Hannah Einbinder: ‘Hacks,’ Stand-Up and Overconfidence

The Last Laugh

The Daily Beast

Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Interviews, Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Tv, Movies, Film

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hannah Einbinder had never really acted before she was cast as Ava Daniels opposite Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance on ‘Hacks.’ Now, she’s a three-time Emmy nominee. In this episode, Einbinder opens up about the overconfidence she brings to that role as well the onstage persona she displays in her excellent debut stand-up special ‘Everything Must Go’ on Max. She also talks about overcoming the intimidation of acting with Jean Smart, compares the generational gap between their characters to her relationship with her own mother (original SNL cast member Laraine Newman), and teases what fans can expect from a more “badass” Ava in Season 4. And later, Einbinder shares her unfiltered thoughts about the “old fucking guys” in comedy who complain that political correctness is stifling their craft.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hell yeah.
0:04.0	This is the Last Laugh.
0:06.0	I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and today on the show, we have a guest who I have
0:11.3	been trying to get on this podcast for a very long time now, Hannah Einbinder.
0:16.9	Like most people, I had never really seen Hannah before she was cast as the young comedy writer Ava Daniels on one of my favorite shows of the past several years, Hacks.
0:26.6	That role has since earned her three Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
0:32.3	The daughter of original SNL cast member Lorraine Newman, Hannah never really thought she would be an actress with a
0:38.5	capital A, but she has fully embraced her success on TV, and her work on that show just keeps getting
0:44.2	better, especially in the season three finale opposite the always impressive Gene Smart as the fictional
0:50.9	legendary comedian, Deborah Vance. All Hannah ever really wanted to do was be a
0:56.0	great stand-up comedian herself. And this year, she also released her excellent first special on Max.
1:02.5	She called it Everything Must Go because it features the best material that she has written
1:07.1	since she started performing comedy in college, and now she is basically starting
1:11.5	over from scratch. We talk about all of that, plus her take on the debate around what comics can
1:17.0	and can't say anymore in this conversation. But before we get into it, let's listen to the
1:22.1	bit that Hannah used to introduce herself to the audience in both her new special and in her late-night stand-up debut
1:28.9	on Colbert in 2019.
1:32.4	You know, when some comedians start off their set, they will say something like, let me tell
1:39.2	you a little bit about me.
1:41.6	Well, this is my version of that.
1:45.6	My mother had me when she was 42 because before that age she was busy.
2:08.6	See, my mother made the money in our house.
	...

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