41. JONATHAN BENNETT: Writing a Mean Girls cookbook & Finding Mr. Christmas for Hallmark+

It's hard to believe Mean Girls is 20 years old, but here we are. This redheaded homeschooler of the early 2000's never thought to even dream up talking with the man who played Aaron Samuels on her teenage-self's favorite movie, but here we are in 2024, talking to the one and only Jonathan Bennett. If you are a fan of Mean Girls, you'll definitely want to hear about his cookbook. If you love reality tv and Hallmark, then you will love to hear what he has to say about his upcoming show, "Finding Mr. Christmas." This is such a fun conversation, so enjoy!

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Transcript

00;00;00;01 - 00;00;06;17
Speaker 1
Hi. I'm Jonathan Bennett, and you're watching literary hype with my friend Stephanie. Stephanie. Let's get into it.

00;00;11;23 - 00;00;40;00
Speaker 2
Hi, and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman. And you might as well call me Katie Herring today because I just lived out a high school fantasy. I didn't even know tap on fantasy of like I didn't know to put it on my bingo card to actually have a conversation with the man who played Erin Samuels on Mean Girls, especially as a homeschool girl from that time period with red hair like Mean Girls was a big a big time for me.

00;00;41;06 - 00;01;02;00
Speaker 2
And now I got to meet the real Aaron Samuels and talk to him. So we talk about a couple of things in this conversation. One, he's got a reality show coming. Also, he has a cookbook. If you did not know that the Byrne Cookbook was written by the guy who played Aaron Samuels, now you do. And so we talk about the creation of this cookbook.

00;01;02;00 - 00;01;14;01
Speaker 2
We talk a little bit about his reality show that's coming. We talk about reading and romance this is a really fun conversation. I'm so thankful it happened, so please enjoy it. Here's my conversation with Jonathan Bennett.

00;01;16;09 - 00;01;19;02
Speaker 2
Welcome to Literary Hype. It's so easy to have a literary.

00;01;19;02 - 00;01;21;18
Speaker 1
Hype to you. So excited to have you here.

00;01;23;19 - 00;01;27;25
Speaker 2
I'm so that it impressive. And every time I do one that's like a great improv, I'm like, I need to go take a breath.

00;01;27;25 - 00;01;30;26
Speaker 1
It's OK. I'm hilarious. Yeah. Sorry. We got this. We got this.

00;01;31;05 - 00;01;32;05
Speaker 2
So what day is it?

00;01;32;05 - 00;01;36;02
Speaker 1
It's October 3rd. And it is Comic-Con in San Diego.

00;01;36;02 - 00;01;36;27
Speaker 2
Exactly.

00;01;36;27 - 00;01;39;01
Speaker 1
And we're here just talking all things literary hype.

00;01;39;04 - 00;01;41;08
Speaker 2
Exactly. Well, you've got a book and which we will get to you.

00;01;41;08 - 00;01;41;29
Speaker 1
We'll get to the book.

00;01;42;03 - 00;01;46;08
Speaker 2
But first, we're going to talk about the reason you're here, which is finding Mr. Christmas.

00;01;46;22 - 00;01;51;01
Speaker 1
Are we going to find Mr. Christmas? Where is he? Where is he? Did we find him?

00;01;51;17 - 00;01;52;11
Speaker 2
Did you spoiler.

00;01;52;11 - 00;02;14;05
Speaker 1
Alert we have found him. Yes, we found Mr. Christmas. I am so excited to be here talking about it. So what is finding Mr. Christmas? People want to know, right? That's the question. Finding Mr. Christmas is Hallmark Channel's first ever reality competition series. And basically, it's like all the great things of reality television combine into under one Hallmark lens.

00;02;14;05 - 00;02;39;16
Speaker 1
So you got a little bit of like RuPaul's Drag Race, you got a little bit of Big Brother, you got a little bit of The Bachelorette. You've got all these different shows that you love all combine into one show. Under that Hallmark Christmas lens, we take ten amazingly awesome hunks. We put them in one giant Christmas house and each episode one home gets eliminated as they battle it out to become Hallmark's next Christmas star.

