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Donald Glover dies on Hot Ones, says please listen to the album. Like, you know.
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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 Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino.
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He's a five-time Grammy Award winning artist as well as an Emmy Award winning actor and director.
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Earlier this year, he re-released his album 3. 15.
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20 under the name Atavista.
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And on July 19th, he's dropping his final album under the Childish Gambino name.
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It's called Bando Stone and the New World, which will be accompanied by a short film and world tour.
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Donald Glover, welcome to the show. How's it going?
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I'm doing good if you're doing good.
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I'm I'm doing pretty good.
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I do this does feel shamanic. Mhm.
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Feels pretty intense already.
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Like I feel like I'm about to do ayahuasca.
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This is But yeah, I'm I'm I'm ready though. I'm ready.
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Definitely going to see myself.
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I think it's going to be a very reflective episode. Is this too hot? This is already too hot.
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I this is starting way hotter than I mean, I like hot stuff, but like I'm now I'm understanding the spectrum.
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Too hot for the beginning, but it's fine. It's fine.
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So earlier this year, you announced that you'd be releasing Atavista and added after that, there's the final Childish Gambino album, a soundtrack for the fans.
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How or why did you know that this would be the end?
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Um I mean, like uh a collaborator of mine, like a fam, and I, like we talked about like the death of Superman a lot.
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Like he always brought up the death of Superman.
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He was always kind of loved that.
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I always knew that Childish Gambino was like a character on some level I wanted it to end.
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I feel like the Childish Gambino character is almost like the uh like the boss from The Office.
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It's like, "Yeah, that worked 10 years ago."
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Like you know, like that worked that worked all that stuff worked.
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But now it's like a different thing.
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Like it's like, "Oh, it's a little sad, but it's also like, wow, like the cycle kind of continues, which is great, I think.
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All right, singing double.
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Oh, with the two chilies. Mhm.
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All right, let's see how this goes. Oh, I like that one. I like that one.
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And maybe even a little less hot than the first one.
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It's got more flavor, which is all I need.
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It's more of a vinegar Mhm. like kind of flavor. Right up your alley. I prefer. It's good. Mhm. I prefer that. All right, cool. All right, we're okay. We're back.
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Back on some We're back on some time. Yeah.
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I'm just Yeah, I'm at the beginning of the of the vision quest.
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I'm seeing like a coyote or like like kind of means so it's good.
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Your music video for Little Foot Big Foot is incredible.
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Can you draw back the curtain on what it's like to collaborate with someone like Shay on the choreography?
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It happens, you know, to be equal parts, you know, you, him, and the 1920s.
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Yeah, I feel like it's hard to make a music a video a dance music video that that is just dance.
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Like there's not like, you know, crazy stuff happens.
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It's just like these are just dancers who are really good at dancing.
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And I was just really impressed.
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And I was like, "I really want to do this like Cab Calloway vision."
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And he really dug in and molded it to what I naturally like to do. And like it was good.
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It was really hot in that room. I just remember that.
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It's in, you know, it was a hot one. Kimchi on kimchi.
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Y'all don't notice, but it's 9:00 a. m. It's 9:00 a. m. a. m.
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I'd like to announce and officially make it a part of the record, the earliest Hot Ones shoot in the history of the show.
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You know, I try to do something different every time, you know, for everything. This was definitely it.
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I was like, "Let me get this poop out, you know, by by lunch." Right.
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Have the rest of your day. of my day to do this. Yeah. That one was good.
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So, I think if there were ever a place to deconstruct the chicken wing, it's on this show, talking to you.
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What does the lemon pepper wing mean to you?
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And then, how would you best describe its cultural impact?
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I I I got to be honest, like I don't understand it.
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Like, I mean, like when we did Atlanta and we had the joke about the lemon pepper wet, you know, it was just like it's just it was literally just a silly joke.
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Like, if you like a really sloppy wet wing, you're going to want the hot wing.
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But, if you want a dry, crunchy wing, you're probably going to want the lemon pepper.
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So, like the idea of combining them was just a stupid, like silly idea of like my mind can't handle it.
