Hannah Berner’s Comedy Comes From TikTok Bits, LGBTQ Trailblazers, and the Success of Giggly Squad

writing the book did actually come pretty naturally to me and Paige and I would just riff it was just like fun and I'm really proud of us to have like a physical thing we're two book writers and Leo's here so Louis what are we doing write a trivia book right God there's so much trivia in the world at least an ebook how to win Jeopardy Our Guest this week is not just one of the funniest women in comedy but one of the funniest people from her podcast giggly Squad with her co-host page tooro and burner phone to her recent Netflix special we Rite at dawn she's Sayang her piece on bachelorette parties older men which she calls zes and the girls are feeding for it please welcome to keep it Hannah burner thank you for having me boys I also love how different your shirts are right now oh yeah it's a real it's a real uh what look like the white stripes or something it's a red and white thing yeah we have Jeopardy and American psychos two very different brands and I'm obsessed that's the chaotic energy I want you know that's that's also represents both of our Brands too I too well that's how I am with my podcast host we always walk in not for the same event ever I know and I've had the pleasure of Paige being on keepit before yes tell me about I mean the giggly Squad in general it is your podcast is blown up you're everywhere and you have a book coming out too yeah it's crazy because we can't read or write I don't know how controversial choice to give you a book yeah yeah yeah I we we thought we were getting like spammed but I do think that when you like find someone a friend that you have great chemistry with you should monetize it no I'm just kidding but it's I think the reason get glue squad has been so fun is because we actually never had a business plan or anything it was the kind of thing where we just kept wanting to do it and it's like my favorite time of the week is just talking with Paige and I think in your 20s and your 30s you're so lucky to find like a person that just like loves you unconditionally and latch on to that I think a lot of people want to be like popular and have hundreds of friends and it's like fine just some real ones and surround yourself with good people and Paige is like my person she's my my wife can you tell this to the gay community because all we do is meet thousands of other people who dress the exact same as us and we don't really prioritize like a dozen the way you just said oh my God this is so Random did you guys watch The Rock Hudson documentary I'm a human being aren't I of course I saw that of course of course I was like fascinated by like in Santa Monica they just had like his herum of like hot men and they just like kept going and I'm like how many close friends did this guy have but then all of them kept kep it on lock like no one exposed him or outed him anyway I kind of I was jealous I was like I want that I want that kind of production in the community no what's weird is like we're obsessed with old Hollywood or whatever but like um we will never know the full story with some of these people because they really kept the secrets I mean just as they had to you know at the time and it was so funny to have like the older guys just be like back in my day we had a great time in Santa Monica and these guys look I was like you don't look like you've ever even been to a party and they're like we had ories a lot of ories I would say that is a great gift sort of of I mean it even goes like the current gay community though you know I feel like there's secrets that say within a gay community that will never let out but the the too many friends thing is one of them the networks they're wide Hannah I mean I mean Louis and I are Leos too so we like you know like a big birthday party but like and I know you're one too aren't you I'm a Leo yeah yes you like a big birthday party August Leo I'm obnoxiously a Leo uh so I just had my birthday party and it's like you have one that's close friends I mean I'm I'm a gay who lives in New York so like it was a small one at a rooftop but then like you still run into people who are like um wow I guess I didn't get that invite to your birthday party and I'm like I can't be close friends with everybody the eag I feel I like just walk outside and every day is my birthday we're celebrating I'm bringing you my personality enjoy it I do think though like I love being like friends and like on good terms with it like in I think about high school like I like walking down the hallway and being fist bumping everyone and get in here but there's only like three or four people that I'm sending memes to all day MH you know like we only have so much capacity to send so many inside jokes so like I have my people and then overall just like trying to feel connected um I feel like you have like a party group too in your 20s and then your 30s you get a little more like tired and like who's actually going to show up for you when there isn't you know a fun glamorous event well the meme thing is actually interesting too because I mean you are a funny person and I assume that your friends and stuff you know always look to you for oh your take on something or they want to share something funny with you like people I feel like people do that to me Louis too you know like they want to take part in that but does that then become exhausting too it's like you're send you can send three memes all day to like your close friends and you're doing that back and forth but then there'll be people who are probably responding to like your Instagram stories or trying to start a