Awkwafina Gets Hot and Cold While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones

yeah i've never been so hot and cold at the same time hey what's going on everybody for first week feast i'm shawn evans and you're watching hot ones it's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings and today we're joined by aquafina she's the golden globe award-winning actress you know from films like crazy rich asians and the farewell her latest project though is the highly anticipated animated film ryan the last dragon which opens in theaters and on disney plus with premiere access on march 5th aquafina welcome to the show thank you thank you for having me what's your mindset like going into this 10-wing gauntlet here i feel like everyone like when they come on hot ones like everyone's a little scared but like like i saw this show called champions and it was on it's like an episode of netflix where like they basically compete and they eat the ghost peppers and then they talk about this thing that happens to their stomach after it's like a lot what is the aftermath like sean well you know what it's funny that you mentioned champions because i actually know that guy that features uh smoking ed curry yeah and he's the guy who he's the guy who did that episode yeah and uh he actually makes this hot sauce here at the end so we'll get the full pucker butt experience here today aquafina oh no oh [ __ ] [Music] bring it out wow [Music] that's nothing dude so i want to start by talking about your new film which tells the story of a lone warrior tracking down your character sisu as part of a last-ditch effort to save humanity is someone who oscillates between nora and aquafina did you feel a special connection in this film playing the role of a shape-shifting dragon oh wow um wow that's a that's a big metaphor to my life but yeah i mean thinking about it now i think that shape-shifting definitely a duality with sisu and and also i think in my own personal life so that's a that's a really good observation this is maybe an odd question but i've always been curious about this when you're cast to play an animated character do they already have the art created for that character or is there any sort of reverse engineering after it's been cast um well i think for me when you watch sisu you can see that the animators use my eyes and like my teeth i saw maybe sketches of cesium but i never saw her animated until i recorded and so that there were lines i think that's the really cool thing about doing voiceovers yeah it's a it's a really collaborative uh thing [Music] oh this has no little hole this has no little butthole on the thing all right let's do it hmm that's so good i'm reopening that so having been in close proximity to the great go 90 experiment i remember talk with aquafina quite well you do i do i do because in complex you know is the go 90 operation was obvious yes yes right so i remember that whole thing what in your opinion makes for a good talk show interview and has your experience as a host it all informed how you approach being a guest now that you're on the other side of the table it does all all the time yeah i think it's uh i think you know it's not easy being an interviewer because you have to constantly adapt yourself to make that other person feel comfortable as a guest i'm so embedded in the host mentality that i want to make the host comfortable too so it's it just is a if you're already a pushover it's not a great game to play i guess is what i'm saying yeah so i remember when you know the new york city rap blogs when your music started breaking on those and now in recent years you know you're getting profiled for the cover of vogue as someone with a foot in both worlds where do you find your biggest critics always yourself dude always for me like a big problem is that i uh i i feel like people don't know people don't know me anymore so that that was like it would be my personal life that's like a big thing like i just like feel like i've went through a lot of experiences that people assumed were a certain way especially later on like when great stuff started happening so uh it's always gonna be me no matter what because no one's really gonna know what's going on you know [Music] so far really good yeah i could do this all day oh again no little butthole so that's that's what does that mean does that mean that they're like they're like rogue like they're the kombucha people that like put all the pulp in in this lineup we are mostly butt holeless actually that first one so much that's the problem that's the dangerous game that's the dangerous game aquafina when you're playing without a butthole over here anyone ever go to the hospital um chrissy teigen said on the tonight show that after her episode she went to the doctor so that's the only known one that i have but that happened wow um wow so that's the first time it it kind of yells at you a little bit you know aquafina we actually have a curveball for you on this swing we've called in an old friend who's been with you since the release of yellow ranger in the early campus tours that's right without further hype building we are gonna welcome to the show the host of first we feeds the takeout john park aka dumbfounded is here with a set of questions for aquafina from memory lane we've had many blurry nights at karaoke's from k-town la to 32nd and new york what is your go-to karaoke song my go-to karaoke song uh that he probably is thinking of is is well we all we all like to do a little hema um and uh dreams by fleetwood mac dumb doesn't also do karaoke everyone probably sees him as like this like karaoke guy he doesn't really sing i think he enjoys being around you know with the fruit and whatnot but like i don't think he actually enjoys like partaking which is interesting we've done our fair share of sketchy college shows do you have any memorable tour stories yes we do can we share them here i don't really know if that's the best idea dumb does this thing where he forgets all the lyrics and then he'll do a thing where he'll like let's take it let's take it back and uh and and blame it on the audience so he he he would do that but then one time i think even after he blamed it on the audience he forgot he continued to forget touring with dumb is the best man that was some of the best times of my life going on tour with those guys all right we have one more for you i remember teaching you a lot of korean words and you asked me how to say cat nipples in korean do you still remember how to say that i just remember which means my cat uh don't remember i don't remember nipples though [Music] okay yeah that's talking all right what's your relationship with hot sauce i've eaten straight up carolina reapers before so it's like wherever the ceiling is i've hit it and i've survived it so i think that that gives me some peace of mind but do you ever think that you could do competitive hot sauce eating no no no those people are crazy like when we were talking about that show like i ate one carolina reaper one time and it ruined my earth two times actually but it was like giving yourself food poisoning for 12 hours people in those eating contests they'll eat like 15 or 16. i don't even know how that's possible oh man i'm not panicking i'm not i'm fine i'm totally i'm chilling dude it's great yeah so i understand that you come from a long line of restaurant tours your great grandfather he opened a cantonese restaurant in the 1940s in flushing queens and then of course your grandmother she ran a restaurant out in port jefferson yes how'd