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But, what was crazy was like we we did that at JR Crickets and then they made the lemon pepper wet. Right.
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Which I was like, is that even possible?
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It's like that metal that's like liquid in your hand, but when you put it down, it's like a cube, like a little bit.
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It's like I was I didn't know culturally that it would take on that kind of life or that people even cared that much.
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But, that was the whole Atlanta experience, to be honest.
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Like, to make that It was a really good lesson in not uh worrying about the destination and just enjoying the journey, really.
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It's like you're setting me up for these uh segues. Oh, yeah. I'm AI generated.
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I did a I did a lot of uh you know, Sean work before this.
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Are you ready to continue on this journey? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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All right, so this next one is the Los Calientes barbacoa.
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Okay, and you guys made this one, too.
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All right, all right, this is a hot one.
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Yeah, but if you don't like it, let us know, you know. No, I mean Wow.
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This one's kind of sweet. Wow, I like that one.
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This has just enough sweet for you to be like, okay, this is good.
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Okay, I'll It It was delicious. There you go. There we go.
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So, during your appearance on The Shop, you told the story about how you created the album Awaken My Love as a way to prove someone wrong when they said that you couldn't make a hit.
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And I'm curious how, if at all, does the spirit of being petty serve you creatively?
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It's almost like the dark art.
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It's like a dark dark art where it's like it's something you need or maybe experience when you're young.
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Cuz I don't need that as much anymore.
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Sometimes I do it, sometimes I'll read a review to get my like cuz it's I feel like you want to get to a point like by the time you're in your 70s or 80s, you know, God willing, you want to be like, oh, anger. This is fun. I remember that. Like a little bit.
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Cuz I'm like, yeah, like it's not It doesn't really serve you as as well as you want.
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That feeling never quite goes away.
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You want people who you think are cool to like it and all that kind of stuff.
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But at the end of the day, you really do have to sit back and be like, at a certain point be like, I know how to make music.
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I know how to make interesting choices and I have a flavor, and here's the flavor. Woah, come on.
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Maybe I should host this show.
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Like I I don't I think I think I'm pretty good at this. This is Fat Cat? All right.
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It's got like that sneaky spice. But it's very good. Mhm. I like that.
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And a step up over here, but nothing you can't handle.
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Yeah, it's a step up, but it's actually not as hot as I thought it was going to be. Mhm.
7:57
Was there anything that was considered a best practice in the writers' rooms of, say, The Daily Show or 30 Rock that you threw out the window once you were running your own writers' room with Atlanta?
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The one thing I didn't want to run on, even though I had a great time, I had a such a great time at 30 Rock and like, you know, writing for those shows and like it was like a great time.
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But one thing at 30 Rock that I didn't want as much of because I feel like it was it was kind of a a thing from SNL was like fear.
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Like, writers' rooms are scary place.
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People, you know, like I remember one time I came into the 30 Rock room and I had a new hat on.
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I just had a hat and they came in somebody one of the writers goes, "Hat."
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And it was just I couldn't wear the hat.
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Like, it was just two It was cuz they're just funny.
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Like, people funny people.
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I was like, "You're right.
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I was trying something new. I'm ashamed."
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Like, that kind of thing.
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So, I was like, "Yeah, I just didn't want any fear in my room because I was like, if we're trying to make a show for somebody else, we're fucked."
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So, everything I've ever made is just like something I would watch.
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But I you can't make it for somebody else.
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It starts to pick up here, right? Doesn't it?
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I can smell this one's hot. Mhm.
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You can you can smell it. Just from the smell. Damn, is this a pick up? This is a pick up. All right.
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I mean, cuz it's it This is like I don't want to wipe my eyes. Now I'm scared.
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You know, that kind of thing.
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That's And I'll be on it. You know what I mean?
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That's the biggest mistake guests make on the show. Really?
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But going back in, this is how Stevie Wonder went blind, right?
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He was like the hot ones in 19 58 touched his eyes.
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You know, we don't like to talk about that over here. Yeah.
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I mean, but he Still some pending litigation.
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of made him It kind of made him. I know.
