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Oh what my god.
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Hey, what's going on everybody?
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For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
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It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
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And today we're joined by Bowen Yang.
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He's an Emmy Award nominated cast member of Saturday Night Live.
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You can keep up with him as host of Las Culturistas wherever you get your podcasts and you can catch him in one of the holiday season's most anticipated films Wicked, which is set to release in theaters on November 22nd.
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Bowen Yang, welcome to the show.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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What's going through your head as you prepare to take on the gauntlet?
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Are you a hot sauce person by nature?
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I don't know how I'm going to do on this.
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I love I'm so happy that Okay, no, I'll I'll I'll talk about it later, but I'm really happy with my lineup.
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Ooh, you like your lineup? I like my lineup a lot.
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There's there's there's there's there's some new new entries like yeah, new bombshells entering the villa. This is great. Great. Okay. Sublime. So good. So good.
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You know, I've heard you describe taking on this role as intimidating.
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Now that the hard part's over and you can just reflect, what stands out in your memory is your proudest day on set?
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Oh, that's a great question.
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Um I think this is this is a Hot Ones exclusive.
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I had a full-on panic attack during one of the scenes in Dancing Through Life because I learned the choreography in November and then they were like, "You're not going to shoot this until March and April, and we'll like refresh We'll refresh it for you." And I was like, "Great."
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Wires got crossed, and it was the end of a shoot day, and I was sitting in my trailer all day, but we had 40 minutes left to shoot, and then they bring me on to set, and they're like, "Okay, we're doing that choreo you learned back in November." I was like, "What? This is March."
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And I was I forgot all of it, but then we I I I did as much as I could, and everyone on set was so supportive and encouraging.
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And I could have had the response of being like, "Oh, no, this is unacceptable. We can't do this. We can't use this."
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But it ended up being this really wonderful moment of like, I don't know, being buttressed by all these people. It was really beautiful.
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Ever since you guys have put little dicks in, I've been so happy.
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I've been I've been so excited to try it.
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So, this is Yeah, this is This is This is a huge moment. Yeah, well Okay. Great.
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I hope it lives up to the hype. Mhm.
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Cuz it's the ghost pepper and the pear. Mhm. I love it. It's really good. This is so good. Right? Mhm.
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So, not to be too self-referential, but now seems like as good a time as any to talk to someone from inside the machine on how something like the Beyoncé Hot Ones sketch ends up on Saturday Night Live.
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Do you have any inside into how something like that gets pitched and then shaped for the live show?
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It felt like the perfect sort of comedy math where it's like, "Oh, this person who is so composed and so I don't know, like unflappable in her interviews, put her in the most flappable place flapping place." And um it was so fun.
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I hope I hope Mikey Day's impression of you is is acceptable. No, no.
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I mean, if you get parodied on Saturday Night Live, like that's just that's a win.
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But then also the other thing that I think is funny is that someone from Saturday Night Live has to go and like source a Sean Evans outfit. You know what I mean?
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Which I also think is funny. It is funny.
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Yeah, for any impression that we do on the show, the costume department and the hair department print out Hair is pretty easy. Hair is easy. Hair is easy.
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Hair is Hair is gorgeous, by the way.
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Um they will put up a picture of you on the mirror in the quick change booth so that like and it really is like a fun It's It's It's gorgeous to watch the departments come together and like work backwards from the look and they'll be like, "Okay, I guess we got to get like a a tech hoodie and and joggers or, you know, DeShawn Evans got a and so or like a a really nice flannel."
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Um and that's a really fun sort of puzzle solving that happens on the show all the time. I smell the smoke. I smell the onion. That's good. It's really good.
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And maybe not even as hot as uh the second one. I was going to say.
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Um but I mean I feel like you guys have really standardized and popularized I don't know, like people know what what Scoville units are now.
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And like they should just put that on the label.
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Instead of spice level three, like that doesn't mean anything. It's subjective, right? It's subjective.
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Heat-o-meter, it's like what? Huh?
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So, the podcast, Las Culturistas, that you host with your friend Matt Rogers, it was described by Vulture as a two-headed snark routine.
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If you found yourself at a friend's Thanksgiving and a well-meaning aunt asked you to describe your podcast, how would you explain it?
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Look, I feel like we don't conduct the same Sean Evans level research uh that that that that people deserve, but we We're We're just there to tell them how amazing they are, which probably doesn't make for a great interview.
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I think we're part of the problem.
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Well, you know, I'll say this, you guys have had guests that we've been chasing for years.
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What is your foundational advice, tips for interviewing someone like Mariah Carey?
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Oh my god, you think she would do this?
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Well, it's kind of like that Beyoncé sketch in It's that Beyoncé sketch.
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head, like that's what it is, you know?
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I find it amazing, by the way, that Maya Rudolph has only done this show in fictionalized settings.
