Bourdain. Nobody ever asks.
Anthony Bourdain became the most beloved man on television by doing one thing: asking people about their own lives, and listening.
THE GIST ON ANTHONY BOURDAIN: "The Questions Nobody Ever Asks"
Why did the world tell Bourdain everything?
Anthony Bourdain was a chef who fell into a TV show and became the most beloved man to ever do it. Presidents, militia leaders, grandmothers, strangers in noodle shops: the whole world sat down with him and told him everything. Because everyone on earth is an expert in their own life, and no one ever asks.
Where did he come from?
He spent 30 years being a nobody: dishwasher at 17, then a line cook, then a chef in kitchens most people don't remember. At 43, he was three months behind on rent, and he wrote down what kitchens were really like, meant for his mates in the trade. It accidentally became a bestseller, and then a TV show.
How did he make the show backwards?
Travel TV up until then had one shape: the presenter is the expert and the locals are the scenery. Bourdain sat on a plastic stool, ordered what the locals were having, and treated whoever was opposite him as the world-leading authority on their own experience.
He'd been unasked for 30 years, and the one time somebody finally asked, it made him famous. Food was secondary. A street cook in Hanoi, a grandmother in Beirut, a miner in West Virginia, each one listened to properly, maybe for the first time on television, and everyone at home felt the same thing at once: no one's ever asked me that.
What does that mean for us?
The world you live in is the one your curiosity builds. Bourdain's was full of fascinating people, and it's the same one you and I have: the same streets, tables and strangers. Everyone he sat with had been there all along, waiting for someone curious.
So the choice is real, and it's yours. You could be the interesting one, or you can have an interesting world. He picked, and he became Bourdain. Tony, we miss you.
Interesting or curious: which would you rather be?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
How did Anthony Bourdain become famous?
At 43, three months behind on rent, he wrote down what kitchens were really like for his mates in the trade. It accidentally became a bestseller, and then a TV show.
What was different about his show?
Travel TV had the presenter as the expert and the locals as scenery. Bourdain sat on a plastic stool and treated whoever sat opposite as the authority on their own experience.
What is the lesson?
The world you live in is the one your curiosity builds. You can be the interesting one, or you can have an interesting world.
See you on the next one.
What should the next one be? Suggest a topic for Huw to explain
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