The secret sauce for great interviews? Find inspiration on ‘Hot Ones’

First We Feast

By Dorothy Pomerantz | Fitch Ink Associate Editor

The other day I was watching my favorite interview show: “Hot Ones.” If you’ve never seen it, trust me, the show is pure genius. Host Sean Evans calmly asks his guest 10 questions while sharing hot wings with increasingly spicy sauces. One wing per question and the Scoville units (which measure heat in peppers) go up exponentially with every wing. 

I usually hate interview shows because the celebrities come armed with their tired stories and canned laugh lines and it feels like you’re just watching a fairly boring performance. But on “Hot Ones,” as the sauce gets spicier, the guests can’t help but get more real. It’s hard to maintain a pretty facade while a 357,000 Scoville-rated hot sauce is turning your insides into burning liquid.

While I am in no way recommending that you provide excruciating hot sauce to your interview subjects, I do think that anyone who does interviews can learn a lot from “Hot Ones.” 

Look for the unexpected

Even in content marketing, the essence of a good interview is serendipity — the unexpected discovery. If you already know everything your subject is going to say, why bother doing the interview? Usually the point of an interview is to dig up something unknown like a fresh angle, a good quote or a surprising fact. You’re not going to get that by providing your subject with all of your questions beforehand, giving them a chance to write down answers and then just going over those on a call.

Instead, you have to leave room for the unexpected to make its way into the conversation. I’ll caveat this by saying that there are always going to be times you have to interview someone whose ego simply does not allow for this kind of free-flowing conversation. Such is life in risk-averse corporate America. 

The majority of people are flattered and happy to be interviewed. And the subject most likely will review the story before it publishes, allowing them to be a bit more laid back than in a traditional journalistic setting. (I like to tell subjects that, “We’re journalists who are on your side,” to put them at ease).

Here are 5 spicy lessons from “Hot Ones” you can use in your daily work life: 

Don’t just wing it

Evans’ team meticulously researches each guest and helps him craft just the right questions. On a recent episode, he asked Hugh Jackman which prefame job he remembers more fondly, working as a park ranger or as a birthday party clown. Jackman’s a great actor but he truly looked like he was not expecting that question.

While you’re unlikely to catch a celebrity off guard with your deep knowledge of their prefame history, it still pays to do your research. Really know the topic you’re going to be discussing. This is especially important when interviewing very busy executives. Don’t waste their time with 101 questions. Look at LinkedIn posts or company blog bylines. This will give you a sense of who they are and their priorities to help you get deeper during your interview time.

Create space

One thing I really admire about Evans is the way he never makes the interview about him. He calmly asks his questions and leaves space for the guest in that moment (often tears, sweating and increasingly off-topic ramblings). If the guest turns the focus to him, Evans is great at gently redirecting back to his guest.

In a normal conversation you might not want to have awkward pauses but, in an interview, they can be incredibly valuable. Resist the urge to interrupt or fill space if there’s a moment of quiet. Let your interviewee do that work and you may get some delightfully unexpected results.

Make them comfortable 

Guests sitting down across from Evans know they are in for pain. Race car driver Lewis Hamilton admitted he canceled on Evans multiple times because he was scared he wouldn’t be able to take the heat. 

Evans does his best to put his guests at ease with his calm manner and reassurance when they first sit down. There is milk on the table and sometimes ice cream. As the wings heat up, he remains vigilant about guests not touching their eyes.

Someone who may be looking forward to an interview with you is going to be a little nervous. People want to sound smart and they want to be clear and articulate. Putting your interviewee at ease is a crucial first step for a good interview. I always make sure to introduce myself, give a brief synopsis of the interview’s purpose and assure them they’ll get to review anything we write. If we’re on a video call, I have my camera on, smile and nod reassuringly. These little steps can really go a long way.

Keep it tight

“Hot Ones” is obviously edited. Who knows how long guests really spend being tortured with hot sauce? But the resulting video is about 20 minutes. There’s not a lot of fluff. Evans gets right to the point and moves efficiently from one question to the next.

Keeping an interview tight can sometimes be challenging. I’ve sat in plenty of interviews where a source has started to wander down a verbal rabbit hole that I know isn’t going to help the story at all.

Gently pulling a source back on track can be a tricky diplomatic job. We’re often interviewing high level executives who are not used to being asked to get it back on track. The best thing to do is politely pivot with something like, “That’s so interesting and maybe we can talk about doing a second article. But for now let’s focus on …”

The last dab — what else?

At the end of every “Hot Ones,” the guest takes the hottest sauce on the table and adds a tiny dab to a wing. At this point, they know the finish line is in sight and they’re almost giddy with their own bravery.

Looking for more on “Hot Ones”?
Here are a few of my favorite episodes:

• Actress Jennifer Lawrence

• Comedian Conan O’Brien

• Musician-actor Donald Glover

This button at the end of the interview is a nice touch that you can borrow. No matter what, at the end of each interview always ask, “Is there anything I’ve forgotten to ask or you’d like to add?” I can’t tell you how many times this simple question has netted great results in the form of a super quote, an anecdote or even the connective tissue that holds the story together. Make sure you save time for this last dab.

Like anything, interviewing takes practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll get. Personally, it’s one of my favorite things about being a writer. I love to listen to people and find those magically, serendipitous moments. Hopefully this advice will help you love it too.

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