With the exception of that one confounding “Treehouse of Horror” line about Brazilian time travelers, most classic Simpsons jokes aren’t too complicated to wrap your head around. And the majority of the show’s celebrity parodies are fairly obvious, whether it’s the Schwarzenegger-like hulking Austrian movie star Rainier Wolfcastle, or the grating children’s singer Roofi.
But at least one celeb stand-in has puzzled fans for the past 28 years.
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Season Eight’s “The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase” departed from the show’s usual formula for a fourth wall-breaking presentation of three never-before-seen failed Simpsons spin-offs, including a sitcom in which Grampa’s ghost possesses Moe’s love tester machine, and a lame Simpsons variety series in the vein of The Brady Bunch Hour.
But the first “pilot” that we get to see is for Chief Wiggum P.I., a mystery show that finds Springfield’s most incompetent cop moving to New Orleans in order to solve crimes alongside Principal Skinner for some reason.
A Simpsons fan on Reddit recently asked if others could help shed some light on one specific pop-culture reference from the segment. When Wiggum and Skinner dine out at a Bourbon Street restaurant, they’re served a plate of shrimp by a bearded chef operating a motorized scooter, who shouts, “I guarantee!” in a thick Cajun accent before he’s silenced by an irate Skinner.
Who was this colorful chef?
A number of people suggested that the character was intended to represent late comedy star Dom DeLuise, who did release a line of cookbooks and some oddly intimate culinary-themed VHS tapes.
But others pointed out that the Simpsons character is more likely supposed to be celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme, who owned K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans. The hat sure seems to be a dead giveaway.
But even the folks who recognized the Prudhomme comparisons were somewhat confused, because the character’s only line was a catchphrase belonging to an entirely different Louisiana chef: Justin Wilson, whose over-the-top persona was a matter of some controversy within the Cajun community.
In the episode’s DVD commentary, then-showrunner Josh Weinstein confirmed that the character was indeed “based on Paul Prudhomme.” And while Weinstein offered no explanation for why the Prudhomme character spouted Wilson’s catchphrase, he did note that the show had previously incorporated the chef’s trademark “floppy white hat” into the episode “King-Size Homer.”
At least Prudhomme came off better than Guy Fieri.
