Fortnite Talk Show host thelukeman on creating an interview show that isn't about celebrities

One of my favorite recurring series right now is Twitch streamer thelukeman’s Fortnite Talk Show. He queues up alone in a random Fortnite game and, after innocently asking if anyone has a mic, blares talk show intro music and attempts to get one of his teammates to answer questions about their life. It’s a great glimpse into the lives of random people, and a nice counter to a lot of other similar gaming content out there by not trying to embarrass anyone.

I spoke with Luke about how this idea came to be, why Fortnite is the right game for a talk show, why he’ll never invite specific guests, his desire for a Fortnite skin, and the immense amount of thought he’s put into the show to make it as comfortable and welcoming as possible.

You can find edited versions of the streams and greatest hits compilations on his YouTube, as well as catch the live streams on Twitch.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How do you describe Fortnite Talk Show to people who don’t know what you do?

It’s a show where I get on Fortnite and attempt to essentially trick the random people that I group up with into being on my interview talk show. I do that by lulling them into a false sense of security by asking if they have a microphone, and then playing talk show music. 

I’ve got to convince them of two things. A) That it’s a real thing, and B) that it’s not going to be something that ends in me either calling them a slur or making them look bad or stupid in some way, as much online video game “interacting with strangers” content is. It’s a chance for me to just have conversations with people I wouldn’t normally talk to, which is the part I really enjoy. 

What's your success rate of getting people on as a guest?

It really depends. I’ve had nights where I talk to people non-stop. I’ve had nights where I talk to two people. I usually do the show two or three hours at a time, a few times a week. 

Once they start talking, most of the time, even if they say they don’t want to do it, I find that they will, and not in a manipulative way. I’ve always believed people want the chance to talk and say what’s going on with them. I try to assume good will going into getting them to open up and see what’s going on. So I would say the most common thread I’ve had is when someone isn’t sure and I say What if we do just one practice question? Those are always the best interviews with the most interesting people.

Where did this idea start for you?

I’ve been doing it for a little under a year. I was doing a lot of call-in shows on Twitch, and I did this show called Chat Havers for a long time, where I'd have on comedians or streamers and we'd take calls. And I was like, That's fun, but I feel like I'm talking to the same people all the time. It's not like radio, where you're just sending it out to the public. You kind of are locked into whoever your audience is, even as it grows. 

What I liked about this was kind of getting back to the roots. I really wanted to talk to people who weren't craving the attention of being on a call-in show. If you’ve listened to any kind of content like that, you know that there's guys calling in because they want to be silly or make you laugh, which is fun. But what I really like about doing this in Fortnite is catching people off-guard, and finding people who aren't looking for it, so they have no ego of wanting it to be a certain way for the most part.

And you have to worry less about people making things up for attention.

Exactly. Some people do, and it’s starting to change a little bit. As I’ve grown more, especially on TikTok, sometimes I’m getting people that know what the show is, and the problem has caught back up to me a little bit. I can tell when people come in with Here’s the talking points I'm going to make, here’s the elaborations I’m going to make. I sort of just roll with it. Luckily, so many people play Fortnite that it’s really not a problem. I think even if Fortnite Talk Show was way bigger than it is, I would still get people who are like I don’t know, man, I was literally at my job all day, and then I’m on here. I don’t know what the fuck Fortnite Talk Show is.

I was wondering if you get people queue-sniping you to be interviewed.

Yeah, it’s happened. There are people who are now trying to do it every time I do the show, but it’s really hard because I’m queuing up at a random time in Squads. There’s only three other people [per each squad]. There’s someone I know that is on every time, he’s like I’ve been trying to get on this show for months, and I can‘t. I’m like, I’m sorry dude.

I don’t want to ever invite people on. To me, that kind of breaks the ethos of the show. What I like is that it’s something people aren’t expecting. Because I think what’s cool about it being on Fortnite is it gets people in the sort of gaming head space.

Why Fortnite specifically?

A couple of reasons. I think it’s the most universal game. For better or for worse, it’s got the most properties, but it’s also the most cartoony and the most accessible. The most surprising thing about starting this is how many women I talk to, which I feel like, especially in a shooter, is rare. I think a lot of that is just because of the accessibility of Fortnite. I would say the most often kind of person I talk to, if there is one, would be a mom whose kid was playing it, and then the kid grew up and stopped playing it, and the mom is like I like this, I’m gonna keep playing it. It’s really cool.

It’s allowed me to have way more interesting conversations than I ever thought I would in a video game space. I don’t think it would be the same in, for example, the obvious competitor, Call of Duty: Warzone. I’m always thinking of maybe trying it, but then I’m like Why would I? I like the people I talk to in Fortnite. There’s no way they’re nicer in Call of Duty. 

I also just like it, and I think in general the battle royale genre works for this. People are always being like, What if you did Overwatch Talk Show, or other similar games? But none of those would work, inherently, because what Fortnite and the battle royale genre have is downtime. The games are usually 20-30 minutes, and most of the time you’re running around, you’re not shooting. The second we start shooting is when people are like Hold on, I need to stop for a second to do this, which I also like, because I think it adds to the comfortability of it. But it can’t really work in any comparable shooter.

