Selecting the very best of First We Feast’s best Hot Ones episodes from YouTube’s instant-classic show is no easy task.
Whittling this list down to 17 depends on your Hot Ones tastes: how good is the interview with host Sean Evans? How spectacular is the meltdown? How did the guest break the mold? Or did they show off superhuman sauce tolerance?
This list combines all flavors from the Sean Evans-hosted phenomenon. So, without further ado, here are my top 17 Hot Ones guests.
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17. Jennifer Lawrence
As one of the most well-known and successful actresses in her generation, Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t need much of an introduction. From her most famous roles in The Hunger Games, X-Men, American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence not only is iconic on the screen, but is known for her down-to-earth personality.
In her episode in the Hot Ones, fans are able to see more of this personality shine through. Even with her amazing reaction to Da’Bomb that has her crying and laughing at the horrific heat, she manages to give amazing in-depth answers to questions while struggling through the pain.
Towards the end of the show, fans will see the meme that has been moving across social media of Lawrence questioning “What do you mean?” several times as Sean shakes the bottle of the last The Last Dab.
16. Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish is an American singer and songwriter who had her first debut single “Ocean Eyes” in 2015. Since then, her career has only skyrocketed. Now, she’s most well-known for songs such as “bad guy”, “What Was I Made For?” and “Lovely”.
She was one of the youngest guests in Hot Ones history, and even managed to get put on the hall of fame by completely beating the Hot Ones challenge. Sean asks several questions about her sense of style, life growing up and her creative journey as an artist and what other artistic developments she might want to explore.
Her reaction to Da’Bomb was iconic as she had to jog around the table to try and get her mind away from the heat. She even dumped a large handful of ice into her mouth just to calm the pain. She managed to get through all the wings, while not cleaning it, still proving that she could handle any spice that comes her way.
15. Tom Holland
Tom Holland is one of the most popular English actors around right now due to his iconic roles in Spider-Man and other Marvel movies such as the Avengers.
In the interview, they talk about his time making Spider-Man: No Way Home, golf tips, along with his amazing relationship with Robert Downey Jr. Holland does a great job at giving thorough answers and conversation with Sean as he struggles to get through all the wings.
While he has a hard time with some of the wings, once he reaches Da’Bomb, his composer falls apart. From milk to lemon, to walking around and cussing, Holland struggles to get through it. Nonetheless, he takes a stab at the Last Dab with a large pour.
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14. Alton Brown
Altron Brown is an eccentric personality who stars on several cooking shows and competitions, with his most well-known role being the host of Cutthroat Kitchen.
The interview with Brown is wonderful. Not only does her reorder the hot sauces to his own ranking of heat, but they chat about tops like his history with food network television, music, and tips on sabering a bottle of champagne.
Most wings don’t affect him, and he meticulously tries to pick out the flavors, and even suggests adding other flavors, as one would expect from such a culinary genius. There was even a moment with The Hot Ones where he took a sip right out of the bottle to get the full flavors.
His fight against the Da’Bomb was easy, saying that it’s “hot but not good” with a poker face. And with The Last Dab, he took the last bite without so much as hesitation.
13. Neil deGrasse Tyson
With so many guests being actors, musicians and comedians, it’s nice to see someone such as Neil deGrasse Tyson appear. He’s an American astrophysicist, author and science communicator that enjoys breaking down hard scientific topics for those that are interested in learning.
The two talk about his background, his book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, and science-inspired song lyrics. While pushing through the several wings, Tyson gives pointers at why some bottle names can be changed or added, like Da’Bomb, and how the proportions match up with one of the bombs dropped in World War II.
While he struggled with getting through the wings, he did manage to take decent bites out of the wings and only struggled a bit, all while giving great answers that not only informed viewers but entertained them with his slight slip ups of “I took two bites, b****!”. The last wing he managed to get through without that much trouble besides a few coughs, which is impressive.
12. Lorde
Lorde is one of the most impressive interviews with the Hot Ones. This New Zealand two-time Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter has had an amazing career with hit songs like “Royals” and “Team”.
Sean and Lorde talk about her experience with songwriting, onion rings, her life in New Zealand, and strange sounds like cicadas that she has used in her music.
Lorde manages to get through the wings without sweating and talks about how enjoyable the flavors are for her. She picks up some of the fruity, smokey, ginger or other flavors.
Towards the end of the interview, like Da’Bomb, she doesn’t get effected much from the pain. Her composure is definitely one of the most impressive factors in this interview, making it one of the best Hot Ones episodes.
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11. Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele
Key and Peele are known for their comedy sketches on Comedy Central. Jordan Peele is also known for his more recent psychological horrors such as Us, Get Out and Nope. Together they faced the Hot Ones challenge and is one of the few that managed to beat it.
Their humor shines through as they both answer these thrilling questions about their, at the time, upcoming movie Keanu, their recent skits, and the end of Key & Peele. Both comedians also did a fantastic job at cleaning each wing, no matter the degree of heat.
They describe their pain in some of the funniest ways, giving viewers a hilarious view on how horrific this challenge and interview can be.
10. Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd ran the table without so much as a sip of water or milk.
The man doesn’t age. And he’s apparently immune to the effects of insanely hot sauce. Are these two things related? I don’t know if we’ll ever know.
Rudd is considered the acting type of “everyman.” Yet there’s less and less ordinariness about him as the years roll on. This “Hot Ones” appearance was no exception. Bear in mind, although Rudd is featured most often in comedies, he has some serious dramatic chops.
Look no further than his improvised scene with Evans toward the end of the segment. It clinches his top-17 status.
You can catch Rudd’s doppelganger, solo performance in Netflix’s series, Living With Yourself. It’s a great addition to the streamer’s catalog.
