Why Is The Idea of Christopher Walken Cooking Chicken So Funny?

Funny or Die's new video "Cooking with Christopher Walken," which you can watch below, is a would-be cooking show hosted by Christopher Walken with special guest Richard Belzer (who had quite a morning interview on "Good Day NY" Wednesday). As "The Deer Hunter" star explains in voiceover, "When he's not solving crimes, Richard is doing some really exciting things in the kitchen."

Accompanied by a pair of primarily decorative blonde assistants, Walken and Belzer go to the grocery store, stop by a petting zoo and eventually prepare chicken with pears while discussing what an outrage it is that "Citizen Kane" was bumped off the top of the Sight & Sound poll.

It's a cute video, and one that pokes mild fun of the ever-broadening array of celebs and other non-pros showing off their culinary skills on TV as well as the phony displays of spontaneity many of those shows include. But mainly it's based around the idea that watching Christopher Walken cook is inherently entertaining and amusing -- this video isn't that far from a non-satirical one labeled "Man Makes Chicken With Pears" that was posted on YouTube five years ago and that features Walken making the same dish -- take a look below.

Why is the idea of Walken whipping up something in the kitchen so funny? The iconic qualities of the actor, particularly with regard to his distinctive intonation and tough/sinister aura, make any mundane task he engages in a novelty, though obvious the guy has to eat and shop on occassion like everybody else. Before these videos of Walken actually cooking hit the web, Australian sketch series "The Wedge" (which starred, among others, "Bridesmaids" breakout Rebel Wilson) ran a 2006 "Cooking With Christopher Walken" segment in which a comedian does his best impression of the "King of New York" star while making, yes, chicken. (Later sketches had "Christopher Walken" hosting an arts and crafts show, advertising sports equipment and speed dating.) It was apparently such a good idea that Walken decided to run with it himself.