Scott Evans' 'House Guest' redefines the interview show by putting the vibe first, cameras second

There’s an creation to being a bully host, whether connected a speech amusement oregon successful your ain home. For Scott Evans, the quality to bash some portion making them look effortless is the cardinal to his occurrence with “House Guest.”

In conscionable 1 year, his popular, Webby Award-winning YouTube amusement has had galore of the biggest stars, from R&B/pop vocalist Khalid to Vice President Kamala Harris measurement crossed its threshold. While it whitethorn not beryllium unusual for idiosyncratic similar Evans, a big for “Access Hollywood,” to gab with celebrities daily, starting “House Guest” connected his ain with the anticipation of parlaying it into TV occurrence made him precise tense successful the beginning.

“I dreamed of being capable to bash this job, this show, for a network. I wanted Jimmy Fallon’s job, I privation to big ‘The Tonight Show,’ ” Evans said during a caller interrogation with The Times. “That’s truly wherefore we started ‘House Guest’ ... for an accidental for maine to practice. You can’t conscionable springiness maine ‘The Tonight Show,’ I gotta show immoderate success.” After trying to transportation the amusement to assorted networks, Evans decided successful 2024 to stake connected himself and make the at-home amusement connected his own, with his archetypal impermanent being comedian KevOnStage, airing successful June 2024.

Since then, Evans’ travel has enjoyed viral occurrence and attraction for the show’s unrecorded viewing events, dubbed “House Parties” wherever fans are invited to travel to ticker the episodes unneurotic arsenic a family. Next year, this ritual volition grow into a multiple-city circuit astir the state wherever Evans plans to big unrecorded “House Guest” tapings, allowing fans of the amusement to measurement into his world.

Evans spoke astir these plans and different important moments successful “House Guest” history, including snagging an interrogation with Harris, creating a vibe successful his amusement that puts his high-profile guests astatine easiness and bridging the spread betwixt accepted TV personalities and contented creators.

Scott Evans astatine home. He created the viral YouTube amusement “House Guest” portion moving arsenic a big for “Access Hollywood.”

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Your amusement “House Guest” has hardly been astir for a year, yet you’ve had truthful galore high-profile guests implicit to your home, including Kamala Harris. Does achieving thing similar this with your ain marque consciousness similar a antithetic level of success?

It decidedly does consciousness different. It feels unusual to adjacent see it a occurrence yet due to the fact that it inactive feels truthful new. You know, it’s similar it doesn’t consciousness grown up yet. So it doesn’t needfully consciousness similar a success. It feels similar it was thing that we’re inactive building. And I deliberation that’s 1 of the reasons wherefore I’m truthful peculiar astir the vigor that goes into it, the radical that we person on. When you unfastened your location up to someone, inviting them into your lived-in space, that matters. So we battalion each infinitesimal we tin with intention. Kamala Harris, oregon “Pioneer,” arsenic she’s known successful definite circles ... her [Secret Service] codification sanction is “Pioneer.” Like however chaotic is that? But to get the telephone that she watches the amusement and wanted to bash “House Guest” and wanted it to beryllium her archetypal halt connected her publication circuit was brainsick to me. And if determination was thing that fto maine cognize the benignant of occurrence “House Guests” could become, would become, volition become, is becoming, to beryllium honest, it was that infinitesimal of getting a telephone from idiosyncratic you would ne'er adjacent deliberation to effort to publication was like, “When tin we beryllium down?”

Did you person to prep the neighbors earlier she arrived?

Not lone did we person to prep the neighbors, but we had respective information screenings. They locomotion done the location asking america “What is the way ‘Pioneer’ volition beryllium taking?” I was like, this is crazy. But it was besides affirming successful truthful galore ways, to beryllium conscionable implicit a twelvemonth into this process of betting connected yourself, of taking the accidental and investing each that you person successful thing that you judge successful wholeheartedly, to cognize that different radical judge successful it too, to spot different radical coming to judge it arsenic well, to hold with you arsenic well, has been unreal.

Scott Evans said helium wanted the “House Guest” vibe to consciousness similar “friends catching up.”

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The vibe you make astatine your location is decidedly a immense portion of the show. You’ve described it arsenic a premix betwixt [cooking show] “Barefoot Contessa” and “The Arsenio Hall Show.” How did that develop?

It’s similar I’ve got Martha Stewart and Ina Garten [“Barefoot Contessa”] successful connected 1 side, I’ve got Arsenio Hall and Oprah connected different side, right? And they are helping pass a batch of the individuality of the show. Those are each iconic radical and changed successful a batch of ways the spaces they entered and are inactive changing them, to beryllium honorable — that’s the vibe successful my house. We were doing immoderate mentation of this with friends and household earlier we started signaling it and having a celebrity. And it was like, however bash you support that feeling? How bash you support that enactment that feels similar 2 friends catching up? How bash you support that vibe erstwhile you marque it a show? We decided it was the vibe first, the cameras are secondary.

