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Hey, what's going on Hot Ones fans?
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This is Sean Evans coming at you from the Hot Ones Museum of Curiosities, where at the end of every season we answer your hard-hitting end-of-season Hot Ones fan questions.
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And this year, there were two burning controversial topics that we'll hit on first as we enter controversy corner.
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Number one on that list, the Wall of Shame.
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What happened to the Wall of Shame?
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Well, I'll try to break this down as best I can to open things up.
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This is far from a perfect analogy, but there's that thing about the wrong laugh, that Dave Chappelle thing about the wrong laugh.
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And I kind of felt like that was happening with the Wall of Shame, where I think people were taking the Wall of Shame literally and kind of thinking, well, if you don't eat a wing with Scorpion Disco, you should actually be shamed for it.
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I like some of the tap out episodes.
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Like to me, Lil Yachty, Ricky Gervais, those are still to this day two of my favorite episodes.
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So, it's already hard to book this show where we have celebrities eating Scoville hot chicken wings.
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Then you have, you know, if you don't get through the gauntlet, an angry mob dunking on you in a way that isn't really super positive or doesn't serve the show at all.
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So, it's like, Wall of Shame, scrap it up. Throw it in the garbage.
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Then, I got a tweet that I thought was kind of interesting where this person was like, "What the hell?
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Olivia Rodrigo got through the gauntlet and she thought a bell pepper was spicy.
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Bring back the Wall of Shame. You guys are soft."
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And I was like, uh, all right.
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Well, that sort of makes sense to me.
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So, here's my position on the Wall of Shame going forward.
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We will bring it back on a probationary period.
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But the second I start getting tagged in things at scale that are dark and weird and way too emotional and angry and rageful, Wall of Shame is done and it's done forever.
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So, ball is in your court.
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You play nice with it, we keep the Wall of Shame.
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It starts to get weird and dark again, it's all over. It's all over.
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So, you guys have the power.
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The second thing, two tables.
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So, when the two table thing started off, uh was just a way to satisfy the safety guidelines, the lawyers, etc.
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to get back into the studio.
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And I'm like the YouTube audience, you know, like you change anything about a YouTube show, people freak out.
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And I'm kind of like that.
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So, I kind of do try to protect everything about Hot Ones as much as I can.
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And at first I was like, it's got to be one table.
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It's got to be one table.
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But, what I've found from going through the two table thing is that I actually prefer the two table setup.
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The distance is a much more natural and comfortable distance to do an interview.
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And then the projection of your voice, it translates to video so much better.
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I look at old episodes, me and Joey Diaz are like 6 in away from each other's face.
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The talking's almost like whispering.
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Sure, like when people are going through hot sauce moments, it gets kind of loud.
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But, I don't know the future, like how this thing goes.
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Maybe it's Jonas Brothers table, but maybe just two table setup.
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I love the two table setup. All right.
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Well, there you have it, controversy corner.
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Those questions addressed as thoroughly as I can.
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But, now it's time to dig into some of the more nuanced, some of the more niche, some of the more specialized Hot Ones fan questions.
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Dom, hit me with the bucket. Let's dive right in.
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Out of all the guests you've had on Hot Ones, which is the one that you were glad you got before they reached their current level of fame?
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There's a a genre of Hot Ones interview that I love, which is kind of like um you know, maybe they're not the first interview of record, but maybe the first or close to the first interview of record for a lot of these pop stars that have done this just sort of meteoric rise to the top.
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And there are four that stand out in my mind.
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So, that would be most recently in this season, the Olivia Rodrigo episode.
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But, I also really compare that episode to ones that we've done in the past with Shawn Mendes, Billie Eilish, and even Post Malone.
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I feel like they were just on their way to just taking over the pop world, and we caught them at a really interesting time in their lives and in their careers.
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So, those four interviews um I value as sort of a genre unto themselves. All right, up next.
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Have you ever played game consoles before?
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If so, what was your first system you had?
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That's from nationverse8472.
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I'm old as Listen, dude, I'm I'm old.
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I remember my Nintendo NES Christmas.
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I remember my Sega Genesis Christmas.
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So, yeah, I played consoles before. All right, up next.
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Do you have any tricks of the trade or guiding principles you use when balancing the need to be present in an interview versus the temptation to edit in your head to make sure you get what you need?
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That's from Tanner Britt.
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Actually, an awesome question.
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Uh I have this debate with myself all the time because you can get into kind of a bad habit of editing the episode in real time, and then it's like, "Oh, I know how that wing's going to play out because I've sat through 10 million of these edits over the years."
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It's really easy to kind of turn the page and go on to the next thing, but you don't want to be so mathematical in the way that you're engaging and connecting to another person.
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So, that is forever a battle that goes on in the head of an interviewer.
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You don't want it to be so transactional like, "Got what we need from you, great. Now we move on."
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You actually want to connect and have that rhythm and build that story of each individual shoot.
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So, that's always the goal, but I'd be lying to myself if I said that you don't fight with yourself internally at least a little bit when it comes to that kind of internal debate. All right, up next.
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Earl the actor asks, "What's your favorite place to dine in Evanston?"
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So, uh I used to go to Northwestern games all the time with my dad and my brother, and then afterwards we'd go to Hackney's because they have this onion brick.
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So, I always remember Hackney's fondly because it was part of that Saturday in the fall, going to Ryan Field, watching the Wildcats, and then afterwards going to Hackney's.
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So, I'll go with Hackney's officially.
