly turned into the theme from The Office.
Below’s a pull-out from our feature. This one’s about how Too Many Cooks nearly took us into a world out of The Matrix.
How ‘Too Many Cooks’ Almost Became ‘The Matrix’
Too Many Cooks parodies everything from police dramas to G.I. Joe, so it’s hard to believe that anything didn’t make it into the final video, but one idea got cut — and it’s a good one.
According to Too Many Cooks creator Casper Kelly, the original script included a Matrix-inspired scene that revealed how reptiles were actually controlling everything behind the scenes.
“We were gonna have this thing, it’s hard to explain, where we showed a different view of reality where everyone is still but they’re moved by these lizard people that we can’t see,” Kelly told Inverse. “Like when you move your hand up to wave you’re a puppet where a lizard moves your hand. But we decided that was too much.”
“We were gonna have a Matrix shot of aliens going through a mucus-y world,” Too Many Cooks editor Paul Painter said. “Basically we were gonna see behind the scenes through another dimension through a viscous portal.”
