Too Many Cooks (2014 TV Short) User Reviews

Ignore all the comments and reviews-its funny

[terryperring104 · 9/10 · 26 January 2015]

There are a few negative and pointless reviews and comments on here about this video short. They are either by trolls or, people who, through no fault of their own, don't actually 'get it'. Its funny, well observed, accurate, ambitious and extremely well done. Every show that ever had titles, that existed or exists now, has been included in this expensive looking montage. Its a case of-'how long can this go on for? Its boring, it CANT go on anymore can it? and then it does and it becomes funnier as it goes along. The person responsible for this obviously did their homework and watched a LOT of TV over the past 30 years. That or, they trawled through hundreds of hours of tapes. The hard work was worth it!

This surreal dark short comedy was indeed very thought-provoking. It was also very funny and creepy!

[ironhorse_iv · 8/10 · 30 September 2015]

Written and directed by Casper Kelly, this short, parodies the many different types of opening credits sequences of 1980s and 1990s American TV Shows, such as the American situation comedy, the television crime dramas, prime time soap operas, Saturday-morning cartoons, the superhero live-action series, and last, the science fiction television shows, by having a never ending loop song, typing them all, up, together. In the middle of those sequences, is a surreal narrative that includes slasher film elements, in which many of the multitude of stock characters introduced in the opening credits are murdered and eaten by a maniac (William Tokarsky) with a machete. The only way, they can be save is, for one of those character, to push the start button, allow the show to continue, pass the opening credit sequence. Can the characters save themselves by pushing that button or will them, end up, in a never-ending nightmarish loop? Watch the special to find out! Without spoiling the special too much, I have to say, I'm deeply surprised, by how many people have saw this special. Originally aired as a special during Adult Swim's 4 A.M "infomercials" block in 2014. It was made, for a small batch of insomnias, looking for a wake-up call. It wasn't until, it was release by a third party on YouTube; that "Too Many Cooks" became a "instant cult classic" viral phenomenon that reach a million viewers. For me, this sitcom fever dream is more annoying than shocking. Don't get me wrong, I kinda love that long-drawn out meta trolling vague comedies, but the special does, go, a little too long, at times, even for those, looking forward to seeing it. It felt like a double edge sword. I really like what too many cook is trying to say, with its postmodern satire of what happens when studio head start to interference on creatives on television show, but the hardest part about the special is also its repetitive nature. I really doubt, I can watch it, multiply times, without going mad. The special is good for a one time, watch, but not recommended for repeat-viewing. It will spoil the broth, indeed as shown in the special. Often, the special repeat old television treads, to show, that even the media can be somewhat unwatchable, when studios start, feeding the same old stuff, over and over again. I think, this special was create by the creators as an insider jab against Time Warner as well as Adult Swim. The Machete Man in 'Too Many Cooks' represent Time Warner in a way, because it does what normal network executives often does, they kill shows, when they or the viewer lose interest. They are always there in the background, ready to strike on the show, if anything they deem off beam, does go wrong. This is why, the killer is always hidden in the background in Too Many Cooks. The scenes with him, eating the characters is often symbolic of years upon years, of taking in, character types, and rehashing characters with versions of what the executives want to see. This is why, everybody got replace with the Machete Killer, within Too Many Cook timeframe. Adult Swim is often known as counter-alternative programming. Represented here as Smarf, the absurd sock puppet. His name is play upon words, meaning smart. Like Adult Swim, Smarf tries to save television programming, by doing something new, even if it's a bit bizarre or out of context. This is why, after he shows up, in Too Many Cooks, the subject matter often began to mix up with each other. Smarf don't care, if it make sense or not, as long, as it makes people, happy. This is why characters outlandish actions can clearly outlive good solid performances. The scene where the credits that are the size and shape of human beings walking and running around with the actors superimposed horizontally across the credit people shows that. The whole intronitis disease part with Ken DeLozier represented the addicting absurdism of this. It's a sickness that is both cringe worthy and inane in a bad way. If you think, deep about it. It shows, how bad, both over-creativeness and control-programming can kill a show. In the end, media can become a bloated and oversaturated mess. The button pushing scene, represented, the stop of absurdism and going back to basics. It shows how creators can fight back. Still, no matter, what, the creators does to help the show, the show producers always win. At least, that's my theory on what this special means. Other people can believe, whatever they want, like it's just Ken Delozier's losing his mind, or a connection to other shows, but in the end, that's what I saw. Overall: The mundanity of yesterday television is a key to understanding this special. It's often offbeat, bizarre, and holds a peculiar kind of humor that some people might not get. It might seem random, too vague or deliberately unfunny, but once you get a chance to watch it. You might find yourself, overthinking it like myself. I think, that's the best thing to come from this special. A good thought.

