Joseph Gordon-Levitt Gets Cocky While Eating Spicy Wings ｜ Hot Ones [HDduzIB8HjU].webm.wav.txt

 The first five were all kind of like, just like good and tasty and like somewhat hot.
 That's a different...
 Okay.
 Um, movies?
 [laughs]
 [music]
 Hey, what's going on everybody?
 For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
 It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
 And today we close out season 12 with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
 He's the actor, director, and producer you know from films like 500 Days of Summer, 50/50, Inception, and many more.
 He also stars alongside Jamie Foxx and Project Power, which is available on Netflix now.
 Joseph Gordon-Levitt, welcome to the show.
 Thanks man, thanks for having me.
 How are you around the spicy stuff? Are you a hot sauce guy?
 I like some flavor, like, I like a hot sauce when it has flavor.
 I don't like just gratuitous heat for no reason, which I have a feeling some of this might be.
 But, if it's flavorful, you know, I'm into it.
 [music]
 By the way, I don't know if you know, there's a heat wave here in Southern California.
 It's already way too hot for my air conditioning to handle.
 And I haven't started eating this at all.
 Alright.
 Gonna be a sauna in that room.
 I'm already sweating, I don't know if you can tell.
 But I did this pretty good and like serious.
 Should I do an insert shot with my phone?
 [laughs]
 [music]
 That's delicious.
 That, like I would definitely eat that all day.
 [music]
 So you were very much ahead of the curve when it comes to Hollywood stars on YouTube launching a channel for your production company, HitRecord.org, more than 13 years ago,
 when the platform's biggest claims to fame were Fred and Charlie Bit My Finger.
 Did you feel like you were breaking ground on the next big thing back then, or has YouTube's evolution and explosion popularity surprised you?
 I mean, I wouldn't claim to be so prescient or anything, but yeah, I figured a good long time ago that the internet was gonna be a thing, an important thing.
 I find YouTube incredibly beautiful.
 My kids were like interested in what makes fruit go rotten.
 We found a channel on YouTube that's just nothing but very elaborate stop motion footage of all kinds of fruit and food going rotten.
 I wouldn't be able to show my kids a video of something so incredibly specific before YouTube.
 And not to mention, just like, "Oh, I want to hear that Debussy piece. Play it on a banjo."
 You can just find everything.
 Not to mention idiots like me eating too spicy food.
 But the heart and the soul and the good sides of what YouTube is is gonna move past the attention economy eventually.
 We just have to sort of course correct and make it so that it's not sort of this behavior modification technique, big data machine learning, you know, extremist tendencies that are dominating.
 But I don't think YouTube has to be that.
 I think YouTube has it within itself to just be the good stuff.
 Are you a cook? How did you get this job?
 No, I just do interviews.
 Like for us, we were just trying to solve for a problem.
 We're like, how do we make celebrity interview shows more interesting?
 And then this was like the disruptive element, you know?
 You definitely did. You did it.
 That's delicious. That's a super good one.
 I like both of them so far.
 Like I would put these in my pantry and eat them.
 So something that really sets you apart as an actor is your relentless dedication.
 And my favorite example of that is the years that you spent training as a clown under Slava Polunin for his off-Broadway production of Slava's Snow Show.
 How would you sell the traditional Russian art of clowning to people who only know it from like birthday parties in the circus?
 Wow. I'm surprised. I'm very impressed.
 You asked me about this. This is like this is a deep passion of mine that I like don't really talk about.
 And then I get to go on stage with these clowns and no one knows it's me.
 If you're a fan of Charlie Chaplin, but you watch some of his movies that are a little less slapstick and a little more sad, that's what the Russians are kind of like.
 Except it's not black and white. It's like the psychedelic color scheme of a Terry Gilliam movie.
 But sort of Charlie Chaplin acting. It's very, very real. It's very heartfelt.
 It's not at all about like, look, it's they they this is what I love about them.
 They give performances that I know it might sound strange, but because they can dress up as something other than just a normal human, it somehow liberates them, I think, to just put their deepest, most like down inside their feelings out.
 I've been on stage on Broadway with them. I've been on stage a couple of different theaters in France with them. It's brilliant.
 How did you find out that I know about it? Like, I love this. I love the clowns. It's really funny that you know about this.
 Whoa, interesting. I like that. This is delicious so far.
 Three for three. Yeah. Enjoy that while you can here.
 OK.
 So I know that you're a diehard Francophile and even took a break from acting so that you could study French literature at Columbia University.
 Paris has long beckoned America's misfits and artists who want to live the flaneur lifestyle and the birthplace of the Enlightenment.
 But do you think that maybe the mystique of an American in Paris has faded over the years?
