TCB Infomercial: Hannah Pilkes

Summary

The Commercial Break: TCB Infomercial with Hannah Pilkes

Episode Date: September 9, 2025
Hosts: Bryan Green, Krissy Hoadley
Guest: Hannah Pilkes
Theme: Comedy, career journeys, nostalgia sitcoms, and the evolving world of content creation

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Episode Overview

This laugh-packed episode of The Commercial Break welcomes comedian, actress, and writer Hannah Pilkes as a guest. Bryan and Krissy chat with Hannah about her hit Netflix sitcom "Leanne," her comedy roots from Vine to Groundlings, experiences in improv, family quirks, and her take on everything from Burning Man to the realities of showbiz. The episode mixes irreverent banter, behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the entertainment industry, thoughtful observations about the current comedy landscape, and plenty of comedic tangents.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hannah Pilkes’ Sitcom "Leanne" and Its Old-School Charm

• Leanne is a trending multi-camera sitcom on Netflix, produced by TV legend Chuck Lorre (known for Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men).
• Hannah emphasizes how familiar, "nostalgia with a kick" sitcom format is thriving again with streaming audiences.
• The cast is notably tall, with Hannah joking, "it was the only role where my height really was of service," referencing her 5’10.5" stature (16:22).

2. Career Journey: From Vine to Netflix

• Hannah began as a child actor and soon realized her true inspiration was comedy, especially physical SNL-style humor.
• She moved to LA at 19, dove into Second City and UCLA writing courses, and was part of Vine’s content creator boom. She recalls the chaos and opportunity of the Vine era:

  “It was like the original camcorder… you couldn’t edit… sometimes your finger would slip and you’d delete the whole thing. The stakes felt enormous because it became a job for so many of us.” (26:26)

• Vine taught her to hustle in comedy, stretch budgets, and master the art of doing a lot with a little.

3. Comedy Upbringing and Early Influences

• Growing up in NYC near 30 Rock, Hannah and her sister would "stand outside SNL and play in a script," giving them a sense that “these superheroes live 15 blocks away” and comedy was tangible (22:39).
• Her family was supportive, making delusion and persistence essential traits for survival in comedy:

  "You have to be so delusional to stick around doing this… making a can of garbanzo beans stretch when you don’t have rent and you’re 24, but your nourishment is improv." (23:56)

4. Improv, Groundlings, and Personal Life

• Hannah reveals how improv shaped her career, allowing her to collaborate widely, tour with comics like Paul F. Tompkins, and even meet her husband at Groundlings (33:00).
• On marriage and podcast guest “luck”: “You always say guests on your podcast either stay together forever or promptly break up after that.” (33:17)
• Briefly recounts a relationship that ended when a Second City boyfriend met someone at Burning Man, connecting it to earlier Burning Man humor.

5. Comedy Industry & SNL Conversation

• Discusses the shifting landscape at SNL, especially about cast shakeups and diversity:

  “There’s kind of a resurgence of unapologetically feeling like we don’t need to diversify… For me, a show like SNL thrives when there’s different points of view.” (35:25)

6. Content Evolution: Shortform vs. Longform

• The group muses on content cycles, from six-second Vines to streaming’s mini-dramas. Hannah notes that sustainable performer careers need both:

  “Short forms wonderful, but… if you’re only doing short form, it’s not sustainable… I would get scolded [at Groundlings] because all my characters were eight seconds long.” (30:44)

7. Comfort Shows & International Favs

• Hannah lists 30 Rock as her ultimate comfort show and shares her love for Hunting Wives and international versions of Love is Blind (40:10).
• Her dad is a major Korean soap opera fan—"He has gone through all the catalog… I mean, that’s hundreds of hours" (43:19).

