Meet The Creators Of ‘The Katering Show’: The Australian Cooking Show For People Who Could Not Give A Single Shit About Cooking

In the past few weeks, Masterchef has won big at the AACTAs after finding new and inventive ways to make people cry on primetime television; The Fat Duck has opened in Melbourne, completely transcending parody by treating guests to a giant jigsaw puzzle of Heston Blumenthal in a cape and as much delicious oak moss as they can possibly stomach; and My Kitchen Rules has returned to our screens for its sixth year to once again ask the question Which State’s Bogan Chefs Are The Best Bogan Chefs? (Like each season before it, the answer is once again “none of them”. They are all objectively the worst.)

Without even mentioning the gastropubs, cold brews, skin contact wines and giant cutouts of celebrity chefs accosting you in certain chain supermarkets, it’s safe to say that foodie culture is now ripe for satire.

Enter The Katering Show: the perfect web series for people whose face makes the same shape in reaction to the words “I’m hosting a progressive dinner party!” as it does to “I’ve just endured 48 hours of incredibly violent diarrhoea!”

Though only released last week, the first six-episode season has already enjoyed incredible success with the most popular episode currently sitting at around 900,000 views on Youtube. Produced in association with Screen Australia, it’s been quite a small-scale operation, with its Melbourne co-hosts Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney also acting as both writers and directors.

After binge-watching the whole thing and spending an entire afternoon creeping on their (excellent) Facebook page, I had some very important questions for the two comedians.

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Junkee: These characters are really based on yourselves, yes? It would be nice to know I’m not the only one who involuntarily bleeds out of their anus at farmers’ markets, and uses onions as an opportunity to cry about Tony Abbott.

McC: To quote Olive, the late-’90s trip hop band, “You’re Not Alone”.

McL: Who?

McC: [sings] You’re not alone, I wait till the end of time, open your eyes, baby it’s time to something something…

McL: [long, blank stare]

McC: I’ll add a link.

McL: Don’t.

McC: Here.

McL: These characters are based on us. As suggested in the series, Kate McCartney despises food culture and only has one friend, and that friend is her cat and that cat doesn’t like her very much.

McC: And McLennan is a very short foodie who once drunkenly admitted that all she wants from life is to bring a big roast chicken to a table of diners who then clap her for eternity, like they’re all trapped in a haunted Red Rooster commercial or something.

McL: The major difference between the series and reality is that in real life, we don’t know how to make our hair look like that.

McC: Also we don’t smile that much. Also the wine in the series is actually cordial and that shit wouldn’t fly with us in reality.

This seems like the perfect moment for a takedown of foodie culture — we all live in Melbourne, right? Is there anything in particular that inspired The Katering Show?

McL: Melbourne’s foodie culture is basically at pandemic proportions, so if you go to any natural rise in the city and look out, anything the light touches can safely be assumed to be as inspiration for the series.

McC: From the gourmet ice-cream to the gourmet tacos to that gourmet supermarket that charges $85 for some dried pasta and a tampon. You know the one.

Fuck, marry, kill: Curtis Stone, Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson. 

McL: I’d fuck Nigella because no one’s an idiot here. I’d marry Jamie because he wouldn’t be around that much, and I’d definitely kill Curtis Stone.

McC: I’d do the same, but I’d steal Curtis Stone’s watch after I killed him too. I bet he has a nice watch.

Fuck, marry, kill: Matt Preston, that Texan guy from My Kitchen Rules, Heston Blumenthal.

McL: I’d fuck Matt Preston, which would crush me, and would help me avoid making a decision on the other two.

McC: How strong is your alibi? Can’t we just kill all three?

On that note, do either of you have plans to eat at The Fat Duck? I will 100% pledge money to a Kickstarter for you to shoot an episode there.

McL: If I was confident that I could get a meal there that is better than something I can whip up at home, I’d go.

McC: I’m not super cool with spending $600 on food that I can’t actually eat.

McL: The truth is, neither of us can afford to go there. We make web series, for a job. But if you want to foot the bill with your superannuation, go for it.

The show has only been online for a little over a week and it’s already clocked up more than one million views. Sarah freakin’ Wilson has responded to the jokes you made about her. Where do you see the show going from here?

MCL: Our hope is that Sarah Wilson asks us to move in and live with her in beautiful yoga harmony in her couchless Byron Bay house. If that occurs, we don’t care what happens to the show.

McC: If that doesn’t happen, we’ll put the show on eBay or something. We’re not very good at planning our careers in a way that ensures we have careers.

McL: Unless Glad clingwrap comes to the party and sponsors us, then it’ll be just nosejobs and appearances on telethons for us until we die during filming on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Series 27: The Mariana Trench.

You’ve both worked in various roles on TV over the years including as actors, writers and comedians, and you also produced a web series called Bleak last year. What made you move over to the internets?

McC: We got swept up in the promise of no money, no job security, and having our hard work rewarded with less YouTube views than shaky iPhone footage of a dog dragging its arse along the ground. It’s a pretty intoxicating cocktail.

McL: Also, no one in TV would let us have our own show.

With the ABC’s Fresh Blood and SBS’s Comedy Runway initiatives, it seems like a lot of Australian comedy is turning to these short online works. What do you think of this?

McL: They should stop. They’re our competition.

McC: Yeah everyone stop making comedy now. McLennan has a mortgage and I have a kid on the way. Everyone pipe down.

McL: We don’t want to be usurped by some kid who’s got two million YouTube subscribers and not a single line on their stupid babyface.

Also: I just have to say, it’s so amazing to see two successful Australian ladies who specialise in borderline alcoholism, grossout lols — I mean, there’s a colon on your aprons — and mercilessly making fun of people. Is there anything you’d like to say to all the other female psychopaths out there (myself included)?

McC: Yeah, I was colon model for that apron image.

McL: Let’s kill the men.

McC: Is that your advice?

McL: Yes.

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Watch the first season of The Katering Show via Youtube, below.