 Like, if he were alive today and in his 20s, do you think Hemingway would move to Paris?
 No, probably not. I mean, there's definitely still something in Paris for people who love movies.
 There's no other city in the world that has such a love and like a rich, like deep love for movies.
 You can go to a movie theater that's playing Bogdanovich's Paper Moon on a Wednesday afternoon and there'll be 30 other French people there.
 But yeah, would Hemingway go? I don't know. I don't know where Bohemia is anymore.
 Yeah. Did we lose it?
 You might just kind of have to turn off your phone and there it is. I mean, no one knows about it.
 No one will know that you found it. That's maybe where you find Bohemia.
 Can you recommend a French film or accessible piece of French literature that maybe the audience should check out during quarantine?
 Man, this is such a sweet. I expected this to be like snarky and ironic.
 This is such like a sweet, good hearted, nice and like enlightening interview.
 Well, I'm happy that we could surprise today.
 Let's see. I mean, like if you want something really weird and Frenchy, like watch Alphaville.
 That's like a very strange sci-fi kind of movie.
 A more recent, very weird French movie. There's Carax. Leo's Carax is Holy Motors.
 That's a very weird and very cool movie.
 Hotter than L. Oh, the Grim Reaper. Oh, shit.
 Whoa. I mean, we're supposed to be doing this, right?
 It's been anarchy in the quarantine episodes.
 So on your podcast, Creative Processing, you interview creative people that you admire.
 And I found that your discussion with casting director Mary Verneu was really fascinating.
 Do you have a moment in your life, a moment in your career that you would describe as auditioning rock bottom?
 Well, I don't want to, you know, disclose who was hurtful, but they're definitely like I've auditioned for like one director in particular.
 I'm not going to say who it is, though. Sorry. But like. I admired him a lot.
 Like he made he this was it was only for his like third movie he was making.
 And his first two movies, I was like, I loved so much.
 I went in and, you know, was doing the scene and he stopped me in the middle, which is like, it's best if you can let the actor finish the scene before you give them feedback.
 Stops me in the middle. I'm some. Yes, don't you don't really buy it.
 Just completely generic, useless, dismissive, kind of hateful. There's something that's like, I hate you.
 That's basically like, like, I hate you and I think you're terrible at this.
 And and that was it. And before I went, I had told myself that I was going to tell him how much his movies meant to me.
 I had I had made that agreement with myself before entering the room, before everything started going so badly.
 And so before I left, I was like walking out. I was like, I just wanted to tell you, you know, how much I love the movies and how much they meant to me.
 Because I buy that even less.
 Fuck you, guy. I'm not going to say your name. He probably doesn't even remember that.
 All right, Joseph, we have a recurring segment on our show called Explain That Gram, where we do a deep dive on our guest's Instagram, pull interesting pictures that need more context.
 So I'll show you the picture. You just tell us the bigger story. And first things first, last month you posted this 10 year tribute to Inception.
 What do you remember about the unique mechanics of shooting in a hundred foot long rotating corridor for that legendary hallway scene?
 Oh, that was just the most fun. There were a few different ways that it was shot. There was the rotating one, but then there was also like there were parts on wires.
 They built a long horizontal corridor. Then they built this like 10 story tower, which looked like a hallway, but the floor was a wall.
 And they would point the camera up like that way. So it looked like it was shooting on, you know, just down a hallway.
 But it was actually shooting up a 10 story tower. But the most fun was the rotating one because you didn't have any harness on you.
 You were just like three to to be in this in this crazy. It was really it was like a dream.
 And I had so much fun doing that. And then finally, I know that you're a Star Wars super fan.
 When we had John Boyega on the show, he made some waves for saying that Anakin Skywalker is a much more powerful Jedi than Rey.
 Where do you stand on the strongest, most powerful Jedi in the Star Wars saga?
 Yoda. Look, I'm not the kind of Star Wars fan that can like back up my claim with evidence.
 I haven't read the novels. I you know, I'm not on the Wiki pages. You know, I actually I haven't even seen The Mandalorian.
 But just from my subjective loving perspective and fandom of Star Wars, obviously Yoda, obviously Yoda. Oh, now it's hot.
 That's right. That hurts. I've been holding off on the milk. I'm going to do it now.
 Seafire, gourmet, Reaper hot sauce. It's smoky, that one.
 They roast the chili and you can really kind of taste that that fire in there. Yeah, you can taste that.
 As someone who seems especially interested in immersive technologies, what are the filmmaking innovations you get most excited about when you think about movies in the future?
 Hmm. That's hot. OK, I feel that. Be careful. Be careful on the pores. Be careful on the pores.
 It didn't hit me at first. It was just smoky and delicious. Really good flavor. And it. Yeah.