8. Family Ties

• Hannah’s family lives nearby in Pasadena, after global detours. Her brother-in-law is an “Imagineer” involved in international Disney park projects, making her clan “a sitcom outside of a sitcom” (44:23, 47:08).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Delusion in Comedy:
  “You have to be so delusional to stick around doing this… making a can of garbanzo beans stretch when you don’t have rent and you’re 24, but your nourishment is improv.”
  —Hannah Pilkes (02:57, 23:56)

• On Being Cast in "Leanne":
  "I was sobbing outside [Chuck Lorre’s office]... There’s like golf carts go by with tours, and they’re, 'Oh, are you okay?' I’m like, no, it’s happy. Just the sheer overwhelm of being attached to something with Chuck’s name on it was surreal for sure."
  —Hannah Pilkes (17:41)

• On SNL Proximity Growing Up:
  "As a kid... we would stand outside of 30 Rock, or if we saw cast members walking around New York, we’d play in a script… It felt like, these superheroes live 15 blocks away. Like, how crazy is this?"
  —Hannah Pilkes (22:39)

• On Comedy Industry Changes:
  "I think SNL thrives when there’s different points of view… when there’s too many overlapping ones, it’s easy to check out."
  —Hannah Pilkes (35:25)

• On Content Consumption:
  "People say everyone’s attention spans are short now, but I beg to differ. I still think there’s a huge market for both [short and longform]."
  —Hannah Pilkes (30:56)

• Bryan, on missing out on the podcast Hall of Fame:
  “I just saw that somebody put out the list of the hundred most important podcasts of all time. Guess who was 101?”
  —Brian Green (08:26)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:35] — Introduction of Hannah Pilkes and "Leanne"
• [11:54] — Hannah joins in from Pasadena, banter about weather and Burning Man
• [15:06] — Talking about working with Leanne Morgan and Chuck Lorre
• [21:15] — Hannah’s comedy journey, first influences (SNL, NYC upbringing)
• [24:02] — Shift from drama acting to writing/improv and the Vine era
• [29:42] — Discussion on rise of shortform content (mini soap operas, streaming)
• [32:30] — Improv roots, meeting her husband, standup tour stories
• [33:37] — Auditioning for SNL and its cultural significance
• [35:25] — Thoughts on SNL’s diversity shakeups and changing media climate
• [40:10] — Comfort TV, guilty pleasures, and international reality shows
• [43:19] — Hannah’s dad and Korean soap obsession, family in Pasadena
• [47:08] — Brother-in-law is a Disney Imagineer: creative tales
• [50:03] — Plug for Hannah’s live variety show at The Elysian, LA
• [54:31] — Bryan “Googles” Hannah’s Kevin Bacon movie (The Woodsman) and closing banter

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Guest Info, Plugs, and Where to Find

Hannah Pilkes

• Netflix: Leanne (all 16 episodes)
• Upcoming: Variety show at The Elysian Theatre, LA (27th, ticket info in show notes)
• Social Media: Links provided in episode notes

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Episode Vibe & Closing Thoughts

This episode embodies The Commercial Break’s “chaotic, unpolished charm”—a meandering but witty conversation ranging from the nitty-gritty of comedy hustle to the oddities of family, content, and modern fame. Hannah’s blend of authenticity and quick humor fits perfectly with Bryan and Krissy’s self-aware, magazine-of-topics banter. If you’re nostalgic for old-school sitcoms, curious about comedy’s grind, or just want to eavesdrop on a funny, unfiltered chat, this episode is a treat.

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Recommendation:
Check out "Leanne" on Netflix and, if you're in LA, catch Hannah’s variety show—plus follow her socials for more comedic misadventures!

Transcript

[Brian Green]

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[Hannah Bilkus]

Article, 20something women have confirmed that being a nun actually is freaking awesome. One nun said she was attracted to the nunnery because she was fed up with flatmates. Another said she sees her life as balanced for the first time since saying she regularly gets to read, play guitar and sleep. That sounds incredible. Literally. Who needs sex? Panelists Being a nun could be the answer to all of our problems. So tell me what other inconveniences you could solve by becoming a nun. Rachel Listen, I became a nun because all I want to do is talk to God and kiss a bunch of girls. Hannah I became a nun because as a white woman, the only way that I should be using the term sister is if I'm a nun Y.

[Brian Green]

On this episode of the commercial break.

[Hannah Bilkus]

As a kid, I had the first of all very supportive parents that were like, you can do whatever you want. Which I don't think is always the case with artists. But I also think knowing that it was, it had happened for people and they were right in front of me was, was encouraging and perhaps led to a lifetime of delusion. But I do think you, you have to be like, you have to be so delusional to st doing this.

[Brian Green]

Agreed.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I mean, eating, you know, making a can of garbanzo beans stretch when you don't have rent and you're 24, but your nourishment is improv.

