AMC Network Entertainment LLCHarry Hamlin was the “King of Bolognese” when he cooked for family and friends on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which included his wife, Lisa Rinna, as a regular cast member. That inspired a TV exec to pitch Hamlin an idea for his own cooking show. Hamlin was open to the idea, and said he’d do it if he could bring his niece, Renee Guilbault, a classically trained chef and food industry expert, into the kitchen with him.
“[Renee’s] very conscious of sustainability, she’s very consciousness of the whole global food issue that’s out there right now,” Hamlin says. “I think that she’d be a very great voice to have out there in the zeitgeist talking about food sustainability and health because she has had so much experience.” Guilbault has worked with and managed large-scale food operations for several global companies, and she launched the Essayer Food Consulting firm.
“I called up Renee, and I said, ‘They’ve offered me this cooking show, and I said I don’t really feel comfortable doing it because I don’t really know what I’m doing in the kitchen,’” Hamlin says. “‘I like the food that I cook. People like the food that I cook. But I never went to cooking school, I’d never taken a class and I’ve never seen a cooking show, so I’m kind of rudderless.’” After thinking it over, Guilbault called Uncle Harry back and said she was onboard for In the Kitchen With Harry Hamlin (Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT beginning May 15).
In this five-part series, Hamlin takes to his own home kitchen to prepare some of his favorite dishes for friends Bobby Moynihan, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Dean Norris, Ed Begley Jr., and Hamlin’s Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches costar Tongayi Chirisa. (Of course, Rinna also appears.)
Along the way, Guilbault offers her uncle some expert tips and kitchen hacks that viewers can try at home. There are no high-pressure challenges or screaming celebrity chefs here. Guilbault hopes they’ll “show something that’s real and hopefully encourages others to get back into the kitchen and find the process of scratch cooking really joyful and worthy.”
Join Harry Hamlin and his niece, classically trained chef Renee Guilbault, for a series of dinner parties you'll never forget! #InTheKitchen with Harry Hamlin premieres next Wednesday at 10pm on @IFC and AMC+. pic.twitter.com/KjH7Jdlxnn
— AMC+ (@AMCPlus) May 8, 2024
No dinner party is complete without great conversation, and Hamlin and his friends share lots of stories from their lives and careers. Hamlin shares the tale of how his next-door neighbor, Jack Nicholson, would hit golf balls into his yard. At dinner, Steenburgen reveals how Nicholson gave her her first big film role.
“In Uncle Harry’s world, all of his BFFs are all largely very famous recognizable folks,” Guilbault says. “It’s a weird place to come in and know that yes, they’re people just like us, and they eat. They also happen to be these superstars.”
And they’re also not above washing the dishes, as Danson and Steenburgen did after enjoying Hamlin’s special “Linoleum Chicken” in the May 22 episode.
“In an offhand comment, Mary said, ‘Oh, yeah, we love coming to dinner parties. We even wash dishes,’” Hamlin recalls. “I said, ‘Oh, really! OK. Then you’re on. You’re hired!’”
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