00;02;39;19 - 00;02;43;27
Speaker 2
What was the process like in creating this show and getting greenlit it?

00;02;44;06 - 00;03;02;27
Speaker 1
Well, first of all, the pitch was interesting because I went in and I pitched the show. I said, I have this idea because I'm a huge reality freak. Like, I love reality television, I love competition series. I was on Big Brother, I was on Dancing with the Stars. I'm a drag race fanatic, so I'm like, what if we did this for Hallmark?

00;03;02;27 - 00;03;27;26
Speaker 1
Because all my friends, right? All my friends that are actors in L.A. In New York everywhere, all my friends who are actors they all want to know how to get involved in, like, the hallmark cinema universe, right? How do we become part of this, like hallmark avengers and iconic yeah. And I was like, well, what if we had a reality competition show and we had people compete to be the next Hallmark star?

00;03;27;26 - 00;03;44;19
Speaker 1
So that's kind of how the idea was born. But I pitched it to the network, and I said, go with me on this, guys. I know it's because I'm crazy, but I think it's going to work. And I pitched it to them, and they were so excited, and they're like, this is a brilliant thing for our brand. It fits.

00;03;44;19 - 00;03;55;18
Speaker 1
Let's do it. So finally, Mr. Christmas was born, and now it is probably my favorite project I've ever worked on in a 25 year career, which is young.

00;03;55;18 - 00;03;56;05
Speaker 2
Considering your.

00;03;56;05 - 00;04;02;02
Speaker 1
Career, I had more fun on finding Mr. Christmas than I did shooting Mean Girls and Mean Girls was a lot of fun.

00;04;02;19 - 00;04;04;15
Speaker 2
That's just shocking to hear.

00;04;04;15 - 00;04;04;24
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;04;05;18 - 00;04;12;28
Speaker 2
I'm just trying to process because you hear you hear all these stories about how much fun you guys had with me. Yeah. And to top that, makes this a must watch TV show.

00;04;12;29 - 00;04;33;04
Speaker 1
It's, it's just it's everything you want. You have these ten guys that are all they're all beautiful and they're all amazing, but like, we're looking for the next Hallmark Channel star. What are our Hallmark Channel stars? What qualities do our hunks have that make our viewers keep coming back and watching them? Well, of course, they're handsome and they look good in a Christmas sweater.

00;04;33;07 - 00;04;52;24
Speaker 1
So that was the prerequisite. That's our, you know, our baseline. But our homework stars also have a ton of heart. They have charisma, they have charm. They have that sparkle to them that you just can't explain. But there's something about their eyes that just twinkle a little brighter than everyone else's. And so that it factor is what we were searching for.

00;04;52;29 - 00;05;06;16
Speaker 1
And they've got a ton of heart, right? Because Hallmark is all about heart and love. And so we had to basically put these hunks through different competitions to test all those different qualities of a Hallmark leading man.

00;05;06;20 - 00;05;08;15
Speaker 2
What was your favorite competition out of my.

00;05;08;15 - 00;05;37;04
Speaker 1
Since I mean, majority of all the episodes are based on a different Hallmark trope that we've all come to love and expect from our Hallmark movies. Right? So the meet cute, the kiss under the mistletoe, the apology, all these different things we all want to see in our home movies. We made each one of those a challenge. And I think one of my favorite challenges was the wrapping paper challenge, because who doesn't want to watch a bunch of guys wrapped Christmas presents that are crazy shape, right?

00;05;37;04 - 00;05;41;22
Speaker 1
You have all these crazy shapes of Christmas presents, and they had to wrap them and it was hilarious.

00;05;41;22 - 00;05;46;11
Speaker 2
You wear a lot of hats on this show. I do. What was the most challenging one for you?

00;05;46;18 - 00;06;13;18
Speaker 1
I think the hardest part for me was saying goodbye to one of our actors each episode because we did become a family and they became a family. You know, ten strangers walked into a house, competitors, and they left one family, which you don't get in reality television, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Hallmark plus is reality with heart, right? We're doing reality differently.

