-Our next guest is a comedian and actor
who is Emmy-nominated for her work
in the critically acclaimed series "Hacks,"
which is streaming on HBO Max. Let's take look.
-Sell it to me. -Are you out of your mind?
It's one of a kind. -Sell me it!
I have nothing left to lose! I'll do it!
-Stop. Put it down. -Sell me it!
-You think you have nothing in common with Deborah Vance?
I know you're the same.
You're both psychotic bitches!
-You have three seconds to take the money,
or I'm gonna do it! -Please think of the
Obenchain-McMillan family! -What?!
I don't give a [bleep] about the Obenchain-McMillans!
They probably owned slaves! [Bleep] you, Lemony Snicket!
-Please welcome to the show, Hannah Einbinder.
[ Applause ]
♪♪
-Thank you so much for being here!
-Thank you for having me. -Welcome.
[ Applause ] -[ Chuckles ]
♪♪
-Hi. -Hi! I'm so happy you're here.
-Oh, my God, likewise.
-Congratulations on your wonderful show.
And I feel a little bad, because the show is --
You know, it's about stand-up comedy.
It's about how exciting it is to be in front of an audience.
And I do wish you could've been here
on a night where we had more people.
-Oh, no. I -- 10 -- 10 guys in the dark is home for me.
[ Laughter ]
I -- [ Laughter ]
Target demo. -This is your --
Because now you -- Because you've been a stand-up
for a very long time. -Yes.
-This is a wonderful show about stand-up,
about what it means to be a stand-up.
But as someone who's been a stand-up for a very long time,
you have played in rooms where there weren't a lot of people.
-Yes, yes. I -- I actually have played for,
if you can believe it, negative amounts of people.
-What -- No, what is negative amounts?
-Well, like, in a building like this --
Like, this is 30 Rock, so, like, I have done shows that maybe,
like, on nights where the only people in the audience would be,
like, ghosts with wacky wigs. [ Laughter ]
-Right, sure. The ghost audience.
-Yeah, just when no one shows up and you kind of just
barrel through, right down. -So, you're obviously being
critically acclaimed for this role, Emmy-nominated.
Has that shown up yet, insofar as more people
coming to see you when you're doing sets?
'Cause you're still doing stand-up.
-Yeah, I mean, yes and no. Like -- if --
You know, I do, like, alt-shows in L.A. sometimes,
so, like -- I mean, like, you know, when --
when we got the news that we were nominated
in this lovely way, that was at 8:00 a.m.,
and then at 8:00 p.m., I, you know,
bombed for seven people,
several feet away from a dumpster, so...
[ Laughter ]
-Keeps you humble. -♪ City of stars ♪
Yeah, it really -- It really -- So, it keeps you --
It keeps you -- 'Cause stand-up doesn't really,
I feel like it's so honest.
It doesn't care who you are. -Right.
-And doing it in L.A., you know, their audiences are kind of
just like, "Oh, you're an actor?
So are all of us." [ Laughter ]
"Oh, you got an Emmy nom? Yeah.
Chelsea Peretti was here last week.
She [bleep] killed, so good luck."
-Well, I guess that is the -- sort of a trial by fire.
Like, that is probably very helpful.
And you end up getting to work with Jean Smart.
Jean was here singing your praises.
But also, strikes me as like -- in a way that I think
anybody who would work with her would want her to be.
She also seems to, like, bust chops a fair amount.
-Oh, yeah. Yeah. I invited her to one of my --
one of my shows in L.A., and I was telling her about the show,
and I was saying, you know,
"Natalie Palamides and Courtney Pauroso,"
who are clowns, which, for those who don't know,
clowning is a form of performance art.
It's a comedic, uh, uh, performance, um, art.
Good. We got it all. [ Laughter ]
Just want to get it out.
-You're not gonna get heat from the clown community.
I think you laid it out. [ Laughter ]
-Sorry. -With a lot of integrity.
