Phil Rosenthal

Phil Rosenthal arrives in a new city the way a kid arrives at a birthday party: thrilled before anything even happens. A comedy writer turned host, he wanders markets and family kitchens, tries everything offered, and narrates his own delight in real time, more curious tourist than expert.

His whole appeal is the absence of cynicism — a middle-aged sitcom veteran who never learned to perform being unimpressed. Rosenthal's timing (honed writing Everybody Loves Raymond) turns his genuine enthusiasm into actual jokes, and his eagerness to be moved, by food or by a stranger's generosity, feels unforced and contagious.