Wok with Yan
Wok with Yan was a Chinese cuisine cooking show starring Stephen Yan. The show was first produced in Vancouver, British Columbia by the CBC at CBUT from 1980 to 1982. A second edition of the show was also produced in the early 1990s. The popular series was syndicated internationally in United States, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore for years.
The show was famous because in each episode, Yan had a different pun on the word "wok" on his apron. Some examples are:
- Wok & Roll
- Wokking My Baby Back Home
- Danger, Yan at Wok
- Wok Around the Clock
- Wok the Heck
- You Are Wok You Eat
- Wok Goes up Must Come Down
- Wok's New, Pussycat?
- Wokkey Night in Canada
- Stuck Between a Wok and a Hard Place
- Raiders of The Lost Wok
- Eat Your Wok Out
- Moon Wok
- Jailhouse Wok
- Superior Wokmanship
- Wok-A-Doodle-Doo
The humorous aprons also complemented his humour that consisted of spontaneous one-liners spoken with his trademark Cantonese accent or him playing with his food or cookware. That, combined with his energetic personality, endeared him to Canadian viewers. Prior to him preparing his stir fry cuisine, the show usually featured a vignette of Yan travelling to different vacation spots from around the world (e.g., Thailand). He always invited an audience member to come up and eat with him near the end of each episode (there was a ticket draw in the studio audience to sit with him), and had a fortune cookie reading before the meal (first done in Cantonese, then translated in English).
The show also aired in the Caribbean during the same period on TTT Trinidad and Tobago Television.