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Swedish Chef

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File:The Swedish Chef and proto-Rizzo.jpg
The Swedish Chef and an early version of Rizzo the Rat, on display in the Smithsonian Institution. (Photo by Rudi Riet)

The Swedish Chef is a Muppet who appeared in the long-running The Muppet Show and was operated by Jim Henson and Frank Oz simultaneously.

Character

A parody of television chefs, the Swedish Chef wears a toque blanche and has bushy eyebrows that completely obscure his eyes. He was one of the few Muppets to employ an actual puppeteer's hands, originally Oz's, in the designs—that is, they were visible to the audience through his sleeves and facilitated handling food and utensils.

Nearly all Swedish Chef sketches begin with him in a kitchen, waving some utensils while singing his signature song in a trademark mock Swedish; a semi-comprehensible gibberish which parodies the characteristic vowel sounds of Swedish. The opening song usually sounds possibly something like: "Yorn desh born, der ritt de gitt der gue, Orn desh, dee born desh, de umn børk! børk! børk!", but in fact changes subtly in every episode. The last line of the song is always "Børk! Børk! Børk!", and is punctuated by him throwing the utensils over his shoulder to crash into the crockery behind. Although the letter "ø" does not exist in Swedish—it is a Danish/Norwegian letter whose Swedish equivalent is "ö"—the Chef's trademark word is nearly universally represented as "Børk". The vowel pronounced, however, is an "o", not ø/ö. The statement makes sense in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian if the final consonant is interpreted as a T, rather than a K; "Bort bort bort" means "away away away", and is precisely what a real-life Swedish chef would say if he was getting rid of (for instance) useless kitchen utensils.

After this introduction, the Chef continues speaking gibberish while preparing a particular recipe. His commentary is spiced with the occasional English word to clue the viewer in to what he is attempting. These clues are necessary as he frequently uses unorthodox culinary equipment (firearms, tennis racquets, etc.) to prepare his dishes. The sketch typically degenerates into a slapstick finale where the ingredients or equipment get the better of him.

In one sketch, a misaimed explosive charge slightly damaged the face of the puppet. The Chef's face remained scarred through the rest of the season.

The Chef's gibberish gained a life of its own with the creation of a Unix lex filter capable of converting standard English to "chefspeak" in 1992. The filter quickly became a staple of hacker culture and eventually spread to the mainstream with "Swedish Chef" translators on several websites; there is a popular add-on available for Mozilla Firefox called "Bork Bork Bork!", which allows the selective "translation" of text from web pages of the user's choice. In 2003 Opera Software published a special "Bork" version of its internet browser, which turned the MSN website into "Swedish." Google offers "Bork, bork, bork" as one among its choices for user interface language and Meebo offers "Bork!" as one of its language preferences. There also appeared a plethora of USENET newsgroups named after the chef's speech, the first being "alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork", after which the repeated ending was incorporated into groups like "alt.ensign-wesley.die.die.die" and "alt.fan.tonya-harding.whack.whack.whack." In addition, the popular MMORPG Guild Wars has a "Bork! Bork! Bork!" language option.

It is sometimes said that the Swedish Chef character was based on real life Swedish chef Lars "Kuprik" Bäckman. He claims that his rather unsuccessful appearance on an early edition of Good Morning America caught the attention of Jim Henson, who later bought the rights to the recording and created Lars Bäckman's Muppet alter ego. Bäckman's Dalecarlian accent would explain the chef's strange pronunciation. This story is however denied by Muppet writer Jerry Juhl.[1]

Name

The Swedish chef’s actual name appears in one episode, in which Danny Kaye plays the chef's uncle. The name Kaye rattles off is (something like) "Sjøø Hjørste Früden de Gooste Boodne Oonde oot te Fæbbe Sjørt-Fÿrste de Børnd" but, Kaye's character goes on, "we call him Tom" (though, based on the chef's reaction, he may have been kidding about the "Tom" part). [1] (Video)

Merchandising

The first Swedish Chef merchandise item was a ceramic coffee mug produced by Kilncraft in the UK in 1978. It was part of a series of 12 featuring various Muppet Show characters, and featured coloured line drawings on either a white or beige ceramic cup.

In 1980, Jones New York offered a small collection of blue and yellow Swedish Chef kitchen linens including an apron, pot holders, and toaster cover. Miss Piggy linens in pink were also available.

From 1988 to 1989, the Swedish Chef had his own short-lived breakfast cereal for sale in grocery stores, called "Cröonchy Stars." Croonchy Stars brought with it a small variety of Swedish Chef items, most notably a stuffed Chef doll complete with non-removable wooden rolling pin and spoon. There was also a coffee mug bearing a picture of the Chef and the logos of Post Cereal and Cröonchy Stars.

