Hot Ones [Media Notes 90] {We are one in wings.}

A recent article by Maya Salam in The New York Times alerted me to the show:

“Hot Ones” — a breakthrough pop-culture phenomenon in which stars eat 10 progressively fiery wings (or, increasingly, a vegan substitute) while being asked 10 deeply researched questions — has built itself into an online pillar, holding steady amid the shifting tides of digital media.

Since 2015, First We Feast, the food culture site that produces “Hot Ones,” has aired nearly 300 episodes, almost all of which have amassed millions of views. Guests this season, its 20th, include Pedro Pascal, Bryan Cranston, Jenna Ortega and Florence Pugh. In the early days of the show, guests were mostly rappers, comedians and athletes. Now Oscar winners like Viola Davis and Cate Blanchett often occupy the hot seat, as do headliners like Dave Grohl and Lizzo. The two most watched episodes, with Gordon Ramsay and Billie Eilish, both in 2019, have a combined 165 million views. The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson popped in to discuss our place in the universe, and its place in us.

Evans uses his affable, unassuming approach to his advantage, with his deep-cut questions disarming guests, as the wings set them ablaze. Often visibly suffering, the guests are swiftly won over by Evans’s knowledge of their careers and his uncanny ability to keep conversations on track, even when they come dangerously close to going sideways.

So I decided to watch an episode or three. It seemed familiar. I’d probably watched an episode or two at some time in the past and forgot about them. FWIW, here’s two of the episodes I’ve just watched:

What’s the appeal? The people, host and guest, of course, it’s always the people. But it’s also the situation.

The host and the guest share a meal, a feast. But a peculiar feast, an array of chicken wings eaten in order according to the intensity of the hot sauce on each. They start by eating mild wings and work their way to hotter and hotter wings. Thus the shared meal becomes something of an ordeal, a trial by fire.

But the focus is always on the guest. We hear their comments on the wings and sauce, see them chug water or mild, see them wipe tears from their eyes, and so forth. All this time the host, Sean Evans, seems calm as he asks questions.

It's an engagingly egalitarian ritual. The host and the guest are on the same level. Both eat the wings. It is quite easy for those watching to identify with them through the ritual of eating those wings. Who among us has not eaten Buffalo wings? Heck, I remember eating them at Frank and Teressa’s Anchor Bar in Buffalo, where Buffalo wings originated. So, you watch and wonder: Could I handle those wings? And those? Yeah, sure, there’s that Klingon ritual with the pain sticks. The Klingons can have that one. But Buffalo wings? Bring ‘em on!