joke with you or laugh with you and you're like I don't have the mental capacity to respond to everything that you think is funny it's the thing is is the online community there's so many different parts of it and I've somehow created this corn of the internet of like people who just want to laugh so I like love when I post a photo and then the comments are just like eating me up like in a like in an inside joke kind of way and sometimes my followers are so much funnier than me like the [ __ ] they say like it's so entertaining so I kind of love the energy of like my DMs are just people trying to make me laugh which like it could be so much [ __ ] worse and then I feel like the people who are close to me are so annoyed by me like my like Paige and my husband if you look at our DMS it's just me sending them memes and they're not responding so like my close friends don't appreciate it where like everyone else is like H is so funny where paes like if you send me one more cat meme I swear to God and I'm like this is quality but I I got into comedy because I I felt like I was always like the funny one in the group chat but I didn't know that could be a career and then growing up as a um someone from New York like I feel like you're always just busting each other's balls and that's just like how we cope with things is to find laughter like I the only thing I've ever been able to control in this life is laughter so it's ironic that that became the thing that I do for a living I feel like you have definitive podcaster energy like you could talk to anybody you could make other people interesting who like have never spoken once in their life like like the children who like didn't speak till they were eight you could get a great story out of them um but oh my God but what's interesting is like even though you're this like definitively modern comic I feel like then when you reach a certain level of success then you have to do like a an oldfashioned comedy special or put out an oldfashioned book how has it been fashioning what you do to these formats that are not as extremely modern as say you are great question well I'm actually really passionate about like why there's not more women or gays in the standup Community like why is it so straight men because I know it's not that straight men are fun like I'm sorry gay men are just born funny through the tra I don't know what the like algorithm is it's just you guys are just the funniest [ __ ] people so it's like why isn't everyone a a gay man on Netflix doing standup and then like women comedy's made for women like we love to gossip we love to complain we love to observe we're we're socially like really into everything like that's comedy so I was kind of obsessed with why there weren't more gays and girls doing standup and then I realized like just coming up the stand up space is just not the most welcoming space for like all kinds of people so like you might be like I'm funny and start going to some like clubs at like 11:00 p.m. in the Bronx with like a bunch of dudes who are just drunk and then no one's laughing and you're like oh maybe I'm not funny and this isn't for me but you just H aren't speaking to like your community so I kind of love the concept I have just I use tiktock as like my Open Mic which is so much safer and easier to just be like I'm going to say a thought and see who it reaches so I have like bits on Netflix that you can like go back months or years to like when I first started it as a Tik Tock rant to then I tried it in the club to then I tried it in a theater so then eventually it got to Netflix but um I did a more non-traditional route and I think we're in a really exciting time where like different voices can be get involved in comedy through the not modern space to then change like what the stereotypical landscape of standup is that's my thesis that makes perfect sense also I also just want to add to that I think a big like barrier of Entry to standup is just that a huge part of the audience of standup is men and men generally speaking don't like seeing anybody except other straight men as authorities like like be being funny is one thing but like when somebody is on stage they're like we're agreeing with what they're saying you know we're subscribing and I think there's a bit of like um there's an emasculating quality to if it's not somebody who is exactly me on stage then I'm then they're better than me or they're Co me or whatever that is such a [ __ ] good point and I've actually never thought of it like that I mean Nicki Glazer has a joke where like people think male Comics are hotter than they are because they are the authority they're like you know just like telling people what to do and that's hot but like when a girl or a gay does it the men are like I don't I don't really understand this Dynamic so it is kind of just evolving I feel like when I'm on stage I try to make it like we're all in on the joke this isn't like I'm not yelling at people I'm not being mean for no reason like this is an experience we all can be a part of and then honestly when the gays started to like me my life changed like once like like a couple gay guys started to come to the show I was like am I Lady Gaga and then my head got huge my head got [ __ ] huge cuz most of the gays they they like Paige like Paige is the girly one she has the great outfits but then when the gays started to like my comedy I was like I started to become a monster I was like H this is what I meant to do no one tell me what to do this is my path so shout out to the gays for believing in me I and I are still waiting for that endorsement by the way so good for you I feel like