you know that that's cool poor jeff how do you know about port jeff that's cool because everybody everybody knows that everybody knows that and then there's a part of your life that sounds like it was almost written for a sitcom but i know that it's real you worked at a vegan bodega between that job and then working at a very legit japanese restaurant which one of those hospitality gigs do you remember more fondly uh well i i think i remember them both but the japanese restaurant was like like i remember spilling hot sake onto a woman's coat like a beaut like her beautiful coat and she was on what looked like a first date where she was uncomfortable to like really yell at me like to really go off on me so she kind of held it in and as i walked away she went oh my god i've had so many bad waitresses in new york city and i just remember hearing that and to this day like i still really haven't gotten that out of my head it still kind of makes me feel like a really bad for doing that um so i didn't get i didn't get a lot of that at the vegan bodega i got more of that at the japanese restaurant for sure halfway point okay have you ever met the right of the copywriter for hot sauce brands and what are they like you know before i got this show i was actually a copywriter and i have to say that i really respect hot sauce marketing and branding you know like you can have what kind of looks like cool craft beer labels and then you have what are like hellish landscapes of like fire and brimstone and grim reapers and skulls on fire so i think like that kind of range it offers great opportunity for like a good ad person you're right it can go from like comedy to horror in terms of just their that's really cool i never thought about that because you can't really advertise anything else like that i love the bottles like i almost like love hot sauce as like a collector's item put on your shelf thing more than as a condiment yeah i actually still i the only thing that i have collectors in my actual kitchen at home is is a collab that hot ones did with uh with with 88 rising and like that thing like it's like dragging the clouds yes i do i like i put it up i don't know i haven't opened it you're just there i'm very proud of it too because it's a cool collab yeah all right aquafina we have a recurring segment on our show called explain that graham where we do a deep dive on our guest instagram pull interesting pictures that need more context so i'll show you the picture you just tell us the bigger story you gave a really touching tribute to lucy lou in your saturday night live monologue do you remember the first thing that you said to her when you guys finally got a chance to meet i think it was probably like hey i think it was just i think it was literally that i think it was like well hey whoa what's up uh that's when you know i'm really nervous when my spine is in a complete sea and i'm just like hey what's up yeah cool i was so nervous to meet her but she actually has a very unnerving quality which is good right i felt the warmth and then i you know straightened up a little bit so she was she's really cool my grandma gave me these because she knew i was doing this show um their chinese stomach medication so i'm gonna i might do that later [Music] oh tears of the sun oh man i'm very i'm very nervous i don't know why i think i'm nervous to meet you because i've been watching you for so long and like i'm a fan so uh you remember go 90 and i remember go 90 i remember my vag i go all the way down hell yeah that's tight respect okay all right so we're just going to go into it it's the back half here back after so i get the sense that your creative spirit is rooted in a deep abiding love for storytelling reading buckowski at age 11 and then of course you had early musical influences like tom waits and jazz legend chet baker what do you mean when you muse that embarrassment and humility are major sources of humor and creativity in general when i was young i um i i felt that i felt out of place a lot and then i also felt you know after my mom passed away that i was always this kind of like a symbolism of like sorrow of like of a child that uh you know his life is broken and i didn't i didn't want to uh be that symbol and at the same time i realized that they were people would laugh out of my inadequacies so like when i was embarrassed or when i would humiliate myself or when i would do things without really thinking about them or say saying crazy things that people would often be very amused by it those influences that you talk about it wasn't that like oh i'm like so [ __ ] cool that i read charles witkowski at 11. my dad had a book of his poetry the thing about bukowski that got me like was that he absolutely hated himself in a lot of ways and he he knew the circumstances of his life he knew that he he just knew a lot of he was self-aware in a way that i've never read any author b and he was self-deprecating in a way that like it really like to right now it makes me excited because when i read that stuff it just it self-awareness and wallowing in something that you know that you won't change that you should i think is is so beautiful i've always been more attracted to like the the kind of the tortured experience of things because i i truly do believe that a lot of things are born out of uh um are born out of really uh bad events sometimes uh that's what shaped me [Music] all right the honey badger you know when like um like like a lotion i wanna say like maybe a moisturizer something that separates and it's been it's like it's been like since high school and it's like separated i think that saved me here because i think the honey badger had separated a little bit like so at the top was just like the nice oil oh never mind wow oh wow oh okay yeah when i when i'm in pain sometimes i tend to yell so i'll move the thing over so you don't get any reds on your ears so as the creator of nora from queens and the author of a travel guide called aquafinas nyc you've long repped the city throughout your work and recently there has been thinkpiece after think piece after counter think piece after counter-thinkpiece new york is dead do you pay attention to that trend and what do you think of it new york is not isn't dead i don't think i i will say that new york is is constantly changing to the point where you know when i was from when i was young and that new york that i loved was someone's version of a changed not the same new york right and i think that's that's the kind of thing about well new yorkers and new yorkers are always going to complain about how much york is changing and new york and new york won't stop changing you know we're all going through something as like a nation as a globe once we're able to kind of see our way out of that whatever these thing pieces think new york was it'll return to it there's been a grassroots movement to save businesses and in particular restaurants that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic how intertwined is the food in new york city to the essence of what makes new york city great in your opinion so intertwined someone has asked like what's your favorite food city and i think that you know my new york is the city to prepare you for all of those food cities so that when you go to you know like oaxaca or you go to to india or you go to singapore all these places like you you kind of understand the basic the bases because you had them at some point you know so yeah new york won't exist without it it's not it has to yeah it won't exist without food culture it's not