Coolest Person in the Room: Hannah Einbinder

I’m getting my bearings today. It’s my first day back to work after a month off, so you can probably imagine.

Oh my god, well I’m from Los Angeles, to my core I’m Cali. You could not be talking to a person with more chill vibrations.

Despite my Eagles merch I’m wearing right now, I’m also from California, so it was nice to return to my roots of not working.

Shoutout. So you’re a fan?

Of course. I mean, I’m wearing a shirt that says “LGBT: Let’s Go Birds Transsexuals.”

I’ve seen that one. Oh my god. So you live in Philly, yeah?

Philly to my core now. You live here a few years and it’s in your blood forever, I think.

100%. It’s in the water.

Speaking of the Eagles, how did you celebrate their Super Bowl win? Your television rant about them remains the funniest thing of all time.

My dad and I went to a bar in Santa Monica called Eagle’s Nest West. We got there at 8 AM, the bar opened at 10. The game started at 3:30, but we were there early to secure the table that we wanted. It’s a very tiny bar, so it was kind of an all-day situation. I was in a group chat with my family by the time the game started. Just fully, fully ingratiated in the community. Obviously it's so powerful now, more than ever. We watched at the bar and then we just fucking like, went home. I had work the next day, I had to go to set.

That’s a fun vibe, to just go right from the Super Bowl to set. As a fashion magazine though, it’s mandated in my employee handbook to ask you: How do you style a Birds jersey?

You know, I’m partial to the Princess Diana bomber jacket. I just wear my regular butch swag with that. Men’s Toteme canvas pants with my Doc Martens and a black t-shirt, long sleeve waffle shirt under it. Just throw that on.

Toteme pants and loafers, that’s the LA uniform. I stayed in that outfit when I was living in LA.

One million percent.

Taking it back to the beginning, when did you know you wanted to pursue comedy full time, or did it find you by accident?

In college, I worked on a film set, like a student film, and I was a PA, and another PA and I just started getting along and he was like, “You’re so funny, you should try out for the improv team." I tried out, I got on and I started doing improv. I was not amazing at it, I was super in my head, and it requires this mental freedom that I did not at the time possess. And then from there I started pursuing stand up, and that just felt like something I was passionate about and something that I was very good at. So my origin was just like, okay, I’ll graduate, and then get a daytime job, coffee shop job, so that I can hit open mics all night, every night. I don’t know that I ever really had like a clear concept that this would be my career. I was getting such good approval and feedback that I was like, oh, I’m going to do so well at this, because I’m constantly doing well.

I love asking comedians, speaking of that time: Do you remember the times that your jokes bombed or the times they really lit up a room more?

I hold them with equal measure. The open mic space is tough, because the entire audience is other comedians waiting to go on stage. Kind of a nightmare scenario. So that’s a tough environment. I would have like, 300 pages of unusable material. And so for me, I can tell when something comes out fully formed that it’s going to work. Most of the jokes in my act do not need drafts, they just come out completely done. So if I have to sit down and work something out, it’s probably not... it has to strike me a little bit. I had my fair share of bombs for sure, but in terms of remembering them, I hold them in equal measure. Because what is at the forefront of my consciousness is the pursuit of the thing, and having to be conscious of the journey is how you ultimately do get there.

You were the youngest at the time, and also the last person to do a stand up set on The Late Show for 15 months, because of the pandemic. Looking back from where your career is now, how do you think of that time, and in the moment, did it feel like you got in right under the wire?

Completely. I was so shocked, because those were pre-taped. So I had taped it probably eight months before, and literally... I believe my appearance on Colbert was perhaps three or four days before the initial stay-at-home orders. I got in under the wire, and that was such a blessing for me, to be able to have that up, because when they were casting Hacks, I had no prior work other than stand-up. So they looked at my Colbert performance as they were considering me, and it was a great piece of work, a great argument for me. That very materially helped my casting.

Also, late night is the dream for comedians, even though it doesn’t hold the same power that it once did when Johnny Carson was on. There were three channels, that was it. It made your life overnight. Still, it’s sentimental, it also means you can tour clubs, it also is just this respect thing within the community, getting on late night. That whole experience actually felt like the old day. Usually you have your manager send in the tape. I, at the very last minute, was added to this speakeasy bar show in Venice, and the booker for Colbert happened to be in the back of the room, and I did a set and she booked me that night. It was reminiscent of the old days where the booker would stand in the back of the Comedy Store and discover people. It was really organic, her being at the random show that I was added to the day of. The synchronicity of it was very hard to ignore.

Then you get cast in Hacks, and you’re filming this show in isolation while there’s all this tumult in the world, sets are locked down. Knowing where Hacks has gone now, could you see this far into the future? Were you thinking about it at all?

