How Joel McHale Prepared Donald Glover for ‘Hot Ones’

Donald Glover‘s Hot Ones episode took him back to a behind-the-scenes moment shared with Joel McHale while filming Community.

He recalled that during the show’s first season, he “really looked up to” McHale, whose diet at that time only consisted of espresso and eggs. “Like, that was it — literally — because he wanted to get in shape [and] he had like a shirt-off scene,” said Glover.

To flavor his eggs, McHale would use hot sauce and encouraged Glover to season his eggs with spice as well. “I started putting hot sauce on everything and then we started getting into, like, a thing with each other, and I realized that must have boosted my tolerance,” the actor and rapper realized.

He then thanked McHale on camera for inadvertently preparing him for his feat on the web series.

Glover handled himself well throughout the episode, but struggled in the middle. Da’ Bomb Beyond Insanity proved to be true to its name as the Atlanta alum declared, “I don’t like that.” It got to the point where he could barely focus on host Sean Evans’ question, as he recovered from the painful taste.

He had a different experience with the second-to-last bottle, High River Sauces’ Peppers Up!, made with the supremely spicy Apollo pepper. “It’s making me laugh, [Da’ Bomb] was so painful. This shit is crazy,” he said, fearing what was to come before tasting the new sauce.

After taking a bite, he remarked, “It feels like ayahuasca.” Evans had a similar reaction. “Listen, I’ve been doing this long enough that every once in a while — and I’m catching it right now — I get a head high, a sort of weightlessness feeling and it’s euphoric and I like it.”

“I love it, I’m definitely getting it too,” said the rapper.

By the time that they reached the final bottle, Glover discovered the secret to Hot Ones. “Here’s the key to the last one — by this point, you know it’s going to be OK. That’s what’s crazy about it,” he said. “It does feel like OK [at the beginning], then you get to something where you’re like, ‘I can’t do this’ and then you get through it and you’re like, ‘Oh, I can do fucking anything.’”

While fans are still waiting for the Community movie, Glover is closing the chapter on his rap alter ego Childish Gambino with his new album Bando Stone & the New World, out Friday.