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| Swedish chef Lars Kuprik Bäckman. Photo: Courtesy Lars "Kuprik" Bäckman |
"I was live on TV in America, and I was paralyzed. I couldn't speak! I couldn't remember any English or any Swedish. But I knew the show had to go on, so I started talking, but the only thing that came out were these guttural sounds," Bäckman tells ABC News. "It was unintelligible, and I was still holding that silly pastry bag, shaking with fear. The only thing I wanted right then was to go home to my mother in Sweden."
But not everyone buys the story.
Jerry Juhl, a head writer for "The Muppet Show," says he would have remembered if Backman had been the inspiration.
"I wrote, rehearsed, rewrote, brainstormed, and giggled uncontrollably a thousand times with Jim Henson as we dealt with the Swedish Chef, and I never ONCE heard him mention an actual Swedish chef, especially one that claims to be Charlton Heston's golf buddy! I mean, that's a story Jim would have told!" Juhl said in a 2001 story on Muppet Central News.
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Tell us what you think.
[Via ABC News]
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8-08-2009 @10:21PM diane said... i am thrilled 2 have come across this article. The reason is bcus I LOVE the Swedish Chief from the Muppets. I hade NO idea that these clips were on youtube. TY
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8-08-2009 @10:23PM Patricia said... The man does not understand that, THAT is the way they sound to our American ears,...Borg,de borg, de borg, de borg.
They Muppet Show creator would not be ignorant enough to blatantly make fun of someone suffering from a medical attack during their show on TV. That would be a biggest fear, type of thing, & anyone in the TV business or viewing TV would think that would be Like 'Bad Karma'.
Especially when The Muppet Show was being aired & the US still had our old Censor Board, the people who would say, 'You cannot say/do that on TV.
I think they wanted a Chef charactor with a funny accent, but the French Chef has been done, & re-done, & over-done so many times that the Svedish accent was fresh, unusual, & funny.
I loved the Muppet Show when I was an adolecent. It was hilarious, & the Muppets were so innovative, & I loved the Swedish Chef, I was going to a Vocational School for Food Preparation & the Swedish Chef, among other TV sitcom Chef Charactors made that more cool.
During those years they were also trying to bring up the appreciation for Chefs in the US, to be more like Chefs are appreciated in Europe.
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8-09-2009 @12:50AM kovacsfan said... Ernie Kovacs did a Swedish chef almost identical to the muppet Swedish chef. Whether consciously or not, Jim Henson has to have been influenced by Ernie Kovacs.
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8-09-2009 @3:33AM Ron said... He was paralyzed with fear and making unintelligible sounds. Maybe he was the inspiration for Ralph Kramden as the Chef Of The Future. "Hummina hummina...Oh it can core a apple!!"
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8-09-2009 @4:38AM LEE said... IT IS MY BELIEF THAT A WAFFLE HOUSE COOK IN TULSA OK. NAMED DAVID IS THE "REAL" SWEDISH CHEF. IF ONLY EVERYONE COULD SEE HIM, YOU WOULD ALL AGREE. LOL.
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8-09-2009 @4:44AM patrickgawne said... Wasn't the Muppet Show produced by a British Network and syndicated here in the U.S.?
Besides, so what if this guy happened to be the inspiration for the Swedish Chef? Parody is pretty much exempt from copyright infingement, or else all comedians would be paying royalties left and right.
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8-09-2009 @5:10AM sandi said... Hero cookie to the chef, next?
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8-09-2009 @7:44AM kelli said... I always thought that Friedemann Paul Erhardt "Chef Tell" was the inspiration for the Swedish Chef. His antics were even copied for a skit on Saturday Night Live.
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8-09-2009 @10:17AM Rena said... The Swedish Chef is one of my most favorite characters! I can't imagine that anyone associated with the Muppets would make fun of such a situation. They are there to entertain and educate. If there was some ridicule, it was usually directed at the Guest Host of the show. In our "I'll sue because you looked at me funny" society, it would not have been in anyone's best interest to intentionally make fun of anyone, other than the host and I'm sure they got permission before they did the show.
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8-09-2009 @12:49PM Tony said... This is bull. The REAL inspiration was Friedman Paul Erhardt better known as Chef Tell who was huge on American television at the same time the Muppet Show was on. Butchering English with his thick German accent was his trademark.
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9-25-2009 @4:08PM Marina said... The story is true! Jim Henson told it himself and admitted the it was indeed Lars on an early morning cooking show and that yes, Lars was nervous. It's hilarious all these votes saying noway when they probably are not Muppet fans to begin with.
So sad.
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2-11-2010 @2:39PM Shanna Wester said... I'm late to the game on this one, but I'm so happy to have found this. I don't even care if this guy is the real one or not, I'm just happy to tell myself that a living, breathing Swedish Chef is walking around.
Look at the comparison: http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/nm_muppets_chef_090806_mn.jpg
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