Too Many Cooks

'Too many cooks' is a delightful absurdist parody, a send-up of television and credit sequences we've all been familiar with. Family comedies like 'Step by step' or 'Full house'; crime thrillers like 'Miami Vice' or procedurals like 'Law & Order'; space operas like 'Battlestar Galactica' or animated kids' shows like 'G. I. Joe'; even family dramas like 'Dynasty' or medical shows like 'General Hospital' - nothing escapes the vision of writer-director Casper Kelly.

There is no overarching plot per se, only a building, elongated spoof of TV, with a bouncy, happy-go-lucky theme song that just keeps going, and going, and going. As the scene changes to take on other genres, so the song goes through permutations that reflect the tone of themes such series would bear.

Living organisms pass on DNA as they reproduce, sometimes resulting in a mutation that produces a change in the biology of offspring. As 'Too many cooks' continues and scenes change, glitches begin to appear in the straightforward credit sequences that portend dastardly goings-on - including some notable blood and gore. And then the short gets meta, as title cards themselves become visible to the characters they label.

Things get very weird. And there's still no plot. 'Too many cooks' is an 11-minute lesson in surrealism, with no narrative to follow, deeper meaning to parse, or interpretation to make - only a loosely related series of scenes. The comedic punch is in the absurdity, and as a result the short is one that viewers will either love or hate.

Anyone familiar with the type of shows that have populated Cartoon Network's Adult Swim over the years are likely to think 'Too many cooks' hilarious; there's no reason it can't find favor with a general audience, but it's probably a lot to take in if one isn't already familiar with the company it keeps.

Seven years after its debut, 'Too many cooks' remains wonderfully entertaining, and worth watching again and again as the song sticks firmly in our minds.

Technically-skilled extrapolation of multiverse theory. Responds well to many different lenses of analysis, speaking to the vast competence of the writer and director. Additionally, this was clearly an enormous project and must have required great coordination. The cast is wonderful.

Certainly an art piece above all else. Not pleasant to watch.

The first time I watched Too Many Cooks on Adult Swim I feared that I had suffered a stroke. I temporarily lost my grip on reality and thought perhaps I'd slipped into an acid flashback. I saved it on the DVR and made my wife watch it to confirm that I was actually seeing this twisted madness. Then I shared it with others via YouTube allowing the creeping insanity to spread far and wide. Like vines crawling up the back of your spine and tapping into your brain linking us all through a maddening vision we see Too Many Cooks as a new horizon..... Okay, maybe not all of that but it's twelve minutes of your life you'll never get back and you'll be a changed person from the experience.

Everyone I show it to, became high after! I became a cook and so did my cohort.

I'm so shocked Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim didn't have anything to do with this. There's no way to describe how amazing it was, I'll never forget it and God bless the Cooks!

There are a few negative and pointless reviews and comments on here about this video short. They are either by trolls or, people who, through no fault of their own, don't actually 'get it'. Its funny, well observed, accurate, ambitious and extremely well done. Every show that ever had titles, that existed or exists now, has been included in this expensive looking montage. Its a case of-'how long can this go on for? Its boring, it CANT go on anymore can it? and then it does and it becomes funnier as it goes along. The person responsible for this obviously did their homework and watched a LOT of TV over the past 30 years. That or, they trawled through hundreds of hours of tapes. The hard work was worth it!