There was a time when appearing on Hot Ones felt like a novelty. Now, it’s practically a rite of passage.
Over the last decade, Sean Evans and the team behind the hit YouTube interview series have transformed a simple idea — celebrities eating increasingly spicy wings while answering increasingly personal questions — into one of the most influential talk-show formats in entertainment. Long before Hollywood fully embraced creator-led programming, Hot Ones proved that a YouTube series could land A-list guests and command audiences on the same scale as many traditional television shows.
Along the way, Hot Ones has become a must-stop destination on the modern press tour, and the show’s influence is now so widespread that YouTube is once again submitting it for Emmy consideration. Today, Evans is not only the face of Hot Ones but also part of the ownership group that acquired First We Feast from BuzzFeed in 2024, giving the team control over one of YouTube’s most successful franchises.
But behind the viral clips and ghost pepper-induced meltdowns is something more enduring: a creator-built show that has survived platform shifts, changing audience habits, and an increasingly crowded interview landscape.
Mashable spoke with Evans about how Hot Ones evolved from a scrappy internet experiment into a mainstream entertainment fixture, why consistency matters more than virality, what creators can learn from the show’s longevity, and the behind-the-scenes chaos required to make sure a new episode arrives every Thursday.
Credit: Zooey Liao/Mashable/First We Feast
There was a time when landing a major movie star on a YouTube show felt like a novelty. Now, creator-led interview shows are everywhere, and Hot Ones feels like a staple of the entertainment ecosystem. Was there a specific moment when you realized the relationship between Hollywood and internet shows had fundamentally changed?
Sean Evans: When I first started, there were so few interview shows on the internet and almost no celebrity interview shows on the internet. Now there are a ton. Even podcasts back then weren’t as guest-fueled as they are now, and now there are so many different kinds of celebrity talk shows and chat formats. That’s been incredible to see.
There used to be a time when people would do the late-night couch, and then it would be this big event that they’d done this internet show, Hot Ones. Now the whole ecosystem is basically internet shows like Hot Ones. That’s been kind of amazing to witness. As for paradigm-shifting moments, I look back on different tentpole episodes. Our first big episode was Key & Peele. Kevin Hart was a huge moment because that was a capital-A lister relatively early in the evolution of the show. Once we booked him, it shook a couple of other apples from the tree that maybe seemed unattainable.
The Charlize Theron episode was important because she was an A-list actress who was down to eat the wings of death. Then that opens up a whole new category of potential guests. Along the way, we’ve hit these different tentpole moments that have reshaped the show’s trajectory. But overall, it’s been kind of a snowball rolling down a hill, getting bigger and bigger. Or a wave getting bigger, and I’m just grabbing my surfboard and trying to hold on.
I know you said last year that Hot Ones deserves to be compared to traditional talk shows, and I totally agree. Do you feel like the industry has caught up to that idea, or are creator-led shows still fighting for legitimacy?
I kind of get it both ways. Ultimately, the crusade that I’m on isn’t really about Hot Ones. It’s that a kid today with broadcasting aspirations probably doesn’t dream about hosting The Tonight Show. Their dream is probably more like Kai Cenat or IShowSpeed, or building out their own YouTube channel, or ranking high on a podcast chart. The longer these shows deny that reality, the more absurd and arbitrary it becomes.
My goal has always been to make good episodes for our fans. When you think about the cultural penetration of a show like Hot Ones, the caliber of its guests, and the ratings — eyeballs to eyeballs — then yes, we are worthy of comparison and competition with these shows that have traditionally dominated these categories. But it’s hard for me to bellyache about anything. My life is so charming, and I get to do this incredible job. I’m not going to cry about not getting a statue. Everything has been better than anything I ever could have dreamed for myself.
If I die on a hill, it’s this: if you look at people who started as creators and are now directors turning million-dollar budgets into hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, the future is going to be new formats that are born on the internet. The next wave of great auteurs will start on the internet. These arbitrary lines in the sand are eventually going to blow away because they’re denying what audiences are actually watching.
The cool thing about Hot Ones is that you’ve spent more than a decade building an audience that comes back week after week. What’s the difference between creating a viral hit and creating something sustainable?
I think we have a format that’s very of-the-internet. But when I think about the ways I’ve been inspired, it’s mostly by the classics. I grew up obsessed with Letterman, Conan, Howard Stern, and Jimmy Kimmel. My creative partner Chris Schonberger remembers Channel 4 in Britain — Alexa Chung and those cheeky celebrity chat shows.
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We combined those influences into something that feels internet-native, even though it’s celebrities eating scorching hot chicken wings. I think it’s the combination of something novel and something familiar. We also straddle this unique position where we have one foot in the mainstream and one foot in the internet underground.
And then I think the watch experience is consistently good. Sure, there are duds, but there are more classics than duds. Hot Ones is like a diner burger. You have to eat that burger once a week, and you’ll come back the next week, and the week after that. We don’t tinker with the recipe every time burger sales dip. We don’t reinvent the menu because some food trend pops up. We’re pretty classic in our approach, and I think that’s given us longevity.
So consistency is the secret sauce?