new york [Music] all right yeah yeah now [Music] yep that's what that is wow wow immediately wow wow you know what that tastes like i'm super into mukbang and there is a a noodle with a very innocent looking chicken on it and it's not even chicken flavored but uh it's called like chicken bulldog it's like a cheese chicken thing but this specific noodle oh wow how come it doesn't go away wow i think if anything it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse so before you ever created a garage band beat i know that you are somewhat of a funder kid on trumpet gaining admission to the highly selective new york city arts high school laguardia and you know i think brass instruments similar to maybe the accordion or the bagpipes i feel like sometimes people goof on them you know they don't get the respect that they deserve for someone who has seen the light what to you is most sacred about the trumpet um what's sacred to me about the trumpet is that it carries your own voice through it so you're able to sing through it so your individual voice is carried through it people can rag you can rag on all you want but i'm gonna blast you away with the volume laguardia is often called the fame school for its formidable list of a-list alums that go from al pacino to jennifer aniston to nicki minaj was that kind of setting that environment with those expectations was that a blessing or a curse for you at that age i think this is a story with a lot of people and it's really a testament to who you are like are you gonna are you gonna sing or swim because i was like the best trumpet player in my junior high school but then like probably the least best trumpet player in laguardia which essentially vets the best trumpet players out of the entire city i think it could be both i just kind of missed having kind of a no strings relationship with the trumpet rather than having to practice all the time and stuff all right aquafin are you ready to move on i does it know worse it doesn't get worse what's it called when your mouth sweats oh drooling duh there's no butthole on it so it's like it comes out so much i have but the butthole one sometimes if you shake it just as i'm gonna you know what [ __ ] it ready are you ready i'm ready i'm ready all right yep oh you ever been so hot you're cold yeah i get those i get those chills and those sweats all the time oh wow just part of me and me so it's hard to overstate your meteoric rise from winning awards to red carpets to the string of powerhouse films that you've been in over the last few years lulu wang the director of the farewell said you sent her an audition tape that convinced her to cast you how much did you channel your own experiences with grandma fina for that audition 100 it was also like the beauty at which lulu was telling the story but also she was my what i think like a totem or an anchor for me to get in the zone for me for me to feel like the true seriousness is like what what was what what's at stake here um my grandma i i it was only my grandma you know the entirety of the shoot i think about my childhood my grandma my mom first went and my grandma kind of came in and when i got sent that script i really had just never imagined that anything like it would come to me sorry i'm just gonna dab my forehead i never thought i'd have to do that okay wow yeah let's go i'm ready yeah [ __ ] yeah okay do you remember what bobby lee episode did he shart uh he might have more than sharded you i vividly remember that that was the best episode ever i remember exactly where i was i remember that moment i remember everything about you you were freaking out too i remember you were like whoa like are you all right that sound when that hit it never really hit the boom mic like it hit my ear in real time like it had a real sort of like flop quality to it right right right it did i'm replaying it myself yeah i'm not threatening anybody i'm not did something just happen yeah hold up hold on hold on hold on ah no oh did you hear it [Laughter] quality do it all right [Music] yeah i never been so hot and cold at the same time all right aquafina here we are approaching the summit of mount scoville and on our hike along the way boy have we covered a lot of ground from your films to your music to your comedy but i want to close with a tribute to one of your childhood obsessions and that is the 1997 classic film airbud and believe it or not it's actually spawned something like 12 sequels and offshoots how do you explain the connection and impact that that 1997 cinematic masterpiece had on a young aquafina i couldn't have big dogs when i was little we only had little we live in an apartment we don't want to be big dogs but i knew that the big dogs you could train them to do all kinds of they shoot hoops and all that kind of stuff one thing that the impact that it did have on me could i ever own an airbud would there ever be a movie about like my experience than everybody because no you'd have to recast the parents to be asian i loved that movie i uh and also homeward bound have you seen home rebound classic story about getting lost and finding your way back and you know what just like the wings of death how you can start off being a comfortable place things take a left things take a right they zig they zag you lose your way in the spice woods but you know what aquafina eventually you find the light and you come out on top and now there is nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you my friend this camera that camera probably just the one that you're looking at let the people know what you have going on in your life um well right now uh probably i'm probably gonna uh take a nap after this please see raya on the last dragon which comes out in theaters on march 5th um also watch watch breaking news in yuba county which is also coming out pretty soon i don't have the exact date on that also um this one this one here this one this one this one don't don't just don't don't anyway thank you sean i'm a huge fan i continue to be after this yeah i hope i didn't i hope i didn't do anything to fracture the friendship sending the sauces away if anything i hope it's brought us closer no you've helped grow the fanship and the friendship and all that so thank you hey what's going on hot ones fans this is sean evans checking in to say thank you so much for watching today's episode and i have an exciting announcement a very exciting announcement a look at us look at us who would have thought not me moment that is right some of my favorite shoes of all time now in hot sauce red and then of course we have the milky silky classic legacy the spicified questions and the refreshment inspired classic legacy hot ones and reebok going together like hot sauce and chicken wings the questions are some of my favorite shoes of all time and i can't believe we have a hot ones version right here look at the details you have the flames on the laces you have the chicken on the back and then you have a dab of hot sauce to represent the last dab and then check out the scoville scale 1 million 990 000 scovilles 1996 that's when the shoot came out that's when i was running around the playground at south elementary with my questions on and here they are on the hot ones table who would have thought and then of course you have the classic legacy milk inspired has the splash of milk along the side and then bill see if you can pan in real quick on this refreshments on the front the chicken on the back pick up your parrot reebok.com hot ones reebok.com hot ones to get your hands on a pair spicy [Music] you