[Brian Green]

The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Oh, yeah. Cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and the co host of this show, Chris and Joy Hoadley. Best to you, Chris, Best to you, Brian, and best to you out there in the podcast universe. And thanks for joining us on a TCBE infomercial Tuesday as we interview Hannah Bilkus. Hannah is on one of the hot.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Huge trending sitcom right now.

[Brian Green]

There you go. Leanne, Available on Netflix, all 16 episodes currently today. And we'll also talk to her about her upcoming variety show at the Elysian in la. Hannah has been a notable content creator since long ago. Since, since eons ago when vine was a thing. Who did buy Vine?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Was it Facebook?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I think I thought that it was.

[Brian Green]

Or was it Instagram and then Instagram got bought by Facebook? I can't remember. Somebody squashed it. Yeah, somebody squashed it. Yeah, somebody killed it. It was around for a couple of months after they got bought. But can you imagine being the creators of Vaughn Vine? You get like a 300 million dollar payday and then they just kill it. It's just done. It's gone.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

I mean, I don't know. Would Vine. Twitter bought Vine. There you go. So Twitter bought Vine. She is a creator from the days of vine and we've had on quite a few people who started on Vine. Noel Miller. Morgan. Who's that? The guy, the, the guy who does the music. Morgan. I can't remember his name. Anyway, he was. Anyway, Chelsea Lynn. Chelsea Lynn was on Vine. A lot of creators. So we'll have an opportunity to talk to her about that. She has spent a lifetime in comedy and movies and I'm excited to talk to her. Yeah, sure. This is one transparent as I can be, this is one where, you know, I don't know her as well as I. Other. I know other comedians who have been on the show, so. And actresses and actors. So I am super excited just to have a friendly.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That makes it fun.

[Brian Green]

Chitter chatter about what is going on. Maybe we'll ask her whether or not she's vaccinated and then we'll go from there.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That is a good way to weed people out, I guess.

[Hannah Bilkus]

What do you think?

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Are you vaccinated? Even via the teleportation known as telepodcasting, we must know whether or not you're vaccinated. As we are recording this, we are watching some of the playback of RFK in front of Congress and it's just in. I mean, like, we've. I don't. What else can I. There's not too many more words you can use except for insane. That's the only way to put it. But hopefully. So, I mean, this is one place where I just hope that there's, like, cooler heads prevail and we get back to science. I really do. But anyway, that has nothing to do with Hannah. Hannah is here and I'm gonna put all of her links in the show notes. You said you watched some of Leanne.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I did watch some of it. It's really good. It's, you know, and it was nice and familiar kind of to see the sitcom format again. So I think I'm four in so far with Leanne. And it's light, it's funny, and yeah, it's a great show. I recommend it.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. So Leigh Ann Morgan is. Who is the writer of this show, the person that is named Leanne. I. If I'm not mistaken, if I'm not mistaken, Leanne may be coming on the show. I believe she may be coming on the show, but she probably isn't. Now that I said it out loud. It's probably wrong, but.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And now she has a hit show.

[Brian Green]

She has a. Yeah. Now that she has a hit show, unlikely she's gonna come on. I've said you got. You're on your way up or you're on your way down. We'll see which one it is. But I believe there was some conversation about having Leanne on the show. I don't know if that's been booked yet or not, but I'm very excited because Leanne's been around for a very long time, Very long time. And all of the sudden she's like, on fire. I. Everywhere I turn on social media, there's another real post video about Leanne. And so, you know, Hannah is really Kind of struck gold because the producer, the executive producer, showrunner of this is Chuck Lorre, who of course did Two and a Half Men. Anger Management. Let the list go on and on and on. The guy's like a multi billionaire at this point. Did he do. Did he do. I want to make sure I get this right. I don't want to say that Chris is like, brian, don't guess. Don't even say it. Don't even say it, because then it's going to be wrong, and we're going to get a bunch of people. He did, and I was going to say it, and I would have been right. Big Bang Theory. He did Big Bang Theory. Young Sheldon, Dharma and Greg, the Kaminsky Method bookie, which I think was also on Netflix.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No, I think Bucky's on hbo.

[Brian Green]

Oh, is it on hbo? Oh, yep, you're right. It's on hbo. Did you watch it?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I did watch it.

[Brian Green]

Did you like it?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That's good.

