If it seems as if you’re seeing Hannah Berner everywhere these days, it’s because you probably are.
Maybe you saw her on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon doing the worm for the crowd (she didn’t practice or warm up for that, by the way; she just went for it). Or maybe you saw her on Amy Poehler’s new podcast Good Hang, chatting with the iconic comedian about her “nonsexual marriage” with podcast cohost and bestie Paige DeSorbo. You’ve seen her on TikTok, on the bestseller list, on podcasts, and on Instagram Reels.
In short, Berner’s career has never been so hot. After years of grinding away at comedy clubs as a standup and working on projects with DeSorbo (their podcast Giggly Squad, which they started in 2020, has turned into a national tour and the aforementioned best-selling book, How to Giggle), the 33-year-old former D1 collegiate tennis player now has nearly 5 million followers combined on social media and is preparing for her second national headlining comedy tour, titled None of My Business, this fall (her first tour became a Netflix special, We Ride at Dawn, in 2024, and Berner says she hopes to repeat the feat with this one as well). She’s diversified so much, she says, that a lot of her fans have no idea she once appeared on the Bravo show Summer House for three seasons and hosted the network’s talk show, Chat Room, for one.
The life Berner is living now, she tells me over lunch at a diner on New York’s Lower East Side, is one that she could only dream about when she was abruptly fired from both shows in 2021. She got the call when she was sitting in a car in Missouri. Suddenly, she realized she didn’t have a job anymore. It was scary, but in the moment, she remembers thinking that she was going to use her pain to motivate herself in her comedy career, to work toward the ultimate goal of getting a Netflix special. Three years later, she did.
“I hope it’s inspiring to anyone that the universe sometimes gets you out of certain places you don’t belong,” she tells me. “I’m proud of myself for dealing with adversity.”
Now Berner’s a little more open to letting the world back in with None of My Business, which she says is the most personal of her comedy sets yet.
“I think my main inspiration is always honesty,” she says. “I always try to get to the core of how I’m actually feeling, what I’m actually scared of, what I’m actually embarrassed about. I will talk a little more about my personal life. I think after reality TV, I closed up a bit. But with this tour I talk about my marriage, I talk about my post-tennis life, of feeling lost and not knowing what to do. Now people know me, but now I’m delving a little deeper.”
Berner chatted with me about her next big goal (she’s dipping her toe into the acting waters), questioning whether she’s ready for motherhood, and what she learned from the reality TV trenches.
Glamour: You’re gearing up for your second national comedy tour; tell us everything.
Hannah Berner: It’s called the None of My Business Tour, and I want the girls to wear ties. I want it to be really fun. It took years to put together my Netflix special. It was my work of art. It took so long, it was like a painting, and then they’re like, ‘Okay, you’re going to have to get another hour together.’ So honestly, it’s just hundreds of notes in my phone that I’ve put together and then rewritten. Then you go on stage and you practice it, because you never know what the audience is actually going to laugh at.
Do you bring in a test group or see what takes when you’re on the road?
When I’m at The Stand [an NYC comedy club], that's me testing out material. I'll be like, Fuck, that joke didn’t work. Also, I did a mall in Albany for five shows. I went to Alabama for five shows. I did Irvine for five shows, and I think I did Richmond for five shows. So you basically toured to get ready for the tour. So I did all these smaller comedy clubs where I basically went on stage with notes. I was like, “Hey guys, we’re building my new hour. Do you want to be a part of it?” And people love being part of the process.
What’s your main inspiration for the material in this tour?
At the end of the day, I really care about the funny. I’m obsessed with laughs per minute. Can I make people laugh throughout the whole time? Just belly-laugh. So yeah, it’s organic, but I think people will connect too. I’m trying to be more vulnerable in this one.
What made you want to be more vulnerable with your fans, after closing off?
I like challenging myself. Also, what differentiates you from another comic is who you are. I always say, as long as you’re authentic to yourself, that’s what makes you and you’ll be successful. I also think vulnerability is funny.
I’m 33 and I’m at the point now where suddenly you’re like, Oh shoot, I should probably have a kid soon. I’ve been talking to a ton of mothers on the road about motherhood, and I’m like, “Do you like all your kids?” We’re having these funny, almost drunk town hall meetings where I’m like, “Can you guys give it to me for real? Should I have a baby? Raise your hand.” So I selfishly get to also do a little of my own research and therapy for my life.
It’s interesting because Paige has been openly speaking about her desire not to settle down right now, following her breakup from her ex. Do you feel timeline pressure?
On Giggly Squad, we do talk about timelines a lot. We get honest. Paige came from more of a traditional background of old-school Italian. You get married in your 20s, you have kids. And it’s been beautiful to see her question a lot of the things that have been put on her. Then with me, we joke, I thought I was going to be the last of my friends to get married. Des came into my life as a surprise, and I’ve been fortunate to have this great partner in my life.
I always thought when I want to have kids, I’ll have kids, and I'm like, I'm 33 now. And I’m like, Okay, this is technically when you should, but I have this career and I’m traveling so much. There’s so much excitement. I also think I live a lot of my life like a man. I love going to male-dominated spaces, stand-up, and being like, I can hang with the boys. And now I’m at this point where I’m like, Oh shit, this is part of being a woman. You have to have a baby. I’m competing with male stand-ups who don’t have to be pregnant for nine months and raise a baby. But then there’s also the perspective of, Or is it the most beautiful thing that I can do?