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And in multiple different shows.
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And multiple different shows.
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Saturday Night Live and and Loot.
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But then, does that does that preclude her from coming on as herself since you guys have already sat across the table from each other anyway?
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Well, when I did Loot Yeah.
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I was like, "Hey, you know, here you are now doing fake Hot Ones for the third time.
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When Loot comes on, you should come on the show, you know, like that would be a nice full circle thing."
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And then she goes she said to me, I'll never forget this.
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She goes, "Sean, I'll sit down with you and talk about whatever.
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There is no way in the heck I'm ever eating those wings."
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That's what she said to me.
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You just did the the Maya Rudolph vowel separation. I love that.
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Los Calientes and I are very familiar. I like this a lot.
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You guys are great with your your um your PR boxes.
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You guys send great stuff out.
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I think I think you guys sent a bunch to SNL after the Maya Rudolph episode. that's what we do.
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If you if you put us on a TV show, expect a shipment of hot sauces right to you.
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I've studio execs tick no.
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I think this is this is what you do. That's so good. There we go. Hitting again. Mhm.
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So, Lorne Michaels has such massive mythology.
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Do you remember your first ever conversation with him?
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I do remember my first ever conversation with Lorne Michaels.
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I had screen tested in 2017.
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The final step in that process is that you have a one-on-one meeting with Lorne.
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And it was him and another producer, Eric Kenward.
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And the first thing out of my mouth was, "I'm Canadian, too. I I grew up in Montreal. I grew up in Quebec."
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And immediately it was A vibe killer? It was vibe killer.
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Like I didn't get the job because I had pandered to his Canadianness and it was it was a disaster and he was like, "Do you speak French?"
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And I was like, "I used to, um but yeah, I I yeah, I'm not anymore."
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And then he just the rest of that conversation was just him turning to the other producer and talking about how the French have great books.
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And Aidy Bryant was the one who told me, "You can be like friends with him now."
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Cuz I think Lauren at one point was la- was hanging out with Aidy and was like kind of chuckling about it and being like, "I think Bowen sees me as like a mountain to climb.
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And I don't I don't want him to think that anymore.
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And um that kind of gave me the encouragement I needed to just go up to her to to go up to him and be like, "Oh, we can we can like relate to each other on like a human-to-human level, which I never thought would happen with him." I taste the apple. Mhm. I taste the caraway. What's caraway? I have no idea. It's real good.
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know, but I taste it, too. Oh, good. Good.
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It really shines through on this one.
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The first kind of step up over here. But it's really good. There we go. It's very good.
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Yes, this is a step up, for sure. Mhm.
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And that's the trajectory that we're on here going forward, all right, Bowen?
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I just try to be transparent and honest. Thank you.
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As a chicken wing talk show host of the highest dignity. And and you are.
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I I do I do want you by the end of this to like draw out the line graph Mhm. if you can. I can. Is is that is that okay? Is that terrible? anything. Thank you, Sean.
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What stands out in your memory is the goofiest but most practical improv warm-up or exercise?
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You know, like thinking back on performing with Danger Box at NYU Oh my god.
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Spontaneous Combustion at Smoky Hill High School.
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Like is there something that like as silly as it felt doing it and it served you in your career as a performer? Oh, wow.
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I'm getting some I'm getting some condensation.
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Um I can't believe you said spontaneous combustion at Smoky Hill High School. Bless you.
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Um I think the ultimate improv warm-up for me was performing as a 14-year-old in suburban Denver to um a group of beer-drinking 30-year-olds downtown.
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Yeah, you were like in bars and We were in bars, and there was a there was a theater uh in Denver called the Bovine Metropolis, which I didn't understand for the longest time. Cow town.
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Um Bovine Metropolis Theater, and it was just all these 30-year-olds being like, "What the [ __ ] are these high schoolers doing here?"
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But it was great cuz we just got It was where we got our suck out, which meant like you just bomb.
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Not on purpose, but you bomb, and you wake up the next day feeling fine.
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And like if you can develop that tough shell as a teenager, then like ideally you're invincible as a 34-year-old man um on a TV show that like people pick apart, and it's fine. Scotch bonnet, a jerk. Another Canadian bottle.
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Represented heavily over here. Thank you. You're welcome.
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Now, this to me is kind of autumnal. You know? Very autumnal. Mhm. This is exquisite. It it lands like a leaf.
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This is incredibly autumnal.
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You know, I've heard you say about Saturday Night Live that there's a distinction between the show and what people say about the show. Yeah.
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How would you unpack that?
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The general sort of like arc of the show is that like, "Oh, it was better in this era this era this era."
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And that kind of travels along with each sort of age demographic in a way that I think is really beautiful because it just means that the sensibilities change in comedy.
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It means that because Lorne Michaels says "The audience is always right."
