“Weber Cooks” began in 2012 as a project of Weber State alumnus Steven Reed. Launched presumably as a joke, “Weber Cooks” was a web-based cooking show that has been labeled, “the worst cooking show ever!”
On any typical episode, host Steven Reed was seen awkwardly making ridiculously simple recipes. The now legendary Internet cooking icon has cemented his legacy as a viral video star. “Weber Cooks” only lasted a few episodes before the original videos mysteriously vanished from the Internet.
The show’s disappearance was a point of contention among the legions of “Weber Cooks” loyalists. Weber State senior Nick Garrett said, “It went viral a couple of years after (Steven Reed) did (“Weber Cooks”) … He made a couple of them and then people on Reddit got ahold of it and they just blew it up all over.” Since the unexplained and highly-theorized absence of “Weber Cooks,” fans have been left hungry. “People just ripped their own videos and put sad music to it and stuff like that … so it’s hard to find the original ones.” Garrett said.
As a Communications major tracked for digital media, Garrett saw an opportunity with “Weber Cooks.”
“I’m a (Studio 76) senior producer so part of my scholarship is, I have to create my own content every two weeks. I was trying to look for something that could be reoccurring, that I could do episodes of,” he said.
With dreams of working in television, and a background in acting, Garrett set out to resurrect “Weber Cooks.”
Garrett wanted to make sure he was doing right by the show’s fans. “I’m parodying it and I’m just trying to continue the legacy pretty much … The first episode was the most nerve-wracking one. I went all out, I even had makeup underneath my eyes to give myself bags under the eyes. I watched (Steven’s) videos probably like a couple of hours; just studying when he pauses and stuff like that … I want it to look like it’s seamless … so sometimes when I mess up like five minutes in, rather than cut it, I’ll just say, ‘Hey, let’s start over.’”
Nick Garrett’s “Weber Cooks” officially launched on the Studio 76 YouTube channel last September. Since then, Garrett has racked up over 45 thousand views, making fans old and new fall in love with “Weber Cooks” again.
“If you haven’t watched “Weber Cooks” then you should,” said Eric Olsen, an automotive technology major at Weber State. Olsen discovered the original “Weber Cooks” series during a YouTube watching binge.
“I have been following “Weber Cooks” for a while now … I just love Steven and how he was trying his best to put out a quality program, when Internet self-help videos were in their infancy,” he said. After years of uncertainty, Olsen was happy to see the series rebooted in 2015.
“It’s sad to not see Steven anymore … I’m just glad that someone else took the reins and is doing “Weber Cooks” justice … Garrett has done his research to get Steven’s mannerisms and hand and eye movements down flawlessly,” said Olsen.
The latest episode of “Weber Cooks” features a Valentine’s Day theme. ”I’m making some chocolate covered strawberries. I’m just going to throw the strawberries in the microwave and put a chocolate bar on top and then just nuke them,” said Garrett.
As for what happens to the series after graduation, Garrett said, “We’ve thought about branching out to where there’s a whole show where I do crafts and also cooking and stuff like that. I think it’d be really funny … I want to go into TV and I think that would fit right in on Adult Swim or something like that.”
Lucas • Sep 18, 2019 at 2:25 am
what happened to steven