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9. Idris Elba
One of the iconic moments from Hot Ones came from Elba. His reaction to one of the special sauces has become a viral meme social media peoples use to express their shock in any context. Whether it be themselves, athletes, or historical figures.
I mean, it’s covering everything from real-world dating life to one of the most popular TV shows of all time. Observe this elegance in motion:
Elba is the man. Evans does a great job uncovering the actor’s multifaceted life. From Elba’s professional boxing victory in 2016 to his rap career and many things in between, Evans wrings far more than a mere meme out of this session.
8. Aubrey Plaza
Good acting is about making bold choices. In addition to flexing more of her dramatic chops of late, Plaza often finds incredible, offbeat behavior that results in top-shelf comedy.
Her “Hot Ones” episode confirmed her status as a comedic genius and one of the best celebrity interviewees. Notoriously awkward on late-night talk shows, this change in scenery allowed her to talk about that fact in depth.
She also provided some surprising and outrageous ways as she made her way down the gauntlet of sauces. I won’t spoil this one. Just watch it.
Aubrey Plaza is a sensation. Her agreement to do the web series should’ve come with a disclaimer, though. Maybe pulled right from the title of one of her best movies: Safety Not Guaranteed.
7. Gordon Ramsay
This man. I can’t even. Imagine what Gordon MIGHT say regarding the caliber of chicken wing Hot Ones cooks up for the show, and he probably said it. Only like 100 times worse with 1,000 times more profanity than you can fathom. Which is to say, there’s a lot of it.
But it’s so great. This is why the Internets were born. For moments like these. Ramsay is a TV star. He doesn’t disappoint. This may be his best performance ever.
How to even begin describing this ‘sode. Ramsay’s entire “Hot Ones” stint is an absolute riot. And although he may project a tough, gruff exterior, you’ll get a kick out of how he melts under the heat.
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6. John Mayer
Can’t help but include the ever-engaging and fascinating singer-songwriter-guitar legend. Mayer goes more in-depth than you’d expect about his songwriting process and how things come together for him musically. He also gets personal about his hiatus to recover from vocal surgery in Montana.
He explains that he’s a comedian in a passive way and discusses how the media portrayal of him — largely self-inflicted, as he admits — led him to struggle telling jokes on stage. Because people already had a certain perception of him.
This is a guy who’s hyper-aware of the effects of fame, how it caused serious problems in his life and how he went about getting a grip on it after a period of years. Evans is incisive as all heck here, and there’s a little music at the end to enjoy!
5. Terry Crews
This almost doesn’t even need an introduction. The massive, chiseled Old Spice Man and frequent film actor are absolutely bonkers here.
Crews was a fine, if psychotic, U.S. President in Idiocracy. Let’s just say some of that temperament bleeds over into this very real “Hot Ones” segment.
There’s an eight-second teaser clip that plays right at the beginning of the episode. I burst out laughing, without fail, every single time.
He can’t pec flex his way out of this one. It’s physics. It’s inevitable. And that’s the secret sauce that makes this web show magical. Like the reality-distorting Old Spice commercials Crews crushed so thoroughly.
4. Russell Brand
Russell Brand is more of a YouTube philosopher than an actor these days, and that’s totally great. He’s a former media personality, so he knows how to play the game.
There are few celebrities who can bounce between absurdity, insight, meta-humor, and improvisation in an interview. This guy is a pro, and Evans just keeps feeding the fire. Pun intended.
Something about the pitch of Brand’s voice draws viewers in, and his wit is so quick it’s rather dizzying to keep pace with. He seems three steps ahead on every question and ready to execute some kind of bit.
Speaking of the improvisation element of his comedy: Brand has a special gift for those who stick around for the episode’s grand finale.
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3. Bobby Lee
This stand-up comedian certainly doesn’t disappoint in the humor department on “Hot Ones,” but it’s largely at his own expense.
He was yelling at Sean for asking certain questions, yelling at people on the set, and yelling at whoever else is in earshot/the poor rep of his who greenlighted his appearance on this show in the first place.
Lee apologizes for his behavior, attributing it to the spiciness of the wings. Totally fair. He’s freaking out. He was even wearing a beanie through much of the episode and at long last took it off to let some of that steam escape.
But it was all too little, too late because, toward the end, Lee goes down in Hot One’s infamy when he, by all indications, soils himself at the table.
This incident wasn’t 100 percent confirmed on the episode due to some timely, tactful and tricky editing. Having said that, well…see this epic climax for yourself.
2. Bert Kreischer
Oh man, Mr. Kreischer has some wild stories from his party days. Which haven’t ended. His charisma and penchant for a killer time are nary matched by anyone.
If you haven’t heard “The Machine” story he tells about his study abroad experience at Florida State, whereupon he befriended the Russian mafia, you’re missing out.
Kreischer omits that epic tale due to his telling it frequently in his stand-up act and podcasts. But you won’t believe what else he has cooked up. You really won’t.
Oh, and of course, he removes his shirt. And let’s just say he has difficulties keeping the wings down in a tense, dramatic sequence.
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1. Eddie Huang
The polymath chef and restaurateur felt super confident he could blaze through all the hot sauces. So much so that he BEGAN with the hottest sauce, despite Sean Evans’ stern warning.
Poor guy. Sean tried to tell him.
Hubris is a common cause of a man’s tragic demise in fiction and life. This Huang-driven narrative lived up to that cliché.
Huang goes into full meltdown mode, frantically chugs milk and water, and can barely even speak for a good while. It’s hysterical.
There’s a point where the episode cuts out as Huang hurries to the bathroom. I’ll let you watch it in full to find out what happened to him in there. It’s a trip.