Questlove survived the spicy wings on ‘Hot Ones’
The Roots drummer and documentary filmmaker turned up the drama and talk of his Philly school days on the YouTube interview show.
“I will not be a meme!,” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson tells host Sean Evans, attempting to remain stoic and stone-faced while eating chicken wings doused with increasingly intense levels of hot sauce on the new episode of YouTube interview show Hot Ones.
Good luck with that.
By the time the Roots drummer and music documentary filmmaker makes it to level eight and a bottle of Da’ Bomb Beyond Insanity sauce, he struggles to keep tears from running down his cheek.
“Am I crying? he asks. “I’m blind!”
Questlove was on the show — which was recorded on his 54th birthday in January — to promote two new music movies he’s directed.
Ladies and Gentleman … 50 Years of SNL Music, which opens with a brilliantly edited montage that mashes up a half-century of performances, is streaming on Peacock. And his Sly Stone movie, Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), arrives Feb. 13 on Hulu, after having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Ultimately, while telling stories about attending the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in South Philly with Boyz II Men or explaining his philosophy of drumming — “I’m a person who thinks the less you play, the better you sound” — Questlove makes it though all 10 levels, without recourse to water, milk, or ice cream.
But not without drama. At one point, he asks, “Why am I holding my hands in prayer?” At another, he says: “I’m so humbled! ... I’m of a certain age, remember those Vicks VapoRub ads?” — that showed steam coming off a patient’s chest. “That is happening to me now!”
Questlove’s Hot Ones episode, which is titled “Questlove Refuses Defeat While Eating Spicy Wings,” is streaming on YouTube.