There’s too much strategy going on in those games.

Exactly. People would just get mad at me and be like Shut the fuck up, man. I’m trying to win. They still do that anyway sometimes, and it’s Fortnite.

Did you have any experience as an interviewer before this?

Not in this way. I think I’ve gotten a lot better at it since doing this. I have a fundamental belief that people don’t get a lot of chances to talk about themselves because it’s considered rude or improper. And I think of Fortnite Talk Show as a place where it’s like No, I want you to tell me what your life is like. I think that, in and of itself, allows people a freedom to open up, and a want to open up. That usually does the work for me.

The other thing I feel like I’ve learned is just asking people about their job, asking people about their school, starting small and then hooking into something that they seem passionate about or seems interesting to me, whether it’s an interpersonal thing with them and their family, or whatever it is. I don’t really care what we talk about, as long as they’re excited to talk about it. Because I know that if they’re excited, where we’re going to get some good stuff, some sort of point or opinion or story that, to me, is what’s interesting about doing this show.

What do you do when a conversation gets to a lull?

Still figuring that part out. I’m starting to realize I get to a certain point and I think That’s all we’re gonna say to each other. I’m trying to be more fine with that, because I can just tell some people start doing it, and then, unsurprisingly, they shut down. Some people also don’t like talking about themselves. They want to give it a shot, because I throw all this stuff at them, I make it seem fun, which is the purpose. 

I always say the same intro. I have this talk show music that I use because I want them to feel excited about it. I want to come high energy, because if they’re not down for it after a barrage of energy, they’re not going to be down for the interview. A lot of times people don’t talk to me, and I get why. That’s not for everyone, and I don’t want to trick you into being on the show. I want you to be on the show because you want to be, or we’re not going to get anywhere. And luckily, I think that weeds out a lot of what you’re talking about. 

Something I’ve learned over the past year is that making it very clear what I’m doing with the kind of energy I’m going to bring, and where this is, and that we’re streaming, is actually a good thing. It’s okay if that means less conversations overall, because it means the quality will go up.

Something that’s been very clear to me as a viewer is you make an effort to make sure the guest says yes in some way. I’ve heard a few where someone seems uncertain, and rather than diving in, you want to make sure they say yes first.

I don’t want to be too on my high horse, but it goes back to the thing where a lot of content comparable to this is at the expense of the people that are randomly on mic with them, who are just trying to chill out at the end of their day. And for as much as I want it to be a positive experience for people, I’m making content out of you. I don’t know if I want to use the word power imbalance, but I’m taking something from you. So the very least I can do is try to make it as ethical as possible, knowing that I’m doing that. That’s why it’s important to me to let them know what we’re doing, being very clear. If they aren’t comfortable with it, saying Okay, I hear you. Maybe let’s try it. And then if they say no again, I go, All right, see ya, and I just get off. 

I think doing it more has helped me with that, because every conversation feels less precious. I can sit with the fact that maybe we’re not going to talk to anyone for an hour. That’s not for everyone. That’s not for every viewer. I understand there are a lot of people that watch just the clips, and the streams are its own thing. There’s a lot of downtime where I’m shooting the shit, because we just have to wait until the confluence of the random people in Fortnite squad fills want to talk to me, have mics, and aren’t literal children – A) They don’t give very good conversations, of course, and B) They usually don’t know how to use the microphone.

All that stuff together, it’s taken a year, basically, but I finally feel like I’m at the point where I’m like, Oh, actually what makes the show better in the long run is keeping these sort of stop gaps in place. 

So I was watching this clip on Seth Meyers where Tim Robinson was on as a guest, and he was talking about how they would go out to dinner as an old SNL crew, and now that Seth Meyers has been doing his Late Night interviews for so long, it’s changed how he handles the dinner table. He’s apparently always prompting people with things like So you went on vacation recently… Has Fortnite Talk Show changed anything similar for you in terms of other conversations?

I’m sure it has, but the reason I thought I could do this is because I think I already do that so much. That’s always been how I approach social situations, I just ask a lot of questions. I don’t really like talking about myself, so I think it was an easy fit of putting my personality to something I already do.

Are there interviewers you look up to?

I’ll mention one, he’s also a friend, and I’ve talked to him a lot about this: Therapy Gecko. I really respect what he does. He dresses up like a Gecko, takes calls. I love him, he’s an awesome dude, and I think he does a really good job. He’s a little bit more in the I’m trying to help thing. I used to do advice shows, but I don’t really like that side of it as much. I like learning about people, I’m just taking it in, I want to hear from random people.

I’m trying to think of other people I really like in the space, but I think because so much of it deals with interviewing celebrities and personalities, it’s not really my thing.

I find that, as someone who interviews, I’m watching interviews slightly differently, thinking of how they’re trying to continue the conversation and asking follow-ups.