00;06;13;18 - 00;06;42;28
Speaker 1
We're doing reality with with compassion and with heart and with vulnerability. And so that's what I'm so proud of the show. But in doing that, every every single episode, when we have to say goodbye to one of our guys it's an emotional journey because I know what it's like to be that guy wanting the acting role so bad and not getting it because even though you're sitting here seeing my yeses that I have, which this is a yes right here, you know, I booked this job.

00;06;43;15 - 00;06;55;01
Speaker 1
There are a million knows that you don't see. So I know what it feels like to, you know, get this close and not get the part you wanted. So I really it was really hard for me emotionally.

00;06;55;06 - 00;06;58;10
Speaker 2
What was your favorite of the roles that you took on for this show?

00;06;58;23 - 00;07;31;03
Speaker 1
I mean, hosting it was really fun. But I think just creating a TV show that's something that's been on my bucket list for years, I've pitched a million shows to different places and to create a TV show and actually see your show come to life that came from your brain and to watch it like blossom and grow and to say like, I created a TV show, that's something that if you would've told me ten years ago, Hey, you're going to create a TV show, I was like, Yeah, right.

00;07;31;03 - 00;07;42;18
Speaker 1
That would never happen. But if you consistently work at it and and really, really put in like the time and the and the work, you can make things like this happen. So it was I think that was just the most rewarding part.

00;07;42;19 - 00;07;52;22
Speaker 2
These actors are trying to get a spot in a romantic movie. Yeah. Romance books are huge right now. Are there any romance books that you would like to see turned into movies?

00;07;52;22 - 00;08;20;25
Speaker 1
Yes. Actually, you know what? I'm a huge fan of M for M romance, and I know that there is a huge market. You obviously know this romance is such in such high demand. I think it's one of the fifth most Amazon searched things on Amazon. And so I would love to find A for M romance series like a romantic series about males falling in love with other males.

00;08;20;25 - 00;08;29;17
Speaker 1
That's, you know, of course, it's like sexy and romantic, but it's also got a lot of passion and a lot of heart behind it. I would love to do something like that.

00;08;29;17 - 00;08;32;17
Speaker 2
What are some of your favorite tropes to act out and or read?

00;08;32;17 - 00;08;50;27
Speaker 1
My favorite tropes. Oh, wow. I mean, I am a sucker for comedy. So if there is if there's if there's a way to make you laugh, I'm going to try to find it in the scene. Like, I'm not going to walk out of a scene and just exit past a chair. I'm going to walk past the chair and fall over the chair to see if it makes it in the movie and gets gets a laugh in the cut.

00;08;50;27 - 00;09;16;06
Speaker 1
So for me, I just I love making people laugh. That's why I do this. I love I love getting a rise out of people and like doing something that makes them crack up when they're watching your movies. So, I mean, I just did Spamalot on Broadway, and so that was really refreshing because like you were in a live theater with 1700 people every weekend or every day, and they were laughing when you would do jokes and you would do things, you would get a rise out of them.

00;09;16;06 - 00;09;23;16
Speaker 1
So it was like the instant gratification of like, Oh, they liked that. OK, I'll do that more. So I think just making people laugh is my favorite part.

00;09;23;16 - 00;09;25;20
Speaker 2
But you make a lot of people laugh with your cookbook.

00;09;25;20 - 00;09;28;23
Speaker 1
Oh, stop. I love you don't mean that cookbook. You don't mean.

00;09;28;23 - 00;09;29;19
Speaker 2
It. I bought it the day.

00;09;29;22 - 00;09;52;17
Speaker 1
If you liked it, you liked it, you would have bought it and you would have brought it with you. I did know you did it. Prove it. Prove it. I don't believe you. Prove it. Oh, my gosh. The Burn Cookbook by Jonathan Benet and unearthed Fry's cookbook. Oh, sorry, I have to say this legally. An unofficial, unauthorized cookbook for Mean Girls fans.

