The Big Picture

Einbinder’s comedy special
Everything Must Go
explores diverse topics such as climate change, meditation, sexuality, and cheerleading with a unique and engaging approach.
Her comedy style is sharp and unpredictable, gripping the audience from start to finish and showcasing a fresh and insightful perspective.
Einbinder’s preparation process for her roles in
Hacks
is meticulous and finely-tuned, which is evident in her impressive performance in Season 3.

“We all know that trees filter toxic chemicals in the air through pores in their leaves and re-release cleaner air. But what I’ve gathered everyone here tonight to discuss is where the chemicals that the trees absorb end up.” It takes a special type of comedic mind to be able to turn a subject as scientifically dry as tree communication into a bit that’s not only hilarious but insightful and engaging. Hannah Einbinder, who you likely know best as Ava Daniels in the hit Max series Hacks, isn’t afraid to weave facts and figures about climate change, bees, and the differences between “girl and boy trees” in between jokes about her past (heavy) use of marijuana and the very colorful opinion she has about one teacher who wouldn’t dismiss the class when the bell rang. And whatever you do, do not get her started on meditation.

Everything Must Go, Einbinder’s debut comedy special that is now available on Max, is a sharp, stylized exploration of the comedian’s fast-moving, unpredictable, and untamable mind. It might sound cliché to say that a comedian is wholly unique and has a fresh perspective, but in the case of Einbinder, that’s the best way to put it. She grips the audience’s attention from the moment she grips the mic, and it’s up to her when she will let you go.

Her comedy special comes right on the heels of the Season 3 finale of the Emmy-winning series Hacks, which ended with an epic role reversal between Einbinder’s Ava and Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance, the latter of whom managed to both land her dream job as a late-night host and betray her biggest supporter — Ava — in the process. But right before the credits rolled on such a heartbreaking episode, Ava delivered her own twist that shocked both the audience and Deborah: blackmail.

During this 1-on-1 with Collider, Hannah Einbinder goes through how she prepares to play Ava from the moment she gets her script until shooting, what the energy was like on set while filming the big Season 3 finale twist, and where she hopes Ava and Deborah’s relationship goes in Season 4. In addition to Hacks, Einbinder details her writing process for stand-up, the stylized opening to her Max special, Everything Must Go, and, of course, Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny.

COLLIDER: I want to start with a more general question. Who’s a comedian or comedy performer that you feel people maybe need to pay attention to more?

HANNAH EINBINDER: I think a lot of people in this country know Zach Galifianakis as an actor and from Between Two Ferns and from Baskets, but I would urge folks, if they haven’t seen it, to watch his special Live at the Purple Onion. It’s one of my top five specials of all time.

A show can have a great first season, and then it’s like, “It has to be downhill from here, surely,” but Hacks just keeps getting better. A lot of emotion [for all involved] was going to be put on Ava and Deborah’s reunion. That’s a hard thing to pull off, but you guys did. It wasn’t overly dramatic or predictable. It was just finessed very well. How much prep did you and Jean do for that?

EINBINDER: Because Jean and I see each other, we weren’t able to be like, “Okay, well, we actually haven’t seen each other in a while,” and then it’ll be the thing. And also, we shoot out of order, so we aren’t really able to draw on any actual distance. But I think once you get into the clothes and once I see her in the wig and the makeup and the outfit and we’re at the hotel room and we’re in the scene, it does just start to feel real. I would say the prep we do for every scene is the same and it’s just being really in it, knowing all the lines, really being centered, and walking in and giving it what we’ve got. I mean it’s like, you know, and going, “Can you hold that?” It’s so visceral you can’t help but show that.

I was tense the whole time so I can’t imagine how it felt doing it because it was just so well done. You know the writing on the show is good when the word “toilet” on a text message will make me cry. Do you have a process when you get a script? A routine?

EINBINDER: Yeah, I have this awesome app called Scriptation which is a really wonderful tool. I love the romance of a paper script but I just think, because there are so many new drafts, it’s such a waste of paper ultimately. Someone has to print it, it’s all these pages, and then I gotta go, “Can you print it again?” because a joke changed, and then I have to go through and highlight the whole thing, you know, I’m taking notes on the page. So Scriptation is like this wonderful app that I have on my iPad and so I will select all my lines and it highlights every “Ava” in the script automatically which is so cool, and then I just go scene by scene. I look at the schedule. I try to be off book for two weeks, so every scene for the two weeks I try to really memorize that so I’m going into the two weeks off book. From there I’ll add little jokes, make decisions and write them down, vocal inflection, physical ticks, things like that. I’ll walk around my apartment talking to myself. Sometimes, I will record Jean’s lines and listen to it on my headphones and have a conversation with myself in character with me as Jean.

The whole voice and everything?

EINBINDER: [Laughs] I don’t even know if I can do it. I can do more of an impression of Jean herself, not necessarily Deborah I don’t think. It’s tough.