-Sorry. They're very nice. But they --
I said, "You know, they're opening for me tonight.
I have two clowns opening for me."
And she said, "Oh, great. So three on the bill."
[ Laughter ]
-Jean and I have this awesome little joke
where she's mean to me, and I'm in love with her.
It's -- [ Laughter ]
-Do you -- I mean, has it been,
since you met all these people and you're so close
to these people now, have they --
I mean, did she actually come when you told her clowns
were opening for you? Or did she --
-Yeah. -Okay, that's great.
-I mean, she -- she keeps -- keeps a low profile in the back,
but she's -- she's so supportive,
and all the cast, really, like, we all talk all the time.
We have a little group chat. -That's great.
-And we're checking in. It's really lovely.
-Has anything -- This was also --
it should be noted, which is, you know, hard to believe
because you're so good and so natural in this, but this is
kind of your first acting job. And, do you --
I mean, has it changed a lot of stuff
other than the fact that you have your Emmy nomination?
-Um, yeah. I mean, it's --
I found, like, this really beautiful community online,
which has been really lovely, because, like, I have
pretty low self-esteem,
and I can be pretty critical of myself.
So when people online are like, "I hate Hannah,"
I'm like, "Okay. I feel that." [ Laughter ]
-"Yes, my community, my people." -That's so nice.
-It's awesome to be...
-Did you -- Did you pull from people you met?
Because, again, you mention you're in L.A.,
so you know a lot of comedy writers, a lot of comedians.
When you were putting the character together,
were you pulling from yourself or others, as well?
-I've got to say, you know,
the writers did such a beautiful job.
She was so vivid.
She was really all there when I first encountered her.
But I think what I uniquely bring to Ava is
probably cystic acne, red hair, and no upper-body strength.
-Oh, that's great. [ Laughter ]
-That was important. -So, you ticked --
you ticked all the boxes they were looking for there.
-Yeah. And then, they're going,
"Oh, wow. I didn't really see this at first,
and now it couldn't be any other way."
[ Laughter ]
-You -- You've been a fan of award shows your whole life.
You've had some thematic award-based parties.
-I have. God, no other way to say this
than just directly, but my bat mitzvah theme was,
"Hannah Einbinder's First Annual Friendship Awards."
[ Laughter ]
And I --
I did -- I did -- I did give out awards to my friends.
-Gotcha. -And...
-Were they -- Were they uniquely --
Were they uniquely tailored to each friend,
what kind of friendship award they got?
-Yes. -Okay.
-It was -- Because I'm from L.A.,
it was like, "Everybody's got to feel, like, special.
It can't be -- you know." -Right.
-"No one can feel like they were snubbed."
[ Laughter ]
-Did you have any other before you got a job as an actor?
I'm assuming you had other lesser jobs
getting through your early stand-up years.
-Yeah. I was a barista...
Okay. -...in the epicenter
of douchebaggery in Los Angeles.
And -- I -- I had lovely co-workers
who are still my -- my best friends to this day.
But, you know, you --
It was a job that worked for me at the time.
I was able to, you know, get absolutely ripped
off caffeine during the day, and then, you know,
perform at open mics in an almond-milk-soaked flannel
by night. -[ Laughs ]
-And so that worked with my schedule.
But, yeah, we -- It's --
Look, when you are in this body
and working in the service industry,
you encounter men who kind of
take advantage of the power structure.
-Sure. -I had this one customer who --
He came in once and, you know, he ordered a tea.
And I said, do you -- you know, would you like it sweetened?
And he said, "Oh, yeah, I'd love it sweetened.
Just stick your pinky in it."
Yeah, so I brewed his tea, and then I just --
I looked right at him
and I just sort of fisted his earl grey.
[ Laughter ]
-That's the right -- I think that's very, very appropriate.
Hey, congratulations on the show,
and thanks so much for being here.
-Thank you. -Lovely to meet you.
-Oh, my God, likewise.
-"Hacks" is streaming on HBO Max.