0:01
I like literally my puke.
Search this video
0:04
Which I think you should keep in.
0:15
Hey, what's going on everybody?
0:15
For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
0:17
It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
0:20
And today I'm joined by the patron saint of Hot Ones, Alexa Chung. Camera one, camera two.
0:26
You know her as one of the fashion world's power players from her books, TV shows, and self-named clothing line.
0:29
But how does she handle her scorching hot chicken wings? We'll find out today.
0:34
Alexa, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
0:37
Before we start, if you'll allow me to gush for a second. Sure.
0:41
Without Alexa Chung, there would be NO HOT ONES. WHAT? YES.
0:44
SO, our creator, our producer, Chris Schonberger over there, I know it's a big day for him.
0:48
He's wearing his nice shirt. Oh, that's great.
0:50
I'm wearing my casual smock dress from the 1800s.
0:56
He was a big fan of your offbeat Pop World interviews, and then even the name Hot Ones is kind of inspired by the Big Ones.
1:02
And then you've been a white whale of ours since we started the show.
1:04
It took us 2 years to get you in the seat.
1:09
And at the risk of just emptying a full clip into my foot before the interview even starts, have you ever heard of this thing?
1:15
I have via Bianca, who's my publicist.
1:19
If that sounds wanky, I apologize.
1:21
Sometimes you just got to have them.
1:22
Um, and she said there was this thing going on and it was really cool and funny and loosely based on this situation that I used to do on television in Britain.
1:33
Just as we did with your countrymen, Russell Brand and Ricky Gervais, we're doing vegan nuggets today. Yeah.
1:39
Alexa, you ready to get it going? I am. Let's do this. Hang on, wait.
1:59
Have you got your little napkin there?
2:02
I suppose we can't do that cuz of the mics. I'll put it here. Fine. Chill. Completely fine.
2:11
So, I want to start by taking it back to Channel 4 naturally with Pop World because that show, much like this show, seemed to be designed to knock them out of their celebrity media training. Yes.
2:22
You know, when that's the conceit, it can either go really good, you can either catch that track, or it can go flying off the rails. 100% yeah.
2:29
We played a game called Scraping the Barrel with Amy Winehouse, RIP, who is obviously a legendary icon and I absolutely loved her at the time and and love her still.
2:42
But, I suppose we were probably complicit in part of her downfall, which was to mock someone that's like on their ass essentially.
2:48
So, I really regret playing Scraping the Barrel.
2:49
We were like, "What will she do to do this?
2:52
We'll get her to scrape a barrel."
2:52
And she literally like had a pint of whiskey behind the thing and you know.
2:55
But, anyway, she was great. Sorry, I should say. She was really funny. the segment.
3:01
Really witty, like she was just on it.
3:01
A good one would be What was his name who sings and I would do anything? Meat Loaf. He was great.
3:08
I asked him for some money and he gave me some and then I actually kept it.
3:13
I was like, "Can you You're rich.
3:13
Can you lend me a tenner?" And he was like, "Yeah."
3:16
And then throughout the interview I just asked for another tenner.
3:19
And he just kept giving me money and then he forgot to get it back.
3:20
And then I was like, like flush at the pub later, like, "Meat Loaf gave me some cash." Um those were the days.
3:32
How far do people usually get?
3:35
I've seen someone crying before. Cara? No, it was Cara on it? Did she cry?
3:40
Uh yeah, she had a hard time, but she made it through. Oh, [ __ ] Okay, I'm in.
3:44
So, you lived a pretty transatlantic lifestyle since you moved to New York in 2009. Yeah.
3:49
And the Alexa Chung effect seems to be equally strong in London and New York, but not exactly the same.
3:53
So, as someone who has a foot in both worlds, what I want to do is settle some age-old debates.
3:59
So, I'll give you a category and you can tell me which city reigns supreme. Does that sound good? Yeah, perfect. Public transportation.
4:06
I mean, they're both bad, aren't they?
4:09
New York subway is great, but then it you know, you can wait on the platform for 12 minutes and they don't really tell you when one's coming along.
4:14
In England, at least you know where you stand.
4:16
It's like 1 minute away, 2 seconds away.
4:19
Going to places that have funny names such as Cockfosters.
4:23
Where is the better style? Oh, England. Sorry.
4:25
I think there's a room for irreverence and quirkiness in Britain or it's expected and celebrated when people are eccentric.
4:34
This is going back from like, you know, [ __ ] King George or something.
4:38
People like it when you're a bit weird.
4:40
Whereas in America, there's safety in uniformity.