 Now that's OK. OK. I mean, I was getting cocky. I was like, these are all just taste.
 I could see it. I could see it. I could see it in you. You warned me. You said careful on the back half.
 And you didn't listen to me. You didn't listen to me. I thought it was going to be like the first one's level one.
 Then. Oh, shit, it's really hot. The first five were all kind of like just like good and tasty and like somewhat hot.
 That's a different. OK. Movies. The future of storytelling, it's going to be it's going to be video games.
 I don't think it's going to really be filmmakers who figure out how to do that.
 But it does. It feels like kind of the most groundbreaking story. Careful around your eyes. Careful around your eyes.
 Oh, thanks. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to get chilly in my eyes.
 But like storytelling that's that's completely in a whole different realm than anything we've seen before.
 I don't think it's going to necessarily be the feature film form.
 That one that one taught me a lesson. Thank you for the warning. You're very kind.
 We want it to be the most comfortable, least comfortable interview at the end of the day, you know.
 I thought you wanted me to be in as much pain as possible because that's what the people want to see.
 We want you to lean into it just a little bit, maybe.
 OK, that was a slightly less aggressive pour, but still like it's on there.
 That's very aggressive. Be careful with that. Even even your sort of foot off the gas pours are pedal to the metal pours.
 OK, should I wipe some off? Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, thanks. Got you. Got you.
 Hmm. Yeah, I already feel it. Immediately. Yeah.
 That's that's that's that's just like. Remember I said earlier, I was like to just to just eat like I don't feel a flavor.
 It's hot. OK. What's the holy grail of your magic?
 The gathering card collection. The most.
 The most valuable ones money wise are I have real moxes, I have beta moxes.
 The time walk is my favorite, though. Probably the one I'm most attached to is not even all that valuable, but it's like my first rare card that I ever pulled.
 It's called a nightmare. It's a horse with fire all around it.
 More swamps you have, the more powerful it is, flies. Very appropriate for the situation going on right now.
 Can you remember the Dungeons and Dragons characters that you used to play with as a kid?
 Like which one was the most creative? Fury. Fury was my biggest one that I spent the most time on.
 He was an assassin. A dark elf. Chaotic evil. Really good with daggers.
 My friend Nick. Nick's guy was named Dark Image and mine was named Fury.
 And we were just horrible killers for hire. And we would just go and kill kill people.
 Not in the way we would imagine to kill people.
 Speaking of hyperbolically killing people, are you ready to move on to the next hot sauce?
 This is the bomb beyond insanity. Please be very careful.
 Yeah, I can already smell it. OK.
 That one does have some flavor at the very beginning.
 Fuck. OK, that tastes more like I'm feeling like a stationery store.
 Like cleaning products, maybe like the scent of a marker.
 It's like poison. Yeah, kind of like poison or like, you know, a household item that you definitely don't want to be ingesting.
 Sorry, folks, I don't shit on anybody's product, but like I don't have any good reason to eat that.
 Don't worry about that. Everybody who comes on the show has horrible things to say about that sauce.
 Really? Yeah. So you've performed a duet with Lady Gaga.
 You've rapped on stage at Madison Square Garden alongside Logic, and I know the music instruments behind you right now.
 They're not there just for show. Pound for pound, what do you think is the best band t-shirt in your wardrobe?
 My friend Madison got me an ugly kid Joe t-shirt.
 Partially because I'm named Joe, but partially because I'll show partially because.
 I actually liked that like a couple of songs off that ugly kid Joe CD.
 They did a cover of the Cats in the Cradle. Which as a dad makes me really sad.
 Ugly kid Joe.
 What's your heavy metal album Mount Rushmore?
 How many heads are on Mount Rushmore? Four? Guns n' Ropes kind of counts as heavy metal.
 I guess you could put Appetite on there. Like careful, careful with the eyes. Careful with the eyes. Thank you.
 Fuck sorry. That's why I use this, right? Yeah.
 What else?
 Ride the Lightning, Mastodon, the first Mastodon record. Rage? They're not really metal.
 I don't know, fucking Black Sabbath and I don't fucking know man. Metallica and I mean just it's a Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and Justice for All.
 Kill them all. They're purely Metallica, Mount Rushmore.
 Fuck that sauce. That was bullshit. I want to make sure I don't have any of the remaining of that.
 What the fuck that was. White out that I ate before.
 Remember White Out?
 I found though it kind of like didn't work because if you like white something out, it's not really like you can totally like write over that next thing.
 You know, it's kind of an imperfect product. You have to have patience.
 Joe, really quickly, we have to be at Corden in five minutes. So story time.
 You should put that in the show. You should put that in the show that my publicist just came on the Zoom and was like, very quickly, we have to be at Corden in five minutes.