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So, the standard comedic impulse is self-flagellation, while the prevailing rap posture is one of bragadocio.
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Are those things ever in conflict with you as someone who's explored both genres so heavily? That's a good question.
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I think that's probably been the hardest part of on some level as far as like people understanding, which is why I kind of chose the like, "Oh, character path."
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I don't want to be the king, and I also don't have to be the peon.
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Like, I'm the joker in the court. I get to do what I want.
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Like, I was like, "This is not rap attire by any means, you know, in that idea."
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But, I also feel like, "Yeah, there needs to be an alternative."
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You know, that was the kind of idea, I think, in general is being like, "Yeah, or you can do this, and it may not be your jam, but at least you know there's there's like an alternative." All right. Let's do it.
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Kind of a sweetness at first, yeah. Prickly in the back.
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And there was like a a red storm, like a Jupiter red storm on it, and I bit on it, and I was like, "That was stupid." It saw a storm cell. I saw, yeah.
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Right on the wing, and went like, "Ooh."
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Right on the wing, and I was like, "Oh, that must be good to eat." Respect.
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We're on the journey still.
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We're still on the journey.
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I want to I I yeah, I'm starting now the coyote's like, now he's just like, he's like, "Jump in the pit."
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And I'm like, he's like, "You must."
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Like, kind of for for your for your fathers. Your all your fathers. Follow the coyote.
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He'll bring us home, you know? It actually, yeah. This feels good. This is all good.
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Can you discern a difference between a Donald Glover and a Childish Gambino fan when you see them on the street?
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Like, is Is a noticeable polarity between, you know, a fan who's drawn to you for your acting versus one who's drawn to you for your music?
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Yeah, I feel like there usually it's weirdly it it started like regionally. Mhm.
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Like if I was in Canada, you were a Community fan.
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Like you were a Community fan. Like you're doing that.
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Come on, we got to do the shake thing.
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And then, you know, if I was at a college, you're a Childish Gambino fan.
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Why'd you stop rapping, man?
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You need to start rapping again.
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Like that was a lot of that.
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I feel like older skewed started listening to me like Awaken, My Love but also like Atlanta.
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People have a story of what stuff means.
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So I feel like sometimes just splitting it up and and allowing that to happen is better for it.
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But yeah, people now just all are like, "Oh, it's Donald." Which is good. All right. All right, let's do it. All right.
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Let's see where the uh coyote takes us this time. Mhm. Mhm. Damn. I don't like that.
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But enough to go in for another bite.
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Cuz I I got to I got to show them. it. Yeah.
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You got to really feel it. Damn. Uh no, no, no, no. No, I'm fine.
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It's that was really hot.
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Just when you think you're past it it just keeps growing inside of you. You know? Wow.
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Okay, yeah, now the coyote's like, "Yeah, how is it?"
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That's when you face your fear.
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Like I'm hiccuping right now.
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He's like on a He has one eye now.
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He's like got the Thanos glove on. And you know Woah. I am seeing things.
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I think I think they're actually seeing this coyote.
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This I am seeing this guy. This is wild.
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Uh wants me to make up with my cousin. I should talk to him. I'm sorry.
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I'm sorry I did that to you.
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I didn't mean to hurt you. We were six. Ah.
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I don't want to drink the milk cuz I don't want to be like a punk, but like damn, yeah.
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is inviting at a time like this. Yeah. All right.
13:46
What's your proudest achievement as a grower of fresh produce?
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I just saw just all I heard you say was fire fire fire.
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I just saw you literally just go so fire fire.
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You're on fire fire so fire fire.
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Like I literally felt like You've got avocados growing out there. Uh-huh.
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You've got a orange grove out there.
14:06
Avocados, that would be a lot of fat.
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That would be good for my mouth. Woo. Okay, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, yeah.
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Do you have a a proudest achievement as a a produce grower out there? Uh, mulberries. Mulberries?
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Yeah, um, we have mulberries and I'm very proud of them.
14:21
They're like delicious, but they're only good for like two or three weeks. Where am I? Like what is this? What am I doing? What's a tangelo?