4:44
It's still interesting over here, but it's maybe a bit slicker, whereas you get fewer looks for dressing like a freak when you're walking around in London. Food? America, hands down.
4:53
Or New York specifically.
4:55
In England, it's like shepherd's pie and like really old-timey things.
4:59
They're all the same foods.
4:59
It's just potato-based beige stuff on a plate.
5:04
Where are the Pret locations better? Oh, London. Now, listen.
5:06
Have you been to English Pret? Yes, I have.
5:11
English Pret's so much far superior to American Pret.
5:14
But what's up with the dine-in built-in price?
5:16
You know, like when I'm at Heathrow and I go to a Pret, they charge me more to eat in. to eat in.
5:21
It's a privilege, my friend.
5:21
Well, you want to stand outside walking along with it going down your chin or you want to sit at the table?
5:25
You're going to have to, you know, pay some more money for that.
5:28
But if I go to Pret downstairs and I want to eat in, they don't bake in a cost.
5:32
But maybe they're putting the cost somewhere else.
5:34
Maybe they're charging you for some extra mayonnaise or something.
5:40
So, this next one is the Secret Aardvark. It's out of Portland.
5:43
You can tell because their artwork's kind of better, like they've had a bit more weed.
5:46
Like, they're like, "You know what'd be cool?
5:50
He should have his nose like in the bottle." Yeah, man, that's cool.
5:55
That's Crystal, Louisiana, all uptight. We're old-timey. Okay. Fine.
6:04
So, as we've talked about already, you jumped the pond in 2009 to host MTV's It's On with Alexa Chung, which was I could see it coming when they said they were going to call it that.
6:13
I was like, "Don't call it that."
6:14
Because there's an obvious pun that's going to happen when this is inevitably canceled, which it subsequently was.
6:19
I got fired, and then it was it was off with Alexa Chung.
6:23
I was like, "Bye, friends and everyone I love, family, etc.
6:25
I'm going to America to make it."
6:27
And then I got here, had no friends, like literally not one friend.
6:33
They rebuilt this Brooklyn apartment to represent mine, which didn't look the same.
6:39
And they wanted me to talk about what I was doing every day, but I was like, "What I'm doing every day is receiving the script at 10:00 p. m.
6:43
, learning it in bed, getting up at 6:00, coming back here, and having a Nervine."
6:46
And the other thing was I refused to buy a television, which was a big bone of contention.
6:53
So, I never really knew who was on like There was There would I'd be interviewing like 16 and pregnant people, or like Bradley Cooper before Bradley Cooper was Bradley Cooper, you know, and I'd be like, "Who is this guy?"
7:04
And they were like, "He's on a thing called The Hangover."
7:05
And I'd be like, "Sounds terrible. Okay, Bradley."
7:09
Um, you know, so there was a lot of that.
7:11
Unsurprisingly, they decided to curtail the action. Scotch bonnet. Mhm.
7:22
Have you ever [ __ ] yourself just sitting here? So far. Mhm.
7:26
Oh, it goes right through me.
7:30
The other thing was on my MTV show, we used to have Bieber on as a recurring guest, cuz he wasn't like a big deal yet.
7:38
No, you had heavy hitters left and right.
7:40
Rihanna, Tyra Banks, Kim Kardashian, who are the current guesses right now?
7:43
really like Well, Bieber was on the verge of, you know, tilting into being We We used to call him hug boy cuz whenever I used to see him he used to give me a side hug.
7:51
And we'd be like, "Oh, it's a kid." That's crazy.
7:55
And then years later I was interviewing him on the Golden Globes red carpet.
7:58
I was doing that thing which went terribly.
8:00
Um and he was being too cool for me and I was like, "Excuse me, hug boy.
8:07
Are you being a little too cool for me?
8:08
We used to be buddies here."
8:08
And he was like, "Oh, sorry." Um Yeah, that was funny.
8:12
I don't know whether to tell that Does Is this edited or is it just run? Yeah, yeah.
8:15
It's This is going to cut into a nice little uh 22-minute episode.
8:19
Can I Can I tell the Golden Globes story to just really clear it up once and for all? Yeah, sure. I think you should.
8:25
So, I hosted the Golden Globes red carpet.
8:26
It was after my MTV show was no more and I was just like literally this.
8:33
And my agent was like, "We've got a job for you.
8:34
They want you to host the Golden Globes red carpet."
8:35
And a live red carpet situation is kind of anyone's worst nightmare.
8:39
They'll be like, "Okay, we've got Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie, go." And you're like, "Hi. Hi, sorry, Angelina."
8:44
And you just feel like a piece of [ __ ] Mhm.