From my perspective, it’s hard to balance, but I would say in some ways it’s made me better at my job because I’m very much like, Well, I’m either going to go full-throttle or it’s not worth my time because I could be with my kid.
I also feel like I’m so sick of myself and worrying about myself and my own little stupid problems. It’s like I’d love to have a bigger picture. I feel like moms, they’re so cool because they’re like, there’s no bullshit with a mom. And then also Paige is like, “You have to wait for me to have a kid.” And I'm like, “Okay, we can’t always have the timeline.” So anyway, I’m in this interesting spot, but I get to openly talk about it on stage, which is so much fun. Hopefully make one person feel like, Oh, I’m not the only one that’s questioning things or stressed or worried.
Speaking of you and Paige, you guys are everywhere promoting your now New York Times best-selling book How to Giggle, from Amy Poehler’s podcast to The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. What’s been your favorite part?
Amy was insane because funny, smart, successful women are just my everything. So when someone like her shines a light on you, it’s hard to comprehend. You realize everyone wants to laugh and it’s so cool for someone you respect to think you’re funny. She’s giving it back to women in comedy and it’s inspiring. It’s something I want to do as I continue to accomplish things: find new talent, inspire our younger women. So shout out to Amy for lifting us up.
Also, Fallon was insane. They were like, “Does Hannah want to do the worm?” And I was like, “I was waiting for you to ask.” And they were like, “Do you want to practice it beforehand?” And I was like, “No, it’s just going to come; I can’t force it.” So that was pretty hilarious. It’s cool for girls to have it come from nontraditional media to be doing a traditional media show, a late-night show that’s dominated by men. It was a very fun moment.
How do you and Paige maintain a friendship while working together so closely? Is it hard to merge the personal and the professional?
I do have to say, shout-out to reality TV, because whatever we go through, we’ll never be as vicious as reality TV. We are so good at communicating with each other, and we’re so good at being on the same team. And we also, we really root for each other. I also think we motivate each other. I’ve called her before and been like, “You should get this. Why aren’t you trying for this? What’s your team doing with this?” And she keeps an eye on that for me too. I think it’s because I really care about comedy and she really cares about fashion, but I love fashion and she loves comedy, so we are just really interconnected, but we never step on each other’s toes.
Was it difficult to navigate when you left Summer House, but she was still on the show?
Yeah. It’s literally like everyone’s at the Christmas party, but you’re not invited. But I think with her it’s a job, and I was rooting for her to do well at her job, and we knew what our friendship was. I thank God we trusted the process that it was going to be worth it. I do think you’ll go through ups and downs, and we knew that nothing really fucked-up happened, so we were like, It really, it’s the kind of thing where the cream rises to the top; just keep going. So I’m fortunate that we stayed together during that hard time, but I think it’s helped us. Any drama that tries to arise with business stuff, we’re like, This is nothing.
A lot of time people get fired from or choose to leave reality TV and they disappear forever.
And would that be healthy? Honestly, sometimes. But I just knew that I had a voice that I wanted to show, something I wanted to do. And if I didn’t leave Bravo, I wouldn’t be doing comedy.
Do you think you’d still be on Summer House?
Yeah, they always say Bravo is like an addiction. You don’t leave. I would’ve probably stayed. You never know. But the comedy community honestly saved my life because I was pretty depressed after it. The only time I wasn’t in my head or upset at first was when I was on stage. I would talk to comics about what was going on and they gave me just such a healthy perspective on it all. So having a new community that you find was really good for my mental health.
If you are friends with people and then you’re kicked out of a friendship and you’re alone, that’s really sad. It’s scary. Especially Bravo as a community, it’s kind of like you’re out. So shout-out to the comedy community for taking me in. I worked on material every single night, and I got this crazy psycho motivation to be the best comic I could be. I didn’t have anything else to do.
You’ve pivoted your career from reality TV to the point that some of your newer fans may not realize you were on Bravo. How’d you manage that transition?
When I first started Summer House, I started a podcast Berning in Hell. It was about mental health and comedy. Theresa Guidice’s lawyer at the time was friends with a friend and heard I was going on a Bravo show and gave me spectacular advice. He was like, “Create your own stuff because you can’t depend on Bravo totally, especially if you don’t see this long-term.” He was like, “They’re going to put you in a box, and you just kind of have to pray in the season that you’re in the right box.” One thing I learned about myself is I’m not good at being put in boxes.
I think my comedy career has been inspired by showing imperfect women that you don’t have to put them in a box. It’s like, I can be sexy while being insecure. I could have anxiety while being really confident. And I love showing in the media multifaceted women who are dealing with the ups and downs of life. I feel like my comedy, I could speak about problems and things that embarrass me, and the laughter is this way of us not feeling alone with it. Stand-up has been kind of therapy for Bravo.
So you’ve written a book, got the Netflix special, and are going on another tour. What’s your next big goal?
I’m starting now in the acting process. I’ve been auditioning, I’ve been writing some new stuff and working on some fun scripted things, which is cool. Bringing multifaceted female characters to the screen. I want a relatable girl that is hilarious, but also confident in herself, but also insecure. At the end of the day, I get bored easily and I want to keep creating and challenging myself.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photographer: Sofia Alvarez
Stylist: Tabitha Sanchez
Hair: Sky Kim
Makeup: Dani Parkes
Location: The Manner
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