it's easier it's harder within the own your own Community yeah we don't want to see each other win you know oh God but it is I've always been so fascinated um by gays and comedy because well especially lesbians have really paved the way for women because they don't give a [ __ ] what straight men think so they get on stage and they're just like I'm I don't care if you think I look hot I don't care if you think this is funny I'm I don't give a [ __ ] about you where Straight great women might be more so be like o I'm distracted by this and that um and then gay men I think have just it's they don't want to be around gross Street dudes yeah I mean even going back to what LS was saying you know there's also this idea of you know lesbian women on stage or a woman that a band doesn't necessarily have to be attracted to we were talking about um this Netflix special you know about queer people and stand up recently you know it's like they the lesbians I feel like they would lean into you know like their look like a masculine look like on stage are not conforming to what a man sort of things a woman has to look like and I think that even when you think about um comedy and television shows and movies you know there's usually the idea that um we grew up with men writing these shows right and so you always see The Narrative of like a screech or someone like trying to get the girl and the girl is usually like a hot girl who's a [ __ ] you know and so it's just not multifaceted yeah cuz it's them writing a wish fulfillment for themselves in a way you know yes 100% And I think when I was on stage I love I love showing that like women can be you can be hot but you can also be insecure and you could be a boss but also of anxiety and I like love playing with that and I also think I I love playing with like outfits and fashion um you see right now live events are so fun from like Taylor Swift Chapel rone all that stuff and like that's what I want to embody when I'm on stage and standup comedy that's never what people thought about it but like hot girls and gays come to my shows as like a party as an event they know they feel safe and it's just it's become like so much more glamorous than I ever thought it could be uh I also want to say about your shows the way you interact with audience members is always so memorable which is no surprise given that you on Tik Tok are fabulous interacting with weirdos on the street who are who are routinely extremely funny just random people um what when you interact with audience members is there any trepidation about just inviting a random person to start speaking or is that a particularly confident part of your act I think the trepidation is the fun part because I'm on the road touring doing my bits and I'm honestly like a curious person I love to gossip and I get bored easily so I'll be on stage and I'll see a guy with like a strange hat and I'm like I need to know everything about this man like how did this happen why is he with her so I I think for me it's like a fun CH it's just like an improv game where I just go what's going on here and I go in with like I want everyone to be in on the joke and then when you talk to someone and you guys have this moment together throughout the show I get to do callbacks to be like remember we all were part of this and then it I just I feel very connected to the audience because I'm not giving a speech it's really more of like a dance if they're not giving me things back then it's like yeah standup is really more like a you feel like a conductor and you're like you're with the crowd it's not a speech at all you have to have the crowd like involved especially as you start doing bigger rooms you're like are people in the back are you guys in on this like I I'm just like very obsessed with maybe I'm just a people pleaser but I'm obsessed with the audience feeling connected giggly Squad is getting so big now for you and Paige and of course Paige is still on summerhouse the Bravo show that you used to be on uh has there ever been any sort of um desire to go back um to the show at least to promote the podcast you know like is that something you're like I never want to be under a Bravo light again I I think I honestly I have like so much gratitude toward Bravo and I feel like I wouldn't be here without them like putting me on um I think that now it's kind of like I don't know if it just would make sense because I'm not on it yeah of course so it's kind of like you can have your cake and eat it too it is interesting to sort of get a start from a show like at least for of a wider audience you know and then sort of now um you've done an excellent job at establishing you know your own self outside of that now I also feel like when I'm when I'm in something I give it my all and I feel like really gave that my got show my all so it's like it's like let's be honest you don't have ass Hannah coming in for two minutes I feel like shows like that must be the most exhausting gig in TV cuz you just want to make sure the materials there and you have to make it your life and you have to make it authentic and just give a compelling performance constantly you know oh yeah well and and I love making a great show and I love being on I think gig Squad was so successful because there was so much footage of us being funny that just ended up on The Cutting Room floor with reality TV and we were like so like something would air and I was like oh my God they didn't put any they kind of like to laugh at you not laugh with you which like is very funny sometimes but I feel like Paige and I shine when you're like you're in on the joke with us and I think reality TV they're not