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It doesn't matter if he understands it or if like people internally understand if the audience is laughing, that's all that matters.
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Um, and if the audience in the room is laughing, that hopefully engenders something for the viewer at home, but um, I just want to tell people sometimes like, "Guys, it's sketch comedy.
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It doesn't have to be life-changing.
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It just has to like make you chuckle.
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This is an idea that someone stayed up till 4:00 a. m.
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to write like this will have the feel of something that was written during a gas leak. Like it will feel crazy.
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Um, so that's what I love about it.
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Ninja napalm, I love when cultures come together. Daggers, yeah.
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Not soft, not landing like a leaf. Not landing like a leaf. No.
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Um, an an- a Looney Tunes anvil. It's landing like that. Um, Napalm. Napalm.
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I mean, it's scorching, five stars.
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Again, maxed out the heat-o-meter, you know.
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Maxed out the heat-o-meter.
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It's hello darkness, my old friend. Mhm.
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Do you have an all-time favorite guest reaction to a sketch that you've pitched to them?
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Pitching Bowen Yang straight to Sydney Sweeney was really fun.
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I just remember it being like, "We're going to get an intimacy coordinator for this, and it's going to be completely up to your comfort."
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And then she was like, "That one I'm on Euphoria."
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Like I It's It's not going to be It's not going to be anything.
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handle the network standards and practices. Exactly. Exactly.
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So, that was really fun, and she was so game for it, and she was so wonderful. All right, Bowen.
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It is that time that you've been waiting for, maybe even dreading, right? Yeah.
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But we can't escape fate. We can't.
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This is the bomb beyond insanity.
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I don't need to warn you because you already know. I know. It's so bad.
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It's worse than I thought it would be. Oh my god.
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It's not going to stop here.
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I know Yes, I understand I understand that it travels. Yeah. And grows and I know.
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And that's like sad times. It's sad times.
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This is This is like a Tums sci-op.
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This is like This was invented by Tums.
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Yeah, this is a It's a machination of big antacid. You're right. It's big antacid.
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It's Yes, it's it's big Prilosec. Um I That's a vibe.
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I'll join you at the milk party. Yeah. Oh. Wow. Yeah, beyond insanity. They didn't lie. No.
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That's why you can't even really be mad at them.
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You know, it's kind of honest. Totally. You know?
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It's radically transparent. Mhm. Oh what my god. I look Do I look okay? You look great.
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It's a Wing 8 It's the best you've looked this entire time. I don't know.
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Like here I am on your chicken show looking like Annie. I I just I don't know.
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It's just so undignified, but it's worth it.
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This is what I I knew this was coming.
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So, I think it's incredible that you know, you've taken this bit from your show, the Culture Awards, and then you've turned it into a full-blown annual ceremony. Yes.
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Now that we're close to the end of the year, I was hoping maybe we could do kind of a quick 2024 retrospective. Sure.
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Oh my god, that's so You know, while we kind of flame out on the bomb over here. Yes, yes.
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All right, from the Costco guys to is somebody going to match my freak?
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Do you have a meme of the year?
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Moo Dang's up there and I will say Was Was Jennifer Lawrence "What do you mean? What do you mean?" this year? Ooh.
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Was it in the calendar year?
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That's a good question, Chris. It was in the fall.
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It was But but it would be close. It could be close.
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I mean, that's that's Honored that you'd put it up in the pantheon. Absolutely. What do you mean? What do you mean? you mean? What do you mean?
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I mean, there's so many use cases for it. Lovely.
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I feel like it's been a banner year for pop music.
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Do you have a Mount Rushmore of albums in 2024? Oh, that's so hard.
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Okay, I'm going to lay out my my like cold selection.
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Um Cowboy Carter Eternal Sunshine Hit Me Hard and Soft Um Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess will say is this year, much like the Jennifer Lawrence meme. We'll we'll Yeah.
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The the Grandfathered in.
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Grandfathered in the eligibility period.
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Um and um Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter I love.
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I just wish she did anything with it.
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I wish she did one TV performance or put out one visual. That's all.
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on Hot Ones or something. Came on Hot Ones. Came on Hot Ones.
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Although Short n' Sweet and Eternal Sunshine are both like fulfilling the same thing for me where it's like no skips and it's just so sonically streamlined.
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Well, there goes my friendship with Ariana Grande.
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Like I No, she Ariana Grande No, she gets a spot.
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She gets a spot, of course.
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No, I'm going to swap her out with OH MY GOD, NO.
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She um I'm going to say she edges out Sabrina. I'm so sorry, Sabrina. I got to go with Ari. I got to go with Ari.
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That was cuz I cuz cuz you know what?
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That's the only album that I've gotten to But Owen, thank you for giving this question the thought that it really deserves, by the way.
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This You're not Are you going to be able to cut any of this together?
