Comedian, actor, and author Kate McKinnon took on the seitan wings challenge on Hot Ones this week, and indeed, “The wings, they are fiery.”

While making her way through progressively spicier vegan wings, The Roses star responded to host Sean Evans’ impressively well-researched inquiries about her journey on Saturday Night Live, depicting quirky characters, understanding the core of comedic figures through contrast, performing impressions as a child, and her book series The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science.

“I can sense it on my tongue, mentally,” McKinnon states. “You’re clouding my brain with pepper and it’s effective.”

The highlight? McKinnon explaining angler fish mating habits and their “dangling sacks of gonads” while holding a toothpick like a cigarette. It’s genuinely outstanding.