8:47
They don't want to talk to you.
8:47
You're like You're literally like, "I'm a piece of shit." It's awful.
8:50
And then, you know, in live TV you often have to fill to make up the minutes.
8:54
I hear them panicking about what they're going to do and they decide, "All right, Carson, throw it to Alexa.
8:59
Alexa, we're going to run down with some idiot boards which are like the boards with words written on them like, 'Speak about the pink dress.'"
9:06
And you're like, "Uh the pink dress." So, I'm live. I'm talking. I see this flash card.
9:10
It says, "Speak about Olivia Wilde's dress."
9:11
I'm like, "Olivia Wilde, another person that really beautiful tonight.
9:15
There she was in a gorgeous gown, huge skirt, so large in fact you could probably smuggle three humans in under that thing." I said humans. They heard Cubans. Cut my feed.
9:29
They're like, "Over to Over to Carson."
9:31
I was like, "Wait, what?"
9:32
They're like literally de-miking me. No No really said bye.
9:35
It was like a super weird.
9:36
They let me do the salute goodbye to the floating camera.
9:38
And then everyone sort of like we just like back to turn.
9:41
I was like wait what have I said?
9:43
Cuz also I had arrived there in like a chauffeur driven car.
9:44
And on the way back my friend Tennessee picked me up in a Volvo.
9:48
Like literally she was like beep beep. Get in.
9:49
I was like I don't know what's happened. It's really weird.
9:52
I was like literally wearing like a weird [ __ ] Chanel gown. Like I don't feel well.
9:55
Um and in the paper the next day they were like who was that girl hosting that thing?
10:01
Firstly it was really weird.
10:03
Two, she said you could smuggle Cubans into the which I didn't say.
10:07
And basically got like blacklisted from any sort of live hosting gig. You made your own sauce? Yes, we did.
10:19
How much does it retail for? It retails for $12. Where? At Heat Nest.
10:23
I Thank you for the Thank you for the tie-in. I appreciate that.
10:27
I've subsequently made a career out of doing very subtle branding opportunities. All right.
10:32
So Alexa, we have a recurring segment on our show called Explain That Gram where we do a deep dive on our guest's Instagram, pull interesting pictures that need more context.
10:38
So what I'll do is I'll bust out the laptop, I'll show you the picture, and then you just tell me the bigger story. Does that sound good? Yeah.
10:46
I was told about this and then I was in the shower this morning and then I thought of a really obvious pun.
10:51
Um I've forgotten it now.
10:53
But I was like you need to call it that.
10:56
You had a better name for a segment. 100%. Sorry. What was it? All right. Laptop, please.
11:04
This is a very slick operation. Thank you. All right.
11:08
First things first, smooching Larry David. Larry David. Smooching Larry David.
11:13
I went to an Eagles gig in LA to see the Eagles.
11:19
Just I was just there for the refreshments.
11:20
And I was queuing up for the bathroom which is a very Curb situation to find Larry David.
11:24
My friend Remi and I were like let's ask Larry David for a photo.
11:28
I never um do this part from Nick Cave the other day.
11:31
And uh he was kind of grumpy about it, but then in the photo we started kissing him and then he was happy. Turning the tables. Yeah.
11:40
Yeah, so what's really weird about my life is I'm either really famous or not at all.
11:45
So if I go into Topshop for example, it's like [ __ ] Beatlemania.
11:50
But if I am just anywhere else, everyone's like, "Who?"
11:52
And there's always this embarrassing moment where a around 16-year-old girl might recognize me and be like, "Oh my god."
11:57
And then sometimes she can cry and be weird.
11:59
And the mom almost every time is like, "Who? Who is it? Who is it? Who are you? What do you do?"
12:07
And then I'm like, "It's really hard to explain." Right.
12:10
I don't like that either when people are like, "What do you I'm like, "What do you do?"
12:12
I'm like, "I don't know why she's crying.
12:14
It could be one of anything It could be that I once met Harry Styles.
12:17
I don't really know what she's freaking out about today." One more for you. Poppy and Cara sandwich.
12:27
So Glastonbury is this magical land in England.
12:29
When you find people in this field, which is when it's erected like one of the largest like towns in the UK, you're like gloriously happy to happen upon anyone that you recognize that's not like foaming at the mouth and like wearing like sort of tie-dye psychedelic.
12:46
Although Cara actually really is wearing a tie-dye psychedelic raincoat.
12:50
Her outsides are matching her insides in that moment.
12:52
I've known Poppy since I was a teenager.
12:53
We used to model together.
12:55
And Cara was always her little sister.