00;09;52;27 - 00;10;00;01
Speaker 1
The Burn Cookbook I get it. Yes. As a burn. Burn. Yeah. I didn't say you did a parody for me. Girls fans.

00;10;00;03 - 00;10;00;18
Speaker 2
Parody.

00;10;00;26 - 00;10;03;05
Speaker 1
A parody. We have to say that legally, a parody.

00;10;03;11 - 00;10;04;01
Speaker 2
Parody mm.

00;10;04;01 - 00;10;07;07
Speaker 1
Hmm. Let's talk about this parody, unofficial, unauthorized book.

00;10;07;12 - 00;10;09;29
Speaker 2
Yes. Because I'm obsessed with it.

00;10;09;29 - 00;10;11;27
Speaker 1
I'm obsessed with you. So let's talk about it.

00;10;11;28 - 00;10;19;00
Speaker 2
OK, so what was the process like for you in creating the recipes for this book? Because they are so pun tastic.

00;10;19;00 - 00;10;42;05
Speaker 1
OK, I love a pun. I love a dad joke. So this was a very interesting cookbook to create. I didn't normally you have recipes, then you come up with the book. We came up with the titles and then figured out what the recipe would be to match the title. So we actually did this backwards. We came up, we figured out every mongrels pun you could possibly come up with.

00;10;42;05 - 00;10;42;25
Speaker 1
Let me read you.

00;10;43;17 - 00;10;44;20
Speaker 2
These are amazing.

00;10;44;28 - 00;11;00;21
Speaker 1
Live reading with Jonathan Benet of his Byrne cookbook, A Live Reading with John in the bed of his cookbook. OK, table of Contents. Thank you. Gretchen's wieners, pigs in a blanket white gold. Whoops. Those are onion rings.

00;11;01;00 - 00;11;01;16
Speaker 2
Brilliant.

00;11;01;23 - 00;11;03;15
Speaker 1
Fetch a teeny Alfredo.

00;11;05;23 - 00;11;07;17
Speaker 2
I love my pink gazpacho.

00;11;07;25 - 00;11;35;05
Speaker 1
You can't sit with us She asked me how to spell orange chicken Oh, wait, one more. Your face smells like peppermint bark. It's brilliant. Brilliant, right? It's brilliant. What's so funny is I wanted to create a I wanted to create, like, a interactive book, not just a cookbook. So this is the burn cookbook is more than a cookbook.

00;11;35;05 - 00;11;57;00
Speaker 1
It is a interactive night in with your friends. So it's it's meant for you to put the movie on, make recipes from the book, make food, and then there's all these, like, quizzes. Remember the old Cosmo quizzes we used to do? There's little, like, those old style courses are like, which one are you, A, B, or C? And then you can figure out which plastic you are there's trivia.

00;11;57;08 - 00;12;12;13
Speaker 1
I mean, there's so many like little games and things to do in here that you do with your friends while you're cooking all the stuff from the book. So it's meant to like grab some rosé have some pink wine, sit down and there's a drinking game and a workout in here. So if you have friends that love drinking, buy them this book.

00;12;12;19 - 00;12;13;29
Speaker 2
What's your favorite recipe out of it?

00;12;14;09 - 00;12;33;15
Speaker 1
I will have to say Aaron Samuel's mom's chicken stuffed shells, because those are the only thing in the book that were put in specifically because my mom, my late mother, she made these shells all the times that are so good, these chicken stuffed shells. And so we put them in the book so that way her legacy would live on forever.

00;12;33;20 - 00;12;47;25
Speaker 1
So it's really fun because my favorite recipe she made is now in this book and now it lives on forever. So other people make it and it's so touching to see people make her shells online around the holidays. And they post pictures now like we made your mom shells. And I'm like, that's pretty.

00;12;47;25 - 00;12;56;06
Speaker 2
Cool. And I was definitely gonna ask about your mom's influence because you talk about her in the yeah, yeah, yeah. Intro for it. How do you think she would feel seeing? Oh.