‘Hacks’ Season 3 Really Reverses Power Dynamics Between Ava and Deborah

I love how the power dynamic completely changes at the end of the season. It really was a role reversal. Big juxtaposition from when Ava sends the message to Deborah at the end of Season 1. How far do you want Ava to go in Season 4? Do you think she’s going to cave quickly?

EINBINDER: It is my hope that we get to see more of this dynamic but that the girls do get back together. They find a way back.

I feel like Deborah has to be, in a way, proud of her. Yes, she’s getting blackmailed, but also like, “Oh, she’s finally listening to me.” Ava’s finally standing up for herself and has to play dirty and I feel like Deborah’s going to be like, “I respect you.”

EINBINDER: Totally. Totally.

Were you surprised by that twist or did you find out early on?

EINBINDER: I was surprised. I asked them to give me everything at the last minute because I want it to stay as fresh as it possibly can. Every time they give me the last script, I cry. Season 1 it was the slap, Season 2 she fires me. I just can’t help but fucking break down every time I read that shit. It’s crazy.

They’re like, “How can we make Hannah cry?”

EINBINDER: No literally. It’s not hard I guess.

How was the energy on the day you were filming the big explosive fight? That’s going to be the scene they show at the Emmys.

EINBINDER: For me, I was fucking around most of the day. I was being silly because I was trying to avoid sitting there and getting into it too early. While the sun was up I was running around set the way I do, just silly vibes messing around, fucking around with everybody. Then when the sun came down and it became night, I got into the zone and I unearthed the darkness within.

‘Everything Must Go’ Is Stylized, Smart, and Sharp

There ya have it. I want to jump into your special which was great, as I expected.

EINBINDER: Thanks!

There are so many topics you cover in the special that no one talks about. It was just very refreshing. Everything from the moon, girl trees and boy trees, cheerleading. Not to brag, I was co-captain of the bowling team in high school.

EINBINDER: Whoa!

If that doesn’t scream, “I had a lot of friends,” I don’t know what does.

EINBINDER: I’m in the presence of royalty.

Yeah, sure.

EINBINDER: [Laughs]

Hearing you talk about cheerleading, I was like, “Wow, that’s a lot more intense than bowling.”

EINBINDER: It depends! I’ve seen Kingpin. That shit’s crazy.

Did you always have that opening in mind for your special? It was very “love letter to LA vibes,” and I thought it was very cool.

EINBINDER: Thank you, I’m so glad that came across. Yes, that was kind of my idea from the jump. When I started to think, there are so many ways you could start a special. You could do a sketch, a funny thing, whatever. A lot of New York specials start with the comic walking to the club, and I was like, what’s more LA than driving? In LA, we drive to the club. I just wanted it to feel filmic and cinematic. I love LA and I wanted the glow to be reminiscent of my true deep love of the City of Angels.

It had a very noir feel in the beginning.

EINBINDER: Yeah.

One of the reasons I like your comedy so much is because you can’t put a pin on your stage presence. Vibe of a private detective and then you’ll go into surfer bro.

EINBINDER: [Laughs] You nailed it.

You really steep in a joke in all its awkwardness. You stretch it out. Some people might cut off a bit but for you it’s just starting. I’m thinking of the tree stuff. Did it take you a while to get to that point of having confidence to just own awkwardness on stage and really lean into it?

EINBINDER: That has always been part of my style. I feel comfortable in silence and I feel like it’s my way of exerting control over the room and also building tension to pump up the release of the laugh. I’ve always kind of had that confidence.

What was your favorite bit to develop? What changed the most?

EINBINDER: I would say climate change/Marisa Tomei. That joke had several iterations, several different lines. I write very long form and cut, cut, cut. Only the best stuff can stay in. But there were many lines there — of course I have totally no memory of them now — but that I really liked and the crowd said no, so I cut them. The audience decides, it’s up to them. I wish it was up to me. I think of stuff all the time I think is hilarious and they’re like, “What?” and I’m like, “Okay.” I have 300 pages of unused jokes. Genuinely 300 pages of jokes that I can’t use because they’re not good enough.

Do you do a lot of improv on stage or are you by the book?

EINBINDER: I’m really by the book. If something happens on the road in the room, I do address it, and I will play around and then I do have fun doing that. But for the special, I definitely was like, “Keep it tight.” And I have still, even some moments, the camera stuff, little riffs here and there, but that stuff’s pretty tight.

When you were like on stage, “let me rework this” for the hypnotist bit, was that on the spot, or was it planned that you were going to rework it?

EINBINDER: No, that’s designed that way.

It was very good.

EINBINDER: Thank you. That part never gets a laugh because it’s just a set up, so I take the opportunity to gaslight the audience for a moment. So that’s how I do it every time.

