Kyle MacLachlan was wandering around the Paramour Estate in Silver Lake, the lavish former home of silent film star Antonio Moreno and his wife and oil heiress Daisey Canfield last night.
The Twin Peaks star wasn’t attending a traditional film or TV premiere, but rather was supporting the launch of season three of Brittany Broski’s talk show Royal Court, which streams on YouTube.
MacLachlan, who recently appeared on the show, serves as a bridge between the Old Hollywood establishment and what the Google-owned service is calling “New Hollywood”.
He was joined at the house, which was the location for the bloody ending to Scream 3, by stars such as Fortune Feimster, Bob the Drag Queen and Orville Peck as well as a phalanx of YouTube stars and influencers such as Rhett Mclaughlin, Drew Afualo, Shayne Topp and Brooke Averick.
Royal Court is a medieval-themed talk show that sees Broski, who became famous for her 21-second take on Kombucha, interview celebrities such as Brie Larson, Hannah Einbinder, David Corenswet, Diego Luna, Colman Domingo and Charli XCX. Broski also revealed that Paul Mescal would be joining the show later this fall.
Broski said she wanted to create a show that combined Game of Thrones and Sean Evans’ Hot Ones. “This show began as a kernel of an idea, I love Game of Thrones and I really love Hot Ones, so I wanted to combine the two with how comfortable Sean Evans makes people feel, he makes them feel seen and then I wanted to combine this with an over the top, whimsical element to it. Thus, we have Royal Court, which started in my spare bedroom,” she said.
The series, which premiered in July 2023 with Peck, is one of a number of shows that YouTube is embracing as it looks to promote new creators. Talk shows, such as Hot Ones, which it gave a big Emmy push to earlier this year, and Good Mythical Morning, hosted by Rhett Mclaughlin and Link Neal, are some of its current focus and the Google-owned company is also looking to ramp up its promotion of certain stand-up specials over the coming year.
Adam Stewart, VP Sales, Google, called the event a “coronation” rather than a premiere party. “We’re standing here in this estate, which definitely typifies old Hollywood. I love this place. It’s fabulous. But this is not about old Hollywood. This is about New Hollywood and the new mainstream and everything that is happening on YouTube,” he said.
He noted that shows like Royal Court are not only being embraced by fans – nearly 6M people have watched the episode featuring Cole Sprouse – and creators but also by advertisers such as Cash App, which is involved in Broski’s show.
The question is whether shows such as Royal Court and Hot Ones, as well as video podcasts such as Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, Theo Von’s This Past Weekend and Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights, can ultimately compete with and replace traditional late-night formats.
YouTube is clearly competition for traditional broadcasters and streamers; the service is above Netflix in terms of all television viewing in the U.S., per Nielsen, which noted that an average of 11.1M people are tuned into YouTube during primetime hours, above Netflix’s 10.7M.
Broski herself alluded to the difficulties that late-night is having, with the cancelation of The Late Show and the recent suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. “I think we’re in a new, exciting era of talk shows right now. We’re watching kind of the demise of old Hollywood and the influx of new Hollywood. It’s an honor and it’s a privilege to have YouTube to kind of be my champions,” she added.