Always camera ready, you can trust that Scott Evans will get the scoop on any celebrity. The multi-talented creative’s portfolio demonstrates that he can easily shift from conducting red carpet interviews at the Met Gala to hosting reality tv shows like Couple to Throuple. And with a recent Webby Award win for his YouTube series, House Guest, Evans proves how pervasive his media influence truly is.
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When the Emmy Award-nominated entertainment journalist isn’t charming the masses on a TV screen, he’s running his Summer Break Studios production company, sitting on the Television Academy’s board of directors, and shepherding the next generation of creatives through collaborating with organizations like Legacy Youth Leadership. And if anything, he always serves a fresh, bold look, whether in front of the camera or behind it. INTO chatted with Evans to dish about his pre-show rituals, his favorite “house guests,” and manifesting millions with TV titan Oprah Winfrey.
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What was your journey like pursuing journalism and hosting?
My first gig was in the third grade. My sister was the courtside reporter for the Indiana Pacers with Fox Sports Network and she booked me on my first gig where I played a young Reggie Miller against a young Larry Bird for the player intro videos. I got a day out of school and 50 bucks, and I was like, “Oh, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” Looking back, it was one camera, one light, one camera operator, and an audio guy, but it felt like 50 people. I felt like I was on a Steven Spielberg set. I was like, “Yeah, this is what I want to do. I’m going to see my name in big lights.” And I have been pursuing a career in television production in some capacity ever since then.
Do you have any pre-show rituals that you swear by?
Whether it’s House Guest or Access Hollywood or America’s Big Deal or World of Dance or a red carpet that I’m hosting for Essence Magazine, I think that any opportunity where I’m going to be in front of people or interacting with someone and welcoming their energy in tandem with mine, I do my very best to prepare as much as I can. My pre-show ritual would include a prayer of surrender, a focus into the moment, and gratitude that I’m getting to live my dream every single day. I hope that through the experience of whatever content we’re building, whatever interview or interaction that I might be preparing for, that someone sees that and believes that they can and should be entitled to the same experience. Then moments before it’s show time, I surrender all of that to release control of what I want the ideal outcome to be so that what is necessary, what is supposed to be, has space to thrive.
Speaking of House Guest, who have been some of your favorite people to pull up to the show?
That’s a great question and I know this is going to sound like you’re like, “Okay, all of them are your favorite,” but they all really are favorites for different reasons. I do really love anybody who’s willing to pull up to your house for three hours. The two that surprised me the most were Tika Sumpter and Andra Day. Andra because I knew her to be funny. We could talk about one thing, and then for 20 minutes, we talked about every other thing.
Tika, I had no idea that she was as fun and hilarious. I did know that she was deep, but I didn’t know that she had such a sense of humor, and I did not know that she was so wild. I enjoy hearing people laugh. I enjoy being able to make people laugh. But there is something about Tika Sumpter’s laugh that you don’t ever want to end.
The one that meant quite a lot to me was Cynthia Erivo. She was actually one of the reasons why we started the show. She called me in February before any of the press stuff that started happening for Wicked and was like, “I’ve marked every moment of my career, every level of my career with a meaningful interaction with you, and I don’t want Wicked to be any different. So what can we do? I want to do something long for me, but I want it to be whatever you want it to be.” We started shooting House Guest so that by the time she was ready to do the show, we’d have a show worthy of receiving her. It meant really a lot to me that she showed up the way that she did and that she loved the episode and that people were able to see her.
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You have your first Webby Award under your belt. What went through your head when it was announced that you had won?
Oh, God. I panicked. Queer panic. Immediately, it was, “What am I going to wear?” But I know that in the hands of Khai St. Lawrence, my stylist, I knew that I was going to be fine, but I did panic about what I was going to wear. We’re not even a year old yet, and we’re nominated in a pretty competitive category up against the TED Talks series, but when you’re just focused doing the thing, you don’t know how people are even responding to it. You don’t know how it’s resonating. You just know you’re getting the work done and that it matters to you and that you are proud of it. It is incredibly validating and affirming to have been able to announce before our first year was even up, that people in the the industry saw our show in such a way that they thought, this is the best of the internet. To be nominated was already like, “What?” So to win was just like, “Y’all playing.”