Totally. It’s also so weird, because of the clip element. The show is so different than the clips, so much so that I don’t even recognize them as the interview. It has nothing to do with my interviewing skills, it’s just about making a clip. 

I think that’s actually freeing for me, because I try as much as I can to not think about clips when I’m doing the show. I think you can poison your brain like that, because you feel the temptation. It’s like All right, I heard a little personal trauma. If I could dig into that, I can get a really good clip. I think that is where you can go insane. And I know that because, without naming names, I think we can think of content that feels very exploitative in that way.

When I think of clips from your show, I think of the one guy who worked at a big box store who talked about how they track theft, and waiting to go after someone until they’ve hit a certain threshold of stealing from the store. You learn real things on the show!

I know, man, I know! That’s what I like. I think it comes from this genuine interest I have in people. And also, it’s like, dude, I live in Los Angeles. I come from a streaming and comedy background. You can imagine that a lot of the people I talk to on a day-to-day basis are very similar. I really, really like talking to fucking random-ass people.

I’ve talked to so many people from so many walks of life, and also that a lot of times have very different beliefs than I do, a lot of which I don’t agree with. It’s something I deal with when I’m doing the live stream, and it’s something I always say to the chat: I’m not here to tell this truck driver who loves Elon Musk and voted for Donald Trump that he’s getting fucked. I’m not here to do that, because I know the random guy on Fortnite isn’t going to convince him. What I do think is interesting and worthwhile is hearing why he thinks that, and showing that to the viewer, who is probably closer to my political alignment. I don’t believe they’re inherently evil. So let’s try and figure out why these people think this way.

So when you get in those situations, you’re mostly trying to handle it through questions?

Yeah. I’ll always remember this guy who was like Well, stocks are way up now that Elon’s in the presidency. I was like Oh, that’s interesting, because I saw that Tesla stock was way down. And he was like Oh, huh? I didn’t know that. That’s as much as I’ll do. I always do it through the guise of Oh, really. I think I heard something different. Not Go fuck yourself, which is, obviously, with everything going on, certainly an easy impulse to fall into, and a justified one for many people.

Do you have a favorite genre of guest?

I love talking to a mom. I really do. I feel like they're always the most down to talk. They're always so nice. They're not gonna say anything fucking crazy. There are so many people who are like All right, I gotta be crazy and funny, but moms always have interesting stories.

The hallmarks of the show are the kindest mother you've ever talked to in your life, of any age, and then an absolute psychopath guy. One of my first conversations I had that I remember thinking Okay, I think I'm on to something, was this guy who was telling me he was in the army in the 90s, and then 9/11 happened. Then he went to fight, and he was like, I know this isn't right, but I was kind of glad 9/11 happened, because it was kind of like I was at practice, and then finally I got called up to the Big Game. And I was like, I... could... see... maybe why you think that. For me, that was a very big watershed moment that happened, even just a month or two in, where I was like, Oh, I'm going to be able to talk to people that I really would never get the chance to talk to.

That’s the kind of thing where you couldn’t script that, and like you’re saying, other interview shows are with celebrities who are all extremely PR-trained and never going to say anything like that.

I think part of that is the beauty of Fortnite. You know you’re on the show, but inherently your defenses are more down because you're chilling on your couch gaming. And I think that's why the conversations can get so good, because I can get people and myself in the headspace of, like, We are shooting the shit on Xbox Live. It allows people to feel more comfortable. Now, does it also make them say things that are completely out of pocket? Of course, but that's also the fun of the show and why I like to do it. I'd be lying if I said I'm also not excited for a guy to say 9/11 was good because it was like the Super Bowl for me.

Do you have any pie-in-the-sky dreams for this project?

They tried proximity chat in Fortnite, and I did it, and it was fun. When that was happening, I got so many comments that were like This is perfect for you! It is and it isn’t, because every single PS5 user has their mic on by default, and it makes it totally unlistenable and garbled. Also there are way more children who just want to say 6-7 to you.

I still want to try it in Warzone, because it’s a different group of people. But then every time I think that, I’m like But Fortnite works so fucking well.

I want them to give me a Fortnite skin. I know I’m years and years away from that, and the fact that Kai Cenat just got one means I’m not anywhere close. But if I can, as a 32-year-old balding man, have a skin in Fortnite, I think that would do a lot to heal this country.

Where can people check out what you do?

If you want to watch the show live, you can follow twitch.tv/thelukeman. It’s TheLukeMans, with an S at the end, on pretty much everything else. I also have a podcast called Stores, which I host with fellow streamer DeadBlossomJesse, produced by your former co-worker Pat Gill, and it’s a lot of fun. We have comedians on, and we go to Best Buy and stupid shit.

Lukeman recommends: the Final Fantasy Tactics remake on Switch

I’m playing this and it’s really fucking hard, but this is the best story of any ‘90s-era RPG strategy or JRPG I’ve ever played, bar none. It’s amazing. I’m amazed at how much I’m enjoying the story, though I’m completely stuck at it. It is so hard, and I feel like I’m going insane just grinding out the same boss fight over and over, but I guess that’s what I get for playing a ‘90s game.