THIS FILM IS CURSED

[dylanstaxes · 8/10 · 1 August 2021]

I now have small gritty particulates spread throughout all of my bodily tissues. Gritty particles that are singing. Poisoning my bones and eyeballs and tongue with too many cooks. I am lost to the cooks. There are too many. The singing particles are multiplying, my body is more cook than man.

*edit* Today I awoke without too many cooks in my head. There is a small chance I will survive.

Gets better each time you watch it

[L. Lion · 10/10 · 8 November 2014]

A kaleidoscopic pop-culture send up, Too Many Cooks gets better each time you watch it. At first it appears to be a spot-on parody of a 1980s sitcom, then it slowly morphs into something that moves through TV tropes and genres until it becomes unsettling as a gleeful murderer (William Tokarsky) begins offing the cast. He continues to do so as the genres change - cop show, nighttime soap, action cartoon, space opera. It isn't until the end that we learn that he might have been doing the cast a favor.

Watch it again. First, you will not be able to get the outstandingly cheesy theme song out of your head. Second, you will start noticing the killer showing up in weird places far earlier than what seemed to be his initial appearance. Plus, in subsequent viewings his murders become more and more funny.

Arguments can be made about the meaning of the entire thing - does it have a plot? Is Tokarsky's murderer a hero or a generic 80s slasher set loose in an 80s sitcom? When will Smarf get his own show? Very few films get better the more often they are watched. This is genius. 10 stars.

And you've got...Too Many Cooks! (Too Many Cooks!) Too Many Cooks! (Too Many Cooks!) Too Many Cooks! (Too Many Cooks!) Too Many Cooks! (Too Many Cooks!)

[drq89 · 10/10 · 8 November 2014]

Oh. My. God.

I'm so confused, I'm so lost. I feel....mesmerized, like I've been sucked into a vortex of nostalgia and confusion. I mean, I can't even begin to describe what I've just seen.

Where do we begin? A typical 70's-80's sitcom parody appears and you see that old sitcom technique where they're doing something random and the camera catches them off-guard, to which they give a sly smile and their names appear. Okay, but then, it keeps going. And going. And going. Is that the joke? Wait, I get it, it's called "Too Many Cooks" because the intro just goes on forever with a family that never ceases to end in size.

No, wait, now they're at a dinner table, with another family, a black family. Why is there another family? Why is the camera panning across the table with changing characters? What is happening? What is with the creepy guy that appears in the background of all these introductions? Hold on, why is there a guy with binoculars staring at a naked woman? Why is the naked woman there? Why is there a half-naked firefighter and a female police officer at the dinner table? There's also a puppet shooting rainbows out of it's hands but this still doesn't help, I'm still confused, yet mesmerized.

We move into various other scenarios and cartoon-introductions yet that creepy guy still appears everywhere? Is that the joke? What am I suppose to be looking for? We go back into the bedroom and we see the credit for a character named Katie Adkins, the creepy guy appears and chases her, her name is stuck to her, why? Why? She runs into the closet and he finds it, because of the bright yellow name that follows her? Why does it follow her? Why does he kill her? Then a woman starts to spin and changes characters, but why? Why was this included? I don't know. Creepy binoculars guy gets his head chopped off and is reintroduced, but why? Creepy killer guy is now eating dead bodies. Then the characters are really words and the names on them are the actors and they're stuck and everyone is dying and then the show starts, which promptly ends.

