How Evan Ross Katz Is Putting His Own Spin on Late Night Shows That Came Before Him with New Netflix Podcast (Exclusive)
How Evan Ross Katz Is Putting His Own Spin on Late Night Shows That Came Before Him with New Netflix Podcast (Exclusive)
Staff AuthorThu, April 30, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
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Evan Ross Katz.Credit: Clay Stephen Gardner -
Evan Ross Katz is bringing his iconic cultural commentary to Netflix as he launches his podcast Shut Up Evan on the streaming platform
The content creator will invite guests to partake in his panel-style segment, "The Group Chat," and his intimate spin on a one-on-one celebrity interview
PEOPLE can exclusively reveal that Kate Hudson will feature as Katz's first guest on the premiere episode, which will be released on May 1
Evan Ross Katz is offering a seat in the audience to those typically found on pop culture's center stage.
The writer and online personality is known and loved for his fan-favored commentary and gift of gab, both of which will be elevated in fresh ways as he premieres his video-podcast Shut Up Evan on Netflix on May 1. His previous series of the same name earned Katz, 37, critical acclaim, and joining the streaming service will only allow him to expand the conversation to include more voices — literally.
He points to a new segment titled "The Group Chat," which will feature a rotating trio of celebrities, influencers and general beacons of culture chiming in on timely hot topics. Instead of simply giving creatives another platform to plug their latest projects, Katz is also providing a way for them to fan out over their latest obsessions.
Evan Ross Katz.Credit: Jenny Anderson/Getty
"I noticed that so often on shows like Watch What Happens Live or on press tours, what have you, you'd have celebrities that are themselves fans of other things, and I love that so much," he tells PEOPLE. "I kind of wanted to try and use that impulse ... and sort of bring that into a conversation."
Katz says he pulls inspiration from similarly formatted panel-style series like The Graham Norton Show and Chelsea Lately. In terms of his general approach to talking through the most compelling recent headlines, he's also influenced by Talk Soup and Best Week Ever, "shows that rounded up and sifted through the pop culture landscape and offered analysis and commentary," Katz adds.
While he's a great admirer of the shows that came before his, Katz's interview experience is nothing close to insignificant. His interest in framing celebrities as fans was born of real-life interactions he had while hosting the previous iteration of Shut Up Evan.
"So often before I would hit record, when the talent would first come in the room, we would be talking about something that happened on Bravo the night before or, 'Oh my God, can you believe that Cassie joined OnlyFans on Euphoria?'" Katz recalls. "These were the conversations that we were having and sometimes they would spill over and hop in on camera."
If the host has it his way, "The Group Chat" doesn't have to end when the camera stops rolling. "My hope would be that real group chats actually form and that all four of us exchange information afterwards, and we keep in conversation," Katz notes.
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The semiweekly series will also feature one-on-one chats in a segment he calls “Deep in the DMs With…” Katz puts a more intimate spin on the standard celebrity interview by genuinely knowing his guests as both a studious fan and, in some cases, as a friend-of-a-friend.
His mutual connections to certain stars just so happened to be an asset when preparing for his talk with his first "Deep in the DMs With..." guest, Kate Hudson, as PEOPLE can exclusively reveal.
Earlier in the day of the interview, Katz was speaking with Kristin Davis, who told him, "Oh my God, you have to ask her about this one time when we were filming Sex and the City at Barney's and Kate Hudson literally walked onto the set," he recounts.
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"It ended up being something that I brought into the podcast," Katz adds. "It's both the research that one can do on Google and on the internet and archiving old interviews, but also just trying to see, do I know a person who knows this person who might have something interesting to say?"
Katz hopes his new Netflix gig gives celebrities time to step out of press mode and cover new ground in conversation. Instead of rehashing what they've already said about their current and upcoming projects, he's instead using them as a topical launch pad.
"It's basically taking the themes of whatever they're working on and saying, 'Can we extract this to have a conversation about something that's happening in the real world?'" Katz explains. "My hope is that they come in there with a story they haven't told before. I want my audience to better understand them in a way that they haven't, a side of themselves that they haven't previously shown before."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