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Since it's been a few seasons since we've had a fellow YouTuber on Hot Ones, have you thought about interviewing more YouTubers or even possibly popular Twitch streamers?
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So, here's how I look at this thing now.
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I don't think of YouTubers as any different from mainstream celebrities.
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Like there are YouTubers YouTubers that have network talk shows and are in movies, and then you have conventional movie stars that start YouTube channels.
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So, to me at this point it's become so interchangeable.
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Basically, what we look at is is when we're pitching a guest, who's got a book coming out, who's got a movie coming out, who's got a show coming out, where do we need to update the pitch, where can we try a different strategy, and then all of those things kind of work to get a guest to finally sit in the seat and eat the Scorch Chicken Wings.
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So, um maybe it's been a little YouTuber light, but I think that in future seasons maybe it'll be a little YouTuber heavy, but I don't differentiate uh between those things. All right, up next.
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Colin Kurtz asks, "What is your favorite book that was written by guest on Hot Ones?" I can't just pick one.
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Let me just shout out my top five.
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I like Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell.
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I like Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.
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I like Not Taco Bell Material by Adam Carolla.
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I like Yearbook by Seth Rogen.
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I like Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey.
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And then an honorable mention to Professional Idiot by Steve-O, and Life Will Be the Death of Me by Chelsea Handler, Naomi Campbell coffee table book, also amazing.
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We can't clear the cover art, though.
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I'll tell you that right now.
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Fedorocker asks, "Is there someone that you personally wanted on the show that have been denied by the showrunners in some capacity.
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I love this question because it implies that there's any sort of structure to this operation whatsoever.
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A showrunner, I don't know what a showrunner is.
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It might be a shock to everyone watching, but Shonda Rhimes is not standing behind that monitor.
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I can see who's behind that monitor. It is not Shonda Rhimes.
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But, so basically though, how it works is if it ever comes down to a debate, there's basically like three people that have a vote and so we all have a key.
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So, if two people put in the key and turn it, then that's a yes.
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If only one person or nobody puts in the key, then that's kind of a no.
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Although, those sorts of debates don't come up all that often.
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So, no showrunner, still just a small operation.
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And speaking of that operation, our little island of misfit toys over here, I think it's time that we check in with Bill and see how his summer's been going. Hey Bill. Bill? Oh. Oh. Hey there, Sean.
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Looks like you caught me finishing up my afternoon nap.
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I've been up since 6:00 a. m.
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tending to my slow-cooked wings. Would you look at that?
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It's time for a nice cold Coors Light.
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This summer, I've been perfecting the perfect recipe for summer chill.
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That's why I moved my tent next to my grill so I'd never have to leave.
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The key to making the perfect smoked wing is cooking them slow and long.
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There's nothing quite like sleeping out under the stars with the smell of smoked meat and sipping on a nice cold Coors Light. Excuse me, Sean.
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I have to check on my wings. Not done yet.
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Looks like I'm going to be here a while.
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Camera Guy Bill, keeping the lights on over here.
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All right, let's get back to the bucket.
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Jonathan asks, "What's the last TV show or film you enjoyed watching?"
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This year I liked Willy's Wonderland. I liked Zola.
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I liked the Bob Odenkirk movie Nobody. I liked Black Widow. I liked Stillwater.
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And then last night, I you know what?
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Sometimes you forget how kick-ass some movies are.
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I watched Gone Girl last night. That movie's awesome.
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All right, approaching the bottom of the bucket.
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When picking guests, would you rather be someone who watches / enjoys Hot Ones already or someone who never saw it and how it goes?
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Also, Lord is my MVP for this season so far. No argument there. I'm kind of both.
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Like I I I'll pull two examples from this season.
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So, um David Harbour, for example, is a guy that had no idea really what he was getting himself into and I loved that episode cuz you can see him fall into Hot Ones in such a magical way.
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Gets drunk off the hot sauce and it's exactly how we draw it up.
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But I'll tell you one thing, you know, in the early days everybody was like kind of walking in looking at it sideways, like what is this freak show?
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And that was never fun because then you'd have to kind of dig yourself out of that hole and then they'd kind of get it and then you'd have a good thing going.
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But that beforehand, when I'm just sort of like sitting there on set by myself with these wings and sort of the embarrassing black curtain set, that was never kind of that was never fun.
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Now, when we have people walk in and their kids watch it or they've seen the episodes or whatever, that is so much better than how it used to be. I'll tell you that. Well, there you have it.
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It's another Hot Ones fan Q&A in the books.
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As you know, you can hit the draw at this point, 15 seasons in.
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When we say goodbye to one season, we're just waving in the next season to port.
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So, season 16 will be just around the corner.
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In the meantime, lots of surprises, Truth or Dab, hot sauce reveal, and then of course the season 16 premiere.
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Thank you so much for watching this season.
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It means the world to us.
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Coming out of the quarantine episodes, seeing the way fans have rallied around the show, I can't tell you what it means to us that work at Hot Ones.
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Until then though, Hot Ones for life.
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Hey, what's going on Hot Ones fans?
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This is Sean Evans checking in with a quick reminder the Hot Ones season 15 sauces are currently available at heatonist. com. That's right, heatonist.
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com to get your hands on the season 15 hot sauces.
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I know you're sitting there, you're wondering at home like, "Ah, it can't be that hot.
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I think they're overdoing it. They're exaggerating. I've had spicy before. I can do it."
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Well, put it to the test. Now available heatonist. com, heatonist.
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com to get your hands on the season 15 hot sauces.
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Be careful around the eyes.