Yet it all comes down to this moment, I've never written a review on IMDb and likely never will. I feel as though as this has taken over my life, I feel like everything is confusing and there's no connection to anything I do. I've also downloaded the entire song on my phone and listen to it, yet I hate it. What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you?

What the...?

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 10/10 · 7 November 2014]

I don't know what the hell I just watched, all I can say was that it was weird and hilarious! From a pretty dopey 80's style family to a peeping tom to a serial killer, this explores all the nostalgically bad elements of 80's television in a laugh-riot sitcom parody! "Mister Corporate", I don't have the slightest idea which sitcom he was making fun of but he was pretty cool, and the slasher movie serial killer flips the whole thing into something beyond description. And the coat... oh my god.

It's just so WEIRD!

I recommend watching it, in just 11 minutes you'll see one of the strangest things you've seen in some time! Keep an eye out for various parodies like Full House, the Cosby Show, Clarissa Explains It All, Alf, and many more of those 80's TV shows!

An unexpected, wonderful bout of surrealist humor

[miles-b-42 · 10/10 · 7 November 2014]

Too Many Cooks isn't something I saw coming. It has a great production value for something that aired at 4AM on Adult Swim, as though its viral nature had been planned from the very start. Its slow descent into insanity is hilarious once you realize what's happening, and foreshadowed well enough that you can actually notice that, for example, the murderer shows up in the first round of the theme song. It forms a surprisingly cohesive narrative, as seen from several points of view in many different versions of the theme song, all with the same name: Too Many Cooks. It's dark, it's surreal, and it's just downright hilarious.

The best 11 minutes of TV ever.

[13Funbags · 10/10 · 17 June 2017]

Too Many Cooks is pure genius.The review on the main page says it's worse than The Heart, She Hollers(sic)(which would still mean it's really good).That was clearly written by a fool with no sense of humor and no idea what comedy is all about.Probably a child who grew up on Barney and Teletubbies and now laughs at lame shows like Blackish and that dumb show with the janitor from Scrubs.If that fool had seen anything made before 1995 he would have gotten all the jokes and realized this is possibly the funniest thing ever made.I didn't bother to read any other reviews because life is too short.The plot summary basically explains the whole eleven minutes so there's no reason for me to get into it.Anyone who watched television in the 80s will love this.A definite must see.

It's definitely different.

[jessezass · 10/10 · 3 September 2017]

The first time I watched Too Many Cooks on Adult Swim I feared that I had suffered a stroke. I temporarily lost my grip on reality and thought perhaps I'd slipped into an acid flashback. I saved it on the DVR and made my wife watch it to confirm that I was actually seeing this twisted madness. Then I shared it with others via YouTube allowing the creeping insanity to spread far and wide. Like vines crawling up the back of your spine and tapping into your brain linking us all through a maddening vision we see Too Many Cooks as a new horizon..... Okay, maybe not all of that but it's twelve minutes of your life you'll never get back and you'll be a changed person from the experience.

Too Many Cooks Poison the Broth

[ragpap93 · 7/10 · 7 May 2017]

A sitcom intro. Remember Ken Delozier or you might have to watch the whole eleven minutes again. A Second iteration only realized after some names repeat but meanwhile Smarf? Parody for Alf? And after that actual cooks. Well not actual but actors dressed in chef uniforms. So now you realize it is some kind of joke unless you were watching it at four a.m. on October 28, 2014 when it first aired on adult swim cause you were probably high. A perv and a topless chick do not worry dear parents no actual nudity. Victoria Sun is so sexy. Polygamy or consenting adults? Smarf shoots rainbows WOW!

