Hacks’ star Hannah Einbinder in a candid chat with Firstpost’s Lachmi Deb Roy for ‘Not Just Bollywood’ talks about her journey in the entertainment industry, coming out as queer and her role in HBO Max’s ‘Hacks’.
The show is now streaming on JioCinema. The series has won several Emmy and Critics Choice awards. It’s about an ageing comedian hiring a young writer. Hannah plays the role of the young writer and she mentions how being a queer helped her in performing the role.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
What keeps you driven and what is the motivation from one episode, one sequel to second to third?
What keeps me driven is the quality of the work that I do. I think the writing on this show is so incredible and the crew who makes this show work so hard on it and I just try to rise to the level of quality that everyone else is bringing to the project.
And, isn’t there a pressure when you move from one show to another, like one episode to one season to another, to live up to the expectations of the people because it’s a hugely popular one, right?
Yes, I mean, certainly we definitely work really hard to maintain the quality, but I have so much faith in our creators and our writers that they just keep getting better and better.
What was the preparation for you in terms of the character evolving?
It’s pretty straightforward. I think I feel so familiar with this character at this point that everything she does and says feels supernatural and logical for her. So my preparation is just being really diligent about knowing my lines and understanding the arc of the scene and the episode and what I need to do.
And how much do you relate to it?
I do relate a lot, you know, if I have some similarities to me, for sure, I think as a queer person, as a comedy writer, I relate to a lot of elements of her.
On being a bisexual comedian, what do you have to say about that? How open are people about it?
You know, I’m, I’m very lucky that I have a great fan base from the show that I have a great fan base from the show that comes out to see me perform stand up and those people know who I am going in and that makes it for, you know, just a more comfortable environment.
And what was your first stand-up comedy show like, if you can go back and revisit them?
It was at my college. I opened for a comedian who was visiting and asked if any of the kids at the school wanted to open for her and I volunteered. So my first show was incredible, a lot of my classmates were cheering for me.
What is your advice for the people who want to choose stand-up comedy as a profession?
I think in terms of stand-up comedy, just to really dedicate every night of your life to it, it’s something you have to do really obsessively and just try to write as much as you can, even if it’s not good or usable, just always writing and working really, really hard. And my way of acting was through stand up. So I think if you have those interests, they can be a good bridge to each other.
And you’re playing a queer comedian and you are from the LGBTQ community . What do you have to say about your whole experience?
I will say that going on the road and traveling and doing comedy outside of my comfort zone across America has brought me a lot of character building experiences. I’ve gotten a lot of experience like dealing with people yelling out and having to stay in really small rooms and, and then doing shows which aren’t sold out. I had to really trudge through a lot of like non-ideal situations. But like you said, I think, yes, I had to have thick skin.
WATCH the trailer of Hacks Season 3 here:
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