14:33
Oh, a tangelo is like a it's almost like I love tangelos because they're kind of sour and they have like they don't they're not they're orange, but they're kind of a deeper orange like a almost a red orange. And they peel so easily.
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Like it's almost like the thing is hanging in between.
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So you just pop it and it's like it's just holding it.
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So they're really easy to peel.
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And they're like tangerines but a little more sour. They're my favorite. They're my favorite. Wow.
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You're eating it like you've never had it.
14:57
It's I told you it's a singular experience. Holy moly.
15:00
time I go through it, it's like the first time over and over again.
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also didn't touch the milk.
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I feel like you're trying to get me You should do what you really do. Man.
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I want to share the experience Okay.
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as Donald Glover experiences it. I man, you know. Woo.
15:17
Oh my gosh, I'm seeing like plateaus of like Arizona and [ __ ] This is awesome. All right.
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I just got over That's the last one.
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That's the experience of Hot Ones.
15:32
You know, the storm clears, the sun comes out, and then the dark clouds start to roll in again. I'm sorry.
15:44
This is like it's making me laugh. It's so painful. This [ __ ] is crazy. All right, let's do it.
15:50
This one's called Pepper Sauce.
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It has a dead person, a skull eating a chili.
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Just so you guys know, like most of the time when you see a picture like this, it means this man is in jail for life, and it's on it's tattooed on his head. But this is a hot sauce.
16:04
So I guess we're going to eat this.
16:08
It just invites the next bite. That's a bad sign.
16:13
The first it when it starts sweet. Bite.
16:19
And there's nothing fun about it. Come on. Come on.
16:23
But easier than the last one. Oh my gosh.
16:28
If I have another kid, it's going to come out on fire.
16:31
Jeez, that is It does feel like ayahuasca. Listen. It feels like ayahuasca.
16:38
I've been doing this long enough that every once in a while, and I'm catching it right now. Mhm. You get a high? I get a head high. Yeah.
16:44
A sort of weightlessness feeling. Yeah.
16:46
And it's euphoric, and I like it, and it doesn't happen every episode, but when it does, I kind of like to lean into it. No, I love it.
16:52
If I getting I'm definitely getting it too.
16:54
It feels like uh like a runner's high almost like a little bit where I'm just like but also like we're in this like weird nebulous space. Like it's all black.
17:01
Like I'm just kind of like where am I?
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Like oh my god, I'm alive.
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Like When you showed up today, you did walk in this in you were like oh yeah, this is Hot Ones.
17:10
Yeah, cuz it's it's it is iconic, cuz there's nothing else.
17:12
And you would think like the rest of the room is like got it, like nope.
17:16
This it kind of reminds me of the Eric Andre show.
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Everybody's acting a little scared already and then they bring their like oh and Donald Glover you come out no audience dead silence.
17:27
This show is kind of the same way cuz you have this long even nebulous hole.
17:31
And I can't see anything.
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Like all your friends are like there but they're not looking at you they're looking at the screen.
17:36
But it's like almost feels like feels like heaven or something where like the board is like he should he should go to hell like this isn't I can't believe what he did. Um No this is good. Wow.
17:49
That one actually not as bad as the other one.
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I told you you know it ends up doing a thing. Yeah not bad.
17:54
The bomb where as painful as it is it almost does you a favor for the rest of the episode. This is shamanic.
18:01
I'm definitely this is awesome.
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I actually like it being hotter with this thing on too. I'm like ooh yeah.
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Like I'm like in a comfortable spot where you know. So this is the last dab.
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We call it the last dab cuz it's tradition around here to put a little extra on the last one.
18:15
You don't have to if you don't want to.
18:16
No we doing this or we doing this? We doing this. All right.
18:23
Who started that tradition?
18:24
Machine Gun Kelly believe it or not.
18:27
Yeah we're like we got to do this again.
18:29
MGK Is this a good amount? How much do you like?
18:34
That's very healthy right there. Okay. Cheers. Cheers. What a run. To the coyote gods. To the coyote gods. OW! OW! OKAY.
