Hannah Berner - “We Ride at Dawn” | The Daily Show

Please welcome Hannah Berner. [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] N/A N/A I mean, look, this is amazing. This is-- you're so Daily Show. I tried to match the energy. Yeah. [LAUGHS] [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] That's great. That's great. Congrats on your special. - Thank you. It's doing great. Its very funny. I feel like bachelorettes-- it's unfair to compare them to cults because cults give you the sweet escape of death. [LAUGHTER] I mean, I am well versed in a lot of cults. There's Sister Wives. Sometimes it's just running around naked. It depends on the cult, Michael. Some are better than others. And I would fall for one. I am one of those people that would fall for it. MICHAEL KOSTA: Would fall for a call? It's always a very compelling person it seems to be-- They're so good at sales. Like-- [LAUGHTER] I mean, so naturally, you're a comedian. But was this drawn from some bachelorette experience? There had to be some people that mad about this joke. I hate to call myself out, but it was my bachelorette. MICHAEL KOSTA: Oh! [LAUGHTER] Ooh, the audience made me feel really bad about that. [LAUGHS] No, but I kind of felt this weird sense of power. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. Like, everyone was like, look, making sure I was OK. And I was like, in the wrong hands, this could go real wrong. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. [LAUGHTER] So I think I was able to be good. But it's just-- look, there's already a wage gap. And we're paying all this money for bachelorettes. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. Honestly, I feel like the man came up with the bachelorette idea. OK. [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] [LAUGHS] [LAUGHS] I remember when people were like, Michael, are you doing a bachelor party? And I'm like, I'm a stand up comic who's on the road every-- it's all a bachelor party. It's all a bachelor party. [LAUGHS] You hit the road. You are a stand up comic. You've got a lot going on. But let's talk about being a woman in comedy because it seems like a tough path. Do you want to become one? I become a woman in comedy. [LAUGHTER] In a serious sense, you got to have some thick skin to do this. Yes. Yeah, I do think that people wonder why there's not more women in comedy. But starting off and seeing that you have to go to these bars late at night, so many hilarious women are like, maybe there's other things I could do 'cause this is kind of annoying. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. [LAUGHTER] I do think that, like, having TikTok and having other avenues has helped me kind of be able to work on my material a lot without having to, like, deal with drunk people in bars too much. MICHAEL KOSTA: Or what about just the dudes in the green room judging all the time? And I say that as one of those dudes. [LAUGHTER] But there is a male-- Do you want to tell them what happened-- - What did-- what did happen? - What happened? What happened? Well, you brought your dog Walter to the green room once. Holy shit. And I was trying to have, like, a safe, calm energy before my show. And Walter just growled at me. [LAUGHTER] And I'm already dealing with all the comics giving me weird energy. This dog doesn't like me. Yeah. And I thought dogs could read good character. Yeah, well, maybe he can. So-- [LAUGHTER] Walter is a Dick, my dog. [LAUGHTER] And you should follow Daily Show dogs. There's a lot of pictures of him on there. But, you know, if you had him for the weekend, he would-- he would snuggle up with you. I appreciate that. Although I noticed on your special, on the end, the very end-- I watched it all the way through to the end. You thank some people, one of which is your cat. - Yes. - Butters? Butters. Butters saved my life. MICHAEL KOSTA: Tell me how. Tell me how. My therapy cat. Aw. Which is perfect because it says-- it says on here, how did your cat save your life? It doesn't say that. I've never heard that before. How did that happen? You know, I'm on the board of childless cat ladies. And-- [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] N/A Am I trying to run for something right now? What am I doing? No, but I do feel like there's moments where a cat just being there for you, not judging you for all of your mistakes and regrets, she just loves you for you. And that was important in some hard times in my life. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. Because, you know, comedy is a coping mechanism. I think having a really cute animal is also a coping mechanism. MICHAEL KOSTA: This whole business is people saying no to you. But when I come home, my dog says yes to me. (LAUGHING) Yeah. And that sounds, like, very sexual what I just said. [LAUGHTER] I don't-- didn't mean it to sound that way. Your special is not-- it's-- keep going. Keep going, Michael. Keep going. [LAUGHTER] Don't talk about [BLEEP] your dog after bad sex. [LAUGHTER] All comics should have a pet that loves them no matter what-- - Yeah. --because the audience doesn't always love you. No, it's true. MICHAEL KOSTA: You're special. I'm a man. And you say-- you say at some point in your special, like, there's not-- there's not a lot of men here. You point-- you single out a guy. - Yeah. - Yeah. And I'm like, oh, I'm sure he loved that. [LAUGHTER] But, you know, was I-- as a man, was I allowed to consume and watch your special? - I love-- I feel like it's kind of like-- you know the reality TV shows that guys are like, I'm not into this stuff. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. But then, like-- MICHAEL KOSTA: [LAUGHS] --half an hour in, you see him in the kitchen just like, why'd she say that to her? MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. Totally. - Why did she say that? MICHAEL KOSTA: Totally. So I feel like this is a great special to watch with your guy. And I feel like it's kind of the female locker room. Like, they hear things. Or girls are like, see? I'm not the only one who, like, during a-- can I say queef? MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. - Anyway-- [LAUGHTER] --I feel like I, like, kind of just speaking out as a childless cat community. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And making guys kind of understand us a little more. And, like, we like the comedy from a male perspective. And I think it's great to have the female perspective, too. I agree. And it's-- yeah. [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] N/A The Daily Show has been on air for 29 years. No one has ever said "queef" behind this desk. [LAUGHTER] I was trying not to, and it just came out. [LAUGHTER] [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] But which-- that's in contradiction to what you said in the special because in the special, you said, I have never queefed by myself. You, skinny dick, queefed me. Yes. Yes. I don't know if I used the term "skinny dick." You just said that. - Oh, shit. No. [LAUGHS] I said needle dick. You massive hog dick. [LAUGHTER] No, but I do think a lot of girls have been gaslit to believe that, like, they have a problem if they queef. And it's like, he queefed you. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And I got a lot of messages. I got a lot of messages from women being like, it happened tonight, and I felt no shame. And if that's what I bring to the world, that's what I brought. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah, I mean, that's like-- A lot of applause for this. No, I mean, this audience apparently does a lot of queefing. [LAUGHTER] Big queef crowd. Speaking of queefs-- There's no way to segue this. There's no way to segue to that. [LAUGHTER] I was gonna say that we've played tennis together. We have. But that doesn't have to do with queefing. But grunting is a sound that our bodies make. [LAUGHTER] Different location. And grunting's just like laughing, which we all love to do. And we might edit a lot of that out. Yeah. [LAUGHTER] I-- but people don't know that when I first started comedy, we hit tennis balls together. And I remember being like, wow, this is a guy who played tennis who's a successful comedian. Maybe there's a chance that I could, you know, do well in this business. Look where we are now. It's pretty cool. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah, I like how you're saying "we." [LAUGHTER] The reason Walter growled at you is he saw the trajectory of your career. [LAUGHS] He was like, stop her now. No, I mean, you played at University of Wisconsin, Madison. - Go Badgers. Go Badgers. [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] I mean, what does this-- HANNAH BERNER: Oh! MICHAEL KOSTA: What does this evoke? [LAUGHTER] What does that evoke for you? HANNAH BERNER: I'm upset. MICHAEL KOSTA: By the way, that's her. We didn't just pull, like-- [LAUGHTER] HANNAH BERNER: No, you know, I was in it waking up at 6:00 AM, weights, tennis. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah, look at that. HANNAH BERNER: I-- yeah, I-- you know, I worked my butt off. And I do think that there was a moment when I didn't go pro where I was like, this was all for nothing. Yeah. I'm glad I wasted 15 years of my life. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And I really now looking back realize how tennis did prepare me for a lot of the adversity that I've dealt with with comedy and how with comedy, you're never, like, a real loser unless you, like, tell yourself you're a loser. MICHAEL KOSTA: Right. 