The Swedish Chef The Swedish Chef is the incomprehensible preparer of foodstuffs from " The Muppet Show " . A rather literal variation of the Live - Hand Muppet concept , the Swedish Chef is a humanoid character , with human hands rather than gloves . On " The Muppet Show " , Frank Oz performed the character ' s hands . The chef first appeared in " " in 1975 , with Chinese subtitles for his dialog , and Richard Hunt performing the hands . Only in photo puppet s used specifically for photo shoots does the Swedish Chef have standard Muppet hands . According to Brian Henson in one of his introductions for " The Muppet Show " , " Jim Henson had this tape that he used to play which was ' How to Speak Mock Swedish ' . And he used to drive to work and I used to ride with him a lot . And he would drive to work trying to make a chicken sandwich in Mock Swedish or make a turkey casserole in Mock Swedish . It was the most ridiculous thing you had ever seen . And people at traffic lights used to stop and sort of look at him a little crazy . But that was the roots of the character that would eventually become the Swedish Chef " . Jim Henson had previously explored the idea of a funny foreign chef at the US Food Fair that took place in Hamburg , Germany in 1961 , where " Sam and Friends " character Omar prepared a flaming salad while speaking in some quite comprehensible mock German that Henson and Jerry Juhl had previously scribbled down in phonetics . Nearly all Swedish Chef sketches begin with him in a kitchen , waving some utensils while singing his signature song in a trademark mock Swedish , a semi - comprehensible gibberish which parodies the characteristic vowel sounds of Swedish . The last line of the song is always " Børk ! Børk ! Børk ! " and is punctuated by the Chef throwing the utensils over his shoulder to crash into the crockery behind him . ( Although the letter " ø " does not exist in Swedish — it is a Danish / Norwegian letter whose Swedish equivalent is " ö " — the Chef ' s trademark word is nearly always spelled " Børk . " ) After this introduction , the Chef continues to speak gibberish while preparing a particular recipe . His commentary is spiced with the occasional English word to clue the viewer in to what he is attempting . These clues are necessary as he frequently uses unorthodox culinary equipment ( firearms , tennis rackets , etc . ) to prepare his dishes . The sketch typically degenerates into a slapstick finale , and he often winds up in pitched battle with his ingredients , from Lobster Banditos to a Japanese Cake . The Swedish Chef has also appeared , at least briefly , in every Muppet film to date . He was put in charge of running the film projector in " The Muppet Movie " and " Muppet * Vision 3D " . In " A Muppet Family Christmas " , he attempts to cook the Christmas turkey , then sets his sights on Big Bird instead . The Swedish Chef ' s popularity led to his own cereal , Cröonchy Stars , in 1988 . Commercials for the product featured the Chef , up to his usual antics . In the 1990s , the Swedish Chef appeared regularly on " Donna ' s Day " starting in the second season . In , Danny Kaye , portraying the chef ' s uncle in a sketch , claims that the Swedish Chef ' s first name is Tom . However , since Kaye was not a blood relative in reality , this information may be considered apocryphal . Many years later on " The Muppets " , Christina Applegate misinterprets his name as Megan in " " , when he was actually just saying , " me , me . " Casting History . Primary Performers Other Performers See also . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _