Hannah Berner Disney/Steve Wilkie Hannah Berner has taken a circuitous route to cultural behemoth. Prior to her brief stint on Summer House or her hit podcast, Giggly Squad, with pal Paige DeSorbo, long before her current career as a stand-up comedian (see her latest special, None of My Business, which spent the past weekend in the No. 1 slot on Hulu), her desire to be on camera briefly had her attempting a career as a sports broadcaster. Briefly.
“It’s so embarrassing to like admit that you like being on camera,” says Berner, who likes her screen time but not enough to endure idiots. “I didn’t want to move to a small town to become a sports broadcaster and deal with the misogyny of trying to prove to men that I know about basketball.” Berner’s unlikely path to success should buy her some credit, something she says she’d like people to keep in mind as she dips her toe into acting. Speaking during a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter podcast I’m Having an Episode (Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple), Berner talked about her evolving stand-up audience, her thoughts on Summer House suddenly becoming water cooler conversation and working on a potential scripted TV show at Netflix with DeSorbo and their producer — Amy Poehler. “I feel like I’m in a master’s program with like one of the greatest of all time,” says Berner.
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I would imagine there was a stigma, with even just like one year on a reality show. Did you feel like you had to overcome that to get to where you are?
I look at some people who get hate for where they came from and think, “You don’t choose where you get started.” I actually started doing comedy. Working for Betches was my joke-writing boot camp. I think leaving Summer House gave me the psychotic urge to succeed at stand-up, because I felt misunderstood. I needed to have my voice heard. Also, I had just lost my job. So I thought, “I’m going to get so good at stand-up comedy so I don’t have to have a boss anymore.” I can’t get fired ever again! It took wanting revenge and being Sicilian to get me to this place. And then it took therapy to accept everything.
When you’re on stage, and you look out at the crowd, what is like the last type of face you want to see?
I have fun with everyone in the crowd, but I’ve noticed a lot more boyfriends coming to my shows. I don’t make it a safe space for them, so I don’t know how it’s happened. I think they love the tension and the female locker room talk. But I’ll go to Arkansas, and there’ll be some guy with an unironic hunting hat with shades on top. At first you’d think I might like, “Oh no.” I love it. Let’s connect cultures. I had a gun bit. It’s in my first special. I basically say, “To solve the gun rights issue, maybe the only people legally allowed to have guns should be women. If you look at the statistics, everyone will be safe.” And there’s this guy who’s like a big hunter in the front, and he was laughing hysterically. But I have had a dad before with his AirPods in. I’m like, “What are you listening to?”
Your profile has afforded you a lot of opportunities. What is something that you would never say yes to again?
Some things are really time consuming. It comes out and it looks really like it was easy, but it was a four day shoot. I’ve done appearances and things where you’re in a trailer for like 12 hours. That is not worth it. I am really a “yes” person though. Paige is better at saying no. So … I would say reality TV. (Laughs.)
With this potential Netflix series, you’ll be segueing into acting. How are you prepping for that?
I am obsessed with not being put in a box. I love when people think they know who I am and then they’re like, “She’s doing what?” Deep down, I’ve always wanted to be an actor. Back in seventh grade, I was at a performing arts school in Brooklyn, writing scripts and loving comedy. Tennis kind of took over my life, and I had this goofy, performative side that I’d suppressed for so long. Stand-up comedy, I felt like was the easiest way to get notice by casting. So I’ve been trying to put out the best specials as possible to see if I can get into acting. I don’t know if I’m gonna fall in love with acting or not, but I want to try and see. Because if I don’t enjoy stuff, I won’t be successful at it.
I know very little about Summer House, so we’re not going to get into specifics, but the behind-the-scenes drama of that show has very much permeated the culture. Non-Bravo viewers know what’s going on. How are you handling the experience of this chapter of your life suddenly being thrust into the mainstream?
I do think it’s been overall positive for me. People have like looked back at stuff and seen things differently. But it is kind of like a hearing about an ex-boyfriend, where you’re like, “I really, really want to move past it!” (Laughs.) I have most things muted, so I don’t see a lot. I’m more into getting the tea from the source. Ciara [Miller] and Paige keep me posted on what’s actually happening. Overall, I don’t love getting into that place mentally — the reality TV negativity sometimes, the intensity of it all.
It’s not a medium that thrives on positivity.
No, babe. And it’s great that they’re getting views and stuff. You just hope that everyone survives.
I cannot imagine having to sit through a taping of one of those reunion specials.
It’s like nine hours.
When people storm off, I just wonder why they don’t keep going.
We’ve tried. (Laughs.) There’s contracts in place. It really is like WWE for women. I was with Lisa Rinna this past weekend. She’s experienced crazy reunions, too. We had a good heart-to-heart, laughing about surviving it all. But I do think some people thrive in it. That’s where they wanna be. They’re tough. Speaking of Lisa, and I know you just said you’d never do reality TV again, but what about The Traitors?
OK, I was talking to her about it. If you’re an outspoken woman or drag queen or gay, you get kicked out early because they’re like, “We don’t like that!” If you’re a straight man who’s loud, they’re like, “He knows what he’s talking about!” I would never say I would never do Traitors. I would never do a docuseries reality show of friend group where they have to make something out of sometimes nothing. Competition shows would be fun at like some point in my career when I have more time.
Before I let you go, video podcasting: necessary evil or just evil?
See, I love video podcasting. When I started podcasting in 2019, I remember telling networks like, “Do you provide video? Can you help me with video?” They all were like, “You’re a maniac.” Now, if there’s no video, they don’t want it. Because Paige and I started on TV, it was fun for us to be back. Facial expressions, eye contact, people’s outfits, it just adds to it. And, honestly, clips have changed the trajectory of Giggly Squad. You can’t expect everyone to listen to an hour. But there’s some people who live for the clips every week. The clips help you get exposure.
I do have a concern that video podcasting is going to lead to a dramatic uptick in traffic fatalities.
As a New Yorker who just got her driver’s license this last summer, I didn’t factor that in. But you’re 100 percent right. I had an Uber driver the other day that had a video pod on as he was driving. I was like, “Should I say something?” It’s not even right in front of him. It’s on the side. His head was turned.
What made you finally get your driver’s license?
My mom was kind of like, “If you have a family one day, you should be to drive them in an emergency.” But I had a lot of anxiety. I had to do therapy about it. I was writing, “I will pass my driver’s license.” Like, I was doing affirmations! It was a whole thing. So when I passed, I felt so accomplished.
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