A Fanboy Can BECOME A STAR

Once simply a celebrity mega fan, Evan Ross Katz is now a writer, podcaster, go-to Hollywood influencer, social media star and, as The White Lotus creator Mike White christened him, the “most valuable hype man in the history of television.” He has 341,000 followers on Instagram, including Channing Tatum, Olivia Wilde, Jeremy Allen White and Jennifer Aniston. His Substack — Shut Up Evan: The Newsletter — has more than 17,000 subscribers, and his Shut Up Evan podcast lands of-the-moment guests, from Jenna Lyons to Greta Lee.

When did you first start to feel you were making the transition from fan to influencer?

It’s a hard question to answer because it’s not so much a “before” and “after” in my mind. I still am a mega fan. And proudly so. I’ll always be. What’s changed is my proximity to that which I fan out over, or, as I like to say, that which causes me heart palpitations. And I’m grateful that the transition has happened at a pace that’s felt gradual. I’m lucky that the access and opportunities I’ve been afforded haven’t tainted the purity of my fan-coded brain.

What was the moment — a follow, an invitation, a job offer — when that solidified for you?

I wouldn’t be so

presumptuous as to say it’s solidified, but to answer the question: It so often comes back to Jennifer Coolidge — as any good story does. She sent me a very sweet message in 2021 thanking me for my devoted support of season one of The White Lotus. Never one to not shoot my shot, I took the opportunity to invite her on my podcast. We kept in touch and formed this beautiful friendship. On a professional level, her coming on the pod

brought in so many new listeners, many of whom stuck around.

You said you would never want to be famous yourself. So how would you describe your place in pop culture?

There’s a way — in my experience of witnessing it — that fame taxes a person’s ability to simply be. I like the job of helping make people look good. So I would describe my place as that of a champion. I’m less interested in — to quote Ariana DeBose — being “the thing” and more interested in being that which helps celebrate said thing.

Which of your celebrity follows still amazes you most?

Cher, duh!

Evan Ross Katz with Gabrielle Union.