[Brian Green]

That's got Sebastian Maniscalco in it, doesn't it? Okay. Who also, I think, was supposed to come on the show at one point, but we now know that'll never happen as the most important touring comic out there today. Maybe with the. Yeah, maybe with the. Well, anyway, whatever. Hannah is on a show with a bunch of stars, and I am sure that this is very exciting news for her, and it's very exciting news for us.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

What a fun ride for her.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, I can only imagine. To be on a hit show. What would that be like?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

We don't know.

[Brian Green]

I don't know we'll ever know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I don't think so.

[Brian Green]

I don't think that's happening to us. I just saw that somebody put out the list of the hundred most important podcasts of all time. Guess who was 101? Yeah, we were 100. Yeah, we were 1 010. 101.

[Hannah Bilkus]

That's what we were.

[Brian Green]

No mention of the commercial break anyway, but, you know, not like I was expecting anyone to pay attention to this dumb show, but. All right, so let's do this. Hannah Pilkis coming at you after the break. Chrissy, let's take a moment. Let's listen to our sponsors, and then when we get back, through the magic of telepodcasting right here on this TV with us, Hannah, what do you think?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Magic. Magic.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I think we should do it.

[Brian Green]

We'll be right.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on tcb. And just like you, I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue. Let's all. Rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears, and I'll rejoice that my check is in the mail. Speaking of mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to tcbpodcast.com and visiting the Contact Us page. You can also find the entire commercial break library audio and video just in case you want to look at Chrissy at TCB Podcast. Want your voice to be on an episode of the show? Leave us a message at 212-4333, TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Tell us how much you love us and we'll be sure to let the world know on a future episode. Or you could make fun of us. That'd be fine too. We might not air that, but maybe. Oh, and if you're shy, that's okay. Just send a text.

[Hannah Bilkus]

We'll respond.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Now I'm gonna go check the mailbox for payment while you check out our sponsors and then we'll return to this episode of the Commercial Break.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Buying a car in Carvana was so.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Easy, I was able to finance it through them.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I just.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Whoa, wait, you mean finance? Yeah, finance got pre qualified for a Carvana auto loan, entered my terms and.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Shot from thousands of great car options all within my budget.

[Brian Green]

That's cool.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

But financing through Carvana was so easy. Financed, done.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And I get to pick up my.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Car from their Carvana vending machine tomorrow. Financed, right?

[Hannah Bilkus]

That's what they said. You can spend time trying to pronounce financing or you can actually finance and buy your car today on Carvana financing, subject to credit approval. Additional terms and conditions may apply.

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[Brian Green]

Hannah, where in the world does this podcast find you?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Pasadena.

[Brian Green]

Pasadena, California. How's the weather out there? Pasadena's beautiful.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It is.

[Hannah Bilkus]

It's beautiful. It is a soup out here. It is bisque. I am hot, and I have ac, but I have windows, so that's not powerful enough right now. It's pretty miserable in swamp.

[Brian Green]

Wait, you said you have an ocean view.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No, it is ac.

[Brian Green]

Oh, ac. I thought she said ic. And I'm like.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And I face the beautiful. I'm always facing the PCH as I write my novel. But, oh, it's just. It's so hot that it's permeating through the walls. And it's weird. It's the west coast, so it should be a desert. But, you know, humidity's creeping up over here. It's bad.

[Brian Green]

Well, yeah, but you need it, so don't worry. Do you. Are you one of the people who. I think there's two kind of people in the world, and especially in California, the kind of people who go to Burning man, and the kind of people who are excited that the kind of people who go to Burning man are at Burning man for a week.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Okay. I think I'm the third category who aspires to be someone that could go to Burning man but is so asthmatic and could never. That does. Forget it. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Oh, my God. We've been talking about it all week, and I've been like, it just seems like such a fucking struggle to go to this place.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I'm like, they need a new location concept. Just move the location, go somewhere else.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And what would your currency be like? I've really chewed on that. You know, I'm like, what? What would be the thing I'm exchanging other than, you know, affirmations and. Yeah, why not? Candies. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Handy 10 is not there anymore. So what are you going to do?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Dang it. No orgy tent.

[Brian Green]

No orgy tent. The orgy tent blew away. Maybe that's a sign from somebody.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

So.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Well, you know, Gen Z is pretty asexual, so it's foreshadowing.

[Brian Green]

It's a true story that every time I read a story about this, it really. It baffles me. You know, sex is fun, and sex is a rite of passage, and sex is something you should be getting into at some point in your life. You know, I understand that for whatever reasons, you may not, you know, maybe wait till marriage or whatever, but you should be fooling around. There should be some dry humping going on. On the couch, at least. And these facts.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

You're a big dry humping fan.