'Cause I could-- I could be like, they liked it. They were laughing with their nose. Like, they-- [LAUGHTER] --where tennis, it's like, you lost. You suck. So I've been much kinder to myself with comedy than I was with tennis. Yeah. And I think, you know, dealing with pressure has been easier compared to, like, some of the things I dealt with with tennis. Why is the junior tennis world-- and excuse us. We're just gonna talk about junior tennis for a second. It's gonna get very niche. This is very niche. It is-- you're so true about being kinder to ourselves. And I think it's something we all can do all the time. Positive self-talk. And I as a junior tennis player heard you should be positive with yourself, but it wasn't happening. No. Is this-- is junior tennis-- I mean, is it traumatic? Is it good? You said it prepared you. Yeah, because I'll joke with my dad. I'm like, I think you were too tough on me. He's like, well, you turned out OK, so I think I did good. [LAUGHTER] Controversial. No, but I do think it's-- MICHAEL KOSTA: Your joke about queefing was good. [LAUGHTER] You got tennis to thank for that. I get my sense of humor from him. Yeah. But I do think when we were growing up-- I mean, you're a little older than me. But when we were growing up-- [LAUGHTER] --we didn't have-- we weren't-- people weren't aware of, like, the mental health as much. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And we knew that it was supposed to be hard. And it was just whoever can push themselves harder. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And I didn't realize that you could have fun and be a winner. MICHAEL KOSTA: Mm. And I think with comedy, I've learned, like, you can laugh, have fun, and also succeed in ways. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And I think it's a cheat code to decide not to be mean to yourself. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And that took a long time for me to learn. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. But it's like, with tennis, I loved it, but it didn't always bring me joy. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. And I didn't realize that you can stop and find something that brings you joy that you'll also be good at, too. MICHAEL KOSTA: I love that. That's excellent. And that's great. [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] Quit your jobs. Quit it. Quit your jobs. Find joy. Do drugs. [LAUGHS] Do you still follow tennis? Do you still follow it? It's crazy. I'm, like, newly back obsessed with tennis. I watch tennis all day. I'm training again. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. But, like-- MICHAEL KOSTA: You're training? It's almost, like, therapeutic in my own way. Yeah. Like, I take a lot of breaks. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah, that's OK. [LAUGHTER] Who-- of the pro players out there, men or women, who are you, like, can't take your eyes off of? Or who's resonating with Hannah? Shout out to some young Americans. Emma Navarro. - Yep. Had a great season, yeah. - Extremely talented. Yep. Jessie Pegula, Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton. Yeah. Yeah. [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] What is it that you look for in a pro? What is it that you look for? Like, I like fashion. And then I like-- I like backhand. I really want a player that has a badass backhand. Right? I like a player who's fearless. MICHAEL KOSTA: Ooh. I like a player who goes for things and does things that I never had the chutzpah to do on my own. MICHAEL KOSTA: I love that. I want to see people, yeah, who seem like they have no fear. MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. Even though I know they're all scared, it's cool to see, like, they're not human. MICHAEL KOSTA: I love watching Ben Shelton. [LAUGHTER] Ben Shelton will hit, like, 150 mile an hour second serve. And the way I used it, second serve, was like this. Please go in. Please go in. Please go in. Please go in. Please go in. Please go in. I mean, I think it's-- tennis is such a mental battle. So I love seeing people overcome their nerves and fears. And I also kind of love to see when they are human. Like, when Sabalenka lost her serve-- MICHAEL KOSTA: Yeah. --that was so human of her. And then she won a major after that. So I love seeing people deal with adversity. And I love comebacks. I love revenge. Honestly, sports is the best reality TV. MICHAEL KOSTA: Let's talk about-- last thing. You mentioned-- [CHEERING, APPLAUSE] --revenge. - Yeah. - Revenge. - I'm Sicilian. You're-- OK. That's it. That's all I needed to know. [LAUGHS] No, but I mean, one of the things that endears-- one of the things that I really love about you is your work ethic. I mean, before the show, I see you doing man on the street in the city of New York. Afterwards, you're always, like-- you got your podcast. You got your TikTok. You're crushing it. What is driving this? Is it some kind of revenge? I would say that's a glamorous-- I would love to blame revenge. But like, I'm running from my thoughts. MICHAEL KOSTA: OK. When I'm sitting alone for an hour, I start to be like, who is gonna die? MICHAEL KOSTA: (LAUGHING) Yeah. [LAUGHTER] I just-- I love working. It makes me feel fulfilled. I love creating. But I also think revenge, like, there's always gonna be people don't believe in you or people who try to take you down. And I think as a tennis player, we're very individual. So I kind of have this story in my head where I'm like, I'm gonna take all that energy and help motivate me every day to, like, keep working, keep creating. MICHAEL KOSTA: I love it. Hannah Berner. we Ride At Dawn is streaming on Netflix. Hannah Berner.