Former Hollywood studio chef Lars Kuprik Backman is convinced The Muppets’ Swedish Chef is based on him. The puppet personification must have been inspired while the red-haired Scandinavian was cooking on the 20th Century Lot where show creator Jim Henson worked in the Muppets’ early years. ABC International floors us with a hilarious retelling of Chef Backman’s failed TV appearance while on break from long-gone restaurant The Viking Horn. Not expecting a live audience, Backman claims he “couldn’t remember any English or any Swedish…it was unintelligible, and I was still holding that silly pastry bag, shaking with fear.” Though a show writer denies Backman’s influence on the floppy character, that story no doubt reminds us of a certain cook we know who likes to put the “chickie in thee pot.”
Is This the Man Behind The Muppet Show’s Swedish Chef? [ABC]
