Matt Walsh — who stars in “Flamin’ Hot,” a comedy about the origins of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos — isn’t too fond of the spicy snack food.
“I’ve tried them,” he tells Pvnew, but admits, “They’re not my palate, to be honest.”
“I like a little spice on, you know, Mexican food, and I like a little spice on my Thai food, and my Chinese food,” he explains. “But I don’t want it in my snack food because … I think it because it requires you to drink a lot more. And I don’t want to, I want to snack. I just wanted some chips. I don’t have to have all this stuff ready to drink.”
Walsh’s go-to junk food snack, however, is something with “synthetic fake cheese” or caramel corn.
“That’s probably an Achilles heel. I like a nice, sturdy crunch in my snack,” he tells us.
“Flamin’ Hot,” directed by Eva Longoria, is based on the memoir “A Boy, a Burrito and a cookie: From Janitor to Executive” by Richard Montañez. The book claims that he and his wife invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Walsh, 58, plays Montañez’s clueless boss.
“[He’s] Kind of a jerk boss who just wants to protect the status quo,” Walsh says. “And I think he probably got his position like a lot of the guys because he was a white, middle-aged guy who probably played golf with some of the guys.
“You know, that’s typical elevation. He’s a little goofy [and] probably barely qualified to handle this job. He seems like he’s always stressed out.”
“The Hangover” actor is a genius at playing “barely qualified” as evidenced by his turn as inept speech writer Mike McLintock in “Veep.”
Walsh shares that he “certainly learned a lot more about politics and the nitty gritty of it by doing the show because we got to interview real politicians every year,” who would fill him in on what their jobs actually entailed.
He says the show, which ended in 2019, was “prophetic” as the writers poked fun at issues that are still being raised today like “abortion, gun control, immigration … it’s amazingly timeless.”
“I guess it’s a little depressing,” he concedes, “because we haven’t moved the needle on a lot of big issues.”
Walsh co-hosts a “Veep” podcast with former co-star Timothy Simons, who played White House aide-turned-congressman Jonah Ryan,
“Flamin’ Hot” is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
