Food Canons! Jane Krakowski's Fantasies! Tituss Burgess Dishes About His Messy New Cooking Show

Tituss Burgess did not plan to be a reality show host. “I don’t know the first thing about hosting!” the actor, whose Broadway credits include The Little Mermaid and Guys and Dolls, told Broadway.com. Nevertheless, the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star is getting a fast-paced lesson with his newest project, Dishmantled, a new show on the streaming service Quibi. The show, which was filmed last year, is set to launch on April 6 when Quibi goes live. And it involves Burgess literally, in his words, "blow[ing] some sh*t up."

Dishmantled was created by Linda Lea, the executive producer and creator of Chopped. Burgess calls it "wacky and zany.” In the show, two blindfolded chefs have to taste a mystery dish and then recreate it. But wait, there's a twist. They taste the dish by having it blasted into their face via—wait for it!—a food canon. Thus, they’re sampling food off of their faces and the floor. Then they take off their goggles and head for the kitchen. In the words of one of the guest judges, fellow Broadway and Kimmy Schmidt star Jane Krakowski, “I don’t know if this is my favorite cooking show or my sexual fantasies coming true.” The chef who recreates the dish most accurately wins $5,000.

So, who gets to push the big red button and fire the canon? Burgess! “It scares the sh*t out of me,” he said. “It is so loud, and it goes everywhere.” The actor even came up with his own catchphrase for whenever he pushes that button: “Let’s get...DISHMANTLED!” 

What Burgess loved most about the show when producers pitched it to him was that it was not going to be as “high brow and elitist” as other cooking shows. Dishmantled doesn’t take itself too seriously, “Us civilians get to enjoy the culinary experience as perhaps kids would watching a show on Nickelodeon,” he said.

The first season is eight episodes and each episode is an easily digestible six minutes or less. With many people stuck inside these days, Burgess is happy to bring a “modicum of joy.”  He admitted he never considered hosting before because he doesn’t have improv training, but working on Dishmantled, Burgess has discovered that expressing his authentic opinions is just as entertaining as a punchline. "That’s not improv, honey," he said. "That's just Tituss being Tituss!”

Don’t worry Broadway fans, Burgess is still planning on coming back to the stage. He is still working on his adaptation of The Preacher's Wife, the 1996 film starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston. Tony-nominated director Michael Arden is on board to helm it with Azie Dungey writing the book. “Plans are finally firming up for a run of some sort,” Burgess said. 

“I love my community and I’m praying for us to bounce back and for our resuscitation, and for things to be back with speed and ebuillance and the joy that the theatrical community brings to New York City and the world," Burgess said about the Broadway shutdown. "These things are the quiet heartbeat of New York and the world at large.”

Now that Burgess has expanded his skills to include hosting, would he consider taking on something bigger? “If the Tony Awards needed me to host, I would pop a Valium and do it,” he laughed.