Paul McCartney is one of the most legendary musicians of all time. The Beatles’ bassist wrote some of the most iconic songs of all time, and he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. Paul needed only a few words to sum up his relationship with Ringo Starr but required a few more to explain his recipe for mashed potatoes. The vintage video of Paul making mashed potatoes has a little bit of everything — humor, satire, terror — and is the comedy gold you didn’t know you needed.
Paul McCartney making mashed potatoes is must-see viewing
Paul compiled an album of his wife Linda McCartney’s songs for the Wide Prairie album several months after her 1998 death. He helped promote the record with a webcast.
Paul and Linda lived life as vegetarians. They decided to give up meat after an awkward moment with the farm animals living at their house. As part of the promotional webcast, Paul also plugged Linda McCartney on Tour, a cookbook with hundreds of meat-free recipes.
In the video of the webcast (via YouTube), Paul discusses his and Linda’s shared passion for animals, and he segues to a bit where he makes his mashed potatoes recipe, which the On Tour cookbook includes. Paul’s mashed potatoes segment lasts barely 10 minutes, but it’s got a little bit of everything and is a pure comedy gem.
Paul created a comedy gem with his mashed potatoes bit
We all know Paul can write a hit song. If he’s ever up for a career change, he could become a content creator on YouTube. After all, watching Paul cook mashed potatoes is a masterclass in comedy with a few other emotions thrown in.
Macca claims he’s going to make his recipe for mashed potatoes. As soon as Paul enters his “kitchen,” he says he’s “never done this before.” He throws another curveball by claiming he’s been doing it for many years. Paul’s 10-minute cooking segment covers comedy, terror, and satire. He delivers creamy-looking mashed potatoes at the end.
Comedy: Paul keeps viewers off-balance with his vacillating cooking history. That’s not the only bit of comedy gold in the segment. During one self-deprecating moment, Paul says, “I’ll just pretend I’m doing this for myself. And seeing as there’s probably no one watching this program, I am.” Toward the end, Paul says he’s going to break from cooking show protocol and not share his potatoes with the crew, which he quickly walks back.
Terror: Seeing as how Paul’s hands played the instruments on songs that made him a billionaire, watching him casually wielding knives is like watching a horror movie you can’t turn away from. He peels and slices a potato with a small paring knife, but the real scare comes later when he peels, slices, and dices an onion with a massive chef’s knife. Anyone who’s ever peeled an onion knows the challenge the bulbous vegetable presents. Paul comes perilously close to losing a digit.
Satire: Paul copies and skewers cooking shows throughout his 10-minute mashed potatoes segment. “Let’s just pretend it’s been 20 minutes,” he says when he procures a pot of cooked potatoes from a side burner. Just like on TV cooking shows, Paul magically produces a delicious-looking finished dish in a fraction of the time it would actually take.
Paul cooking mashed potatoes is a wild ride and a comedy gem that we can’t get enough of.
Macca later shared another favorite recipe, and he took it more seriously
Several years after Paul struck comedy gold with his mashed potatoes recipe, he shared another favorite dish.
Paul discussed his signature sandwich recipe while promoting a McCartney family cookbook with his daughters Mary and Stella. Bagels, marmite, lettuce, hummus, cheese, and tomato comprise what sounds like a delicious and savory vegetarian sandwich.
Paul McCartney gave us a comedy gem with his mashed potatoes cooking video. If the music thing doesn’t work out, he might have a future running a lucrative YouTube cooking channel.
For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.