The Onion A.V. Club Review of "Cooking With Werner" At NYTVF

(Note: Seeing this pop up on the web after I got home was so awesome: I can seriously almost retire now... almost.)

[From http://www.avclub.com/articles/new-york-television-festival-day-3-everybody-hates,45515/ ]

Cooking With Werner
Creators/Point of origin/Running time: John Webb, William Maier, and Garth Mueller/Los Angeles/seven minutes
Cast: William Maier, Scott Rodgers, Gian Molina
Program: Comedy
Headline: Finally, a show Scott Tobias will laugh at!
Todd's take: Cooking With Werner has a one-joke premise. Fortunately, it's a very funny joke. In it, acclaimed director Werner Herzog (Maier) decides to host a cooking show, wherein he tries to bring his dish closer to the truths of eternity by finding just the right honey. His special guest? Well, that would be Jim Jarmusch (Rodgers). Cooking With Werner sends Herzog on a quest to Peru to get just the right honey, and while I have no idea how this would be a series (Maier suggests Herzog can and will host several different types of TV shows every week), I like how incredibly, incredibly weird it is. Maier's impression is spot-on, the jokes are all surreal, an advertisement for beer crowds the screen at inopportune moments, and a laugh track punctuates essentially dramatic moments. This is TV made for a very specific audience, but I'm pretty sure I'm in that audience. The only reason I didn't laugh as hard as I did at some other things was because it was so short. (But I'm definitely tuning in for a future episode Maier pitched wherein Klaus Kinski returns from the dead to terrify and host an automotive repair program with Herzog.) Grade: B+
Network this is perfect for: I honestly don't know. It may be too out there even for Adult Swim. I just want someone to pick this up and put it on at 3 in the morning, so everyone up at that point will wonder what the hell is going on.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY REVIEW: San Francisco Bay Times

[ From http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=13701 ]

The Name of the Game is Money

By Flora Lynn Isaacson Published: September 23, 2010

Will Maier and Bonnie Antonini in Other People’s Money. Jerry Sterner’s Other People’s Money, currently playing at the Masquers Playhouse in Richmond, is about greed, money and passion. Corporate raider Lawrence Garfinkle aka “Larry the Liquidator” is always looking for the next big score and puts his sights on New England Wire and Cable, a publicly-traded company run by an old codger, Andrew “Jorgy” Jorgenson who is a major employer in a small Rhode Island town. Trying to stave off the hostile takeover, Jorgy hires his stepdaughter Kate, who is a lawyer. Before long, Larry becomes involved in a complicated game of cat and mouse in which he and Kate each struggle to maintain the upper hand. Jorgy’s right-hand man, Bill Coles decides to betray the company for his own self interest, and Larry also is offered a million dollars by Kate’s mother to call off his bid. An exchange of speeches between Garfinkle and Jorgenson at the company’s shareholders meeting precedes the stockholders’ decisive vote. But as he closes in on taking over New England Wire and Cable, which he intends to shut down operations and sell off in parts, Larry must decide which is more important — money or Kate. Even though it’s dark, it’s a very funny and human play. Most of this comes through director Robert Estes’ staging. The tightness of the timing and the easy blending of drama and comedy are accomplished with craft. Estes pays much attention to the play’s set-up (the misguided management of the venerable New England Wire and Cable company) and the characters. Affection is necessary for this comedy to work. Garfinkle and Kate Sullivan, the lawyer who fights him, are not the nicest people. And the director and actors share the immense job of making audiences like Larry and Kate. The humor is in their hands, as is the unlikely love interest. Will Maier’s calm, measured and calculatedly casual approach to the role of Larry works without a flaw. And Maier’s sense of humor informs Larry’s every move. Equally well cast is Bonnie Antonini as hard-edged Kate, who fights desperately to succeed in a man’s world. And Antonini’s sense of laid-back humor softens the sharpness of a difficult role. Keith Jefferds has a refreshing reserve as the company’s self-effacing CEO, gentleman Andrew Jorgenson. And Jefferds makes logical the long-standing affection between Jorgenson and Kate’s mother, Bea. As Bea, RoyAnne Florence’s matter of fact-ness also anchors a good performance. And Frederick Lein sympathetically plays William Coles, the story’s narrator and manager of the company. Other People’s Money continues (Friday/ Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm) until Oct. 2 at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets ($18) call (510) 232-4031 or at masquers.org.

"Greed, power played on stage. . . " - OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY Review, Accent Advocate of Contra Costa College Scene

A very solid review of the play I'm currently doing in the Bay Area. Closes October 2.

"Actor Will Maier personified the detestable and scheming businessman so perfectly he made the whole audience hate him."

"Though it may not be the typical happy ending theatergoers often wish for, it comes off as refreshing and authentic."

"Greed, power played on stage" - Accent Advocate - Scene

Tickets can be purchased at www.masquers.org. For more information, call 510-232-3888.

Paste Magazine Review of our Werner Herzog Videos

Paste Magazine had this to say about out Werner Herzog Cooking Show video:

"Even the most serious film scholar can agree: film auteur and self-proclaimed poet Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, a remake of Nosferatu) is ripe for satire. The larger-than-life director is occasionally shot by snipers in L.A., an occurrence which he deems "insignificant," and "part of the folklore in Los Angeles - nothing really that serious." He has waged "holy war" on television and describes his work as a quest for "ecstatic art."
Frankly, it's amazing people don't spoof the director more often. Swooping in to fill the niche are the creators of "Cooking with Werner" at WernerHerzogEatsTheWorld.com. In it, Werner Herzog hosts a cooking show with special guest filmmaker Jim Jarmusch that culminates in a quest for ecstatically truthful honey made by killer bees, for which he is jailed by a Peruvian junta that mistakes him for Martin Scorcese.

The Herzog-devoted skit is directed by Emmy Award-winning director and screenwriter John Webb and produced through Sandwich Films. Also on the website is another skit entitled "Auto Maintenance with Werner" in which Herzog chases actor Klaus Kinski after Kinski shoots him with an air rifle. But really nothing is better than watching Herzog impersonator Will Maier cook the most pretentious grilled cheese sandwich ever made, on a cooking TV show set with a laugh-track in the background."

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/09/even-the-most-serious-film.html

Also, IMDB just added it to its "Hit List" on Friday:



;WM