Joel McHale Dishes Up Laughter With A Side Of Mac-A-Roni!

Joel McHale is known for his humorous attitude in a variety of television shows and movies. But did you know that he’s also a wiz in the kitchen (on screen and off)?

Through his role on “The Bear” and as the host of “Crime Scene Kitchen,” it only seems natural that McHale would add the title “Chief Mac-A-Roni Officer” to his long and impressive resume. 

As McHale embarked on his new food-related journey, he had some time to chat with The Blast about his new side dish partnership, longstanding comedy and acting career, upcoming projects and more. 

McHale may be known best for his comedy style and acting roles, but he also recently gained a new title to add to his resume - "Chief Mac-A-Roni Officer." The cool, new title is thanks to his recent partnership with Mac-A-Roni, the latest innovation from the makers of Rice-A-Roni. When he was asked to take on this new "cheesy role," McHale said it was something he couldn't "resist."

"They asked me to be the Chief Mac-A-Roni Officer and as someone who grew up eating Rice-A-Roni, it was an opportunity I couldn't resist. My biggest responsibility has been helping spread the word about the latest dinnertime innovation, which I had to test out myself, of course," McHale told The Blast exclusively. "We've been going through quite a bit of Mac-A-Roni at my house."

Part of the partnership included McHale giving an official keynote and hosting a Mac-A-Roni Experience in NYC at the end of September. In the keynote, McHale transforms into the persona of a Mac-A-Roni executive walking through Roni's dinnertime innovation over the years to show the culmination of this new milestone.

Mac-A-Roni, the newest innovation from the makers of Rice-A-Roni, is available in Creamy Cheddar and Creamy White Cheddar. This side dish carries some serious main character energy and is currently available at grocery stores and retailers nationwide.

To introduce this new side dish to the world, McHale filmed an official keynote video.

"So we developed a funny keynote video to help introduce the world to the newest San Francisco treat. We also hosted a Mac-A-Roni Experience on September 26 in New York City, which was an interactive pop-up that gave fans a chance to try Mac-A-Roni themselves and take a free box home," he told The Blast. "I was there and had a lot of fun meeting with attendees and seeing what they thought of Mac-A-Roni."

McHale really threw himself into the role of Chief Mac-A-Roni Officer and had some fun testing out the product.

"I got the chance to really lean into my role as Chief Mac-A-Roni Officer, highlighting all the creative work that went into launching Mac-A-Roni - from mapping hand-eye fork tracking to analyzing taste buds," he explained. "It was fun to immerse myself in this cheesy character (pun intended) and channel my own memories of Rice-A-Roni into the keynote. Didn't hurt that I got to eat a lot of Mac-A-Roni that day, and test out plenty of cheesy macaroni puns."

Being a busy working actor and show host, anything that saves time in the kitchen is helpful for McHale. He shared the two kitchen rules that he lives by.

"There are two rules in the kitchen that I live by. The first is, always make sure you have a good, sharp kitchen knife. One of my favorite things to cook is a good steak, so a reliable knife always comes in handy," he said.

"The second is to keep the side dishes quick but tasty. A lot of times, the main dish takes most of the my focus and time to prepare, so we keep side dishes like Mac-A-Roni on hand."

Humor is an important part of McHale's life; so important that he created a wonderful career out of it.

"I've always loved telling jokes. Humor, to me, is so important in living a good life," he told The Blast. "Sure, sometimes there are things that need to be taken seriously, but more often than not, there's a way to keep things light with a few jokes."

The comedian credits his family as his comedy influence, and said that his sons "have actually gotten pretty funny, which may be a good or bad thing - we'll see."

If an aspiring comedian is looking for some solid advice from McHale, he would tell them that "sometimes people don't laugh, and that's okay."

"My sons have taught me that," he continued. "What's more important is to say yes and to show up and give it 100 percent every time."

 There's very few dull moments ahead for the former host of "The Soup." 

"There's a lot coming up that I'm really excited for!" he said. "'Crime Scene Kitchen' season 3 just premiered. This season is going to be extra special with the unique challenges the contestants will go through, and I'm excited for everyone to watch it. There was some really incredible food - which seems to be a theme for my projects lately."

With a long and impressive resume already, McHale may have checked a lot off his career bucket list. But there are some things he would still like to do.

"Well, now that I've become a C-Suite executive as the Chief Mac-A-Roni Officer, I can cross a big one off my bucket list," he said. "I'm open to any and all opportunities and am always excited to try something new. Maybe skydive, but maybe not."