‘Hot Ones’ Star Sean Evans on Viral Success, Keke Palmer Chemistry and Adversarial DJ Khaled Episode

Hot Ones host Sean Evans gave up his usual spot at the interview table to take the spicy seat for one night only at a special FYC event at Hollywood’s Avalon on Tuesday.

Matt Belloni, a partner at Puck and host of The Ringer’s popular podcast The Town, assumed position to grill Evans about his life and career as they chowed down on a condensed menu of five chicken wings (rather than the typical 10). But in the end, it was Belloni who was sweating, hiccupping and gasping for air. “Holy shit,” Belloni exclaimed after eating a wing coated with Da Bomb hot sauce. “This is not enjoyable.”

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The crowd, filled with TV Academy voters, seemed to love it as they were treated to a more personal side of Evans. For nearly an hour, Belloni quizzed Evans about his viral success, favorite and least favorite celebrity interviews, how he really feels about talent publicists and what he puts in his to-go box at Whole Foods. Oh, and whether or not he would agree to host President Donald Trump on Hot Ones. “I want to do a debate,” Evans said. “I want the official presidential debate to be a Hot Ones.”

Asked to name his favorite episode across 28 seasons and more than 10 years, Evans said he could easily pick 25 to 30. “I always say if you’re new to the show, check out the Conan O’Brien episode or the Gordon Ramsay episode. Jennifer Lawrence is another one or Maya Rudolph. Paul Rudd is a classic. Charlize Theron,” he noted. “I always say to start with those. If you like those episodes, you’ll probably like the show. If you don’t like those episodes, stop there. There’s nothing for you.”

Fans have flocked to the show for the chance to see their favorite stars sweat, so Belloni asked Evans if any of them have been faking it for the cameras. Not the case, Evans said, adding that it’s typically the opposite. “Sometimes you can tell someone’s really, really holding it in. A funny memory that stand out in my mind was Pharrell [Williams], who was so stoic in the interview and then when we cut, he was almost like, ‘Are the cameras off?’ And he let it all out and became another person.”

Speaking of behind-the-scenes personalities, Belloni asked Evans about his relations with Hollywood publicists, some of which can be fraught in high-profile celebrity interview shows like his. “Honestly, now it has gotten to a point where publicists are so nice to us,” he said. “When we first started the show, publicists were always like public enemy number one on set. I kind of get where they’re coming from now, but as like a young, ambitious person who believed in this thing before anyone else did, early on, like publicists would be crowding the table. They’d have like a million questions. They’d want to look at the interview, ‘What kind of questions are you asking?’ That sort of a thing. But I think we were so small time that we could kind of get pushed around and what I’m really thankful for now is publicists now love having their clients on the show.”

Evans said that even when an episode doesn’t go well, he still finds it riveting to watch. “Early on, we shot an episode of DJ Khaled and he tapped out after the third win. We have a 10-wing gauntlet, that’s my format,” explained the host. “It’s like somebody immediately rejecting the format right out of the gate. I’m zigging, he’s zagging. We were kind of like intentionally talking past each other and missing each other, but it does have this like unique adversarial energy. I was younger and more naive, and didn’t have a full awareness about myself so it’s this almost combative episode that I actually think is like so compelling to watch.”

Beyond seeing Belloni sweat, the compelling moments at Tuesday’s event came when Evans revealed some personal trivia. The Chicago native is obsessed with architecture, baseball cards, city skylines and once lived in a house owned by Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippen. He kinda sorta believes in Bigfoot — “there’s a logical part of my brain that’s like, well, if there’s Bigfoot, somebody would have seen Bigfoot, but I love the idea of getting lost in the mission to try to find Bigfoot,” he said — and has a go-to order at the Whole Foods hot bar.

And his most recent celebrity DM came from stand-up star Tom Segura. “He said, ‘I wish you and I had a kiss like Keke.’” As in Keke Palmer, who Evans named as someone he’s had great chemistry with on the show — something that did not come as a shock to anyone who has been paying attention to their flirtatious encounters over the years. “Working with Keke Palmer is always like a one plus one equals three situation,” Evans said after name checking Conan O’Brien. “You know who I loved interviewing was Viola Davis. I really loved interviewing Viola Davis. Paul Rudd is another one who immediately understood what we were doing and got me.”

Belloni asked if he’s ever asked former President Barack Obama to guest on the show. “At some point I remember some strange conversation about Secret Service and the wings,” he revealed. “There was some logistical thing that we were like trying to work out, but I don’t know how deep into the game it got. I don’t know how close the booking ever came, but I do remember having some discussions about like how wing preparation would have to be different in the event of that.”

It would be a bucket list moment for sure, but Evans said he’s not lacking in that department as he gets to live those out on a near weekly basis. “I’ve gotten to do so many cool things through this cartoon existence that I have. A couple of weeks ago I went back to my alma mater, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to give the commencement speech, which was super exciting,” he said before revealing that he would love to one day host the Oscars or throw out a first pitch during the World Series. “I’m a big college football fan so that pregame show on ESPN to be like the celebrity guest picker is something that I’ve always wanted to do.”

Speaking of, Evans said he grew up loving late-night hosts like David Letterman and O’Brien but he has no desire to follow in their footsteps now as he loves his YouTube perch.

“Sometimes people ask me like, ‘Oh, what’s next for you? What’s the show after this?’ Or, ‘How are you going to duplicate the magic of Hot Ones?’ I always tell people, ‘My next show is going to be called just an interview show with Sean.’ We’re just going to do it the old fashioned way, sit and talk like we used to do. There is this [thinking] that we need celebrity plus high concept in order for anybody to pay attention but I don’t think that’s true. The interview’s the oldest construct in the history of media. If you can do it well, you’ll have a job in this town.”

Plus he loves his team too much to chase bluer skies elsewhere. “There’s no one in entertainment, there’s no one in Hollywood that I would trade places in. When I look around, there’s nothing that I’d rather have. I love being the king of this castle. The chair that I sit in has become the most comfortable La-Z-Boy ever. The people who I started off making this show with are the exact same people who are making the show with me now,” he said. “When I think about the show and how much I believe in it, how much I believe in the people that help me build this digital media empire and then when I think about now we have the keys to it and we’re driving the car and I think about all the places that we could take it to, there is no one that I trade places with now. There’s no one I’m jealous of.”