Trend of gimmicks in television interview programs

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Gillian Anderson is reminiscing about raisin pie, a favourite dessert from her childhood, ideally served with a “foreskin” on top. Hugh Jackman selects some Aussie staples including a meat pie with tomato sauce and Tim Tams, with which he demonstrates the technique for a “Tim Tam slam”. Gordon Ramsay starts with a “full English”, noting that his working-class Scottish mum would’ve been appalled by the white truffle shaved over his eggs.

Welcome to the evocative and often illuminating world of Last Meals, a talk show in which host and chef Josh Scherer asks his guests to nominate the food that they’d choose for their final feast on Earth.

Launched on YouTube in 2020, Last Meals has this month also migrated to Netflix, where it’s now into its second season. And it represents another inventive spin on the sturdy TV staple of the chat show.

The classics of the genre, like Michael Parkinson’s ageless eponymous series for the BBC and ITV, were typically shot in a studio furnished with chairs and a coffee table for water glasses. Graham Norton’s long-running production, with its red couch and invitation for guests to submit drink orders, injects a more festive spirit. On his Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, David Letterman’s opted for a couple of armchairs placed at the centre of a bare space, sometimes with a brick wall or curtain in the background, the stripped-back setting signalling that the focus is firmly on conversation not decoration.

Scherer’s regular setting, with its shadowy lighting and commodious wooden table, resembles a not-especially-inviting tiled kitchen tucked somewhere in the bowels of a castle. His series, though, is a happy place, recalling the enduring format of Desert Island Discs, which debuted on BBC Radio in 1942. Like music choices, food selections, accompanied by explanations of why they warrant a place in the showcase, reveal much about an interviewee.

That’s also a strategy adopted by a couple of local productions: Take 5 With Zan Rowe, which grew from her Triple J show, and Shaun Micallef’s Eve of Destruction. Rowe’s reliably engaging series has become a highlight in the ABC’s annual light-entertainment line-up. The recently launched fifth season features an eclectic array of guests, from Peter Garrett and Shania Twain to David Byrne and Jacinda Ardern. Rowe is an appreciative and knowledgeable host and her guests’ choices of a handful of songs significant to them have given us some valuable accounts of their history and influences. The focus has been mainly on musicians but, as the inclusion of Ardern indicates, the roster can readily accommodate people whom viewers might just want to know more about.

A handy attribute of the format is that it enables conversation to flow easily. The guests have chosen the playlist, so they arrive ready to talk. And all that needs to happen if the discussion runs out of steam is for Rowe to ask, “So what’s your next choice?”

Micallef’s show is consistent with the work of a talent who habitually takes a left-field approach. Think of his late-night series, Micallef Tonight; his current-affairs show, Newstopia; or his crime series, Mr and Mrs Murder. For the interview program, he confects a plainly wacky scenario about a catastrophic event requiring the guest to flee their home with only enough time to grab a couple of precious possessions. What would those be and why?

The prized items often relate to childhood or adolescence: Pia Miranda with her Humphrey B. Bear toy; Rebecca Gibney with her teenage beauty-pageant sashes. Such memories crop up repeatedly in Rowe and Micallef’s shows, as they do in Scherer’s.

With food and music as the cues, discussion turns to formative experiences and rites of passage. In Last Meals, Jackman’s choice of McDonald’s fries relates to him getting his driver’s licence and heading straight to the nearest drive-through to celebrate.

The kinds of reflections that emerge in this context can differ from those that come up when guests do interviews purely tied to their latest ventures. Of course, that’s still part of the reason they are there. Jackman’s appearance on Last Meals, for instance, coincided with the release of The Death of Robin Hood. And Anderson was promoting her new film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and her beverage brand, G Spot.

But their appearances demonstrate that, ideally, the interviews can be something more than glib PR exercises. On Norton’s show, the guests on the red couch are usually there to plug their latest film, play, book or album. The desire for publicity enables access. Yet the show’s been fun to watch for 33 seasons. That’s also the reason that Will Ferrell, Jimmy Tatro and Fortune Feimster, who star in the golf comedy The Hawk, recently turned up on Hot Ones: Extra Heat.

Like Last Meals, Hot Ones now has a presence on Netflix. This new series of specials hooked to big releases on the streaming platform functions in much the same way as host Sean Evans’ much-loved YouTube series. The interview show has accumulated a catalogue of high-profile guests since its 2015 debut and become a favoured stop on the publicity circuit, with Jason Bateman noting that his daughters insisted he appear on it when he was doing the rounds for Black Rabbit.

Described by the host as “The show with hot questions and even hotter wings”, it has a distinctive set-up with Evans and his guests eating fried chicken with progressively hotter sauces through the interview. Fuelled by chilli-fired potency, these encounters can assume the impression of slow-burn torture. Yet while Hot Ones has the premise of a prank, the well-researched Evans asks insightful and often cheeky questions. And the frequently struggling subjects, dealing with scorched tongues and watering eyes and grabbing gulps of water and milk, know what they’re in for, although, as Gwyneth Paltrow put it, “The violation is intense”.

It’s bizarre, but it also works. Yes, it’s a gimmick, but it does tend to strip interviewees of their composure and any agent-approved PR armour: it’s probably hard to stick to the official playbook when your mouth’s burning.

As concepts like this increasingly migrate from viral online media to your TV, some viewers might be turned off by their sometimes-sensational inclinations. A recent episode of Hot Ones with Tom Holland, for instance, ended with the Spider-Man star vomiting on camera. But there can also be substance behind the stunts. Whatever form it takes, an animated and informative conversation between interesting people is always going to be a winner.

Take Neil deGrasse Tyson’s episode of Last Meals: the astrophysicist, author and radio host is a lively and voluble dining companion, bubbling with opinions and questions. And he’s probably the only guest to explain why food tastes better when you chew with your mouth open. (It’s because of the air.) Then, further demonstrating the agile mind that’s evident throughout, he asks, “Why save your greatest meal for your last? Why not make at least one great meal a week, if not every day?”

Definitely food for thought.

Last Meals is available to stream on Netflix and YouTube.