The True Story Behind This Andrew Zimmern Anthony Bourdain Live Show

Celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern were very good friends. For Zimmern, Bourdain's death in 2018 was a deeply painful experience. Back then, Zimmern wrote a tribute to his friend (posted on Zimmern's website) and said, "He raised up the humblest aspects of our community, from the prep cook to the rural farmer on the far side of the planet, and he hung out with the cultural royalty of our generation." The chef also called Bourdain highly charismatic and said that everyone wanted to spend quality time with his friend. Bourdain was a popular man, after all. 

As a friend, Zimmern made sure that he was there for Bourdain and vice-versa. Recently, Zimmern shared an interesting anecdote about a live show that he was a part of many years ago (via Instagram.) The idea was to help out Bourdain with one of his projects and make things less stressful for him. It was a fascinating experience for Zimmern.

Six years ago, Anthony Bourdain was working on a few live stage shows and asked for Zimmern's assistance. Zimmern immediately agreed to help. He ended up really enjoying himself at the State Theater, something that was a pleasant surprise. He wrote, "... We had the best 24 hours I'd had in a long time. We ate some great meals, laughed like crazy, and created a fun show."

Zimmern further explained that Bourdain was quite a natural on stage and in Zimmern's opinion, Bourdain didn't actually need any assistance at all. The audience members were highly impressed. Zimmern wrote, "He was a shooting star that night and had the audience in the palm of his hand. That's how I saw it." However, as he later told Zimmern, Bourdain was, in fact, filled with mixed feelings at that point. While Bourdain enjoyed being on stage, he also knew his limitations and acknowledged them internally, something that wasn't obvious to Zimmern before.