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I feel like I'm going to die.
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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 superwoman Lilly Singh. Hey, hey, hey.
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She's a YouTube juggernaut with more than 14 million subscribers, a writer, producer, actress, and New York Times best-selling author.
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But how does she handle her hot wings? We'll find out today.
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Lilly, welcome to the show.
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Thanks so much for thinking I'm cool enough to be here. And you know what?
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I've heard you say that you're a pansy when it comes to spices. Absolutely, the worst. over time or no? Absolutely not.
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If anything, it's gotten worse.
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I'm the worst Indian person on the planet cuz I can't take spices.
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Well, we've got the vegan wings lined up.
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Are you ready to get weird, Lilly? I am. Let's do it. It's already hot. These are amazing.
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Per Natalie Portman's request, we get them from Bulan now.
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Who I just met actually for a couple days ago. Really? Mhm.
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It was at Zaytuna and she did this really cool talk about just women's rights and feminism, but she The cool thing she did is she involved men in the conversation so well.
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And I was like, "The way you did that is so great cuz when I do that, like a lot of guys are just like, 'Shut up.'"
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But she did it with such grace. It was great.
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Did the same with veganism on our show, you know?
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If you can somehow nuance it and be kind of persuasive.
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way is to involve people in conversation. She does that so well. Exactly.
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So, as we touched on in your intro, you've been one of the biggest stars on the internet for the better part of a decade, racking up billions of views, tens of millions of subscribers, and hitting a couple of Forbes lists along the way.
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What role did uh Hot Ones alum and friend of the brand Harley Morenstein play in helping you level up?
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god, that's a great question.
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So, when I was starting YouTube, I was a complete loner and loser and nerd and I knew nothing about it.
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You know, I was living in Toronto and everyone else was in LA and in the industry and in in the heart of it all.
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I slid into his DMs and like, "Hey Harley, you know, I would love if you could educate me a little bit on the YouTube game."
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It wasn't even creepy or weird.
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He wasn't even trying to go there.
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He just sat down with me and just educated me on everything related to the game and his conversation is actually what prompted me to take YouTube seriously and make it a career.
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So, I owe a lot of my success to Harley. Shout out to Harley. And beard goals. Yeah, for sure.
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on mine, but it's still like not there completely.
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Well, if you need some tips on in, you'll see like a little don't.
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But you'll see like a little bit, but I'm working on it still, you know?
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And then in the entertainment industry across the board, but particularly in YouTube, there's this spotlight on mental health because there's this pressure to deliver so consistently and then you're met with all this immediate feedback.
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Do you feel the same pressure with every upload to please your audience or does that ease over time? Absolutely.
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I know the answer people want to hear is like, "You get thick skin."
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And yeah, you get thick skin when it comes to hate comments and stuff, but every upload is kind of like, "People don't like this one. It stresses me out.
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Won't get as much views as the last one."
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And it's weird because you're self-aware that it's not healthy.
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Like you know that measuring your success by views is not healthy.
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So, some of the lessons I've had to teach myself is views don't define me.
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Subscribers don't define me.
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And just say that over and over in the mirror.
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But then I'll hit 15 million and I'll be like, "Just hit 15 million subscribers."
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So, it's like you're self-aware, but you still make bad choices.
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I'm going to front for as long as I can.
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I can see the strength in your eyes. It's good, though. It's good.
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So, your list of collaborations is impressive to say the least.
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Talking first world problems with Bill Gates, having a dinner date in Hawaii with The Rock, and then playing iPhone games with Michelle Obama.
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And here in Hot Ones, we know firsthand how hard it is to target a high-profile celebrity and then get them to agree Right. the wings of death here.
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When you think about all the times you had to go above and beyond and hustle for a guest, is there a story that stands out? Yes.
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Um Hawaii was super the one you mentioned with Dwayne was super challenging because I went there and they were in the process of promoting Jumanji.
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So they were really busy and they had way more important things to do.
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And every 2 seconds I was like, "Just wanted to run this script by you."
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Uh ultimately Kevin Hart was not able to do the collab anymore.
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This was 5 minutes before we were supposed to shoot.
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So my day-to-day manager, Kyle, had to step in and act alongside Dwayne 5 minutes before we shot the video.
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Oh, so in that video when there's Dwayne's friend, it's actually Michelle and we gave the script to 30 seconds before and he was sweating and dying to act alongside Dwayne, but he killed it.
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What are the mechanics behind shooting with Michelle Obama?
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I imagine with the Secret Service, the time constraints, there's some moving parts. Right.
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It's so funny shooting with Michelle.
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Such a huge honor, but obviously there's a lot of protocol to follow.
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You know, I met her first in the White House.
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So I walk in and someone came up to me and they go, "Okay, so you know, she's going to come out and she's going to meet you right here."