18:48
I CAN TELL THIS ONE'S GOING TO BE HOT but It's going to be a little bit.
18:50
here's the here's the key to the last one.
18:53
By this point you know it's going to be okay.
18:57
That's what's that's what's crazy about it.
18:58
This whole thing has been a spiritual journey you know.
19:02
It does feel like it's like okay yeah and then you get to something where you're like I can't do this and then you get through it and you're like oh I can do [ __ ] anything.
19:07
I can drink this you know no I'm not going to do that.
19:11
Okay, that's kidding y'all. It's okay.
19:14
Donald Glover dies on Hot Ones says please listen to the album. You know.
19:19
And we'll close actually with an existential thought exercise.
19:21
You know, you're closing the book on this part of your creative journey, on this part of your artistic journey. Yeah.
19:30
And I'm curious how you think the music alter ego will walk into the sunset.
19:36
Does this moment give you any sort of clarity on, you know, who Childish Gambino is and what it all means?
19:44
The Childish Gambino story I think uh from the Wu-Tang Clan, like RZA told me like there's a He was like it's a story of a a a child turning into a boss or like he's like, you know, Childish Gambino kind of thing.
19:59
He's like this last sunset walk is really about like this is for the fans. This is for you.
20:06
If this isn't the best live show you've ever seen after after the first song, if you're like, yeah, this is I got to go, you can leave and I will give you your money back.
20:14
That's how much I care about all of this. That's not like a joke.
20:16
My lawyers will be like it's a joke, but it's not a joke.
20:20
You can actually I will I will set it up so you can go.
20:25
This was really actually good. Can I rate these? Yeah, actually go ahead. I'd love that.
20:31
This wasn't tasty, but it changed my life. Is that eight? That that's eight.
20:36
That's the really spicy one. That's the bomb.
20:37
So like the bomb the bomb is If you want to like it has an exalted place.
20:42
Yeah, if you want to do ayahuasca light, the bomb.
20:45
Um the most flavorful one I really like kimchi. Kimchi was really great.
20:48
The barbacoa black horse I did not realize that this one I was like sweet and then I was like this one is actually really really really good and the classic was great.
21:00
Look at you, Donald Glover, 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.
21:07
This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.
21:11
Uh I have an album coming out tomorrow when this comes out.
21:15
It'll probably be out like by the time you're watching this. Uh please go see that. Go see the show. Come see the live show. That'll be really fun.
21:22
I'm really excited about all of this.
21:24
But also I think I want to take this time to say Shane Gillis, I beat you fair and square.
21:30
I saw you and you ate this and you fell apart under pressure.
21:32
So, I just want to tell you like, "Yeah, I'm I'm coming for you when we do this again in 10 years." Yeah. That's good.
21:46
I started getting floods of memories of stuff of like other hot [ __ ] you know, like Community uh first season.
21:52
I like really looked up to Joel and Joel was like literally like only eating uh espressos and eggs. Like that was it.
22:02
Like literally cuz he wanted to get in shape.
22:04
He had to like a shirt off scene.
22:05
And literally he was like, "Oh, hot sauce."
22:06
He's like, "Hot sauce will help you."
22:07
Like it's the only flavor you can really have hot sauce.
22:10
So, I started putting hot sauce on everything and then we started getting into like a thing with each other.
22:12
And I realized like, "Oh, yeah, that must have like boosted my tolerance cuz I just remember just putting tons of hot sauce on like eggs."
22:20
It all led to this moment. It was all for that. Thank you, Joel McHale. That was [ __ ] awesome. No, that was good. That was great.
22:32
Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
22:34
This is Sean Evans with an announcement.
22:35
Truth or Dab the Game now has a brand new refresh edition. That's right.
22:38
If you already had the original Truth or Dab game, you can now get even more hotter questions with the refresh edition. The game is simple.
22:48
Answer deeply personal and potentially awkward questions or face the wrath of the Last Dab. That's right.
22:54
Both editions of the game feature a mini bottle of the Last Dab hot sauce.
22:58
Check out the description below to see where you can pick up Hot Ones Truth or Dab the Game or visit wildertoys. com.