‘Top Chef’ star Padma Lakshmi is swapping the kitchen for comedy

Padma LakshmiNBCU Picture Financial institution by way of Getty Pictures Padma Lakshmi is identified for many issues — her modeling profession, her work co-hosting Bravo’s “High Chef,” her marriage to Salman Rushdie, her political activism — however her comedy-world savvy is not usually one in every of them. That is, till this previous August, when Lakshmi was irate about Louis CK’s return to the stage at the Comedy Cellar, lower than a yr after he admitted to masturbating in entrance of a number of girls. In response, Lakshmi, who not too long ago wrote a New York Instances column in September about being raped when she was 16, tweeted an inventory of practically two dozen comedians, writing: “Some individuals off the prime of my head who’re funnier than Louis CK and haven’t harassed girls.” Lakshmi’s data of the comedy scene took many abruptly, which, she says, is to be anticipated. “I’ve to be actually critical on [‘Top Chef,’]” she says. “There’s actually not any room to point out my actual persona.” However her tweets struck a chord with the Motion Voter Challenge, a corporation that works to additional progressive causes and to extend voter turnout. They’ve requested Lakshmi to point out off her bawdy aspect on Wednesday at the Bell Home in Brooklyn, the place she’ll host a comedy present whose lineup options a few of the names she shouted out, together with Catherine Cohen and Ziwe Fumudoh. “I really like comedy reveals,” says Lakshmi, whose all-time favourite humorous individuals embody Leslie Jones, Samantha Bee and Ali Wong. Practically a decade in the past, Lakshmi studied improv at the Upright Residents Brigade, however the 48-year-old says she’s by no means performed stand-up and gained’t try it on Wednesday night time — nor on Nov. 4, when she’ll be a particular visitor at UCB’s in style improv present, ASSSSCAT, in Hell’s Kitchen. “Hell no, I wouldn’t topic anybody to that,” she says of her improv expertise. “I believe I ought to have some humility and simply let the professionals do their factor.” Come December, she’ll be again in her on-screen component for Bravo’s 16th season of “High Chef,” primarily based in Kentucky. “I’m uniquely certified to do my job as a result of I’m a bottomless pit,” she says, including that the greatest meals she ate in Lexington wasn’t typical Southern fare, however a Sri Lankan feast at the house of Samantha Fore — a good friend of one in every of the present’s lighting guys — who runs a pop-up referred to as Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites. However Lakshmi and the “High Chef” group have been chewing over some philosophical questions since the final season, too. She says efforts have been made to extend gender equality after the present confronted criticism final season for its boys-club vibe amongst contestants. “We bend over backwards to forged an equal quantity of men and women,” she says. “The present is ever-evolving … it’s like a wedding, you could have a relationship along with your TV viewers.” Lakshmi says she didn’t talk about the #MeToo motion with the present’s contestants, as she has little contact with them off-screen, however she has obtained a heartening response to her op-ed. “I’ve gotten so many letters from each ladies and men,” she says. “Males are saying: ‘Listening to all of these things, I’m embarrassed to be a person and I simply understand how clueless I used to be. I’d hate to suppose that one thing like this could ever occur to my sister or to my mom, but when it had, I wager they wouldn’t inform me.’” Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/10/23/top-chef-star-padma-lakshmi-is-swapping-the-kitchen-for-comedy/ The post ‘Top Chef’ star Padma Lakshmi is swapping the kitchen for comedy appeared first on My style by Kartia.