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And then they put a marker on the ground of where she was going to meet me.
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And I said, "You're going to take a selfie with this hand."
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And I'm like, "Oh my god. Okay, with this hand?
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What if I go with this hand?"
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And they're like, "We prefer this hand because of just the way her hair is going to be." And I'm like, "Okay."
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She comes out, she doesn't hit the mark, she goes on the other side of me.
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I'm like, "So I literally look at the girl and I'm like, "Do I use my other hand?" I'm like stressed.
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So I take a picture with the other hand and I'm so scared they're going to kick me out of the White House.
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But it's completely fine.
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But yeah, there was a lot of mechanics involved. Yeah.
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We're nothing if not cheers. Okay, cool. Which one is this?
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Butterfly Bakery Smoked Onions. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. We're fine. We're good.
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Oh my god, are you kidding me? Shh.
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So, I understand that as a kid you'd walk around with a World Wrestling Championship belt.
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And I've heard you You still do it? It's in the green room. Okay.
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We got it locked up for you.
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And I've heard you compare the WWE to Bollywood.
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Can you unpackage that comparison a little bit for us?
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The thing I love the most about the WWE is they've taken this really intense sport and they've added such wonderful dramatics to it.
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And so, when you watch WWE, there's wrestling, but the majority of it is like trash talk. Right.
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Trash talk and like all this drama and all this beef happening.
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And that's how Bollywood is.
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Bollywood is all about dramatics and all about theatrics.
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And I'm really drawn to things like that cuz I'm so interested in how they can hook an audience's attention.
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I've been to so many wrestling events, and on either side of me there's these huge grown dudes that are like crying at the results of a match that they know is is orchestrated, but they're still crying about it.
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And I think that's magic, truly. Mango. Okay, cool. This is in my DNA.
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I should be okay with this.
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I'm going to unbutton this for a second.
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Getting a little hot in here. No, you know what it is? It's fine. Yeah.
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Honestly, I'm just kidding to make you feel better. All right.
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So, besides your obvious charm and charisma, you've built this YouTube legacy through your master of the art of relatability.
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I've heard you say that you will pore over analytics, read comments, and then you have this microprocessor in your brain where you can do some quick math and decide whether or not something is relatable enough.
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I wonder does that get harder as you get older?
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Do you end up like Jay-Z on Kingdom Come just rapping about things no one can relate to? You know what?
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No one has ever asked me that question and I need to give you a props right now because that's such a good question because that is absolutely what happens.
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I really pride myself on my ability to be relatable.
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Now, things that happen in my everyday life, annoying people at the movies, things something I argued with with my parents, things that anyone watching could be like, "Yeah, I know what that feels like."
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and then they share it with their friends.
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But as my life gets crazy and I make videos about oh, I hung out with Dwayne.
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I hung out with The Rock.
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Oh, I someone thought I was cool enough to to give me a private jet for the day.
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I understand that the average person can't watch that and be like, "Same."
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Let me put some of my modern life pet peeves to you. Yeah. Do it to me.
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you just give me the math as you run it through the microprocessor if it's relatable enough to warrant a video, okay? go.
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Feeling anxiety at one of those iPad checkout things cuz the tip options are just 20%, 30%, and 40%. Absolutely. Absolutely.
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Because I'm a cheap person and so I'm like, "What if I want to give you like 13%?" You know what I mean?
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What if you don't want the full 15 or 20?
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Absolutely relatable, yep.
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Super slow airplane Wi-Fi.
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Uh you see, you you had me at airplane but the airplane Wi-Fi might not be as relatable. Right.
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Just because when I lived in Canada, a lot of my flights didn't have Wi-Fi.
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And then when I moved to America, all my American friends were like, "This 20-hour flight doesn't have Wi-Fi? This is so stupid." That tutors.
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Regretting buying a hoodie for $200 cuz I saw Jonah Hill wearing it on Instagram.
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I'm going to say that's just you.
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This is the halfway mark, right?
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So, we're going to go halfway further than this point right now that we're at. This okay?
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Don't psych yourself out, though. No, no. Not at all. Okay, we're good.
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No, no, no, we're chilling. You're good. Yeah. You'll be okay.
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All right, Lilly we have a crane segment on our show called explain that gram where we do a deep dive on our guest Instagram pull interesting pictures that need more context. Okay.
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So I bust out the laptop, I'll show you the picture, you tell me the bigger story and your Instagram Sure.
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is really an embarrassment of riches.
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You know why this is bad for a foodie?
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Because I still want to keep eating it.
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Like I still want to eat it cuz it's delicious, but it hurts so bad.
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Okay, I'm not going to have any more.
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All right, first things first.
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Here you are with James Franco and Seth Rogen.
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Why You really went into the vault here.
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Why is kissing Seth Rogen such a unique experience?
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Okay, so this It's all mental.
