“Hot Ones” is a talk show that has been streaming on YouTube since 2015. It features 10 spicy wings and 10 deep-cut questions. With 300 episodes under its belt, the show has become a significant online phenomenon. Its popularity has also attracted many high-profile guests, from actors to musicians, to the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. The show’s host, Sean Evans, disarms the guests with his deep-cut questions, while the wings set their mouths ablaze. Even with the spicy wings, the guests are impressed by Evans’s knowledge of their careers and his ability to keep the conversation going.

“Hot Ones” has cemented itself as an online pillar, with almost all of its episodes amassing millions of views. In recent years, the show has parodied “The Simpsons” and “Saturday Night Live,” and its host, Sean Evans, and the show itself have been nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards. “Hot Ones” has now become an influence in the late-night or online segment that tests celebrities. Even the show’s creator and executive producer, Chris Schonberger, likened “Hot Ones” to a “sitcom from the ’80s or ’90s” due to its comfortable watchability.

The show’s dedication to the craft of interviewing and linear TV is the reason for its steady success. According to Schonberger, “Hot Ones” is a true Venn diagram of viral formats and time-tested journalism. It is rooted in research, fact-checking, and is more than just the gossip of the day. The goal of the show has always been to answer the classic question, “What would it be like to have a beer with that person?” “Hot Ones” has become more than Evans and Schonberger ever imagined when the idea was born almost a decade ago.