[Brian Green]

I'm a big dry.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yes, I've hear that. I've heard that's. That's real. In all the circles. I've heard that you're just exclusively. Clothes on. Everyone's talking dry hunting and grinding. Yeah. Grinding like in a middle school dance.

[Brian Green]

Friction. That's my thing.

[Hannah Bilkus]

J to J. J to J.F.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. I think Burning man feels like such a struggle to me that I just. It doesn't interest me. And I've been to not. Not burning Burning man, you know, other parties that are very similar. And it. I always feel leaving a little more bankrupt than. But not financially, like morally bankrupt, spiritually.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

When I get there, you. You have a little bit of a hit on your hands with Leigh Ann.

[Hannah Bilkus]

So good. I love her to death. And it's. You know, her whole story is so extraordinary. And as someone that was grinding it out in comedy for what felt like a really long time, she's such a prime example of someone who has been brilliant forever, but is just getting not only her flowers, just bouquet on bouquet. It's so cool to see her everywhere. Yeah. She's a star. Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

She's doing well. How did you get. How did you get.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

How did you get involved in the project?

[Hannah Bilkus]

I. It was a Zoom audition and. With Ken Miller, who I love. And then. It's a pretty unorthodox way they cast it. The next week, we just kind of hung out and talked in Chuck's office, probably to get clearance that I wasn't crazy in some way.

[Brian Green]

You're not Charlie Sheen too well.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And then. And they found out I was. But nevertheless, we continued. And then we did a texture. Yeah, exactly. Text her. But then we did a chemistry read. And it all pretty. It moved very, very fast. I will say she looks more like my mother than my own mother. For starters, her pictures when she's my age, it's, like, pretty uncanny. And I'm five, ten and a half. And this is a tall cast. You have Kristen, who's 6ft. Leanne's 5:11. It was the only role where my height really was of service.

[Brian Green]

Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Because usually I'm like, you know, leaning for all these short boy actors. Yeah. So I'm five six. I could be five, six. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

And Chuck Lorre is like. He's pretty. I mean, he's Chuck Lorre. Like, he's put together some of the. He's been the showrunner, producer, and of some of the writer of some of the most storied television program sitcoms in history. So to be on one of his shows, you must, when you get cast, you must feel like, oh, this I know I at least got one season in it, if not more. Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I mean, look, Fingers, I hope we know soon and I hope that Netflix does the right thing. But I will say, sitting across from him in his office, you're just so aware of like, it's like we all, you know, not bashing us. We've got successful careers and then there's like a maven who has like created a whole empire and it's hard. Like the air in the room is gone. You're just like, hey, I just happen to be here. You know, it's so powerful. But yeah, I remember when I got the job and I'm outside of his enormous office, you know, there's like a whole building of Chuck stuff and I was sobbing and all these, you know, there's like golf carts go by with tours and they're, oh, are you okay? I'm like, no, it's.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It'S happy too.

[Hannah Bilkus]

It's happy. Yeah. Just the sheer overwhelm of being attached to something with not only Leanne, but, yeah, with Chuck's name on it was surreal for sure.

[Brian Green]

With Chuck then getting, getting mostly positive reviews. You know, I actually learned about this show because I read an interesting story. I think it was AV Club or something, Vox or one of those. And they said the streamers are finally getting multi camera sitcoms. Right, Right. And it named the Leanne show as one of those where they're like hitting their stride. First of all, Chuck's behind it, so he knows. Right. But then also you. It just said now we're getting shows that look and feel like what a sitcom should look like. And Leon was named as one of those, as one in a positive light. And so you know it in a lot of ways. You're bringing this format, this well known, familiar, comfortable format to a streamer, which traditionally has not had a ton of success with these type of shows or not. Just I don't know. And didn't. Didn't get the format right. Didn't get it. Wasn't comfortable, didn't feel right to the viewers. But then it's getting positive reviews. So I think you would probably get a second season. But who knows how Netflix does what they do.