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This This is one of the first major collabs I've ever done in my career.
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This was years ago before I even lived in LA and I had this idea to dress up as my mom and kiss Seth Rogen. So So here's the thing. I don't smoke. Seth Rogen does. I've heard. Lots. He does it lots.
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And so I think I psyched myself into believing that I got second hand high from kissing him. Caught a contact high. I think so.
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So I had to kiss him like two to three times and then I believed that I was high for the rest of the shoot.
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And so like everything was just super weird.
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Like his laugh was really weird and loud to me and so it was a very interesting experience because I think I got second hand high.
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My boogers are on this now. That's okay.
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It's your napkin to take. Thank you.
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All right, here we are at the [ __ ] Walk with Amber Rose and of note 21 Savage in the background.
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Yeah, everyone made fun of this because literally I was hosting a [ __ ] Walk that year. I love her.
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I think she's so just so full of personality and character.
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And so I took this picture with her and I didn't even notice that he was in the background.
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But if you just zoom in on his face, he's so unimpressed with me.
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He's just like why are with my girl? Like why are you here?
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Why are you touching her?
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And so like I love this picture.
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I'm thinking about blowing it up poster size. All right.
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That concludes explain that gram. We can lose the laptop.
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Is this a wrap on this or are we still You can tap out whenever. Never. I will never tap out. Okay.
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next one is the Clark and Hopkins assign. Which one is this one? Mhm. This one? Mhm.
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Oh, you see when there's foreign text on it, that's when you really know. All right, here we go. Yes. Really big bite. Why I do that?
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See now we're starting to get into like legitimate like Yeah. This is like you know.
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So earlier this year you did a video about fan accounts spotlighting various stands.
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So I need you to say all that again.
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I feel like my ears are getting It happens on Hot Ones every once in a while. I got you.
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So earlier this year you did a video about the different kinds of celebrity stands.
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We've dubbed our fans the spice lords to mixed reviews.
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Do you give that a thumbs up or do you think we need to go back to the drawing board there?
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I'm going to give it a solid B. Okay. A B. It's it's good though. Right right.
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That's that's where our show differs. That's not that unique.
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Spice lords is a hundred times more unique.
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So I think yours is better than mine.
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But but just so I know where is the closest washroom?
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Uh it's out through the back.
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Did you hang out in the green room?
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There's one in the green room. Is it soundproof? Fire water. Fire water. Okay.
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Why do I feel like this That's how it happens. That's how it happens.
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There's drool coming out OF MY MOUTH. OH, NO. YEAH. MHM.
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I'm just I was going to say why do I feel like it doesn't taste hot, but then but then it got hot.
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I've seen so many guests just skipping through the woods and then step right into a bear trap just like that. Never gets old. Never gets old.
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So, recently we had Chrissy Teigen on the show and she delivered a controversial take on why Nutella's trash and basically just an excuse for people to eat chocolate in the morning.
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Do you care to respond to that? Nutella's amazing.
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I wish I had a spoon of Nutella right now.
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Oh my god, it's really hot.
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I saw that episode actually. You did? Chrissy Teigen.
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Completely aware that Nutella's It's like just sugar. It's just sugar. But it's really good.
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I'm going to put my tongue in it.
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For the uninitiated, can you explain Tim Hortons cuz there seems to be a real cult following and it's strong with that one, but I'm not sure the American audience really gets it. Okay. Okay.
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Timmies I believe and people are going to hate on me for saying this.
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It's a more homely version of Starbucks.
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Starbucks is like a really long line and it's kind of bougie. Mhm.
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Things are called all these complicated names. Timmies is more homely.
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We have Timbits, which you guys call donut holes.
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We have Timbits and we have ice caps, which are like really good.
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Is superwomancakes@gmail. com still active? How embarrassing.
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I used to make cakes and I still kind of make cakes. Mhm.
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So, before I thought I would make it on YouTube, I was like, I'm just going to make it as a baker.
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Um I used to make these cakes that were like mediocre.
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So, I had this Gmail account and this Facebook page and so I think it is still active, but I I only made a cake very recently for my day-to-day manager.
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It was a Harry Potter cake.
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I feel like I'm going to die.
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Anyways, this next one is The Bomb Beyond Insanity.
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I realized I just made the water hot. I Yeah.
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It's that part of the show. Okay. Yeah. Mhm.
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As someone who reps Scarborough proudly, what's the most Toronto thing about Drake?
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The fact that he says ting.
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Toronto people say ting a lot.
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Sweeter ting, hot ting, crying ting.
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There are a lot of athletes and Hollywood stars that are trying to put their footprint in YouTube, but I'm curious, what rapper do you think would have the best daily vlogs if they committed to the platform? Probably Drake.
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I was going to say Will Smith, but he already is killing Instagram. This hurt so bad. Mhm.