00;12;56;26 - 00;13;15;13
Speaker 1
I think she would love it because she loves cooking for so many people. And I think she'd also love just like seeing all the stuff I'm doing on like Hallmark and all the movies I'm making and all of I think she would really love it. She would she would have got a big kick out it. That's the one thing that one thing that really still to this day makes me feel like, oh, darn it, I wish she would have seen it.

00;13;15;19 - 00;13;29;29
Speaker 1
She never got to see me do any cake wars. She never got to see me do any of my hosting or any of my Hallmark movies. So all those things she loved, like Food Network and Hallmark. Now I'm a part of both of those. And so her legacy lives on in this book.

00;13;30;14 - 00;13;32;17
Speaker 2
That's so cute. I love it so much.

00;13;32;18 - 00;13;33;09
Speaker 1
Oh, thank you.

00;13;33;18 - 00;13;34;22
Speaker 2
Are you going to write any more books?

00;13;35;09 - 00;14;01;20
Speaker 1
I think I'm actually it's so funny. I am going to write another book and I just got off the phone with my agent and we were discussing what my next book is. And we have a couple ideas of avenues to go down. I don't know if it'll be another cookbook. I don't know if it'll be a Christmas themed book because I'm kind of in the Christmas space and I think there could be something fun to do.

00;14;01;20 - 00;14;05;11
Speaker 2
There oh, for sure. Or also just a memoir of your stories, because.

00;14;05;12 - 00;14;06;21
Speaker 1
One day I'm going to write my memoir.

00;14;06;23 - 00;14;08;04
Speaker 2
Everyone wants to I don't have rules.

00;14;08;10 - 00;14;15;23
Speaker 1
I don't have the time in the day to write a memoir right now. But I could write a Christmas book because I think I'm going to start exploring that.

00;14;16;02 - 00;14;20;05
Speaker 2
So since this is literary hype, what literary? Yes. What books are you hyped about?

00;14;20;05 - 00;14;45;18
Speaker 1
Ooh, so I'm reading The Art of Stillness, which is a really good book about it's a really easy read. It's more like the art of like the idea, like being still when things happen, don't react. Stop. Look at all the chess pieces, see what's going on, and then make your move. And I think that has really helped me, especially with creating TV shows like Finding Was A Christmas, like How and, you know, creating the Groomsmen franchise.

00;14;45;18 - 00;15;09;21
Speaker 1
That is also one giant Hallmark plus like having that stillness to be able to like when things happen, know how you should react, because I think your reaction dictates a lot of the outcomes. So that's part of just like, OK, we're going to look at all the chess pieces. Why is that person doing this? Oh, because they're blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and that person's there.

00;15;09;21 - 00;15;14;23
Speaker 1
So that's why that's happening. It's it's really good. It helps you kind of navigate life.

00;15;15;09 - 00;15;18;06
Speaker 2
And bringing you back to Mr. Christmas. When and where could people watch it.

00;15;18;13 - 00;15;22;09
Speaker 1
Finding Mr. Christmas only on Hallmark plus this holiday season.

00;15;22;17 - 00;15;24;24
Speaker 2
Well, thank you so much for being part of literary art.

00;15;25;10 - 00;15;27;12
Speaker 1
Thank you for being so hyped about literacy.

00;15;27;12 - 00;15;28;19
Speaker 2
So anything else you want to talk about?

00;15;33;09 - 00;15;34;23
Speaker 1
No, whatever. I'm getting cheese. Right?

00;15;37;15 - 00;15;59;02
Speaker 2
Thanks again to Jonathan for taking time out of his wild San Diego Comic-Con schedule. Man was everywhere to talk about his upcoming Hallmark reality TV show and The Burn Cookbook. If you want to get a hold of the unofficial unauthorized cookbook for me and Girls, The Burn Cookbook by Jonathan Bennett, the link to do so is in the show notes for you.

00;15;59;07 - 00;16;08;25
Speaker 2
If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the Literary Hype podcast. Give us some stars and share it with the friends. Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Hype podcast.