Note in the first two photos you only see Ken Delozier before he sits down on the couch. The first time it is him off course but is it him the second time?

Then the third iteration begins. Redundant isn't it? Katelyn Nacon reflects how I felt right about now. Bored. Going round the table like that seventies show. Too many mouths at the dining table to feed. The song is going to be stuck in my head forever. Too many cooks or too many actors. Ohh Noo the intro is spiralling out of control G.I. Cook. Seventies action. A castle, a falcon and now suddenly the plot to the intro thickens.

A man goes about killing the actors DARK. Hilarious dark comedy the chase for Katie Adkins. Drop the title card dumass. Law and Order crime scene. So Smarf is our hero and I'm just listing things now Sci-Fi, abbreviations for cook and broth knight rider music. Is it me or does it feel like all the simpsons intros throughout the years is what we are looking at.

It has become one of those things that people look for reasons to explain it and two theories are emerging. One Ken Delozier has intronitis for real and it is contagious. Two this is a battle between the creator, the one with the idea for a show and the network executive who only looks to make money. After having heard the second explanation I watched it again and it explained a lot to me and even a bit enjoyable otherwise I was like WTF the first time I watched it. However it may just look like dribble to some and that is okay too but clever or not I like this.

many easter eggs in " too many cooks by typer Harry Grut

[joelvx-95827 · 10/10 · 21 July 2015]

There are many hidden messages and easter eggs i have encountered when watching this amazing piece of art many of which are parodies and memes of other movies, for instance when fuzzy (the fury animal) was playing the piano. This looked quite normal the first time around when watching it, but then the 6-7 time watching it you begin to realize there is a deeper meaning, a easter egg! This scene is in fact referring to a game called "Paul Of Duty" number 6 "Sack Ops 2" in a dlc map pack called Buried, deep underground buried in a western town. In the game we see a ghost playing the piano just as fuzzy did in "too many cooks"!

There are many other easter eggs as well, such as when fuzzy shoots rainbows from his hands. At first you may think it is just an ordinary scene, but as you get into the deeper many we realize this is actually miming a movie called "Harry Potter". Just as harry (the wizard in Harry Potter) can do spells and has an owl who delivers his mail the owls name is whodini the character fuzzy can perform a magic that includes love. Harry potters mom loved him very much and used love to shield him from Voldimorts spells, just how fuzzy used love to create the rainbow! But what really is love? Is it in the sky? "No its a feeling deep inside" dang I'm hungry, no your lonely, i can see it in your eyes.

Also kahoots is very fun

Much of the short movie "too many cooks" is obviously part of a easter egg that relates to other movies and games.

Some good original laughs

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 11 November 2014]

It's a spoof of the openings of 70s, 80s and 90s TV shows. It starts with a show about the Cook family and then it's a series of crazy connected parodies. The minor problem I have is the machete serial killer Bill who comes in starting at the middle. It's kind of off-topic unless it's spoofing some serial killer TV show that I missed from that time. Also it's the thing people do when they can't figure out something better. Although Katie Adkins hiding in the closet with her name shinning through got me good. Nevertheless that character got way too much airtime to just land one good joke. The rest of his time was somewhat confounding and even cringe-worthy. I kept thinking of ISIS cutting people's heads off. The one character that I truly love is Smarf. That one character nails it. In a way, this spoof arrives just in time as Network TV crash and burn with the good ole days long gone. And that song... Too Many Cooks... too many cooks... Too Many Cooks... too many cooks...

Too many minutes

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 11 September 2015]

This is an 11-minute short film by Adultswim from last year. The writer and director is Casper Kelly and his work here is basically a spoof on intros from all kinds of old television series, all genres included. My favorite part were the first couple minutes as it included parodies of "Family Matters" and "Roseanne", two shows I grew up with. Unfortunately, the longer it goes, the less interesting it becomes. For some reason, the director also included to get in some slasher elements. Completely unfunny. Should have stayed a harmless movie and run for 6 minutes max, maybe only 4-5, then it could have been a success from start to finish. At 11 minutes, it is not and drags occasionally. Thumbs down.