In 2000, German company Igel released a large (35cm) plush Swedish Chef as part of the second wave of its stuffed Muppets line. In addition, there was a life-sized version available measuring nearly five feet tall. Though expensive, the huge Chef proved popular enough with collectors that the line was expanded the following year with five-foot plush versions of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great, Animal, Statler and Waldorf.

Also in 2000, UK food chain Little Chef released a small toy car called Swedish Chef's Sporty Sponge (the Chef riding a cake on wheels) as part of line of promotional Muppet Corgi cars.

2002 was celebrated as the 25th anniversary of The Muppet Show, which brought a flurry of new Muppet toys and collectables. Included in this was a line of action figures from Palisades Toys, which would run through 2005 and grow to include many dozens of figures. Palisades' Swedish Chef items include:

  • A large and very detailed Swedish Kitchen playset, with a very realistic miniature kitchen and over 40 accessories including many cooking tools and odd items such as a saw and tennis racket.
  • The first Swedish Chef action figure, included with the Swedish Kitchen playset, has a blue striped shirt and plaid pants.
  • "Culinary Catastrophe" Chef, an exclusive figure sold at the 2003 San Diego comic Convention, includes the lobster banditos from the show and their guns. The body of the Chef has a different paint job so it appears to be splattered with food, and his clothing colours are different.
  • Classic Swedish Chef has plainer clothing colours than the earlier Kitchen version and comes with several accessories including his gun and a basketball hoop.
  • Santa Swedish Chef, an eBay exclusive item for the 2004 Christmas season, is dressed as Santa Claus and includes a holiday wreath and lights.
  • A small non-articulated PVC figure featuring Chef holding a spoon and a live chicken in a pot.

In 2003, Sideshow Collectables offered a Swedish Chef bust statue as part of the third wave of its line of Muppet busts.

With the Muppets characters being owned by Disney as of late 2004, there is reason to believe that there will be a healthy amount of merchandise for the Chef and other Muppets in the foreseeable future. Other modern Swedish Chef items include yet another plush doll (this time a smaller 18" one), a Disney metal lapel pin, and a small tin of mints.

Stamp

The United States Postal Service released a souvenir sheet featuring Jim Henson and ten Muppets including the Swedish Chef in 2005.[2]

Typical episodes

  • Chocolate Mousse
The Chef announces he will be making chocolate mousse, for which he first prepares some liquid chocolate ("Yom-yom-yooom, ze chocolad!"), then proceeds to acquire the other ingredient: a moose (whose name is actually Mickey: Mickey Moose, a parody of Mickey Mouse).

[2]

