There’s an art to being a good host, whether on a talk show or in your own home. For Scott Evans, the ability to do both while making them look effortless is the key to his success with “House Guest.”
In just one year, his popular, Webby Award-winning YouTube show has had many of the biggest stars, from R&B/pop singer Khalid to Vice President Kamala Harris step across its threshold. While it may not be strange for someone like Evans, a host for “Access Hollywood,” to gab with celebrities daily, starting “House Guest” on his own with the hope of parlaying it into TV success made him very nervous in the beginning.
“I dreamed of being able to do this job, this show, for a network. I wanted Jimmy Fallon’s job, I want to host ‘The Tonight Show,’ ” Evans said during a recent interview with The Times. “That’s really why we started ‘House Guest’ … for an opportunity for me to practice. You can’t just give me ‘The Tonight Show,’ I gotta demonstrate some success.” After trying to pitch the show to various networks, Evans decided in 2024 to bet on himself and create the at-home show on his own, with his first guest being comedian KevOnStage, airing in June 2024.
Since then, Evans’ journey has enjoyed viral success and attention for the show’s live viewing events, dubbed “House Parties” where fans are invited to come to watch the episodes together as a family. Next year, this ritual will expand into a multiple-city tour around the country where Evans plans to host live “House Guest” tapings, allowing fans of the show to step into his world.
Evans spoke about these plans and other important moments in “House Guest” history, including snagging an interview with Harris, creating a vibe in his show that puts his high-profile guests at ease and bridging the gap between traditional TV personalities and content creators.
Your show “House Guest” has barely been around for a year, yet you’ve had so many high-profile guests over to your home, including Kamala Harris. Does achieving something like this with your own brand feel like a different level of success?
It definitely does feel different. It feels strange to even consider it a success yet because it still feels so new. You know, it’s like it doesn’t feel grown up yet. So it doesn’t necessarily feel like a success. It feels like it was something that we’re still building. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I’m so particular about the energy that goes into it, the people that we have on. When you open your home up to someone, inviting them into your lived-in space, that matters. So we pack every moment we can with intention. Kamala Harris, or “Pioneer,” as she’s known in certain circles … her [Secret Service] code name is “Pioneer.” Like how wild is that? But to get the call that she watches the show and wanted to do “House Guest” and wanted it to be her first stop on her book tour was crazy to me. And if there was anything that let me know the kind of success “House Guests” could become, would become, will become, is becoming, to be honest, it was that moment of getting a call from someone you would never even think to try to book was like, “When can we sit down?”
Did you have to prep the neighbors before she arrived?
Not only did we have to prep the neighbors, but we had several security screenings. They walk through the house asking us “What is the path ‘Pioneer’ will be taking?” I was like, this is crazy. But it was also affirming in so many ways, to be just over a year into this process of betting on yourself, of taking the chance and investing all that you have in something that you believe in wholeheartedly, to know that other people believe in it too, to see other people coming to believe it as well, to agree with you as well, has been unreal.
The vibe you create at your house is definitely a huge part of the show. You’ve described it as a mix between [cooking show] “Barefoot Contessa” and “The Arsenio Hall Show.” How did that develop?
It’s like I’ve got Martha Stewart and Ina Garten [“Barefoot Contessa”] in on one side, I’ve got Arsenio Hall and Oprah on another side, right? And they are helping inform a lot of the identity of the show. Those are all iconic people and changed in a lot of ways the spaces they entered and are still changing them, to be honest — that’s the vibe in my house. We were doing some version of this with friends and family before we started recording it and having a celebrity. And it was like, how do you keep that feeling? How do you keep that interaction that feels like two friends catching up? How do you keep that vibe when you make it a show? We decided it was the vibe first, the cameras are secondary.
You’ve gotta forget that they’re there.
Our crew is small but mighty. Our footprint, as far as what is happening with the content capture on those days, is small so that it it doesn’t feel so like “there are four cameras looking at me right now. I gotta watch what I’ll say.” I want when people are watching this to also feel like they’re with us.
You mentioned being influenced by Martha Stewart and Oprah — what you’re doing is providing that type of platform for young generations. It also helps that you’ve had your foot in both network TV and this independent content creator space. So you’re relatable on both ends.
I don’t think of it that way. I’m just trying to do a good job. Your saying to me that this show is giving license to other people to find a way to do a good job, to find a way to connect with an audience, is powerful to me. And I want to encourage other people to find the thing that they love enough to do and be their best at it. This happens to be what I’m best at.
On network television, you didn’t really see a lot of Black, queer entertainment show hosts ever. So to be holding that space and then to also be in this creator space that people respect and exalt in some sort of way is crazy to me.
What can you tell us about what you’re planning to do by taking “House Guest” out on tour next year?
When we did the first “House Party” [a live version of “House Guest” with an audience] people were pissed that they weren’t invited. I got a lot of comments from friends and people I never met saying, “We wanna come to the house!”
We’re in the planning stages now of another “House Party,” but also for a tour. The idea was to bring the vibe to your neighborhood near you and come on and come kick it with us. But, yeah, the idea is that we want it to be a similar experience to “House Guest” for the audience. Our first tour we’re gonna announce pretty soon with dates and locations and all of that and and guests as well. And it will be a process that we perfect and that we will build and we will grow. This is something I don’t want to just do a tour. I want it to feel like a thing that people can pull up to right and experience firsthand.
Taking a show in front of a live audience like this and interacting with a crowd and keeping them entertained feels a bit of like a stand-up act. Have you ever been curious about trying to do comedy?
This has all been a farce, hasn’t it? It’s all been some ploy to get me up on stage to do a couple minutes. People talk about the time it takes to develop your first five minutes, and I take the craft of stand-up seriously — it’s a skill. In some ways also a science, but definitely an art. And it’s something I’m studying. I’m not the kind of dude who believes you just get up there and get a microphone and you’re like “let me tell you something, women be shopping!” That’s not how I approach anything in my life. And and I agree with you 100% — this is definitely an opportunity for me to practice developing that muscle. It’s something that’s always seemed very alluring to me, to be able to command an audience when it’s just you on the stage.
Where did your love of being in front of a crowd start? I’ve heard it has something to do with the song “Weak” by SWV?
OK, so somebody’s done their research. Yeah, it did actually. I was maybe 7 or 8 and got up onstage at this massive picnic for this organization in Indianapolis called the Indiana Black Expo. I’m standing up on this stage, they played SWV’s “Weak,” and I broke into performance. Like with the mic, but I lip sang. But I performed it like I was the fourth member of SWV, complete with the slide across the stage and everything. I’ll never forget the feeling of people stopping what they were doing to pay attention to what you were doing and immediately being amused by it and showing you their appreciation for that. There is something to that connection, to that power. And so, yeah, man, I think that that probably launched a bunch of curiosity for me and like, how can I do that more often?
What is something that you’re looking forward to in terms of developing your content and being a voice for people who are looking at you now saying,”OK, I can do that”?
I think the reality is you can do it. And that if there’s anything to take away from the launch of “House Guest” it’s that it may take you some time to figure out what your delivery is. It may take you some time to figure out what subjects or things that you’re really actually passionate about or curious about or care about. It may take you some time to figure out how how to connect with your audience in a way that feels dynamic or wholly you. But it is worth that time. The benefits of developing a passion and sharing that in some sort of way, I can’t talk about it enough. It’s changed my life.
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