Mind bendingly genius!

[kevinlschmidt · 10/10 · 15 September 2015]

This is both very simple to describe, and impossible to summarize.

It is, at its heart, a parody of 80's and 90's TV show opening credits. But it quickly changes into absolute insanity. It incorporates all the usual TV tropes - sitcom, cop show, low rent sci-fi, Saturday morning cartoons, rich white people drama - and then throws in an 80's slasher movie plot within itself.

This may be the best parody of American television ever done. It speaks to everything wrong, silly, and forced that executives do to ruin TV shows. Amazing, amazing, stuff.

Watch this several times and see if you don't spot something new every time.

Not what I expected

[films-22537 · 10/10 · 24 March 2020]

I heard this was an interesting short that was on adult swim that I should watch. I'm glad it wasn't spoiled for me. It's aided a lot by not knowing what's coming. A must watch if it wasn't spoiled for you and a highly recommend if it was.

Absurd humor at it's finest

[reze-dani · 9/10 · 9 March 2015]

Wow... What a bizarre film (short film rather) to cover for my first review.

At first glance Too Many Cooks seems like it's going to mainly stick to parodying intros of family sitcoms from the late 80's/early 90's in the vein of Full House, Step by Step, Family Matters and so forth.

But as the film keeps on progressing it begins to reveal it's true colors, and nothing is more representative of this than the introduction of Smarf (Because what makes an adorable family even more lovable than a cat/alf/muppet/terminator hybrid who shoots rainbows out of his arms).

That's really when the brilliance of Too Many Cooks begins to shine. Within the confines of this spoof on sitcoms, Too Many Cooks manages to rip on almost every staple of 90's television and film ranging from police procedurals to slasher films to Saturday morning cartoons to sci-fi programs and more..

And it does so with great wit, as if all of these unrelated sequences are all part of one big Cook family, all the while acknowledging and capturing the cheesiness of each genre it's tackling.

I can safely say that my favorite part was the moments after the killer finished massacring everyone and the sitcom shifted to him being the different family members, then afterwards as he commenced to feast on all the dismembered limbs of the different Cooks. It felt like a triumph (for me) on all these overly optimistic, happy-go-lucky shows which were so out of touch from reality. Truly warms the heart :)

For anyone with an open sense of humor and a soft spot for early 90's television I'd say this a must see.

Now i'm waiting for the intro of season 2...

In A Genre All Its Own

[supersix21 · 10/10 · 27 August 2015]

"Too Many Cooks" succeeds not because it is funny or weird, but because it creates an experience for the viewer that is completely unique and original. If you haven't watched it yet, find it on YouTube and give it a view...don't look at the time it's going to take, don't read any other reviews - just watch it and you'll understand why it's so hilarious. In some ways it's similar to the Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland. You begin by floating along peacefully in a cartoonish world, then the sudden drop and the whole ride changes.

The ideal audience for "Too Many Cooks" is someone in their mid 30s, as many of the spoofed intros are from shows which aired during the 80s and 90s ("Dallas", "Falcon Crest", "Dynasty", "Full House", "Clarissa Explains It All", and the list goes on). But then halfway through, it completely changes and takes on a life of its own, spoofing something else, the 80s slasher flick. Then it changes again. And again. Eventually you don't know what you're watching, but you know it's good.

Watch it a second or third time and you'll start to notice lots of Easter Eggs (how many times can you spot the killer before he starts slashing?). But be careful though, the theme song is so catchy you just might find yourself humming it for the rest of the day.

Impressive

[CosmicWizard · 8/10 · 18 May 2022]

Technically-skilled extrapolation of multiverse theory. Responds well to many different lenses of analysis, speaking to the vast competence of the writer and director. Additionally, this was clearly an enormous project and must have required great coordination. The cast is wonderful.

Certainly an art piece above all else. Not pleasant to watch.