Not one time, not one molecule of one time… did any of the success of the show cross my mind. I was so solely and totally focused on doing a good job. In my insecure mind at the time, it was about not getting fired. I was like, This makes no sense that they would gamble on me like this. I have to do a good job. And I was so obsessed with being perfect and making them happy. So when we wrapped, and I got a call from the network saying they wanted to pursue an Emmys campaign for me. It was the first I was hearing of that, and the first I was thinking of that.

And then it did receive 15 Emmy nominations in its first season, which was and still is huge, for a show led by women, queer women, by a woman like Jean Smart. When you got the news, how did it feel?

It was yet another feather in the surreal cap of this reality that was thrust upon me. I really just did not understand. It was so surreal. I was kind of a deer in the headlights, I did not know what I was walking into, and it was just this embarrassment of riches. I was an athlete, and so I do have this thing in me forever where it’s like, I have to do well for my coach. That is kind of my only concern.

Two-fold question in response to that. Was there any advice you got from co-stars or others that you still think about or hold onto? And if you could give advice to somebody else in those same shoes, what would it be?

I don't know if it's advice... it's definitely not advice. But in my preparation for Hacks, I had no acting experience, and so I was given Michael Kane's book Acting on Film. And that book is, I would say, a central text. It's so easy to read, you'll read it in a day or two. It's got everything you could possibly need to know, all of the logistical elements of filmmaking, talking about everything from hitting your marks to knowing your lines to behavior on set, everything, everything, everything for someone. I had no idea it was such a vital tool. And so I would say that is the sort of advice that I got. And also that's what I would tell people, like, if you are in a situation like I was and you didn’t go to some sort of school for acting, it is a great text to just give you an overview.

Starting out in comedy, it's very hard to say, because the landscape has changed so much. You know, the landscape of comedy is unrecognizable, frankly, to the one that I started in, because now the online thing is so prevalent. But that is ultimately what's helpful? It's helpful to have an online presence, but also, that there is just an indispensable value to performing live and doing open mics. If you're in New York or LA, you can go on The Comedy Bureau website that has a database of all the open mics in town and where and when they are. It's still a great website. That's what I used. It's still functioning. But, yeah, you've got to perform live, and I suppose you have to be a fucking online star.

I really enjoy your creative relationship with your stylist, Jamie Mizrahi. The Academy Gala dress that you wore was fabulous. How did you two meet or get connected?

I met Jamie at the Vuitton shows. I met her socially and thought she was really cool and funny. And those are kind of the two things I need from people, in addition to sweet and smart and all of those things. But like, if we can make each other laugh, I'm down with you, basically, even if you're toxic. I shouldn't say that, because now that's probably gonna bring a lot of toxicity into my life, but also that's the truth. I have to be truthful. But anywho, I met Jamie, we were like, vibing, and ultimately I came to a point where I made a lot of changes around my professional life, and I just saw what she had done with so many of her clients, and thought she is so chic and she is so genius, and frankly, is an innovator. I wanted to be a part of that with her and work with her.

Do you have any mandates in your styling, or are you sort of, like, just take the reins, do what you want with me?

We love, especially for carpets, things that are architectural, like the Academy Gala dress. And that's, of course, one of the elements as to why Louis Vuitton has been such an amazing collaborator, with Nicholas [Ghesquière]. I think that it would be the central one. And then, as far as other things, she just gets a sense of me. It's almost like an unsaid thing, where she knows me very well and puts her spin on it.

You gave a very powerful and moving speech at the Human Rights Campaign Los Angeles Dinner, where you were awarded. Going into that night, how were you feeling about what you were going to say about Palestine?

Going into the night, I spent so much time focusing on the exact words that I wanted to choose, and the exact way that I wanted to communicate what I was saying. And I mean, so much time, because when I accepted the award, it was because I was going to say this. That’s the reason I chose to accept, and so from then on, I began crafting this speech. I had been sitting with it for a couple months, and I was feeling prepared. It was very emotional for me.

I was really fighting to speak at the beginning. I think it’s very personal. There’s nothing more personal. I’m Jewish, I have two transgender siblings, one of my siblings is a park ranger. Everything that is going on in my life is everything that is going on in the world, it hits so close to home. It’s in my living room. You know what I mean? Everything is so personal. The climate... I’m a third-generation Angeleno. These fires destroyed my beloved city. Everything happening on Earth is hitting me. So it’s all I could think about going into that night, I had the personal fuel — the very tangible real-life fuel to speak. I know that there are a lot of my community members who are upset with me, who have misunderstood me, and that really makes me sad. But ultimately... a great writer that I love, Peter Beinart, whose book I would love to actually recommend, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza — Beinart expresses that there is a faction of his community who feels he has gotten lost, but in speaking his truths and aligning himself with reality and with justice, he has gained a very beautiful community. And I do feel that way. I do feel that way as well.