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A feast of beauty
Speaking of the best of the internet, you were interviewing Law Roach when he realized that Zendaya and Anna Sawai were twinning. What was that moment like for you?
We were realizing it together. So we were talking about the other people that he was working with and the effort and time that this took. We were able to see Zendaya, but I didn’t want to focus solely on Zendaya because I also knew what he was saying was, yes, of course, Zendaya looks great. She’s never not going to look great. But I also want to bring some awareness to some of these other people that haven’t been mentioned yet, and I was happy to explore those with him. But I mentioned Zendaya because she had arrived at the same time as Diana Ross. To clock the döppelganger, quote-unquote, outfit was crazy and to also do that while on camera? You know how we can say things to each other when we haven’t said any words? The things Law was shouting at me.
So when he said, “Who wore it better?” Baby, I knew that was the best he could say for TV. I also can’t imagine what it would be like to be someone who has put in so many hours in gathering together looks for the Met Gala, this Met Gala in particular, and to see such a similar look while you’re doing press. How jarring that must have been. But I think both ladies look fantastic. So I thoroughly enjoyed it. But there was nothing like Law’s hair flip and walk away.
Obviously, wild moments on the red carpet happen all the time. Are there any other interviews that stay at the forefront of your mind?
So many moments that feel big. Oprah invited us to her home for a gospel brunch. I did an interview with her and I took a check that I had written to myself for a million dollars because I wanted to be able to cash it, modeled after this moment I saw with her and Ellen DeGeneres. She wanted to know what it was like to walk into a bank and cash a million dollars. And she tells the story, and then she’s like, “Okay, well, actually, it was a $2 million check, but that’s not important.” So I thought that was hilarious. So I wrote myself this $2 million check, and I asked her at the end of our interview at her home to believe with me for the ability to have a similar experience that someday I would be able to cash that check.
And for two or three years, every time I saw her, she would ask me where we were with the check. And I will never forget covering for Access Hollywood at the Toronto Film Festival, the premiere for the documentary on Sydney Portier. I walked in with tequila shots. It’s eleven in the morning and she was like, “Scott, what is that?” I was like, “They’re tequila shots, but they’re for later.” She was like, “What’s that for?” I said, “Well, it’s for a celebration.” And she was like, “What do we celebrate? Did you? The check?” And I was like, “Yeah, the check.” And she cried. I cried. I’m getting emotional right now just thinking about it. It’s just a really cool moment to be able to see the people who have inspired your career in television, to see you enough to care about your life and the things that you are challenged by and your wins. It’s pretty freaking special.
Shifting gears, you’ve hosted several reality competitions. Are there any reality shows you’d ever be on?
I really wanted to be on The Real World for a long time. I just thought there was something about that experience that was so interesting, especially early on in the show’s existence where the conversations were more about society and the commentary was more about who we were, how we were showing up, what we needed to work on, and how we could come together, no matter our differences. I would probably say that. I wanted to be on it so bad because I also felt like [being on] The Real World meant then maybe you would also get a chance to be on The Challenge. I felt like I would do pretty good on The Challenge until I did the Ninja Warrior obstacle course. I realized that that’s not my ministry.
Last question, with it being Pride Month, what is Pride mantra that you have?
Maybe this is a mantra, more you, more you, more you. How can you be more you? You know what I mean? With those inflections, they mean quite different things. And so I think that’s really what I’m focused on right now. It’s not necessarily how do you be more busy. It doesn’t necessarily mean how do you expand, but it’s like, how do you enrich? How do you turn inward so that you can be more yourself and understand the value of that? That’s where I am for not just this June, but this year. ♦
To watch Scott Evans on Access Hollywood, check your local listings or catch the latest episodes streaming on Peacock.
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