Allow Julian Shapiro-Barnum to reintroduce himself.
He may be the internet’s most viral host, with his hit digital series Recess Therapy and Celebrity Substitute—two adorable, hilarious, and sneakily profound shows that are essentially the digital age’s answer to Kids Say the Darndest Things. Now, the 27-year-old is manning a project a bit more grown-up, where he interviews actual adults, not just precocious grade-school kids, on the new YouTube series Outside Tonight, which he calls “the internet’s late-night show” and “the future of late-night.”
Addressing the audience who may only know him as the Recess Therapy guy at the show’s first episode, he says, if you only know him as the Recess Therapy guy, “All you need to know is that I’m a comedian, writer, 6’ 2”, 160 pounds soaking wet—which is always, dog uncle, love to party, mostly sober, poppers only, god-fearing with a single earring, unable to drive, willing to learn, very willing to dream. A passionate lover, and even more passionate about late-night television.”
He laughs when I bring up that humorous intro during our interview for the new episode of Obsessed: The Podcast. “I do know how to drive,” he admits. “We just thought that was funny. But, yeah, that’s me. That’s all you need to know. This was funny because, for the past five years, all I’ve done is interview kids. That’s what the public knows me for.”
For years, we’ve watched Shapiro-Barnum ask children questions about life, or interact with celebrities like Millie Bobby Brown and Tom Holland as they teach a master class to excited elementary schoolers. Now, it’s Shapiro-Barnum himself who is saying the darndest things.
Outside Tonight is an homage to the late-night genre that Shapiro-Barnum admires and respects, but completely upended to make sense for a generation that doesn’t just consume content differently, but also are inherently content creators themselves. That’s where the idea to film each episode outdoors in a different area of New York City came from.
“All these kids of the internet, we don’t dream of studio shows anymore because it feels very inaccessible to us,” Shapiro-Barnum says. “You go to Washington Square Park, there are many people with their phones filming things. New York City has become the studio, and I feel like I wanted to just lean into that because I love how accessible it is.”
Of course, it’s not just the al fresco venue that is setting Outside Tonight apart. Shapiro-Barnum represents a new kind of late-night host. The Jimmys Kimmel and Fallon, for example, aren’t disclosing their use of poppers in opening monologues.
Early episodes of the series have included a dog pageant to determine which entrant has the gayest vibes; a bit where celebrity guests had to determine whether audience members were drunk, high, overcaffeinated, or sober; a segment in which Shapiro-Barnum interviews a panel of people he went on dates with and then rejected him; and discussions of topics like sending nude photos, ketamine use, and his anxiety over whether he’s given enough blow jobs to still consider himself bisexual.