In HBO Max’s new series Hacks, Hannah Einbinder’s character Ava is introduced at a rock-bottom moment in her nascent comedy career. Sitting inside her manager’s office after a flippant tweet rendered her canceled on social media and unhirable in Hollywood, Ava considers jumping out the window.

The manager, played by series cocreator Paul W. Downs, objects.

“You’d probably just break your legs because of the fifth-floor terrace,” he says coolly. “But if you’re serious…”

“I’m not,” she assures the manager. If she were, she reminds him, “I told you how I’d kill myself a million times: I’d wear a suicide vest on Watch What Happens Live.”

Speaking to Vanity Fair in May, Einbinder said, “When I read her joke about killing herself on live television, I was like, Okay, sister. I feel that.”

A 26-year-old stand-up comedian who happens to be the daughter of founding Saturday Night Live cast member Laraine Newman and comedy writer Chad Einbinder, she spent the last few years auditioning for the occasional onscreen part—like “the shy bookworm” or “the super quirky, happy, fun, upbeat girl.” Neither persona felt as natural a fit as Ava, which marks Einbinder’s first major acting role.

“It’s the first time I’ve auditioned for someone and it was like, Yeah, this girl is a friend of mine,” said Einbinder.

Hacks begins with Jean Smart’s character, an established comedy headliner named Deborah Vance, being forced to hire a young joke writer (enter Ava) to freshen up her long-running Vegas act. The relationship between Deborah and Ava is icy at first—Deborah doesn’t see why she needs to hire some bratty millennial, and Ava has no interest working with a woman she views as washed-up. Offscreen, though, Smart was warm and welcoming to her Hacks protégé, even before Einbinder got the part.

“The night before [the audition], she called me at like 10:45,” said Einbinder. “She’s really such a chill woman. She said, ‘I watched your stand-up and I think you’re really great. I know tomorrow, with COVID precautions, it may feel weird, but I wanted to let you know I think we’re going to have a lot of fun.’”

Up until that point, Einbinder was used to performing solo. Right before the shutdown last year, Einbinder became the youngest stand-up, at 23, to perform a set on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert—establishing herself as a fresh and fierce talent to follow. Then the pandemic lockdown halted any momentum in Einbinder’s fledgling career, and her ability to further hone her act in nightclubs.

The Hacks script was instantly appealing. But the idea of acting was daunting, especially when coupled with the fact that the two-hander series would need Einbinder to hold her own with Smart—“a legend,” in Einbinder’s words, and accomplished two-time Emmy winner (Frasier, Samantha Who?) whose career spans back to the ’80s sitcom Designing Women.

Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/05/hannah-einbinder-hacks-jean-smart-interview