Adult Swim’s Too Many Cooks became a sensation just about over night. The parody which first aired on October 27 was originally only meant to be shown on their channel at 4 a.m. interspersed between actual infomercials and was never expected to become quite so popular. The 11-minute clip took off, though especially once it had been uploaded to YouTube with close to 2 million views at this point. CNN reported that it even became this past weekend’s trending video . With the success of the first, the channel just aired the Too Many Cooks follow up on November 10 at 4 a.m., but did it meet the expectations set by its predecessor?
Too Many Cooks originally caught the attention of those experiencing that 80’s and 90’s nostalgia by parodying the opening themes to shows such as Growing Pains , Seinfeld and Family Matters just to name a few. The catchy song which can easily get stuck in anyone’s head caught many people’s attention, including British actor Simon Pegg who tweeted this:
The genius of #toomanycooks is that it uses a simple riff on repetition to Trojan horse a fierce attack on the toxic entropy of nostalgia.
— Simon Pegg (@simonpegg) November 10, 2014
The parody garnered quite a bit of attention including CNN , Adult Swim’s cousin, to People Magazine , and even to The New Yorker . Critics dissected it looking for meaning behind it mishmash of clips. Ian Crouch of the New Yorker , though, says it best when he states that the video’s purpose is to “take familiar scraps of capitalist culture and reform them into cringe-inducing gross-outs .”
After the success of the first, people were preparing for the airing of the follow up, In Search of Miracle Man , with one of the stars of the clip, Matt Besser, a longtime improv comedian, tweeting about it, telling fans to set their DVR’s and prepare for the hilarity to ensue.
tonight DVR “In Search of Miracle Man” on Adult Swim starring me & @Rich_Fulcher + @steveagee directed by the great @NEILMAHONEY #MiracleMan
— Matt Besser (@MattBesser) November 12, 2014
But did In Search of the Miracle Man meet people’s expectations? This Adult Swim clip spoofs those early 90’s paid programming bits asking for help in finding said “miracle man,” and that the only way he can be found is if you send in money. While the results aren’t completely in yet, Andy Cush from Gawker states that the follow-up “ doesn’t reach the same surreal heights ” as the original.
In Search of the Miracle Man is the second of nine videos. While this latest clip is not available on YouTube just yet, the videos can be found on the Adult Swim site. With the success of Too Many Cooks , though, many are left asking if any of the follow-ups will reach as great of heights as the original.
[Photo Courtesy of Adult Swim]