It takes a lot to make a stew

[I_Ailurophile · 8/10 · 18 April 2021]

'Too many cooks' is a delightful absurdist parody, a send-up of television and credit sequences we've all been familiar with. Family comedies like 'Step by step' or 'Full house'; crime thrillers like 'Miami Vice' or procedurals like 'Law & Order'; space operas like 'Battlestar Galactica' or animated kids' shows like 'G. I. Joe'; even family dramas like 'Dynasty' or medical shows like 'General Hospital' - nothing escapes the vision of writer-director Casper Kelly.

There is no overarching plot per se, only a building, elongated spoof of TV, with a bouncy, happy-go-lucky theme song that just keeps going, and going, and going. As the scene changes to take on other genres, so the song goes through permutations that reflect the tone of themes such series would bear.

Living organisms pass on DNA as they reproduce, sometimes resulting in a mutation that produces a change in the biology of offspring. As 'Too many cooks' continues and scenes change, glitches begin to appear in the straightforward credit sequences that portend dastardly goings-on - including some notable blood and gore. And then the short gets meta, as title cards themselves become visible to the characters they label.

Things get very weird. And there's still no plot. 'Too many cooks' is an 11-minute lesson in surrealism, with no narrative to follow, deeper meaning to parse, or interpretation to make - only a loosely related series of scenes. The comedic punch is in the absurdity, and as a result the short is one that viewers will either love or hate.

Anyone familiar with the type of shows that have populated Cartoon Network's Adult Swim over the years are likely to think 'Too many cooks' hilarious; there's no reason it can't find favor with a general audience, but it's probably a lot to take in if one isn't already familiar with the company it keeps.

Seven years after its debut, 'Too many cooks' remains wonderfully entertaining, and worth watching again and again as the song sticks firmly in our minds.

Best thing I've ever seen

[NMM929 · 10/10 · 21 October 2021]

Everyone I show it to, became high after! I became a cook and so did my cohort.

I'm so shocked Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim didn't have anything to do with this. There's no way to describe how amazing it was, I'll never forget it and God bless the Cooks!

If I could give it a zero, I would.

[egingell · 1/10 · 11 November 2014]

This is easily the worst thing I've ever seen. It was worse than "The Heart, She Hollers" and that show is just terrible. It isn't even a show - it's just fifteen minutes of 80s/90s era opening credits which includes a creepy serial killer randomly lopping people's heads off with a machete. A has some off the wall programs like "Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell", "Lucy, Daughter of the Devil", "Metalocalypse", "Superjail", "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", and "Squidbillies" which are all pretty bad in their own right, but at least they have an edge and some semblance of a plot that makes them work. But this "show" is just bad on bad.

DANMIT THE SONGS WAS IN MY HEAD FOR 3 DAYS STRAIT LOL

[crickards-14979 · 9/10 · 22 March 2024]

ITS WIERD BUT I CAN SAYS THE TOO MANY COOKS ITS WAS OUT OF NO WARE TV SHOW IT WAS JUST DIFRINT LIKE DONT HUG ME IM SCARED I LOVE THE HELL OUT OF IT THE SONG WAS CEATCHY TO THE CAT SMARF REFANCE TO ALF ALLWAYS CRAKED ME UP EVERY SCENE IT WAS A WIERD SHORT THAT JUST POP OUT OF THIN AIR LIKE ACUTAUL TV TV THIN CABLE TV NOT SOME STUPID WEBSITE LIKE YOUTUBR WITCHES DONT HUG ME IM SCARED THAT WAS LATER BUT I ACUALY WATCH THIS ONLINE NOT ON CABBLE GI JOE REFRENCE CRAZY THE BRADY BUCH REFRENCE COOL THE LAW AND ORDER REFRNENCE CRAZY JUST ALL OF IT WAS JUST STRANGE AND WIERD THE GUY WHO CHASE THE CHARATERS IN IT WAS CRAZY AND KINDA CREPPY.