As a comedian, so much of your relationship to the public is through laughter, and humor. Did you find it harder to cut through that and write something not based around getting a laugh?

While I am a comedian, I am also an actor, and I do have that very soft, internal sensitivity. That is ultimately the place that I operate from in both mediums. My first draft had jokes up top, and then I realized I only have so much time, and it’s just not important to me. I just cut those, you know?

Fashion is also an interesting form of communicating ideas. You wore this very commanding Guiliva Heritage suit that night. Did you and Jamie think about the way the suit would read? Like, were you thinking not just in terms of knowing what you were going to say, but also how what you were going to wear would feed into that?

Certainly. To me, suiting and a more masculine presentation is armor. It’s how I dress in my actual life, so it was important for me to feel like myself, and it was important for me to use fashion as that armor in that moment. Because it was ultimately incredibly vulnerable.

Do you ever think about the interplay between how you present yourself in your real life and how you present yourself on the carpet?

I actually view it as performance.

That’s interesting.

I don’t want to necessarily use the word drag, but I do view it as performance, and I do view fashion as sculpture and art. I enjoy playing with presentation and performance, and for me, that is a space where I can experience femininity, and I can perform that, and it is very fun for me. I think my day-to-day is much different.

To a much lesser extent, I always think there’s the me that lives in the world and the me that goes to something like a work event or fashion week party. Those are two people living in me at the same time, and I can be both of them, and they don’t have to exist at the same time all the time.

Yes, exactly. Exactly this. I think, as a bisexual, when you first start to come out, you’re clouded with the sort of binary brainwashing that society really forces upon us all. And so, in my journey and in my acceptance of myself and my queerness, I have accepted that I am all things, and there is no like, Well you wore a dress, so does that mean... Like no, I wore a dress, and I’m also wearing your dad’s Carhartt pants. It’s fine.

Now for some rapid fire questions: What is the TV you’re watching most right now, home alone, no responsibilities, by yourself?

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Team Kyle? Team Dorit? Team Garcelle? Where are we?

I am Team Erika Jayne is innocent, and I need the t-shirt now.

Okay, coming out swinging.

I fuck with her. I’m sorry, I mean, oh my god, it’s a totally different interview. I have so much to say.

Now, what is one thing you can’t leave the house without?

My hat. It’s so fucking worn down. I got it at a screening of that Ari Aster movie Beau Is Afraid. This is the logo of the company. And then I have a camo hat that is from a place called Plants and Spaces. It’s a plant shop, and my friend makes merch for it, and it says PNS on it.

If you could only live in one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Okay, The Row zip-up platform black leather boots. My Nanamica pants. A white t-shirt, and an open Margiela button down shirt.

Is the t-shirt baggy or form-fitting? I think that’s important.

Thank you for asking, the t-shirt is baggy, but it is cropped to the waistline of the pants, just meeting the waistline. The Margiela button down, striped, kind of like patchwork fabric, and my little bracelet that I wear every day that I got for $40 at a yard sale, shout out. And a smile, because you’re never fully dressed without a smile. You can print that in your little magazine.

What’s your favorite LA hangout spot that you hope nobody ever discovers?

My apartment, first of all, my life would be over. Do you understand how I’ve been experiencing being in the media lately? But in all seriousness, I would say... I don’t go anywhere. Probably Same Same Thai. Like if I couldn’t get in at Same Same Thai. It is the best Thai food in LA, and there’s never a wait, you can just walk in. If that restaurant got blown up and it became impossible to get a seat there, I would be upset.

That was going to be my last question, but I have one more, because you made me think of this earlier. You get to hang out with Erika Jayne for the night and take her anywhere. Where are you going?

I think I would take her to the East Side. I would take her to Quarter Sheet, or perhaps Bacceti Trattoria. I think we would get Italian. Talk about Las Vegas.

In my journey and in my acceptance of myself and my queerness, I have accepted that I am all things.

Photography: Diego Villagra Motta
Styling: Angelina Cantú
Hair: Jerrod Roberts
Makeup: Mia Jones Siegel

Lighting: Kaiya Lang
Photo assistant: Xandra Haftermann
Styling assistant: Joyce Esquenazi Mitrani, Monica McMahon

Editor-in-chief: Justin Moran
Managing editor: Matt Wille
Editorial producer: Angelina Cantú
Story: Joan Summers
Location: Soho Grand Hotel