Jeff Hiller

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 990 Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jeff Hiller never expected to win an Emmy. He was used to side roles like “Mexican restaurant waiter” and “frazzled salesman,” and then his big break came as Joel on the HBO show “Somebody Somewhere.” He tells Rachel that not only did the role bring him critical acclaim, it also serves as an example of kindness and decency that has become a kind of moral compass for him.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, if you're loving this show, then I've got a favor to ask. Would you mind giving us a
0:05.7	review wherever you listen? Like this one from B. Gruner 76, which says as follows, I love hearing
0:13.4	the questions, which always spur some introspection for me. No matter the level of fame,
0:18.3	Rachel helps reveal the real life humans behind the fame.
0:22.2	Thank you for that.
0:23.2	Please consider leaving a rating or a review of your own.
0:26.7	It helps more people find us.
0:28.5	Okay, on with the show.
0:31.2	Do you think there's any part of us that will live on after we die?
0:34.5	Yeah.
0:35.4	And I know logic says that's not true, but I don't care. That's what I want to
0:39.6	believe. I'm not going to make you have to believe that. If you're like, we just go to dirt,
0:45.3	okay, cool. I'm not going to try and change your mind. But yeah, I do. I'm Rachel Martin,
0:51.8	and this is Wild Card, the show where cards control the conversation.
0:57.7	Each week, my guest answers questions about their life.
1:01.0	Questions pulled from a deck of cards.
1:03.0	They're allowed to skip one question and to flip one question back on me.
1:06.6	My guest this week is Jeff Hiller.
1:08.4	I believed that community of friends having joy together, having true joy, is the presence of God.
1:19.7	When I first started watching the HBO show Somebody Somewhere, I was blown away by the specificity and vulnerability of the characters.
1:28.8	Jeff Hiller steals the show as Joel, who has seen his fair share of rejection and still
1:34.4	walks through life with joy, not unlike Jeff himself.
	...

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