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IrelandGiancarlo Esposito tastes his father's tomato sauce on Last Meals
His hour at Josh Scherer's table also covers a grandfather spared for an opera, a 2008 bankruptcy and voicing a boss in The Cat in the Hat.
Mythical Kitchen
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Why this story? One of the most watched videos since yesterday, with 890,962 views.
Giancarlo Esposito Eats His Last Meal
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- 0:48His grandfather, an opera set manager in Naples, was spared execution because Mussolini wanted to see Madama Butterfly.
- 3:30Childhood foods of hard times: Cheerios with water, Tang, grits and fried bologna.
- 7:35He tastes a recreation of his father's signature spaghetti sauce and becomes emotional.
- 26:12He talks about voicing Mr. Hoogeboom in The Cat in the Hat and crying while watching it.
- 39:13He recounts his 2008 bankruptcy and how Who Moved My Cheese? helped him rebuild.
- 56:02He describes death as a portal leading to reincarnation or ascension, followed by a lightning round.
Giancarlo Esposito takes one forkful of spaghetti and accuses Josh Scherer of having an informant. "Oh my goodness, you are like the mafioso... you got to someone in my family," he says. The Mythical Kitchen team has recreated his father's signature tomato sauce, and the actor is moved by it.
Last Meals is Scherer's interview series built around a guest's imagined final feast. Esposito admits one of his daughters found the idea "very dark," and he has his own answer to the premise: he tells his children he isn't going to die, he will transcend or ascend. He arrives promoting The Cat in the Hat, in which he voices the Cat's boss, Mr. Hoogeboom, and says the film made him cry three times. For the man who played Gus Fring, the coolly controlled drug lord of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, it is quite a confession.
The stories start before the food does. His grandfather managed sets for an opera house in Naples and was nearly executed by Mussolini's regime, spared because Mussolini wanted to see Madama Butterfly. Then come the foods of a hard-up childhood: Cheerios with water, Tang, grits and fried bologna, which also had its moment on the channel a day earlier, when Matthew McConaughey tasted it.
The menu travels widely. A Neapolitan Margherita that Scherer cuts with scissors, truffle pasta modeled on Florence's Osteria delle Tre Panche, arancini from a 1974 Manganaro's cookbook, then caviar, escargot from La Grenouille, steak, a Nobu-style crudo he calls "better than Nobu" and the kitchari he eats on wellness retreats in Kerala. Along the way he recalls seeing Ben Vereen in Pippin on Broadway in 1972, and Scherer steps out for a Coca-Cola break.
The most personal stretch begins with a note from his daughter. Esposito talks about filing for bankruptcy in 2008, and about how the book Who Moved My Cheese? helped him past the shame and into rebuilding his life.
About 891,000 people have watched in the first 17 hours, and the comments have already passed a usual full first day for the channel. Many viewers rewrite Gus Fring's lines around dinner; others dwell on how warm the man behind so many villains turns out to be.
Dessert brings him home: a pineapple upside-down cake made the way his late mother made it, with coffee gelato on the side.
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What viewers say
has anyone ever perfectly matched josh’s vibe like giancarlo does in these first 10 minutes
@elarnold5608See it on YouTube"This is your last meal, Hector. Look at me, Hector."
@couchaholicSee it on YouTubeI SWEAR TO GOD, I can NEVER predict who they're gonna bring on this show. What an ELITE guest!
@brianna.aussieSee it on YouTube
7 more comments
I gave Giancarlo a tour of the Guinness factory in Dublin and he was such a lovely, warm, enthusiastic person
@JarlDMSee it on YouTubeDude is the happiest most genuine dude, and yet plays the best villains…
@chrisgee8441See it on YouTubeThe fact that this incredible actor is here to promote THE CAT IN THE HAT out of all movies
@kuyalofiSee it on YouTubeI think I've come to love this over Hot Ones because it is so much more of a conversation between two people than an interview. Josh really does a good job of building a relationship with the guest!!
@VentrueMinisSee it on YouTube"You love what you do, don't you?" Wow, what a compliment
@breiversen9187See it on YouTubeGiancarlo is so grateful, and it's lovely to see!
@palomaIolaSee it on YouTube"What does a man do, Walter? He cooks for his family"
@clai.23See it on YouTube
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- Channel
- Mythical Kitchen
- Subscribers
- 4,670,000 ▲ 20,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 19,572,454
- Video published
- November 10, 2026
- Video views so far
- 890,962 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 1,036,080
The numbers
A long interview episode that drew a big audience in well under a day, with likes and comments running far ahead of the channel's usual first day.
💡 Test your knowledge
In which series did Giancarlo Esposito first play Gus Fring?
Esposito introduced Gus Fring in Breaking Bad and later returned to the role in its prequel, Better Call Saul.