In a current episode of “Hot Ones Versus,” actor Hailee Steinfeld checked out her “Sinners” co-star Michael B. Jordan with a mixture of shock and amusement, and requested, “What the f— is this? This is press for our movie?”
It’s a query that has probably been requested earlier than within the 10 years that “Hot Ones” (and subsequent spinoffs like “Versus”) have been pushing out episodes on YouTube. The idea is each easy and outrageous — an interview carried out whereas company eat a collection of rooster wings of accelerating spice ranges, usually with disorienting discomfort — and the present has develop into a preferred sensation and an important cease on the trendy movie star promotional tour.
“Hot Ones” host and co-creator Sean Evans, 39, has been there for the whole experience, consuming wings proper alongside his company, which have not too long ago included Selena Gomez, Invoice Murray, Woman Gaga, Unhealthy Bunny, Ben Stiller, Serena Williams, Cate Blanchett, Demi Moore and, in a very memorable look, Conan O’Brien.
The present has additionally develop into an incredible enterprise, as final 12 months Evans and co-creator Chris Schonberger had been a part of a bunch of buyers who purchased First We Feast, the studio behind “Hot Ones,” for greater than $82 million.
Long gone its origin as a web based upstart and persevering with its transfer into the mainstream, the present is eligible to compete for an Emmy within the speak collection class towards the likes of Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert.
Based mostly in New York Metropolis, Evans sat for an interview with The Envelope whereas not too long ago in Los Angeles.
Evans, left, with visitor Invoice Murray in an episode of “Hot Ones.”
(First We Feast)
How has the pitch to expertise modified through the years? Folks presumably get the premise now?
Essentially the most profound method that it’s modified is now we’re taking the pitches. There was a time the place we needed to be very persuasive, nearly to the purpose of tricking folks into doing the present. And now the tables have utterly turned. You even simply see it in the best way that folks sit down. I bear in mind very early on there was at all times this problem for me to win over the visitor within the first couple of wings and make them perceive that that is going to be … very completely different from what they’d anticipate from what’s written on paper.
A variety of occasions company got here in with some kind of preconceived notion for a way it might go after which had their minds modified simply over the course of doing the interview. We even have a reputation for it. We name it the “Charlize Theron Shoulder Drop,” as a result of when she got here on the present, I bear in mind she was form of side-eyeing her publicist. And I bear in mind her saying one thing like, “Am I gonna have to eat all of these?” And by the second or third wing, her shoulders had dropped. She was utterly free. And to me, it’s one of the necessary tentpole episodes that we’ve ever created.
How would you describe the vibe of what you’re searching for? What’s that feeling you need within the room?
Early on, it was form of gonzo-ish. However within the time since, what I’m searching for is one thing actual. I feel what occurs is company are in a PR-driven flight sample, and what you need is one thing very actual to occur. And on “Hot Ones” you may have these moments of people who find themselves struggling, who’re susceptible, who’re in a borderline state of panic. You have got feelings which might be actual, and all of these items are so exhausting to get to in a standard interview setting. The truth that we will create these moments, after which mix it with this considerate career-spanning interview, all of these parts working collectively, it simply provides you a singular take a look at the movie star company. And, after all, movie star is that this life-style that by definition is unobtainable. However what we’re doing is knocking them off of that pedestal right down to a degree that everybody can relate to. It’s very human. And that’s what folks reply to in loads of methods. I feel we by chance invented the “What’s it like to have a beer with this person” present.
What does it imply to be competing for an Emmy?
It’s by no means actually one thing that I wrapped my head round or thought was even potential, however they’re opening up the eligibility, which I feel is overdue and inevitable anyway. So then it was nearly getting the paperwork collectively and placing collectively a submission and hoping for the perfect. However I do suppose that once you take a look at the exhibits which have outlined this class for therefore lengthy, the throughline with all of them is that they’re the cultural reference level for the place you possibly can see celebrities in a looser, edgier setting. And “Hot Ones” satisfies that definition. … I didn’t know that we’d be part of the dialog, by no means dreamed of it. However now that we’re, I’ll say with my full chest that we belong.
Simply bodily, after 10 years, is the present troublesome so that you can proceed to do?
The great factor about spicy meals is you develop a familiarity with the issues which might be uncomfortable. And I’ve been there so many occasions that I do know that there’s mild on the finish of the tunnel. I feel that it’s been total a web constructive as a result of I take so a lot better care of myself outdoors of the present than I in any other case would. I do have a clear invoice of well being and go to the physician yearly and have them hook me as much as all the things and do each form of blood take a look at, as a result of I’ve this distinctive vocation, this distinctive lot in life, this distinctive path that I’m on. But in addition, there’s a lot of jobs the place folks have had lengthy careers although there’s a bodily toll to it. Ray Lewis performed 17 years within the NFL, and he was on the market enjoying linebacker each Sunday. How dangerous can a pair wings be?
