Hiking with Kevin

Recently, I stumbled onto YouTube and discovered an out-of-the-ordinary channel by Kevin Nealon. For those who don’t know who Kevin Nealon is, he was in the cast of Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1995. Since that time, he’s popped up in a few movies and TV shows here and there, and he’s created a show on YouTube that is both simple and fascinating. It’s been on for the past five years, so I’m not sure how I missed it. 

The show is called Hiking with Kevin, and the name basically explains the show. He hikes around the hills and canyons of rural Los Angeles with a celebrity guest, and they just talk, which doesn’t sound like much. But it seems like Kevin basically knows everyone in Hollywood, so he gets some pretty good guests to hike with him. I’ve seen shows with Kristen Bell, Conan O’Brien, Jeff Goldblum, Jack Black, Tiffany Haddish and singer Norah Jones. But he has tons of more shows.  

Simple Brilliant Concept 

I wish all talk shows were like this, as you get a sense of what the celebrities are really like without all the audiences, bands, lights and standard couch sets of most talk shows. Kevin is pretty funny, and he asks off-the-wall questions that often have his guests fumbling for an answer or spurring a deeper discussion. The fact that it’s just two people sharing a walk and a conversation tends to make the celebrities lower their guard and not have a predetermined agenda they have to talk about. It’s a simple, but brilliant concept that wouldn’t work in any sort of indoor studio environment. 

The shows are also relaxing to watch. There’s no breaking for commercials or time limit. I honestly wish more talk shows would be as successful as Nealon is in getting people to talk about themselves.