When the now wife and I were dating, Julie asked me if I had ever seen the Netflix food show, Somebody Feed Phil, hosted by the creator of the tv show Everybody Loves Raymond, Phil Rosenthal. As I had not even heard of it, we watched an episode where Phil travels to Tel Aviv, Israel. With a mix of humor, heart, and of course food, I was taken by Phil and the show the minute we started watching. Even when we went on our honeymoon, we checked where Phil had been in Venice and tried to eat where Phil did, including Cantine del Vino già Schiavi. Spoiler: It was delicious. (Honeymoon photos below.)

Now if you aren’t familiar with the show, this is how Wikipedia describes it, “Each episode follows Rosenthal touring the cuisine of the episode’s featured city, and spotlights charities and non-profit organizations that operate in the region.” IMDB describes it more simply, “Phil travels around the world sampling food and tradition with friends and a sense of humor.” The food and people that are featured in each city and episode are mainly the stars, but in reality, it is Phil that is the real star. Without Phil, and his personality, the show would not be the longest running series on Netflix. It is Phil that makes the show so genuine and enjoyable.

So when I received an email saying that Phil was coming to Cleveland and Playhouse Square, I knew we had to jump on it. And jump on it we did. We purchased VIP tickets giving us great seats as well as a “meet and greet” with Phil after the show.

The first part of the show was supposedly a moderated discussion between Phil, of course, and a local radio personality, Alan Cox. I really like Alan Cox. I listen to Alan’s afternoon radio show on 100.7 WMMS. I am not sure why Alan Cox was a part of this event. When Alan originally walked out, you could see that he had papers with him, presumably questions or topics to touch on during the course of the conversation. However, Phil never really allowed Alan to steer the conversation. Now, considering that Phil is the star, that generally makes sense. But then why was Alan there in the first place?

Phil was hilarious and enjoyable as usual, bouncing around from anecdotes to jokes to insight and wisdom. We learned that it took 10 years from the time Everybody Loves Raymond finished to the time that Phil had his travel food show. (The show originally started on PBS and then moved to Netflix.) In regards to this, Phil said that if you want something enough and are persistent enough, it will happen, no matter how long it takes, because you will make sure it happens. We also learned that Phil loves highlighting each city that he visits and connecting with the people that make each city so special. He has made lifelong friends and had once in a life time experiences that are other worldly. As he confessed, he has the best job in the world.

After the “moderated discussion,” Phil took questions from the audience, two microphones on the lower level and one in the balcony. With each question asked, Phil truly connected with each individual person and question. One person mentioned a “Cleveland Polish Boy“, to which Phil asked, “Is that a euphemism?” From that point on, Cleveland Polish Boy was a very funny running joke. Phil especially connected with young children, including a young boy who was able to ask the final question. He asked Phil what his favorite highlight was of the most recent season and Phil replied, “Meeting you, Aiden.” It was very personable, genuine, touching, and sweet.

After the main show concluded, we stayed in our seats waiting for the meet and greet portion. Now, Julie and I didn’t know what to expect as there was some confusion as to what was included with the VIP Package. Julie believed someone said we would get swag. I hoped there would be a more intimate discussion or at least a chance to possibly ask a question, possibly in regards to my confusion over my future. What ended up happening was that we all formed a line, got a picture with Phil (above), and were able to have him sign anything we may have brought (below). I brought his book that Julie purchased for me as a gift.

Now, I’ve never done anything like this because typically Meet & Greets are cost prohibitive and I am frugal, so I don’t know how these typically work. (This event was also out of my price range, I went with it because I enjoy Phil/the show so much.) With that being said, I was super disappointed. As we watched people ahead of us “meet and greet” Phil, it seemed like he was nicely interacting with each person. When it came to us, Julie mentioned us going to Venice on our honeymoon and going to the cicchetti restaurant that Phil did. I believe all Phil said was, “That’s cool.” Phil also generically signed a copy of his book that I brought. (He never asked our names in order to personalize the autograph.)

Overall, while personally meeting Phil, there was no genuine interaction/connection or anything of the sort. Maybe Phil was tired. Maybe they sold too many VIP tickets. Maybe something else was going on. I’m not sure, but regardless, as a paying customer, none of that is my problem. I am not questioning how genuine Phil actually is. I believe what we saw on stage, and see in the actual show, is truly Phil: a good guy. I will most definitely continue to watch and enjoy Somebody Feed Phil as I try to figure out what I want to do with my life. (I want his job.) However, on this night in Cleveland, at Playhouse Square, Julie and I were not lucky enough to personally experience the genuine Phil Rosenthal.