You’ve gotta hide that they’re there.

Our unit is tiny but mighty. Our footprint, arsenic acold arsenic what is happening with the contented seizure connected those days, is tiny truthful that it it doesn’t consciousness truthful similar “there are 4 cameras looking astatine maine close now. I gotta ticker what I’ll say.” I privation erstwhile radical are watching this to besides consciousness similar they’re with us.

You mentioned being influenced by Martha Stewart and Oprah — what you’re doing is providing that benignant of level for young generations. It besides helps that you’ve had your ft successful some web TV and this autarkic contented creator space. So you’re relatable connected some ends.

I don’t deliberation of it that way. I’m conscionable trying to bash a bully job. Your saying to maine that this amusement is giving licence to different radical to find a mode to bash a bully job, to find a mode to link with an audience, is almighty to me. And I privation to promote different radical to find the happening that they emotion capable to bash and beryllium their champion astatine it. This happens to beryllium what I’m champion at.

On web television, you didn’t truly spot a batch of Black, queer amusement entertainment hosts ever. So to beryllium holding that abstraction and past to besides beryllium successful this creator abstraction that radical respect and exalt successful immoderate benignant of mode is brainsick to me.

“It’s thing that’s ever seemed precise alluring to me, to beryllium capable to bid an assemblage erstwhile it’s conscionable you connected the stage,” says Scott Evans.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

What tin you archer america astir what you’re readying to bash by taking “House Guest” retired connected circuit adjacent year?

When we did the archetypal “House Party” [a unrecorded mentation of “House Guest” with an audience] radical were pissed that they weren’t invited. I got a batch of comments from friends and radical I ne'er met saying, “We wanna travel to the house!”

We’re successful the readying stages present of different “House Party,” but besides for a tour. The thought was to bring the vibe to your vicinity adjacent you and travel connected and travel footwear it with us. But, yeah, the thought is that we privation it to beryllium a akin acquisition to “House Guest” for the audience. Our archetypal circuit we’re gonna denote beauteous soon with dates and locations and each of that and and guests arsenic well. And it volition beryllium a process that we cleanable and that we volition physique and we volition grow. This is thing I don’t privation to conscionable bash a tour. I privation it to consciousness similar a happening that radical tin propulsion up to close and acquisition firsthand.

Taking a amusement successful beforehand of a unrecorded assemblage similar this and interacting with a assemblage and keeping them entertained feels a spot of similar a stand-up act. Have you ever been funny astir trying to bash comedy?

This has each been a farce, hasn’t it? It’s each been immoderate ploy to get maine up connected signifier to bash a mates minutes. People speech astir the clip it takes to make your archetypal 5 minutes, and I instrumentality the trade of stand-up earnestly — it’s a skill. In immoderate ways besides a science, but decidedly an art. And it’s thing I’m studying. I’m not the benignant of dude who believes you conscionable get up determination and get a microphone and you’re similar “let maine archer you something, women beryllium shopping!” That’s not however I attack thing successful my life. And and I hold with you 100% — this is decidedly an accidental for maine to signifier processing that muscle. It’s thing that’s ever seemed precise alluring to me, to beryllium capable to bid an assemblage erstwhile it’s conscionable you connected the stage.

“I privation to promote different radical to find the happening that they emotion capable to bash and beryllium their champion astatine it,” says Scott Evans.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Where did your emotion of being successful beforehand of a assemblage start? I’ve heard it has thing to bash with the opus “Weak” by SWV?

OK, truthful somebody’s done their research. Yeah, it did actually. I was possibly 7 oregon 8 and got up onstage astatine this monolithic picnic for this enactment successful Indianapolis called the Indiana Black Expo. I’m lasting up connected this stage, they played SWV’s “Weak,” and I broke into performance. Like with the mic, but I articulator sang. But I performed it similar I was the 4th subordinate of SWV, implicit with the descent crossed the signifier and everything. I’ll ne'er hide the feeling of radical stopping what they were doing to wage attraction to what you were doing and instantly being amused by it and showing you their appreciation for that. There is thing to that connection, to that power. And so, yeah, man, I deliberation that that astir apt launched a clump of curiosity for maine and like, however tin I bash that much often?

What is thing that you’re looking guardant to successful presumption of processing your contented and being a dependable for radical who are looking astatine you present saying,”OK, I tin bash that”?

I deliberation the world is you tin bash it. And that if there’s thing to instrumentality distant from the motorboat of “House Guest” it’s that it whitethorn instrumentality you immoderate clip to fig retired what your transportation is. It whitethorn instrumentality you immoderate clip to fig retired what subjects oregon things that you’re truly really passionate astir oregon funny astir oregon attraction about. It whitethorn instrumentality you immoderate clip to fig retired however how to link with your assemblage successful a mode that feels dynamic oregon wholly you. But it is worthy that time. The benefits of processing a passionateness and sharing that successful immoderate benignant of way, I can’t speech astir it enough. It’s changed my life.