How Tiny Chef captured the internet’s heart

Amna Nawaz:

He's a little guy with a huge following online. Tiny Chef, the Instagram sensation who also happens to be animated, has gained millions of fans of all ages while whipping up vegetarian meals with a side of heart.

Stephanie Sy has our report. It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Stephanie Sy:

He makes a mean vegan taco without missing a beat. His DIY projects are legendary. And he loves to share beachside snaps while on vacation. In many ways, he's like any other social media influencer, sharing the minutia of his daily life and occasionally baring his soul.

Matt Hutchinson, Actor:

I'm home.

Stephanie Sy:

But Tiny Chef, a furry green 6.5-half-inch tall puppet who lives in a tree stump strikes a different chord in a sea of noise. It's not hard to see why.

Matt Hutchinson:

Don't blame yourself, Ruby.

Rachel Larsen, Co-Creator, "The Tiny Chef Show": He's not cynical. He's just so genuine and like optimistic. And he sees good. He just sees good.

Stephanie Sy:

Tiny Chef is the brainchild of co-creators Rachel Larsen and Ozlem Akturk.

Ozlem Akturk, Co-Creator, "The Tiny Chef Show": We made it actually — like, we made it for us. And every time we laugh about a topic or want to do this, it's because we test it on ourselves.

Rachel Larsen:

Yes, it kind of is true. Like, you kind of make something to your own taste. And you're going to hopefully speak to people who have some more taste or the same humor and kind of get it.

Stephanie Sy:

A lot of people get it. "The Tiny Chef Show" Instagram account has almost six million followers. Today, a team of 11 in this Los Angeles studio work to bring his universe to life.

Everything in the stop-motion animated videos is custom-made, from the tiny sets built and designed by creative director Jason Kolowski.

Jason Kolowski, Creative Director, "The Tiny Chef Show": Everything is purely functional. Doors open for Chef. Windows open for Chef.

Stephanie Sy:

To his belongings.

Rachel Larsen:

The first video we ever shot of Chef, this was the banjo he's playing.

Stephanie Sy:

Oh, my God.

Rachel Larsen:

Yes.

Stephanie Sy:

It's a labor of love that started as a hobby, say Larsen and Akturk. The creators met in London working on the animated film "Isle of Dogs" by Wes Anderson.

Actor:

We're a pack of scary, indestructible alpha dogs.

Stephanie Sy:

Larsen worked on the stop-motion animation, a process which involves painstakingly manipulating physical objects to be photographed frame by frame, creating the illusion of movement. Akturk was part of the film crew.

Rachel Larsen:

We became really good friends and we were just like, we should do our own project at some point, so that's where the seed kind of got planted.

Stephanie Sy:

That seed sprouted in 2018, when Larsen started sharing images on Instagram of tiny food she sculpted for fun. That gave Akturk an idea. She remembered a green puppet Larsen had shown her years ago.

Ozlem Akturk:

And I was like, he has to be the chef. He's perfect for it. I have to contact her and tell her we need to do a stop-motion cooking show. And she loved it. And in an instant, we figured out the name, the Tiny Chef.

Stephanie Sy:

Credit for the pint-sized performer's pipes is due to Matt Hutchinson, Larsen's brother-in-law. He sent them his rendition of a classic by "Queen."

(Singing)

Rachel Larsen:

Once he sent the song, it all came together, and we were laughing and we were like, we have to animate it. So we just animated him packing up a pie to that voice, which was on his phone. It was so lo-fi.

Stephanie Sy:

Their early animations, created in a makeshift studio in New Zealand where Larsen was working at the time, took off on Instagram.

Rachel Larsen:

We went from zero to 20,000 or something. It was like…

Ozlem Akturk:

It was 50,000.

Rachel Larsen:

Was it? OK. Yes.

(Laughter)

Stephanie Sy:

When Penguin offered the duo a book deal, they decided to work on their tiny green character full-time. Since then, his followers have watched Cheffy move to Los Angeles and score his dream job, hosting a kids cooking show on television.

But Chef is more than that to his fans.

Rachel Larsen:

We get a lot of messages from fans who have kids with speech impediments and say that Chef has given them self-esteem. Chef has made it not a bad thing. And that is very meaningful to us because we just always felt Like Chef is from a different place. And this is his second language. And we shouldn't try to hide that or fix him or do anything to him. He's perfect.

Stephanie Sy:

He's relatable, perhaps never more so than in this clip from June, when he learned that his cooking show on Nickelodeon wouldn't be renewed.

Matt Hutchinson:

Canceled? What do you mean canceled? Bye.

Stephanie Sy:

Who hasn't felt that? The moment when he starts trying to go back to work and then it hits him.

Rachel Larsen:

Yes, I honestly feel genuinely bad for Chef. We have more practical, logical, OK, what's next? How do we keep going? You know, when I think of his experience of someone who just wanted to have this cooking show for so many years, it's like, that would break his heart.

Stephanie Sy:

The cancellation made headlines and the video inspired an outpouring of care and donations from his worried followers.

Dionne Warwick was downright livid. "Are you proud of making this thing cry? Who's in charge over there? I want a name," she posted.

As for Tiny Chef, he's taking things one day at a time, playing his trusty banjo and meditating. He's currently on a road trip finding himself and doing an occasional interview, but only with really big news organizations.

Chef, I know this is your first TV interview since your show is canceled how are you doing?

Matt Hutchinson:

Well, I'm not going to lie. Things were a little tough there for a while, but sometimes you have got to pull yourself up by the bootstraps, look around at all the wonderful things in the world. I said: "Cheffy, you got to find the next adventure."

Stephanie Sy:

What did you think about the huge outpouring of support you got from your fans?

Matt Hutchinson:

Well, Ms. Stephanie, I don't even have the words for how much the support from the fans mean to me. I don't even call them fans really. They're just friends that I haven't met yet.

Stephanie Sy:

Well, Hollywood can be tough. Do you have any advice for anyone going through similar hard times?

Matt Hutchinson:

Number one, feel your feels. Number two, have a cry. Number three, find your friends. Number four, then go on your next adventure. Who knows what's next? I sure don't.

(Laughter)

Stephanie Sy:

While they cook up his next adventure. Larsen and Akturk say Chef's not going anywhere.

Rachel Larsen:

I think what's really important to us is really taking the next step sort of slowly just and really making sure if we bring in another partner that that's what we want. Right now, we're just enjoying just focusing on social media. But I think Chef's best chapter is coming up. I just feel really strongly in my heart that the best of Chef is to come.

Stephanie Sy:

In the meantime, the joys of Tiny Chef continue to capture our hearts.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Los Angeles.

Bye-bye.

(Laughter)

Geoff Bennett:

Tiny Chef has one more follower. I just followed them. What a delight.

Amna Nawaz:

What an absolute delight. Find your friends and onto your next adventure, great advice for us all.

Geoff Bennett:

Indeed.