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I I we just let this cook. Oh my god, let it cook. It's so long-winded.
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I'm so sorry, but what you asked me a very important question.
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Arbol, I've also stared down and been like, "Ooh, I don't know."
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This one's a little deceptive. Mhm.
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Cuz it also has like Yeah, and you know, it's not like the last one that's just like immediately like this. Right.
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This one has sort of like Um almost like a dry rub. A dry rub. Kind of hit to it. Yeah.
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And it kind of hits a little bit later, but once you have the balm, I feel like it kind of makes everything a little bit easier.
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Not that this is a walk in the park, you know. Of course. Of course.
17:58
As a renowned arbiter of pop culture, what's your elevator pitch to those who've not seen or not binged the 430 episodes of Grey's Anatomy? Oh my gosh.
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Um my elevator pitch is imagine the unluckiest people in the world all in one place.
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Like the the last thing I think the the way Grey's Anatomy ends is an asteroid hits the hospital.
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Like everything has happened there.
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Like a lion was loose at one point.
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Like there there's just every bad every misfortune has has befallen those poor doctors who are just trying to do their jobs.
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Um that's my elevator pitch.
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The theater of the absurd of Grey's Anatomy.
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If you reject a hospital drama on its face, right, you should know at some point there's going to be a lion running through the hospital. Absolutely. Well, I'm sold. Okay, are we at the end? What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? Wow. What do you mean?
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What do you What do you mean? I will.
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I got to open this properly. Here we go. This has been stellar.
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Oh, I love hearing that, especially at the end, you know? Oh, yeah.
19:20
I feel like Sandra Bullock at the end of Gravity.
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Like I'm I'm I've I've My feet are firmly planted on land.
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I mean, I have yet to eat this sauce. Yeah, that's true. I was going to say that.
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Okay, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. I know. But cheers, both. Cheers. Wow. Mhm.
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There's such a There's all of this is like a Joseph Campbell hero's journey. I really like it. I really enjoyed this.
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The mechanics, too, you know, you you land the story here Yeah.
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in the third act, and here you are bone taken on the wings of death.
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Some of them have come after you, but I want to give you a chance to exact some revenge, you know?
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You're a great white shark in the snark tank.
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So, what I want to do here is just point to a sauce. Okay.
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And then you can give me your unfiltered take, the experience as you remember it taking on these sauces, and we'll start with the bomb.
20:19
Um The Bomb, I mean, I really hope I never see that bottle again.
20:25
What a terrible terrible abomination of chemistry and um of God, what is it called? Organoleptic.
20:38
Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Organoleptic nonsense. Yeah.
20:41
exactly where my mind was going. Exactly.
20:43
Um what about Ninja Napalm?
20:44
Ninja Napalm, um really really fun.
20:44
I really hope um there is a theme park ride inspired by it soon.
20:53
Um I really quite enjoyed that. How about Apple Caraway?
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Apple Caraway, I would say romantic.
21:01
Ariana Grande described one of her hot sauces as romantic, and would I'd say I would apply that same um, qualifier.
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And the last dab, the one that you just ate.
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Last dab is a nice sort of um, final jump scare in a horror movie.
21:16
Bowen Yang taking on the wings of death, living to tell the tale, and now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you.
21:22
This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.
21:26
Okay, um, Wicked comes out November 22nd.
21:31
Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays. You watch it on Sunday. And um, what else? Gentry Chao vs.
21:38
The Underworld on Netflix, December 5th.
21:41
And Last Culture Released is every Wednesday on iHeartRadio. Wow. WE DID IT. THIS IS SO COOL. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
21:56
I think the line graph is like Yeah, yeah. boom, you know.
21:59
So you come in at a baseline. Mhm.
22:02
Number two, I think can kind of scare you. Like, uh-oh. Sure. This is only the second. Yep.
22:06
But then on three, you're lulled back into a false sense of security cuz you're like, yeah, all right.
22:11
And I think it stays that way. Apple can wait.
22:13
We start to kick back up again.
22:15
We change the trajectory.
22:15
Scotch bonnet and jerk, another step up, but just a step.
22:20
Ninja Napalm, another Ninja Napalm, I think is two or three steps.
22:24
And then the bomb knocks us completely off of the axis. Completely.
22:28
And then it's the day new ma, then it's It doesn't just go like this. No. It lands a little bit. Beautifully constructed. Well done. So good. So good. Oh my god.
22:44
Hot Ones fans, Sean Evans checking in to remind you, new season means new sauces.
22:49
And if you'd like to live the experience of season 25, you can do it right now with the Hot Ones What do we call this?
22:59
with the brand new Hot Ones season 25 10-pack. Heatonist. com Heatonist. com That's heatonist.
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com to get your hands on the season 25 Hot Ones hot sauce gauntlet.
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Get them while they're hot.
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And be careful around the eyes.