Culinary Host Reveals Failed TV Show With Al Roker — But He’s ‘Pretty Glad’ It Didn’t Work

One of the internet’s favorite culinary personalities was almost pulled into the world of cable cooking shows — but it thankfully went nowhere.

Mythical Kitchen’s Josh Scherer revealed during a recent YouTube video that his previous project, the blog Culinary Bro-Down, almost landed him an Al-Roker-produced TV show. Scherer had his college roommate, Ryan Andrew, as a guest in a recent Mythical video, and they recalled when the Today personality took an interest in their over-the-top frat-party-inspired dishes.

“We would make like deep-fried mac-and-cheese pulled-pork chimichangas, and like take it to a rooftop frat party,” Scherer explained. “And then one day Al Roker comes a-callin’ — shout out Al Roker — and he wanted to maybe produce a Culinary Bro-Down TV show.”

A producer then came to Scherer’s apartment to document the Culinary Bro-Down experience. While Scherer and Andrews spent most days chiller than the “bro” stereotype would leave you to believe, the producer clearly just cared about the guys cooking “something asinine.”

“And this guy just filmed us and they made a sizzle reel for the Culinary Bro-Down TV show that went nowhere,” Scherer said. “And I’m pretty glad it didn’t.”

Culinary Bro-Down’s success as a blog spawned The Culinary Bro-Down Cookbook by Scherer, which he then parlayed into working with Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal of Mythical. Scherer then spearheaded the entire Mythical Kitchen brand. The YouTube channel has launched lots of successful shows such as Last Meals, First Meals, A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich, Imposter Chef, Myth Munchers and Aprons Off.

Last Meals, in particular, has gained loads of attention on YouTube and elsewhere. The show features celebrities enjoying their hypothetical dream last meal and discussing their lives and the memories attached to certain foods. It had featured A-list stars including Tom Hanks, Post Malone, Gordon Ramsey, Ed Sheeran, Elizabeth Olsen, Serj Tankian, Brie Larson, Christoph Waltz and Tony Hawk.

Scherer’s success a pretty ideal path for a rising culinary personality, so it’s pretty clear to see why he’s not too torn up about losing out on a Roker-backed cooking show on cable.