 Thank you, Erica. All right. Two more to go. How you doing? OK. Yeah. OK. This one.
 Yep. I just felt a little like trembling in my arms.
 I just thought I should know that.
 It's the same bullshit. Fuck this. It tastes exactly the same as the latter one. You lied to me.
 I don't want the smoke, Joe. I don't want the smoke.
 Do you have a favorite food scene from your acting resume? The diner face off in Looper stands out off the top of my head.
 I got to act with Mickey Rourke. Mickey Rourke is one of the great actors of the 20th century.
 And I got to work with him in a movie called Kill Shot.
 He played a murderer and I played a murderer. And there's this one scene where he's he's just sitting there eating lasagna.
 And I'm like this talkative Texas psychopath. And I just don't shut up the whole time.
 And he never says anything. And I'm just like needling him and needling him and needling him.
 And he's just eating lasagna until he shoots me in the face. He ate, I think, probably like two pans of lasagna.
 And he made sure to order it from like his favorite Italian restaurant in town.
 And he ate all of that lasagna. I admire the hell out of it. You should have him on Hot Ones.
 He would be an amazing guest on the show. OK.
 It's behind your milk. Behind my milk? I got you. Oh, there it is. Yeah, OK.
 Oh, it's a weird like color of diarrhea. All right. Oh, sorry. This one is your product.
 I should know. Hey, hey, I apologize. No, we let you we let you swing how you want to swing here on the show.
 OK, I have faith that this is going to be good. This is going to I'm going to enjoy this.
 But if you don't be honest about it, I'll be honest about it. OK, I'm going to go hard.
 These squirts are not helping the diarrhea imagery. I'll be honest. OK, macaroni in the pot.
 OK, that's a lot. That's a lot of hot sauce on there. It's a lot. Cheers. Cheers.
 Right off the bat, there is more flavor. It's like tangy. And now here comes. Oh, fuck.
 OK, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, here we are at the end of our spicy chicken wing saga,
 and we've touched on your many creative projects, both old and new.
 But to close things out, I just want to talk about Sesame Street.
 You're on record as saying that it's your favorite show of all time.
 And you called hosting the 50th anniversary special one of the highlights of your life.
 So now with your brain on fire and your mouth ablaze,
 what is the most important life lesson that you ever learned watching Oscar the Grouch,
 Elmo, Big Bird and the gang? My favorite episode of Sesame Street is the episode where
 Oscar starts an ice cream stand out of his trash can. He's selling cones of ice cream to people.
 And he really wants to sell them spaghetti and meatballs ice cream.
 And nobody wants it because nobody thinks that spaghetti and meatballs ice cream will be any good.
 And all they ever ask for is strawberry, and they keep asking for strawberry.
 And he doesn't want to sell them strawberry. He wants to sell them spaghetti and meatballs ice cream.
 And he never gives up and he never gives in and he sells them spaghetti and meatballs ice cream.
 Oscar the Grouch is my favorite Sesame Street character.
 I am Oscar the Grouch.
 Oscar the Grouch plays by his own rules, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to top out the wings and close out season 12.
 And now all there's left to do is roll out the red carpet for you, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
 This camera or this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.
 You want to be creative. You have something inside you that tells you you want to be creative in life.
 I started this thing a long time ago called Hit Record.
 I know it sounds like I'm plugging my company.
 I know I never shut up about it on social media.
 That's all I ever do is just post about it on social media.
 But it's something that's really, truly dear to me.
 If you want to do something creative today, you want to write, you want to draw, you want to act, you want to make movies or make music, whatever it is you want to do, it's hard to do it alone.
 And if you want to do something creative today, come check it out.
 I care about it probably more than anything else I work on.
 Thank you.
 Great job, Joe. Great job. Great job.
 All right, Joe, thank you so much. Good luck on Corden. I'm definitely tuning in tonight.
 Thanks so much, you guys. Really appreciate it.
 See you, Joe.
 Ha!
 Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
 This is Sean Evans checking in with a very exciting announcement.
 Hot Ones Truth or Dab, the game is finally here, baby.
 What's in the box? What's in the box? What's in the box?
 Well, the kit comes complete with 250 question cards.
 And then here's how the game works.
 You just go around the table, you take turns being the host, being the players.
 And when you're a player and you get asked a question, you have a choice.
 Just like in the show, answer it honestly or suffer the wrath of the last dab and take a look at this.
 There's even a mini bottle of the last dab included.
 I suggest you have napkins on hand.
 You have to have some milk on hand.
 And of course, be careful, be very careful around the eyes.
 Hot Ones Truth or Dab, the play at home game is available at shop.firstwefeast.com,
 heatness.com and Amazon.
 Play at your own risk, wings not included.
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