12:57
And then she's, you know, grown up to be Cara Delevigne. Hot ones legend. Who am I? What's her name? Huh?
13:09
Yeah, we're going for some dirty dicks.
13:12
The second time today, I think. Sorry.
13:20
I feel like someone did me a favor and didn't put as much on mine, maybe.
13:24
I wouldn't put it past Chris.
13:24
He's very He's beaming today.
13:27
So, in your future fashion web series for Vogue, you delve into some of the aspects of fashion that don't get talked about a lot.
13:33
As someone who's been in this soup since you were 16 years old, what's one thing that really is as bad in the fashion world as everyone says it is?
13:41
And then what's one thing creepy.
13:43
Photographer's being creepy.
13:46
It's always just a little bit of a weird transaction, maybe.
13:48
It can't not be cuz you're being observed and captured for a purely visual asset.
13:55
And then they're the ones doing it.
13:58
So, that power dynamic is always going to be weird cuz they are like, "You're beautiful."
14:01
It's just like the language they talk like, "Yeah, that's good. Yeah, like that. Yeah."
14:05
I mean, it just can't not be weird.
14:06
It's just a little bit weird. Uh-oh. Oh, yeah.
14:29
It just goes right in, right? Mhm.
14:33
That's mean cuz you like lull us into a false sense of security and boom.
14:38
But then what's the alternative, Alexa?
14:39
Would you rather us start cranking it up early? No. Not at all.
14:44
Oh my god, it's like [ __ ] crazy. Mhm. Mhm.
14:50
This is worrying cuz this is killing me and the next one's called {quote} {unquote} beyond insanity. Mhm. Yeah. Ugh.
14:57
So, you wrote a weekly column for The Independent in 2008 and 2009. believe that?
15:01
I used to write a [ __ ] weekly column on my life and host a daily talk show and design clothes for Made Well.
15:07
Then wrote a great Kate Upton profile that describes her and I quote epic breasts.
15:13
Has being on both sides of the coin as a subject and as a writer made you more empathetic to either side? Oh my god.
15:22
Um it like actually my tongue can't form words. Right, right. That's the show. That's the show.
15:29
Um I interviewed Emma Stone for doing name drop. No, it was my job.
15:35
Um it wasn't like we were hanging out, which is the story.
15:39
So, I interviewed her and we went to this Museum of Curiosity or something in Brooklyn where you can like dissect mice and learn about the Titanic, lots of different mysteries. And um And um Woo! Uh she's amazing.
16:00
And so, I thought we were like literally best buds.
16:03
By the end of the day I was like, "Ah, Miss Stone my best friend."
16:07
And then I saw her another time I was like, "Hi, hi." She was like, "Hi."
16:11
But like that thing where not even an Oscar-winning actress can like fake knowing me. I was like, "Fuck."
16:31
Ah, I got you RIGHT IN THE BACK. MHM. YEAH.
16:41
I'm just using that as like a bath my tongue. Yeah, yeah, smart.
16:49
So, I know that you're all about the music, but you obviously have a discerning eye when it comes to festival style.
16:54
You once described the crowd at Glastonbury as being a field full of experts in layering and practicality.
17:00
So, what we've done is we've pulled some crowd shots from some of the biggest music festivals.
17:04
I'll show you the picture and then I have a style question for each image. Does that sound good? Laptop, please. How you doing, Alexa?
17:18
My mouth's in a spice prison. It's so bad.
17:28
All right, first things first, this is from Gathering of the Juggalos.
17:29
So, if you're a designer seeking inspiration, what do you get out of this crew?
17:38
I've seen that documentary. Will it go away ever?
17:47
It has a half-life, Alexa. It has a half-life.
17:49
As bad as you're feeling now is the worst it's going to be.
17:56
I've seen this documentary.
17:56
They all dress like [ __ ] I'm getting nothing from this. Coachella.
18:00
Now, you're very generous when it comes to other people's style, but is it safe to say that Coachella is the music festival with the highest percentage of bricked outfits? Okay, listen. Mhm. It's so well Coachella. Um I don't know.
18:15
They made it two weekends.
18:15
The emphasis is on commercial gain over artistry.
18:21
It tipped and then it got more people.
18:28
I don't know what happened.
18:28
Everyone dresses like [ __ ] there.
18:31
This is from Burning Man.
18:33
What's your position on accessorizing with Victorian era antiques?
18:38
I had a seven-point argument actually during the Burning Man weekend when I was in LA.
18:41
Everyone was like, "You're going to Burning Man." And I boiled it down.
