Hannah Berner's career continues to be on the rise and comes with one-of-a-kind opportunities due to her viral 'Han on the Street' interviews and two successful podcasts.
By:
Rosie MarderReading Time: 4 minutes
December 8, 2023 3:36PM EST
Hannah Berner does it all — she’s the co-host of two successful podcasts: “Giggly Squad” and “Berner Phone,” a stand-up comedian with sold-out comedy shows across the U.S., and has a combined 3.8 million followers on Instagram and TikTok, due to her viral “Han on the Street” interview videos. Her rise to fame all started as a reality star after being on the cast of the Bravo series Summer House from 2019 to 2021, but in recent months, she has grown to new heights in her career. She exclusively spoke to Hollywood Life about how her iconic “Han on The Street” interviews led her to incredible opportunities like interviewing Hailey Bieber and Jennifer Lawrence, appearing as a guest on The Drew Barrymore Show, and what she’s excited to do next in her career.
“Han on the Street” is a video series where Hannah asks men in New York City random questions — like what their favorite hairstyle on a girl is or what their ideal first date is and their responses are always hilarious. When speaking about the history and motivation behind starting this series, Hannah said, “I wanted to ask guys questions that they weren’t normally asked and that would make them a little uncomfortable. I feel like we know a lot about men, but they don’t know a lot about us. So it started from that.”
She continued: “I think I have a way of making people feel comfortable and I can ask them questions they normally aren’t asked. So now I’ve kind of been doing that with celebrities and doing that with female comics. I want to be able to talk about taboo things in a funny light-hearted way.”
Hannah experienced a career highlight when she interviewed Hailey Bieber in “Han on the Street” fashion. She called the whole experience “crazy.” “I hung out with her for half an hour and then met Justin Bieber, and I was just like, I can’t believe a stupid idea I had is now getting me in front of Hailey Bieber. She’s just a girl’s girl. She’s a girly, such a vibe, but just like I’m talking to a friend,” she also shared.
She had a similar experience with Jennifer Lawrence. “She’s so down to Earth and she knew me from Bravo. I’ve been able to be fortunate to meet more people because of my silly ‘Han on the Street’ interviews. I like to feel like people are in on the joke with me. So we can riff and have a good time. It’s really just an excuse to have deep conversations with people.”
Her viral videos also made her realize, “If you have something creative you like to do, we’re in this exciting time where if you post online, you don’t know where it could catapult you to next.”
Hannah is also a big proponent of women supporting women. When asked about what recent moments have given her that “I’ve made it” mentality, she mentioned being a surprise guest on Alex Cooper‘s Live Unwell Tour. “One really fun thing I did recently was be a guest on Alex Cooper’s live show. I was one of her first guests when she went solo, and to come full circle of our career to be like, we still love each other and are rooting for each other. That was a cool moment of the girlies are just succeeding. I love to surround myself with smart and funny women because it just makes everyone better.”
Hannah, of course, has two podcasts: she hosts Giggly Squad with her best friend Paige DeSorbo, who is still a cast member on Summer House, and “Berner Phone” with her husband Des Bishop. “I am spoiling myself because my work is me talking sh*t with two of my favorite people,” she said. Hannah believes her fans are what make the podcasts as fun and successful as they are. She continued, “The community that listens really makes it what it is. We feel very connected to the listeners. I feel like all the listeners could be my best friend.”
Hannah is most definitely thriving and she’s not done. When asked what’s next for her, she responded, “I am manifesting a comedy special. I think I’m getting to a point where I want to put my material together that I’ve been working on for a lot of years. I’m also manifesting getting into acting one day, I think comedy acting would be really fun.”
