Netflix Somebody Feed Phil star, Phil Rosenthal, on the first thing he'll eat when he returns to Glasgow

He’s at home in LA, in the sunshine-flooded space that was his son Ben’s bedroom, but is now used as a studio, so he can chat to big stars, like Jane Fonda, in his podcast, The Naked Lunch.

The penny drops. It’s the grey-dappled beard. It makes him look very different - Clooney-esque, even.

However, he tells me, sadly, that his facial hair will soon be gone. It doesn’t fit ‘the brand’.

Indeed. Rosenthal is known for his wide-eyed, boyish and puppy-ish persona - despite being 65. Basically, he spreads happiness in his Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil, where, for the last seven years, he’s shared his love of food and, indirectly, meeting folk across the globe.

Now you can meet him.

He’ll be back to clean shaven in time for a tour - An Evening with Phil Rosenthal of Somebody Feed Phil - which will be coming to various UK towns and cities, with one Scottish date in Glasgow, on April 12 at the 02 Academy.

This won’t be his first visit to the city or the country, as Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Skye, starred in the final episode of Somebody Feed Phil’s Season 7.

Among other destinations, in Glasgow he went to the restaurant GaGa, where the lobster seemed a bit spicy for him to handle, a west end cafe called Sunny Acre with actor Kelly Macdonald, Tantrum Doughnuts, and another place, which is at the forefront of his thoughts.

“What I'm remembering from Glasgow especially is the Shawarma King. I’m definitely going to visit The King when I'm there,” he says, and he’s not talking about Elvis.

Will he change his order, or go for the mixed shawarma pita with chicken and lamb, as he did on screen?

“Well, when you find somewhere like that, and you return after a year or two, of course, you want that thing that you remember - that you loved,” he says. “I’d like to try some new things as well in Glasgow. I went to some other restaurants and I want to go back to them too. That’s the quandary of travel - the more you go, the more you want to revisit the place you've been, but shake it up with something new on the next trip.”

It sounds like he’ll have a packed itinerary.

The last time he did the UK tour, he also visited Edinburgh. Apparently, that had potentially been on the cards again, but he says the theatre was booked up.

The 2025 shows will follow a similar format to the previous dates.

He’ll focus on the food, but might touch on other things, maybe including the creation of his much loved comedy series, Everybody Loves Raymond.

“We show a little highlight reel, and then I come out with a local moderator, and I tell funny stories, not just from Somebody Feed Phil, but about my life, career and all the people I've met,” he says. “I have a million stories, and that's the first half of the show. Then the second half is my favorite, because that's when I do a Q and A with the audience, and I get to meet the people, and the people in Glasgow are so warm, lovely and enthusiastic. And I just love coming there. It’s one of my favorite places I've ever been, and I've made friends there now, so I can't wait to come back.”

He is such a people person, and I sense his dismay at the current political situation in the US. Rosenthal is based in LA, and what makes it such a great place to live (and eat) is the diverse population.

“It's filled with people from all over the world, which, if you watch my show, you know is the whole reason I do it is to demonstrate that we're better as a species, when we cross pollinate,” says Rosenthal, who has a couple of friends staying with him after the LA fires. “But I am hanging on for dear life to what I love.”

He’ll also be adding to this city’s food scene soon, as he’s planning to open his own diner, Max and Helen’s, named after his late parents, who appear on some earlier episodes of Somebody Feed Phil. This venue will serve old school American-style comfort food, like burgers and sundaes.

I tell him that the one iconic US thing I’ve never tried is meatloaf. Apparently, they will be serving that.

“You can either have it on a cold sandwich, or you can have a hot plate,” he says. “Have you had a hamburger? It’s like a well seasoned hamburger without the bun, but with gravy.”

He’s a true omnivore and can wax lyrical about all foods, from the Michelin-starred to the humble.

I witnessed this in action, when I went to Rosenthal’s tour back in 2023 at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

Also, to my surprise, there was a lot of shouting out from the crowd in the second half of the show. These included a lairy few who’d obviously had a couple of pre-show tipples.

He dealt with it all admirably. However, I wonder how Rosenthal feels, opening the floor up to potentially rather odd questions.

“I always love it. I love the random nature of it, because, you know, my whole series is improvised,” he says. “So you learn to love the unexpected. Sometimes I'm at a loss for words, and that can be the funniest thing.”

He has a large fan base, because the series, which he produces as well as stars in, has been running for so long. Rosenthal has visited and eaten in Mumbai, Croatia, Nashville, Lisbon and many other locations, sometimes with his family in tow.

It’s not going to stop any time soon. There is an eighth season in the pipeline, though he’s not yet allowed to share the destinations yet.

“We just filmed it and I'm editing it now. It'll come out in a few months,” he says. “ But I can't wait for people to see this new season. With this one, I believe we become the longest running unscripted series in the history of Netflix. I think as we get closer to the release, maybe I'll be able to share the locations on stage in Glasgow, since it's kind of a closed forum there.”

Let’s see if the west coast crowd can keep a secret.

For tickets, see www.philrosenthalworld.com