Yeah. It’s the same people making the same thing the same way over and over again because people like the taste of the burger. We’re not going to outsmart ourselves.
Everybody knows the gimmick: the wings, the hot sauce. But there’s a reason people keep coming back. What’s something viewers underestimate about what goes into making a great Hot Ones episode?
Hot Ones is kind of like a duck swimming. Above the water, it’s graceful and frictionless. Underneath, the feet are going crazy. I basically live a lifestyle where I grab a carry-on, go to the airport, check into a hotel, do the shoot, go back to the airport, and then do it again in another city. Sometimes we have a season worked out, and a guest cancels 36 hours before we’re supposed to shoot. Now we have to find another booking, or there won’t be an episode on Thursday. Earlier this year, I literally flew to Italy to shoot with somebody, got there, found out they had to cancel, and then flew back home. No episode. Just flew to Italy for no reason.
The audience shouldn’t feel that anxiety. We want to make escapism television. We want you to enjoy a stress-free 24 minutes. But there is a lot of stress that goes into creating that stress-free experience.
Did you at least get to enjoy Italy?
I had a good pasta dinner. I was like, “I’m at least going to do that while I’m here.” Otherwise, it was a sad trip.
I know you’ve said you can basically film Hot Ones anywhere. What’s the most unconventional place you’ve ever turned into a Hot Ones set?
The Charlize Theron episode stands out. She was doing a junket at the Beverly Hills Hotel, so we rented a suite, took the bed out, and hung the black curtains from the ceiling. I remember walking in and seeing sandbags and lights all over the floor and sheets hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a second grader’s project. And I’m thinking, “We’re about to shoot with an Oscar winner in here.”
But that’s the Hot Ones experience. You pop it up, put the wings out, do the best you can with the time you have, handle the chaos, then pack it all up and do it again. It’s basically a circus roadshow.
Is it fair to say part of the show’s success comes from your willingness to go wherever the guest is?
When we can, absolutely. We’re halfway through a season right now and already trying to line up dates for the next one. We’re constantly trying to match guest availability with release schedules and make sure everything lines up. It’s like a Rubik’s Cube we’re always solving. I think that’s part of why we’ve punched above our weight class in terms of guests over the years. We want to make it the most comfortable, least comfortable interview show possible. We’ll do what we have to do to get the episode. We’ll hunt it down wherever it is. With the right opportunity, we’ll absolutely jump on a plane. I probably do the L.A. to New York flight 50 times a year.
Do you have favorite moments that stand out — not necessarily the biggest or most viral moments, but the ones that mean the most to you?
There are hundreds. I love the show. It’s my baby. If somebody is new to Hot Ones, I always recommend Conan O’Brien, Gordon Ramsay, and Paul Rudd. Those are kind of exalted in the lore of the show. I love the Viola Davis episode. I love the Trick Daddy episode. Charlize Theron was important to our evolution.
This year, for awards consideration, we submitted the Kate McKinnon episode, and that one means a lot to me too. There are just so many that I could talk about endlessly.
I have to ask about BTS. I’m a fan, and I know they roll deep with a lot of staff. What did it take behind the scenes to pull that episode off?
I always know we’re shooting with a big guest when there’s a security sweep beforehand. We’d never done an episode that big before. Seven guests are at the table, with only one member who speaks English. There were so many potential complications. But it went remarkably smoothly. I remember going into the green room, and they were super warm and excited to see me. They just had amazing vibes.
Even when there’s a language barrier, there’s a common understanding when you’re eating scorching hot wings together. Jimin was like, “Come on wing, let’s go wing!” and then I’m doing it too. You become bros through the experience. We had spent so much time thinking through every possible complication, and then it ended up being one of the smoothest shoots we’ve ever had.
Fans loved that episode.
They’re great fans, by the way. That’s another rewarding thing about doing something like that — capturing a group in that moment where they’re re-emerging and coming back out. They didn’t do a ton of press, so I’m very grateful that they and their team thought Hot Ones was something the fans would love.
What have you learned about making people comfortable enough to reveal something genuine on camera?
I’ve always been somebody who could sit at any lunch table in the cafeteria. I like hearing stories. I’m more interested in other people’s stories than my own. And I think being a Midwesterner helps. There’s a “don’t rock the boat, make everybody feel comfortable” instinct. On the show, we try to reflect respect back to the guest. We do a thoughtful, career-spanning interview. That helps build trust. And then you’re eating scorching hot wings. Your brain is flashing survival, survival, survival. You’re not thinking about the PR talking points you walked in with. All of those things accelerate chemistry and rapport.
Plus, people have a really long leash on Hot Ones. You can cough, curse, blow your nose into a napkin. Where else can you do that? That permission structure makes people more willing to let loose.
Fans are really invested in your friendship with Keke Palmer. She’s also a phenomenal host and interviewer. You’ve had her on Hot Ones, and you’ve been on her podcast. What do you appreciate about her as an interviewer?
One thing we share is that we’re both kind of throwbacks from another time. I talked about my influences earlier, and I think she’s very much the same way. When people see us together, there’s kind of this throwback late-night-show energy. But it’s brought into a new era in a way that younger audiences seem to understand and really enjoy.