[Hannah Bilkus]

But let's all be, let's be, let's, you know, I'm, I'm at the point where I'm lighting an abundance candle. Guys. I am. I am. I'm chasing house flies around the house and I'm lighting candles. I am. I am lost. I've lost it until we hear. But no, I think just nostalgia, but nostalgia with a kick. Like what I think is so brilliant about. And Kristen too, and Ryan Stiles and Celia Weston and Blake Clark. It's like there's an ode to what was, but it still feels like it's from now. Yeah. And I think the dichotomy of those two things is. And it just. I've been really. You know, I knew that my friends moms would be all about it because I was getting blown up on Facebook Messenger. Hi, it's Mrs. So and so from 11th grade. I am just such a leapant. So. But when the show came out, that was. My anticipation was, okay, great. Well, I will be a hit with the moms, but it's all ages. I think it's super evergreen. And that's. You know, she was on Amy Poehler's podcast and I'm like, lovable is lovable. It's just an ageless thing. So that was really cool to see that the response was quite diverse age wise. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

And the format works because it works. It's been around for a long time. It's not that it's dated. It's been around for a long time. It works because it works. And, you know, you can find the right material, obviously, then you have to find the right people to put in there. Magic happens. Magic happens, and it becomes a hit. But, you know, everyone, some of our audience may be being introduced to you for the first time, but overnight success stories are never overnight. You've been doing this for a long time. I mean, you know, we always seem to. There's. We always say this. There's two reasons you come on the commercial break. You're on your way up or you're on your way down. So you're on your way up.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And a feeling you're not. You're not. I have a feeling that you're ascending, but it's too early to tell.

[Brian Green]

I don't know. Only time will tell.

[Hannah Bilkus]

But don't worry, I have a really public breakdown that's coming at the 20th minute. So.

[Brian Green]

Yes. When does your Charlie Sheen moment happen? When will Chuck realize, oops, I'm getting the hands ready.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Even Chuck and Charlie will on to work together.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah. Listen. Yeah, it works. It works.

[Brian Green]

When you're talented, you're talented. Right. Even with crack you're talented. So. So how did you get sweating? How did you get started in comedy? Tell the audience a little bit about your journey.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Well, when I was a kid, my very first audition. Let's start. When I was born, I was 8 pounds, 3 ounces. Yes, I do think I have an.

[Brian Green]

Interesting question for you that I. That I sometimes like to ask. What is the first thing you remember being funny? Television show, joke movie?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Anything. Molly Shannon. Anything Molly Shannon and Tim Beddows did on SNL. I mean, that was my. And I lived on 68th and Central Park West. So my sister, who is like, you know, we're just. We both gush over this stuff. We would stand outside of 30 Rock, or if we saw cast members walking around New York, we'd play in a script. Like, we saw Adam Sandler once, and I'm like, seven, and I stroll up, I'm like, hey, big fan of your work. And he's like, aren't you a young. And then my sister goes, that's where I come in. Hi, I'm your sister.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Oh, my God, I love it.

[Hannah Bilkus]

That's awesome. But, you know, we are that, like, cliche, concrete jungle kids that just, you know, we were going to see, like, Blue Man Group and Moomin shots and snl, like, all this. So my exposure to comedy was honestly just like, New York City's funny. People are funny. There's so many characters. And then proximity to SNL and just that feeling like I don't, you know, not necessarily being like, I want to be on it, but being like, these superheroes live 15 blocks away. Like, how crazy is this? You know you can do that.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, I guess that's attainable.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, that's attainable. And I guess that's a really interesting perspective that I hadn't thought about before, is that as a New Yorker living close to kind of ground zero for comedy in a lot of people's minds. I mean, Saturday Night Live has done so much for comedy over the 50 years that it's been on. It's your backyard, and so you feel like it's part of me. I am part of it. It is part of me. It's like people who love the Cubs, Right. Wrigley Field is part of me. I am part of it. I am part of the Cubs. I am the Cubs. So when you live so close to this and you see those people walking down the street.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, they're actual parents on the screen.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I think when something's tangible in that way, it doesn't. As a kid, I Had the first of all, very supportive parents that were like, you can do whatever you want. Which I don't think is always the case with artists. But I also think knowing that it was. That it had happened for people and they were right in front of me was encouraging and perhaps led to a lifetime of delusion. But I do think you have to be like. You have to be so delusional to stick around doing this. Agreed. I mean, eating, you know, making a can of garbanzo beans stretch when you don't have rent and you're 24, but your nourishment is improv.

[Brian Green]

That's funny. Did you do improv? Is that. Where is that. How is that your kind of comedy path was improv?