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And I've read the opinion that you're a better rapper than you are a comedian, and I'm curious, when you look back at your own music videos, what's the song that you're most proud of, and what's the one that you're kind of happy was deprioritized by the algorithm?
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This is going to turn into a strip show really quick. That's all right.
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I'm really proud of Voices.
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A rap song I have called Voices. Yeah. This is so bad. Trapped on hot ones.
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This next one is the X Ares Co. Oh my god.
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This might be the most painful thing I've ever done in my life.
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You know Charlize, Charlize Theron, she did this show. Your buddy Charlize. do all of them?
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She was in a spot like you are right now, but she found that and rallied to the finish line. Okay, hold on. Hold on.
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I'm going to lick this one. Okay.
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How do you keep brands in check?
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Because I have some stories to tell, but you know, sometimes you'll get all this like crazy, ridiculously dumb feedback.
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And maybe you get a little bit incensed, like why is this brand telling me how to make a YouTube video?
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Do you ever have to deal with that?
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And if so, how do you manage it?
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What I do is I write one email just internally for my team where I'm sassing the brand completely, and it doesn't go anywhere except for in my team.
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One of my team members actually printed it and framed it and put it on her desk because it's me just being so sarcastic.
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But yeah, brands tell me all the time like I don't think this is the best way to for you talk to your audience about this brand and I'm like I've been doing this for 8 years with 14 million people watching me.
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I really know how to talk to my audience, but I get there's legalities and things they want to take care of.
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But all the time I'm negotiating with brands.
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But I also work I love and who do trust me. All right, Lilly.
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I just want to Can I just have a path to the washroom when Yeah, make sure we clear the way.
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Make sure that we clear the way.
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Do you want some ice cream? I'm so sweet.
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All right, so this is the last dab.
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We call it the last dab because it's tradition around here to put a little extra on the last wing.
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Excuse me, what are you doing?
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You don't have to if you don't want to, Lilly.
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Just put a little extra on the last wing.
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You don't have to if you don't want to.
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What if this whole thing is just there's nothing on yours?
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You know, we've had people switch the paddles before.
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I've been challenged in that way.
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I always come prepared and I'm nothing if not a man of dignity.
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Okay, what I'm going to do.
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What are you going to do? Not bad. But I feel I cheated.
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So I'm going to take a bite of the previous one that I licked. Okay. Yeah. Strong.
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I'm going to take a bite of this one. Chase it. There it is. Got to get my bite down.
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And just one more hurdle for you, Lilly Singh.
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We've talked about the many sides of Lilly Singh today.
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Entertainer, entrepreneur, wrestling super fan, but one thing we haven't touched on is your parents.
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Some of the most popular recurring characters in the history of YouTube. Hold on. Let me put this down.
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The ice cream is melting. Yeah.
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Near the vicinity of my lips. Mhm.
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Truly, it's m- Does it help? No.
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Let me tell you, my family could eat all of these and laugh after.
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My aunt They're the type of people like when they travel abroad, they have to bring their spices with them in their purse.
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Like I got hot sauce in my bag, Beyoncé.
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She got that from my aunt cuz truly they can eat the spiciest thing it will not phase them.
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I truly believe that my aunt could eat this and she would be unfazed. What happened with you? I was adopted.
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Well, you heard it here first. Breaking news.
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And look at you, Lilly Singh.
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10 vegan chicken wings up.
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10 vegan chicken wings down.
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And honestly, just fronting the whole time. was no problem. No problem at all.
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And now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you, Lilly.
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This camera, this camera, this camera.
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Let the people know what you have going on in your life.
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Um things are really heating up in my life.
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I got to go a bunch of exciting stuff.
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I just started my own production company, so I'm going to be directing and writing and producing.
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I have my 12 collabs of Christmas coming out, which will be like all those cool collabs you talked about.
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And also, I'm going to take the washroom for 30 whole MINUTES RIGHT NOW. GOOD JOB, LILLY. GOOD JOB. Kill some ice cream.
21:43
I have to say that was a hundred times worse than what I thought it was going to be.
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Hey, it's a badge of honor for us. We'll take it. Thank you, Lilly. Thank you.
21:57
Hey, what's going on, Spice Lords?
21:57
This is Sean Evans checking in by his lonesome, and you know what that means.
22:02
It's time for another hot sauce PSA.
22:02
And for 2 years, we've been working on making the perfect entry-level sauce.
22:08
Something that's good for everyone.
22:10
Number one on our board, and now it is finally here.
22:12
The classic is our contemporary twist on the original vinegar-based sauces throughout American history with chile de arbol peppers and garlic for that perfect balance.
22:22
As always, people who ordered the Hot Ones monthly subscription box got it first, but now it's available for everyone. heatonist. com, heatonist.
22:31
com to pick up the classic. The classic. It's for the people.