Gillian Anderson is reminiscing about raisin pie, a favourite dessert from her childhood, ideally served with a “foreskin” on top.
asserted
Anderson → reminisce → top
Hugh Jackman selects some Aussie staples including a meat pie with tomato sauce and Tim Tams, with which he demonstrates the technique for a “Tim Tam slam”.
asserted
he → select → slam
Gordon Ramsay starts with a “full English”, noting that his working-class Scottish mum would’ve been appalled by the white truffle shaved over his eggs.
asserted
mum → start → eggs
Welcome to the evocative and often illuminating world of Last Meals, a talk show in which host and chef Josh Scherer asks his guests to nominate the food that they’d choose for their final feast on Earth.
asserted
they → welcome → Earth
Launched on YouTube in 2020, Last Meals has this month also migrated to Netflix, where it’s now into its second season.
asserted
it → launch → season
And it represents another inventive spin on the sturdy TV staple of the chat show.
asserted
it → represent → show
The classics of the genre, like Michael Parkinson’s ageless eponymous series for the BBC and ITV, were typically shot in a studio furnished with chairs and a coffee table for water glasses.
asserted
classics → shoot → glasses
Graham Norton’s long-running production, with its red couch and invitation for guests to submit drink orders, injects a more festive spirit.
asserted
guests → run → spirit
On his Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, David Letterman’s opted for a couple of armchairs placed at the centre of a bare space, sometimes with a brick wall or curtain in the background, the stripped-back setting signalling that the focus is firmly on conversation not decoration.
asserted
focus → need → conversation
Scherer’s regular setting, with its shadowy lighting and commodious wooden table, resembles a not-especially-inviting tiled kitchen tucked somewhere in the bowels of a castle.
asserted
setting → resemble → castle
His series, though, is a happy place, recalling the enduring format of Desert Island Discs, which debuted on BBC Radio in 1942.
asserted
which → recall → 1942
Like music choices, food selections, accompanied by explanations of why they warrant a place in the showcase, reveal much about an interviewee.
asserted
they → accompany → interviewee
That’s also a strategy adopted by a couple of local productions: Take 5 With Zan Rowe, which grew from her Triple J show, and Shaun Micallef’s Eve of Destruction.
asserted
which → ’ → Destruction
Rowe’s reliably engaging series has become a highlight in the ABC’s annual light-entertainment line-up.
asserted
series → become → up
The recently launched fifth season features an eclectic array of guests, from Peter Garrett and Shania Twain to David Byrne and Jacinda Ardern.
asserted
season → launch → Byrne
Rowe is an appreciative and knowledgeable host and her guests’ choices of a handful of songs significant to them have given us some valuable accounts of their history and influences.
asserted
choices → give → history
The focus has been mainly on musicians but, as the inclusion of Ardern indicates, the roster can readily accommodate people whom viewers might just want to know more about.
uncertain
viewers → indicate → more
A handy attribute of the format is that it enables conversation to flow easily.
asserted
conversation → enable → format
The guests have chosen the playlist, so they arrive ready to talk.
asserted
they → choose → playlist
And all that needs to happen if the discussion runs out of steam is for Rowe to ask, “So what’s your next choice?”
asserted
choice → need → steam
Micallef’s show is consistent with the work of a talent who habitually takes a left-field approach.
asserted
who → take → approach
For the interview program, he confects a plainly wacky scenario about a catastrophic event requiring the guest to flee their home with only enough time to grab a couple of precious possessions.
asserted
he → confect → possessions
What would those be and why?
The prized items often relate to childhood or adolescence: Pia Miranda with her Humphrey B. Bear toy; Rebecca Gibney with her teenage beauty-pageant sashes.
asserted
Miranda → prize → sashes
Such memories crop up repeatedly in Rowe and Micallef’s shows, as they do in Scherer’s.
asserted
they → crop → Scherer
With food and music as the cues, discussion turns to formative experiences and rites of passage.
asserted
discussion → turn → passage
, Jackman’s choice of McDonald’s fries relates to him getting his driver’s licence and heading straight to the nearest drive-through to celebrate.
asserted
him → relate → through
The kinds of reflections that emerge in this context can differ from those that come up when guests do interviews purely tied to their latest ventures.
asserted
guests → emerge → ventures
Of course, that’s still part of the reason they are there.
asserted
they → ’ → reason
Jackman’s appearance on Last Meals, for instance, coincided with the release of The Death of Robin Hood.
asserted
appearance → coincide → Hood
And Anderson was promoting her new film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and her beverage brand, G Spot.
asserted
Anderson → promote → Miasma
But their appearances demonstrate that, ideally, the interviews can be something more than glib PR exercises.
asserted
interviews → demonstrate → exercises
On Norton’s show, the guests on the red couch are usually there to plug their latest film, play, book or album.
asserted
guests → plug → film
The desire for publicity enables access.
asserted
desire → enable → access
Yet the show’s been fun to watch for 33 seasons.
asserted
show → watch → seasons
That’s also the reason that Will Ferrell, Jimmy Tatro and Fortune Feimster, who star in the golf comedy The Hawk, recently turned up on Hot Ones: Extra Heat.
asserted
who → ’ → Ones
Like Last Meals, Hot Ones now has a presence on Netflix.
asserted
Ones → have → Netflix
This new series of specials hooked to big releases on the streaming platform functions in much the same way as host Sean Evans’ much-loved YouTube series.
asserted
series → hook → series
The interview show has accumulated a catalogue of high-profile guests since its 2015 debut and become a favoured stop on the publicity circuit, with Jason Bateman noting that his daughters insisted he appear on it when he was doing the rounds for Black Rabbit.
asserted
he → accumulate → Rabbit
Described by the host as “The show with hot questions and even hotter wings”, it has a distinctive set-up with Evans and his guests eating fried chicken with progressively hotter sauces through the interview.
asserted
Evans → describe → interview
Fuelled by chilli-fired potency, these encounters can assume the impression of slow-burn torture.
asserted
encounters → fuel → torture
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
