The Secret to Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Online Superstardom? Control | WIRED

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For someone whose on-camera persona could hardly care less, the real Amelia Dimoldenberg cares a shocking amount. About pretty much everything, it turns out, that touches her work as director and host of YouTube sensation Chicken Shop Date, red-carpet celebrity inquisitor, and creative engine behind a raft of in-development TV and film projects.

Edits on each of the awkward, uproariously funny Chicken Shop Date episodes? She does them. In-depth prep before greeting everyone from Hudson Williams to Ethan Hawke at the Oscars? She does that too. IP? She owns it—with great pride. The online algorithms whose whims dictate who sees what, and how much of it? Dimoldenberg may not control those, but she’s done a damn good job of conquering them. All through the meticulous control she wields over every other aspect of her projects, her process, and where both are taking Dimoldenberg next.

I first encountered Dimoldenberg years ago on TikTok, where short clips of her Chicken Shop interviews—she’s made everyone from Billie Eilish to Paul Mescal squirm under the inhospitable lighting of a humble British chicken joint—routinely find millions of eyeballs. So it was a delight to sit down with the very sharp, very funny Dimoldenberg at WIRED’s New York studio, where we talked about being prepared (she is, very), when creators will get the kind of credit their peers in traditional entertainment do (in her view, death needs to be involved), and why everyone assumes her YouTube show is a podcast (it is, she repeats emphatically, not a podcast).

I could have kept going, but Dimoldenberg had a red carpet—The Devil Wears Prada 2 premiere, to be specific—to get glam for. We started our conversation discussing another high-fashion event: the Oscars, which Dimoldenberg recently joined as the Academy’s Social Media Ambassador and Red Carpet Correspondent for the third year running. More specifically, we began by talking about a clip our producers played of Dimoldenberg’s interviews, many of them remarking on just how hot and sweaty things got. Which is why, if you’re reading this instead of listening to it, we start off by talking about pee. Enjoy!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

KATIE DRUMMOND: Welcome to the Big Interview, Amelia.

AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG: Thank you for having me. Sorry, that clip you played before we started talking, I was like, “Wow, that is real boots-on-the-ground journalism right there.”

How did it feel to hear yourself talking about butts, sweat, and pee?

Well, it's interesting, because that is definitely part of the genre of my interviews. However, there's so much more to them than that.

That's obviously just one slice of it. That's, I guess, a bit more playful. I mean, they're all playful in a way, but yeah, I was cringing a bit.

I'm sorry, I didn't pick that clip. I'm going to blame the producers. How do you get ready for those interviews? This was your third time doing the Oscars red carpet, which is, and I've been a journalist for a very long time, an intimidating environment.

I spend probably two months thinking about it. Researching every single nominee; watching all of the movies. I write with my sister, Zoe, so we work with our writing partner to prepare questions for every nominee that the Academy would like us to interview. I think it's really important to prepare individual questions for each person, because I think that's how you get a more interesting nuanced interview from someone.

I love thinking of questions for each person and thinking of ways in which you can speak about their films and their work in a way that is playful and unexpected but shows the level of research that I try and do.

I love watching celebrity interviews. I always have. I've loved being a consumer of pop culture since I was very young. It's a fun job for me to do the prep, but it definitely reminds me of when I was studying for my exams at school, just cramming.

This year was my third year doing it, and I had more time than ever. So I felt really confident. I felt really good. I also loved my outfit. I think all of those things really do make a difference because, as you say, it's an intimidating, intimidating environment.

How do you think about your role on that red carpet? I'm curious about this in the context of the work that you do overall, this sort of “creator journalism.” There's a distinction there that I think is becoming blurrier and blurrier. I don't have strongly held views about it. I talk to the WIRED staff all the time, and I hope they don't mind me saying this on the podcast, but they serve as talent more frequently now than they used to, and they need to be on camera. They need to be making that direct connection to their audience.

But for you, when you're on the red carpet or you're sitti