I don’t watch Emeril, because I don’t like him. But I was a captive audience recently and noticed that every time he added garlic to something the audience applauded wildly. Are these people morons? Do they think garlic is an exotic vegetable? What’s next, onion orgasms?
::sigh:: Could a mod please correct to “applause”? Thanx.
I never understood his “Bam!” schtick, either. Perhaps garlic IS an exotic spice to those who are applauding?
What’s the definition of an onion orgasm?
It’s so good you cry.
Emeril’s morons will clap for parmesan and parsley, too.
They applaud because they like garlic. Not very difficult to understand.
Bah, this post was eaten, so I’ll try again.
Anyway, the story I heard behind the “Bam!” thing was that in his early days on TV, his camera crew kept falling asleep, so he started yelling whenever he added anything to keep them awake.
As far as garlic, well, I suppose that’s as good as anything else to applaud for on a cooking show. shrug
Thank you, thank you, we’ll be here all week!
Try the garlic veal!
applause
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Look at the commercials that air during the program–the show isn’t isn’t exactly targeting people who know what they’re doing.
They also clap and cheer whenever he adds butter (because the thinking is, butter = naughty = good) or any kind of alcohol (same thinking). It’s a Pavlovian response, formerly exhibited by the audiences of Oprah or the trashy daytime talk shows like Jerry Springer.
I think Emeril Lagasse is an excellent chef, and even better, he can be a damn good cooking instructor, but the ridiculous *Emeril Live * setup works against that. He’s better on the show Essence of Emeril, where it’s just him in his kitchen studio talking to the camera as he teaches the viewers at home how to cook something, without that insipid house band, and without playing to his audience and spewing his tired catch-phrases.
Did I hear someone sa-
clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap
Kthxbye. 
Well I don’t know about you guys, but I never had garlic until I had my own place and started trying to cook things.
We had something called “garlic bread,” in which a small amount of garlic salt was sprinkled over butter, which was then between the (pre-sliced) slices of French bread–and that was it. People who ate garlic in any other form were, well, not our kind.
So when I discovered garlic I damn well did applaud every time I used it. Yum, garlic, YAY. I use it A LOT.
Oh, and since this is about food and a television show, I’m going see if it’ll cook over in Cafe Society.
BAM!
Not that I watch Emeril, but I’m a huge fan of garlic. My love for garlic goes so far that I just might add a clap sound track to my house so that every time I cook with garlic I’m cheered on by my nonexistent audience. 
So does Emeril have to work behind a [cough] sneeze shield, so to speak?
I read about one person’s experience of being in the studio audience. Like the audience of any show taped before a live audience, they are heavily encouraged (with “applause” signs and whatnot) to go nuts on cue. I got the impression that if you sat on your hands, you would be removed from the audience. Therefore, they are not morons, but victims of network nonsense.
I don’t watch Emeril either, but he was on in the break room at my work. He was making carmel/chocolate apples.
He would dip the apple in carmel, let it dry, dark chocolate, let it dry, white chocolate, let it dry then again in dark chocolate and while still wet, dipped it in nuts.
The audience applauded every time he dunk the apple in anything. It was sad really.
Formerly?