Any individual please feed Phil … some toasted ravioli? And perhaps a chew of gooey butter cake?
Because the blissful, hungry host of Netflix’s “Any individual Feed Phil,” Phil Rosenthal has eaten his means from Copenhagen to Cape City and Montreal to Marrakesh. In america, he has bounced from Maine to New Orleans to Austin, Texas. However he is by no means been to St. Louis, at the least not but.
Rosenthal lands right here Nov. 5 for a Jewish E book Pageant occasion after a whirlwind couple of weeks. On Oct. 18, six new episodes of his meals and journey collection “Any individual Feed Phil” arrived on Netflix. The identical day, a companion guide hit retailer cabinets, and Rosenthal set off on a seven-city guide tour.
“What enjoyable!” Rosenthal says, talking by telephone earlier than the large day from his house in Los Angeles. “I get to go to all these American cities, a few of which I’ve by no means been to earlier than, and meet individuals. Assembly individuals is my favourite factor to do.”
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St. Louis is without doubt one of the cities that can be new to Rosenthal. “What ought to I eat?” he asks, then wonders about the most effective place to strive toasted ravioli. “I’ve heard of that,” he muses, solely slightly skeptical.
Our favorites, even Provel, should not be too exhausting for Rosenthal to abdomen. Though he stated earlier than the debut of “Any individual Feed Phil” that he would not be consuming bugs, he has since fortunately munched crickets and requested for seconds. Not all the pieces has gone down so easily; Rosenthal nonetheless regrets the cow udder taco in Tepito, Mexico, and most just lately the weird shellfish piure — which he dubbed “a brand new enemy” — in Chile.
Rosenthal created the comedy collection “All people Loves Raymond” and is a passionate traveler who turned that love into first a PBS collection (“I am going to Have What Phil’s Having”) after which the continued Netflix hit, which has aired 36 episodes up to now.
“Any individual Feed Phil the E book,” 350-plus shiny pages of “Untold Tales, Behind-the-Scenes Pictures and Favourite Recipes,” was greater than a yr within the making, with Los Angeles-based cookbook writer Jenn Garbee amassing and testing viewer-requested recipes starting from Avocado Ice Cream (Copenhagen) to Purple Beans and Rice (New Orleans).
Rosenthal has eaten all of it, and far, far more. His mother and father, Helen and Max Rosenthal, raised him and his brother, Richard, present runner and occasional on-camera foil for “Any individual Feed Phil,” on plain meals within the New York suburbs, however Rosenthal ate his means by means of Paris and Florence after school, and a lifelong love of exploring the world was born.
The concept of journey as life-changing spilled over into “All people Loves Raymond,” which ran 9 seasons (1996-2005) on CBS. After studying that star Ray Romano had by no means traveled (“I am probably not inquisitive about different cultures,” Rosenthal quotes him as saying), that grew to become an episode of the present. In Italy, Ray Barone, and Romano, fell in love with the meals and the place, and Rosenthal thought, “If solely I may do that for different individuals.”
Submit-“Raymond,” following that zeal led Rosenthal first to the PBS collection after which to Netflix, the place “Any individual Feed Phil” debuted in January 2018 with an episode in Bangkok, the place Rosenthal put into place his plan to eat all the pieces “and never weigh 400 kilos.”
Within the guide, he explains. “You know the way they movie a pet food business? They do not let the canine eat till the business. That is me. I am the canine.”
Additionally, he provides, “I often simply take just a few bites … and go it on.” That means, “I can style much more issues, and my pants thank me.”
“Any individual Feed Phil” is actually unscripted, Rosenthal guarantees. The locale is mapped out, and the locations and folks he’ll go to, however then what occurs, occurs. What he calls “this unfastened documentary constructed round meals and my silly humorousness” really has an inner construction viewers may not have seen.
“In each episode we now have one thing that is not about meals,” he stated, whether or not that is taking a freezing swim in Eire or discussing the surroundings with the prime minister of Finland.
In earlier seasons, episodes had been bookended when Rosenthal positioned a video name to his mother and father, at all times ending with a joke from dad Max. However mother Helen, who had fled Germany forward of the Nazis, died of ALS in 2019, at age 86. Max continued alone, usually helped by Rosenthal’s spouse, actress Monica Horan, who performed Robert’s spouse Amy on “Raymond.” Max himself died final yr at 95.
“They had been particular not simply to me however to the viewers,” Rosenthal says. “So many individuals reached out after my dad died.”
Rosenthal then started inserting calls to comic associates, asking for “a joke for Max.” That was a method to honor them, as is a particular Season 6 episode focusing solely on the senior Rosenthals. “They actually had been the most effective a part of the present.”
The toughest a part of making “Any individual Feed Phil” is definitely the ready, after finishing a set of episodes, for Netflix to order extra.
For Rosenthal, the present itself isn’t a grind. “I really like doing it,” he stated. “It is the most effective job on the planet.”
In the meantime, in St. Louis, any individual please feed Phil a dish of frozen custard. He is certain to reply with a contented dance and his trademark, gleeful “hee, hee, hee!”
What • A “bookend” occasion for this yr’s St. Louis Jewish E book Pageant, which formally begins Nov. 6 with Marie Yovanovitch, keynote speaker and former ambassador to Ukraine
When • 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5
The place • Jewish Group Middle, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, Creve Coeur
How a lot • Pageant go is $118 for all occasions (particular person tickets for Rosenthal are offered out)
Extra data • jccstl.com/festival-events-schedule