always ready to be like oh these people are actually making jokes like all I wanted to do was make the video guy laugh cuz they were so bored these poor were so bored sweating profusely and I just be sitting there every now and then I'd be like mid crying and then I'd like try to say something to make them laugh but it's it's funny how like you want to think what you want to put into this world and I feel like I I'm most valuable when I'm like being vulnerable and making people laugh and I think sometimes reality TV they don't they don't want that side of you yeah there's no room in the episode Arc or whatever for it I'm saying that somewhat generously but yeah exactly yeah yeah it's sometimes not the storyline that you want to be yeah I mean and like you said you have to be on all the time so you are filming all day um and you're on in different scenes and then you're like well 4% will be on TV I do have to say sh people will like make fun of Paige and me back in the day for and Sierra for being in the bed the reason you're in the bed is cuz when you leave the bed then you get into it with people so if you stay in the bed you're safe you we'd be in the bed and they'd be like hey can you guys go up to the kitchen because so and so wants to talk to you we'd be like no so if you stay in the bed you're safe so it's like I would jump in the pool to be safe also because I have to take off my mic so you no one could get to you when you're in the pool there's all these like ways to like get a break but yeah emotionally it's it's it's difficult but Paige and I are trauma bonded from it and we got stronger from it and I kind of love when they don't want to see two girls um get along and then they do and see where it goes you know I assume this upcoming book was a good place to deposit all of these Dimensions you keep talking about like you don't have to edit anything out what's been the main pleasure of putting it together oh my gosh it's funny it's been it's been kind of therapeutic because we didn't ever ever say we wanted to write a book it kind of came to us and then we were like what the [ __ ] do we write about and every week we just we had no rules I don't like rules I'm better with like an idea person and then tell me to like cut it down so we just wrote about everything that would make us laugh we opened up up about our own like anxieties and just like we we just didn't um have much structure in it it was more just like what makes each other laugh and I think that's what's made my standup good is like if Paige wouldn't laugh at the joke I'm not saying it and I think when you write to just make your friend laugh that's when other people connect to it that's also such a good way to get over writer block is to think of an ideal audience maybe if it's even just one person be like okay well what would make that person laugh and that like then it becomes more of a social exercise than a I'm coming up with something brilliant this pretentious moment of creation yeah and I think people don't realize how much of standup is writing um so writing the book did actually come pretty naturally to me and and Paige and I would just riff and sit and be like let's let's make each other laugh about like you know types of girls when they go on different bachette parties like let's judge them and we would just go in and it it was just like fun and I'm really proud of us to have like a physical thing um and it all just like wasn't planned and I think sometimes that's the best stuff when you're not forcing it yeah I mean you know Louis and I never wrote a damn book so together together at least together no I I I find the idea of writing a book so shock I just don't have the attention span didn't think anybody did anymore so let alone congrats to you to read a book or to write or both both both absolutely both yeah so this book to be honest like I was on tour the whole time so I would like not write for like two months and then I would H get like a bunch of inspiration and sit down and write for like four hours and write like 40 pages and then I would like not touch it for a while so it wasn't this like wake up in the morning and write a page of my book and do that every day it was not it was like writer's block and then just like vomit and then writer block again and they would get worried they'd be like hey like this is Du next month and I'm like I just need one day of inspiration and I got you and then it's a kind of book that you can literally pick up and read any chapter and enjoy it and then it also just like really cute coffee table book let's be honest it's we found this like really cool Australian Instagram artist who does sick collages and we were like can you [ __ ] up a collage for us in the cover and she was like yeah and she did it and we were like this is perfect so Margot Robin that was nice of her it's her like side hustle that she does and all you have to do is DM her yeah for the for the record I did read um we didn't do a podcast one together I did write a book right um myself yes thank you we're two book writers and Leo's here so Louis what are we doing write a trivia book right God there's so much trivia in the world I admire what you both do please how to how to win Jeopardy write your how to win Jeopardy release a caption that I can do right along caption I'll put six or seven tweets together wait for it [Laughter] yeah uh Hannah thank you so much for being here oh my God this was so much fun I could talk to you guys forever we were really vibing as we promised each other we would at the top of the show yes um you guys thank you so much Hannah also the special is so much fun congrats on it [Music]