  • "Flap Jacks"
The Chef flips some pancakes, after announcing "Flappen-jacken", but they land on the ceiling. The chef then takes out a pistol and shoots the ceiling, after which around fifteen pancakes fall from the ceiling.
  • Salad ala Boom-Boom
While making a salad, the Chef demonstrates his unique technique for shredding: the "Boom-Boom," a nineteenth-century pistol, which he uses for chopping the vegetables after throwing them into the air. The whole process is observed by a curious Statler and Waldorf, who comment on the rather unorthodox cooking style. Curiously, the chef shoots a cabbage, which is "chopped" into brussel sprouts.[3]
  • Lobster-Bandidos
The Chef's attempt to cook a lobster is ambushed by a gang of pistol-wielding moustachioed lobsters wearing sombreros and muttering in a quasi-Mexican dialect. They manage to free the victim from the pot, and intimidate the Chef by shooting the cleaver out of his hand.[4]
  • Donuts
Once again the Boom-Boom is in action, this time used to create donuts from muffins. ("Zee de moofin? Ond ik will mit de boome shooten!")[5]
  • Swedish Meatballs
The Chef attempts to cook meatballs. He accidentally drops one from the skillet and it bounces offstage, and, confused, the Chef refers to his attempted dish as "beency-bouncy burger meat". He then proceeds to demonstrate how to "serve" such a meal by "serving" (in the tennis sense) several with a tennis racket. Statler returns a volley making it up into the balcony with Waldorf commenting afterward, "15-Love."[6]
  • Turkey
Chef is planning to cook turkey during Muppet Family Christmas, but the smooth-talking turkey shows the Chef Big Bird in another room, and Chef exclaims "gobbla-gobbla-humunga!" [sic]. The Chef invites Big Bird in to the kitchen, but doesn't have the heart to cook him. He decides to prepare "shreeper deep und crannenbungschus," meaning shredded wheat and cranberry sauce.
  • Turkey Part 2
Chef and his uncle (played by Danny Kaye) prepare an international turkey, which causes Chef to misunderstand him and brings in a live turkey. His uncle explains the work they'd have to do to a live turkey, which traumatizes it so much it runs away. Chef brings out the Boom-Boom and shoots in the air, causing feathers to rain down. His uncle takes the Boom-Boom and shoots in the air, which results in a mock cooked turkey to come down, which he catches.[7]
  • Chicken in a Basket
Chef plays with a chicken as if it was a basketball, bouncing it and shooting it into a basketball goal, scoring "two points". The name is a reference to Chicken In a basket.[8]
  • Fish Chowder
The chef attempts to cook a still alive fish, who steals his pepper shaker and also bites his nose.[9]
  • Frog Legs
Chef attempts to cut off a leg of Kermit's nephew Robin while Robin screams for his uncle, who rescues him.[10]
  • Hot Dogs
Chef demonstrates how to cook hot dogs, (amazingly, he is demonstrating the right way to cook them) but after a misunderstanding about the whereabouts of Miss Piggy's beloved dog Fou Fou, Miss Piggy and the Chef get into a fight and Miss Piggy attempts to karate chop him, and hits the metal pot cover that Chef defends himself with.[11]
  • Spaghetti
The chef makes spaghetti, which comes to life and tries to run away, until the chef puts it back on the plate. The spaghetti tries to run away again, but the chef calls it back. The spaghetti then attacks the Swedish chef by strangling him.[12]
  • Banana Split
Chef attempts to split a banana with an axe, but every time he gets ready to, a conga line interrupts him by dancing along the screen in front of him accompanied by the Mexican Hat Dance song. This happens twice, resulting in him getting a pot on his head, and chopping open a bag of flour. He decides to use the banana peel and goads the dancers to come back. They then dance in front of him, slipping on the banana peel, much to the chef's delight, as now he can continue his banana split. However, when he attempts to split the banana again, he accidentally throws the axe up into the air, causing it to chop into the pot on his head, but not into his skull. The chef, now defeated, splits the banana with his hands.[13]
The Chef is the projectionist. Halfway through the film the projector malfunctions and the Chef says "Er, der film go flip-flip-flip-flip-flip!" and after fixing the snapped film he pronounced, "Der flim is hokey dokey!"
The Chef appears on an island where the natives, a tribe of boars, practice cannibalism. He wears a pig snout mask to resemble members of the tribe. After his initial appearance speaking gibberish and the traditional Swedish Chef ritual, a tomato on his ingredient table says directly to the camera, "Well, how else did you think we were going to get him into this movie?"

Trivia

  • Several P2P services and websites have a sound bite called "Iron Chef vs. Swedish Chef" where the two compete.
  • Wyclef Jean appeared with the chef on the MTV Europe Music Awards in Stockholm, Sweden, 16 November 2000.
  • In Sweden the Swedish Chef is known as "Svenske Kocken" ("The Swedish Chef" in Swedish).
  • A guide to learning Swedish by Urban Sikeborg states that special care should be given to pronunciation, otherwise "...you might end up sounding disquietingly like the Swedish Chef in the Muppet Show."[3]
  • In Germany the Swedish Chef is Danish and his song is "Smørrebrød, Smørrebrød røm, pøm, pøm, pøm"
  • The Swedish Chef recently appeared on Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken, a show using toys and Mego dolls to create sketch comedy scenes. The sketch involved the Chef running into various people and things that rhyme with "bork" including Björk, Mork, a dork, a poster for New York, Quark, Peter Tork, a guy playing Zork, a man selling pork, a fork, a spork, and an Orc. The sketch ended with the Chef returning home and yelling at his wife, "Get the Hell off my back, woman! Can't I get a moment of fucking peace!?" for asking him about his day. Seth Green, the series' co creator, is a Muppet fan.
  • The animated cartoon series for the popular webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del features an episode where the main character, Ethan, is haunted by a floating Swedish Chef while trying to cook dinner.
  • In 2006, the Swedish Chef was displayed at the Smithsonian. Remarkably, in a display consisting of such iconic material as the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and other classic Hollywood material, staff chose to give the Chef the most prominent position - in a large glass case to open the exhibit section.
  • In their third contest for the 2006-2007 school year (usually involving string manipulation), the American Computer Science League asked students to write a program that converted English into chef-speak based on a certain set of rules.
  • In an episode of Family Guy, Stewie notes that Jim Henson had a "wait-and-see attitude" and as a result of that we have wrong sounding Muppets which then cuts to a scene with Kermit talking to The Swedish Chef with their voices sounding different. He later appears with Kermit later in the episode with Fozzie comming up and saying "Wokka-wokka, who wants to hear a funny-ass joke?" sounding like an African-American.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2001/070301.shtml
  2. ^ The 2005 Commemorative Stamp Program at USPS
  3. ^ http://web.hhs.se/isa/swedish/

Extension - Translate pages to Bork and bork (block) unwanted things.

  • [14] -Google in Bork Bork
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