He’s made a career eating spicy wings and interviewing some of the biggest names in entertainment, but “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans says a job in Chicago helped him prepare for his launch to the celebrity.
Speaking to Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on “TODAY,” Evans said working as a tour guide on an architectural tour of the Chicago River helped him hone his skills.
“It was an incredible job,” he said. “Besides my current job, this is my favorite job I’ve ever had. You do these five to six tours a day, you have a boat full of 150 people, and I think being out there and doing these tours every day, I think that did more to me than anything I I did in mind. -up, including the diploma in broadcast journalism.
Evans said performing five to six times a day was an immersive experience that taught him the importance of hitting key rhythms and adapting on the fly to entertain an audience.
It’s always a focus group watching you. You can see the moments on tour where their eyes light up and think, ‘I have to build on those moments where the eyes light up,'” he said.
Evans, born in Evanston, attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before becoming an Internet celebrity. “Hot Ones” debuted in 2015 and has featured many A-list stars, including Idris Elba, Paul Rudd and Jack Black, among others.
It was a recent episode with legendary late-night host Conan O’Brien that took the series to even greater heights, with the comedian bathing in hot sauce and taunting Evans throughout the episode , which has already garnered nearly 10 million views.
“I tried to stop him,” Evans said. “For my generation, he is the GOAT talk show host, and to see him come into the studio was such an honor and privilege to tour with him.”
The new season of “Hot Ones” debuted Friday, with action star Chris Hemsworth taking on “The Wings of Death,” as the series refers to his iconic culinary offering. Each guest is invited to eat 10 increasingly spicy wings, and Evans, who also eats his own wings, asks the guests a series of questions.
The show launches new episodes every Friday via the First We Feast YouTube channel.
NBC Chicago
