special reunion episode with Keke Palmer<\/a>, her third appearance on the show and someone Evans calls \u201cone of my favorite people in the world to interview.\u201d\n <\/p>\n\n But when guests are less familiar to Evans, he has a tried-and-true method that begins with immersing himself in the work and world of his interview subject, sometimes up to a week ahead of the next episode.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI really like to marinate in the art of someone\u2019s work,\u201d he said. \u201cSo for interviewing a singer, their discography will be the soundtrack of my life for that week. Or if they\u2019re an actor, I\u2019ll close out my night with a double feature every time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Evans, 39, seems to like being involved in the show on a granular level. He prides himself on arriving two hours before each shoot \u201cto just get good vibes going.\u201d You could maybe even call it part of his own secret sauce.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI never feel too entitled, you know? I don\u2019t think I\u2019m, like, so handsome that they have to put me on TV, or so charismatic that my personality can cash the checks. I do think, on some level, I have to get in the mud and do the work, and it\u2019ll probably be that way to the end,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not getting any younger over here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Much like his habitual prep before a show, Evans leans into a specific regimen on shoot days as well, relishing the \u201cadrenaline rush of a deadline,\u201d either finalizing his interview questions the night before or that morning.\n <\/p>\n
\n He also <\/strong>painstakingly goes over his \u201crun of show\u201d \u2013 i.e., his order of intended questions \u2013 repeatedly.\n <\/p>\n\n \u201cBecause you always have to be thinking about, \u2018Is this line of questioning going to work? Like, what if it\u2019s bricking out of the gate? Do I have some sort of plan B?\u2019\u201d he reasoned. \u201cI want to be an active listener this entire time, so I can\u2019t be so obsessed with, like, \u2018What is my next question again?\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n As seen on the spicy show time and again, not everything always goes to plan. Like when Bill Murray took Evans and the \u201cHot Ones\u201d team on a bit of a ride at the end of their episode shoot after conquering his wing lineup with impressive stoicism.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAfterwards, there\u2019s always some sort of postmortem with the guests. Sometimes we include a little scene of that as like a bonus scene on the episodes,\u201d Evans explained. \u201cAnd so sometimes you\u2019re sitting there chatting. Sometimes it\u2019s quick, sometimes it\u2019s Bill Murray, who\u2019s gonna sit there and have three bowls of ice cream and talk about college basketball for like an hour.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Ice cream as a hot wings chaser, Bill?! No thank you!\n <\/p>\n
\n What can\u2019t be denied is that after ten years, countless guests and the same spicy wings, \u201cHot Ones\u201d still knows how to cook up entertainment. That, to Evans, is perhaps, the most surprising thing to swallow.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMost interviews \u2013 like 90% of them \u2013 should fail when you really think about it,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of that artifice to get something real, to get a real natural reaction to something, a real human experience, rather than two actors doing a performance \u2013 that, I think, is the hardest thing. To get an actual, real human moment, which maybe sounds bizarre, but I think that\u2019s the truth.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n