February 06, 2025
First We Feast/YouTube
Questlove completed the entire 'Hot Ones' challenge Thursday, but it didn't come without a cost.
Questlove promised himself he would not become a meme during his appearance on "Hot Ones," but he provided the internet plenty of fodder as he struggled through the spicier sauces.
The drummer and a founding member of the Roots made it to the end of the challenge, sampling all 10 hot sauces on the First We Feast interview series and refusing any milk or ice cream to cool down. Still, his pain was obvious as he yelped and wheezed to the finish line. He even claimed temporary blindness after sampling Da Bomb, the eighth hottest sauce in the line-up.
When he wasn't in crisis mode, Questlove chatted about his newest films. The director, who won an Oscar for his debut "Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)," dropped his second documentary "Ladies & Gentlemen ... 50 Years of SNL Music" on Peacock in late January. His third "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)" heads to Hulu next week.
The "Saturday Night Live" documentary gave him the chance to explore music on the long-running sketch show both through its musical guests and the sketches spoofing real and made-up singers, he said.
"I know that people see 'SNL' as a comedy show, but I feel like it's a musical variety show," he continued. "Like I don't feel as though the generation truly knew who James Brown was until Eddie Murphy put it in context. The same for Stevie Wonder. Eddie Murphy imitating those artists actually helped sustain them past the so-called expiration date."
Questlove also shared memories of the Roots competing against Boyz II Men in a teenage talent show. The members of each group attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts in the late 1980s.
"They had glitter in their hands," he recalled. "And second verse, they'd do something and the glitter would go and all the girls would start screaming like it's Beatles on Sullivan. And I'm like, yo dawg, they go to school with us."
Questlove was falling apart by the time "Hot Ones" host Sean Evans asked him about his star-studded game nights, but he managed to share that "Taylor" (presumably, Berks County native Taylor Swift) is a beast at Uno.
"She took it to levels of excitement that I didn't know one could do in an Uno game," he said.
Check out the rest of Questlove's anecdotes and unique analogies – suffering through spice is a lot like an old Vicks VapoRub commercial, apparently – below:
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