Hannah Einbinder Is Very Relieved Her Max Comedy Special Is Finally Out
Image via Max

The lighting, acting, and voices in your special…I was so taken with the voices you leaned into. How’d that come about? Have you always done voices?

EINBINDER: I have! I like doing character bits in the special and I really like utilizing every tool in the arsenal. That came together — myself, my incredible director Sandy Honig, our lighting designers Brice Bradley and John Huggins, and our cinematographer Adam Bricker, we all collaborated on the various lighting looks throughout the set. We gave John some tape of my hour and he memorized it and during the live show Sandy was queuing him from the booth when the lights needed to hit. All that was done live and, frankly, he only had one day because we set the looks that day. We did everything really, really quickly and I’m pleased with how it came out. But yeah, that was a wonderfully collaborative process with our group and I’m really stoked with how it came out.

And some of the crew came from Hacks, right?

EINBINDER: That’s right. Adam Bricker, our cinematographer, shoots Hacks and I wanted, obviously, him to bring all the crew, and all the grips, and all the electricians, and the camera operators, and some of the sound guys. Everybody came did the special, it was awesome seeing so many familiar faces, people I love, people I work with all the time, and trust so much and who love me and we care about each other, and like they want it to be beautiful and they want it to be great. I would work with them on everything for the rest of my life if I could, I love them.

Is there a sense of relief now that it’s out?

EINBINDER: So much relief. I am so happy to…”everything must go,” ya know? I’m really happy to have it out. And, you know, I’m certainly not looking forward to the experience of being a female comedian with any work out, which, is, you know, the misogyny will flood flood in. I’m certainly not looking forward to that. But luckily there are a lot of really wonderful people who have already been loving it and saying nice things.

What has been the takeaway? Has there been a common thing people bring up about it?

EINBINDER: My favorite thing that people say is that they don’t quite know what to call it. They don’t know what it is, which I appreciate. I’m kind of going for that. It’s certainly stand-up, but, you know, I appreciate that people are, like, confused by it because, you know, as a left-handed, Gemini, bisexual, I like to work in the middle. I like to be in the outskirts, I like to be in the gray, I like to be ambiguous. I like to be here and there and in the middle and all around.

Well, you’re killin’ it. The Marisa Tomei bit was so wonderful. Was it ever weirder than it already is? Did you have to calm it down a little bit? I loved every second of it, but it’s intense.

EINBINDER: It is definitely intense. I would say that, yeah, that is something where I had a bunch of different lines, because, you know, I do try to work in various facts to the thing. It was a lot more of the science, I think, that were the other things. I try to sprinkle in various facts about Earth and other planets, Mars, etc, and so I think a lot of that is where I was coming from. I just trimmed the fat after a while. It was just like, all right, it doesn’t want any more. It has to just be this. Because I could go forever, like genuinely, I’ll pause, I’ll keep it dead fucking silent, you know? [Laughs] If given license, I’d have it…it would just be so fucking long. Everyone’s always like, “Your jokes are so long.” I’m like, “This is short!” They are shorter than I would have had them be.” But yeah, it’s a fun one.

I was thinking of Tig Notaro, Julio Torres, like they really let things get weird and the audience gets uncomfortable. Especially with Tig’s latest special, [Hello Again] she has a joke where she’s like, “I know none of you know what I’m saying right now.” Sort of like, “You’re all uncomfortable and this is working.” Who are some comedians you are digging right now?

EINBINDER: I love Syndee Washington, I love Kel Cripe, I love Peter Smith. I actually just saw — it’s on YouTube but it’s very blurry — I was able to get a real copy from HBO. Robin Williams did a special that I had never seen, Robin Williams Live at the Roxy in the ’70s. And it’s just bizarre. And obviously it’s like, okay “you named the most famous comedian to ever live,” but it is something that I hadn’t seen before and it’s just so manic and crazy and cool.

What do you hope to do next with your comedy? Are you going on the road soon?

EINBINDER: No, I’m working stuff out now. I don’t know how many…it might be a year. I work slow. This special is the product of my entire career as a comedian and I wish I was more prolific but it does take me a long time to generate material. So, we’ll see. It might take years. [Laughs]

I was very delighted the way you sprinkled in the Colbert set. What’s your favorite joke from the special?

EINBINDER: It might be…I think it’s the one about drugs and adderall and weed and ADHD. That whole chunk is like something that I, like on little shows when I was coming up, that would be the bulk of my set. That would be an opening bit. I’d do that and one more thing. I’m so proud of that bit. My life is so blurry to me. In retrospect I have a really bad memory but I remember sitting under that tree and looking at that leaf and I feel like it’s a way for me to express myself as a neurodivergent person and also try to describe my experience of the world. I love that bit, it’ll always be very special to me.

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat.

EINBINDER: Oh my God, this has been so nice. Thank you, Emily.

Hannah Einbinder: Everything Must Go is available to watch on Max in the U.S.

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