Hot Bench: Will Chambers ’26

Interviewed By: Kirk Wolff ’26

Alright, we're starting the interview here at the legendary Riverside Lunch with Will Chambers, our esteemed Vice President. Many are saying he’s the J.D. Vance of UVA. Welcome to the Hot Bench! I'm both excited and terrified by the prospect of simultaneously ending both of our careers with this interview. So, I hope to keep it light for both of our sakes.

Amen, brother. Thanks for having me.

Do you think that God stays in heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he's created here on earth?

So, you know, I think that he stays above the firmament because he's not of this world, and making the world more godly would make it less worldly in a sense.

As a related follow-up, you're a noted film buff, so do you prefer Spy Kids or Spy Kids 2?

So I would actually say Spy Kids 4D (2011, dir. Robert Rodriguez).

Wow. Not an option, but let’s roll with it.

Yeah, I'm gonna invert it a little bit because when Spy Kids 4D came out, if you remember, it had a scratch and sniff plate that came with . . . and that was a really interesting sort of transmedia-intermodal kinda thing

Alright . . . . So, because you wanted this type of physical accompaniment to the show, a tactile element, I assume your love language is physical touch?

Oh no, it's physical smell. (Shock from interviewer) That's right.

Okay. Umm. Well, in the same vein, if you could force every law student to watch one film other than Southland Tales (2006, dir. Richard Kelly), what would it be?

If there's going to be another movie that I would make them watch Do the Right Thing (1989, dir. Spike Lee).

Ah, Spike Lee! Nice. I like that. So you're heading down I-64 to Richmond postgrad, which is sort of a homecoming for you after venturing out to La La Land to attend USC. So, what do you love about RVA?

What don't I love about RVA, Kirk? I personally like that it's a place where it's okay to be a fire dancer. Living in Richmond is really a great opportunity where you can drink any vape-flavored IPA that you want, courtesy of the highest number of microbreweries in any metropolitan area in the United States, served to you by someone who knows way more bands and way fewer laws than you do.

You've always expressed more of an interest in art over law, and Richmond is an artsy city to say the least. So, where do you see yourself in ten years?

Ten years?!

Yeah, when you’re about my age.

Ohhh, spooky scary. I didn't realize this was a Halloween edition. I guess I should’ve checked the date for this.

Ok.

But to answer your question, hopefully not with a crippling dependency on anything. Whether it be the respect of people in whatever field I work in, or, you know, substances. But in all seriousness, what I'd like to be doing in ten years is kind of what I'd like to be doing right now: bopping around, working on a couple of personal projects, and getting overpaid by any group of institutions and/or people that are willing to pay me.

On brand. Gonna shift gears here to the political realm. Would you invoke the 25th Amendment if Mark Graff posted an AI slop video of himself as a fighter pilot dropping feces on his enemies?

Look, we already think that Mark’s health might be failing, and we’ve always wondered if he's all there.

So let's say Mark makes it to the end of his term, and you're asked to certify election results in the spring. Are you going to have the courage to do what is right, unlike Mike Pence?

You know, the Graff Autocracy is something that outsiders have mentioned many a time. But, I don't think we're gonna have that issue. I just don't. Because, I mean, he can try to stay in office, but if he were still hanging out around here, it would be less of a cool Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused (1993, dir. Richard Linklater) thing and more of a like . . . creepy Jefferson Council thing.

Ah! You're playing to the crowd here, and I like it. I like it! So, you found love on Grounds. Tell us about that.

So, yeah, it's funny, actually. Another Range resident, Preston Bowden (Law ’26), was technically the one to introduce me to my now-girlfriend, the lovely, incomparable Emily Madrigal. She is an art history PhD candidate in the Class of ’28 or ’29. Depends on whenever she wants to finish up.

Hell, it could be ’30 or ’31!

Could be ’30, could be ’30. Yeah, but I met my lovely girlfriend living on the Range. Thank you, Thomas Jefferson, for creating the Range, or rather for having certain people build the Range so that I may one day live there and meet Emily.

So why haven't I found love on Grounds?

I suppose it's because you haven't lived on the Range. Simple enough.

Oh yeah, I’m sure that’s the reason. So, what is your favorite episode at the Adam Friedland Show, and are you willing to admit here and now that you listen to Cumtown?

So the difficulty with that is, I've NEVER heard of Cumtown. Sure, I know Adam Friedland is a bug. And look, did I become a member of The Adam Friedland Show fan club in order to watch one episode in particular a little bit quicker than for free (cough, Amanda Knox, cough cough)? Sure. But I really have only seen maybe two or three of them in total. That kind of leaves me with a limited list to work with . . . but I'll say Amanda Knox.

This sort of feels like the Bill Clinton interview about smoking marijuana, where he said he “didn't inhale.” So you didn't inhale Cumtown is what I’m gathering, but that's fine.

No, listen. My troublesome media habits have to do with me being on X, The Everything App. And it better be called “X, The Everything App” in this piece. I mean, Nick Mullen? I have no idea who that guy is! I barely know who Adam Friedland is. Or Stavros Halkias, who is starring in Bugonia (2025, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos)! But I don't know about any podcasting that's ever occurred.

K: Right, right, right. Well, that's all I've got for you as far as interview questions go. Shall we kiss?