Channel: First We Feast

Views: 1,778,783

Keywords: fwf, first we feast, hot ones, hot ones first we feast, hot ones show, hot ones interview, hot ones season 14, awkwafina, awkwafina hot ones, awkwafina hot ones interview, awkwafina interview, awkwafina interview 2021, sean evans, sean evans interview, sean evans hot ones, hot sauce, hot sauce show, hot sauce interview show, hot ones challenge, chicken wings, buffalo wings, the last dab, the last dab xx, the last dab apollo, heatonist, heatonist hot sauces

Id: beJD7y1mGLA

Length: 26min 46sec (1606 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/NaRa0]

I suppose the unpopular opinion is I liked it, she genuinely seemed nice and like she appreciated Sean’s first two questions.

Edit: spelling

[u/thenightshifters]

I can’t wait until they’re back in person again. Not a fan of the zoom sessions

[u/PM_ME_WUTEVER]

i agree with everyone else that the zoom sessions tend to fall a bit flat compared to in person interviews, but i loved this one. to me, awkwafina has the right combination of energy and deep thinkedness that shines through even with the webcam in the way.

[u/Salvatio]

one hour and no response huh

[u/njdeatheater]

Y'know, didn't love it didn't hate it. It was just kinda boring.

[u/FergusCragson]

I enjoyed this a lot. I felt we got to see Awkwafina as a real human being. She's got the full range of seriousness, a sense of down-to-earth humanity, intelligence, and honesty about how tough it was to lose her mother, and she makes it clear how that shaped her.

Sean gave a great interview as always, and he and his team of researchers once again did an excellent job.

And Awkwafina handled the spices better than I expected!

Thank you, Hot Ones!

[u/cazique]

To her credit, she started having issues in the 60k range but persevered through the end. She is one of those artists I vaguely knew before the show but ended up liking by the end. Going from best at your instrument to worst, once you moved up a few levels, hit home for me.

[u/[deleted]]

Unpopular (?) opinion: Awkwafina isn't funny in any sense of the word.

[u/RoiVampire]

It seems like this season is just so blah, like all the interviews are just so boring. I was excited about this one cause she’s the first celeb this season I recognized and this was sooooo boring