18:44
I've now forgotten the arguments cuz my tongue feels like it's literally disintegrating. Mhm. Do you think I'll die?
18:55
Like, what's the worst thing that can happen? You will not die. You will not die. What if I do?
19:01
I would feel horrible about that, and it would take You know, I don't think I could continue the show.
19:08
So, this one is Blair's Mega Death Sauce with Liquid Rage. I'm going to puke.
19:24
How about I just eat a little bit of it? Just the tip.
19:32
You once said that DJing for Lagerfeld is in fashion terms like being asked to entertain God.
19:36
So, when you get booked to play say a Fendi party at Fashion Week, what's the process like for preparing for the set?
19:46
So, I burnt all my CDs and I picked out a playlist and then I went on.
19:50
And then Kate Moss came over and was like, "Hi, I'm Kate Moss."
19:56
I was like, "Hi, nice to meet you."
19:58
And she said, um, "I've arranged for someone else to take over cuz you're really bad at DJing."
20:06
I was like, "Okay, fine, understood."
20:08
So, that particular party you speak of I lasted about 6 minutes. All right, Alexa.
20:14
You get to dispense your own one of that?
20:19
It's funny that you say that. This is the Last Dab.
20:22
We call it the Last Dab because it's tradition around here to put a little extra on the last wing.
20:26
You don't have to if you don't want to, Alexa.
20:31
But, I feel like I have to. How are you feeling?
20:36
Is it worse than you thought it would be? I so much worse.
20:41
You're kind of like semi-responsible for all this, you know?
20:46
I like literally my puke.
20:48
Which I think you should keep it. Okay.
20:56
Who's been the biggest [ __ ] DJ Khaled by miles and miles and miles. He tapped after three.
21:03
DJ Khaled tapped out at all of them?
21:05
So, every season we'll just shuffle in new hot sauces, but the third wing equivalent.
21:12
wild wild wild sauce Woah. There you go.
21:17
It was annoying me for ages.
21:17
I was like This cookie for the bacon and it was like All right. Cheers, Alexa. Cheers.
21:30
I'll do the smallest bit. Mhm. Mhm. All right, Alexa Chung.
21:43
Now that you've gone through 10 vegan nuggets, run the board, back against the ropes, but still resilient enough to stay in your seat and not projectile vomit, I have one more question for you.
21:56
And we're pulling a page out of the Alexa Chung playbook.
22:00
I want to take a wing to go down some completely made up fan questions, which in this case may or may not be recycled from some of your own celebrity interviews through the years. Does that sound good? Great. All right.
22:12
Up first, would you rather have a receding receding hairline or a proceeding hairline?
22:18
I couldn't get over that one when we wrote it.
22:22
Um proceeding cuz girl can have fringe.
22:30
If you discovered you could bring the dead back to life, who out of Jesus, Sid Vicious, and Ronald Reagan would you have a dry cappuccino with?
22:40
My friend Beavis wrote that.
22:42
I can't remember who it was too though.
22:43
You don't even have to answer it.
22:43
The beauty's in the question. But, Jesus. Winona Ryder Would you? Aw, they're really good.
22:58
That was from this thing.
22:58
There's a really funny radio show in England called Just a Minute, which is like super old-timey.
23:04
It's what moms listen to on Radio 2, I think.
23:05
I'm actually going to puke after this. And um it's a pun game.
23:13
And they had to It was something like, "Oh, I once got a horse." One one owner ride her. Don't worry about it.
23:20
That's where we got that from. I'm burping up a storm.
23:25
Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield.
23:27
Do you enjoy a good Dickens? Who was that too?
23:36
Uh I do love a good Dickens. Well, there you go. You heard it here first.
23:40
Clearing the board, getting on top of the wings. bing bing bing.
23:45
Now, Alexa Chung, there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you, my friend.
23:48
This camera, this camera, or this camera?
23:50
Let the people know what you have going on in your life. What?
23:54
This is This is the plug time.
23:54
So, that's the All right. Nothing much.
23:56
Just I want some a little bit of sleep. I have a fashion line. It's called my name. The clothes are sick. You should buy them. And yeah, THANKS. OH, HORRIBLE. HELLO WORLD.
24:17
Sean Evans coming at you to say thank you for watching.
24:19
If you like what you saw, please subscribe.
24:22
We're hovering around the 3,000th ranked YouTube channel in the world.
24:26
It has been a childhood dream of mine to be somewhere in the mid twos. We're so close.
24:31
Help make an adult bald man's dreams come true. Please. Please. Please. JK. JK. No pressure.
24:37
But if you do subscribe, I appreciate it.