[Hannah Bilkus]

So I referenced the movie because I was a child actor, and that was a heavy drama with Kevin Bacon, and that was my, like, introduction to acting. And it. It was great. But I think what I realized was drama's hard to live in all the time. And all of my muses and inspirations were comedic. So I moved out here at, like, 19 and started doing Second City and UCLA Extension for writing and. And kind of made my way through all the schools from really young. Yeah, I was, like, the youngest improviser in my class, which doesn't mean much now, but back then, it was, like, the coolest thing ever. And actually, I just had a memory that the first boyfriend I had was some guy from Second City, and he broke up with me because he met someone at Burning man to bring it all back around. I knew it.

[Brian Green]

I knew. They're all shitheads. I said it.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Oh. That's what I'm saying.

[Brian Green]

You don't need to go. None of us need to go to. No one needs to go to Burning man anymore. It's Jump the Shark. It's officially Jumped the shark. So you're at Second City. You're at UCLA taking writing courses.

[Hannah Bilkus]

You said yes. Yeah, I mean, I didn't get a degree because I. I was so afraid of debt. And I just, like. I didn't know if it was balance a checkbook or bounce a checkbook. I. If you don't know the difference, you know, So I. Yeah. And will be ever. And I'm like, when will checks just be gone?

[Brian Green]

Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

But I do think I was sort of like, okay, I'm gonna. Because I'd been introduced to acting young, it was sort of. I'm gonna try and skip a step and move out here, which inevitably, you know, you have the cliche. You're in la, you try to get an agent. But I will say at the same time as Second City vine came out, that app.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Ooh, yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And so that was my livelihood through a lot of my early 20s, which was such a gift. And I'll never forget doing six second ads for TikTok. Can you imagine? 6.7 seconds? Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Green]

It seems easy, but yeah, no, I, you know, I read commercials, the time and mine. Yeah. Always go long. Because saying giving a sponsorship or a personal endorsement or whatever it is in 30 seconds is impossible. It's impossible to fit into 30. And I talk fast and I still can't.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Right.

[Brian Green]

6.7 seconds. I can't even imagine.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

What did you say?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Wild. Yeah. Well, in hindsight, I'm like, surely it wasn't medication. Cause I wasn't gonna be like, side effects included, you know, the possibility of stroke, amnesia.

[Brian Green]

Da, da, da.

[Hannah Bilkus]

But it was, you know, you're like more neutral. Your Bubble Yums, your Nordstrom's, your. But, you know, I really don't know what I said. It's wild to look back on that time because first of all, it was almost like the original camcorder, where you couldn't edit, so you would just press and then you'd go to the grove and you do the second half. And then sometimes your finger would slip and you'd delete the whole thing. I mean, it was the preciousness of filming again, it sounds so trivial and silly, but the stakes felt enormous because it became a job for so many of us. In a time when you're on your way up, trying to make comedy, if you don't have to do a day job, if that can be your day job, it's a gift. Yeah, exactly.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. We have talked to so many people who are still here today, and vine was the place. Right. Vine is where it kind of all started. Do you still have access? This is just like a minutiae question. Do you still have access to those vines?

[Hannah Bilkus]

I'm just laughing because you said, still here today. I'm like, they all passed. Yeah, it wasn't that long ago. It's crazy. There are so many Viners still living.

[Brian Green]

I mean, you're getting old, right? If you. If you started on vine, you're over the hill. You're just. You're washed up. It's.

[Hannah Bilkus]

It's intense.

[Brian Green]

It's a lifetime ago.

[Hannah Bilkus]

It's truly. I mean, especially when you think about. When I think about the lifetimes I've led living in LA and that. That was a particularly chaotic time in my life, as it should be. I was like 23. But you see it, I'm like, I wasn't washing my face, I was out till 4. I'm like, that is, I have vocal fry, you know. But I. The only way you can access them now is a YouTube compilation and like 10 years of Vines is 20 minutes total.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Oh, wow.

[Brian Green]

You're not going through it. I'll just not wor much.

[Hannah Bilkus]

No, no, no. But I wish I had. You know, I haven't checked, but I don't, I don't imagine it's in the.

[Brian Green]

App store, but yeah, I know, I don't think it is.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

But didn't they just shut that shut down? Didn't he buy it?

[Hannah Bilkus]

And yet, yeah, E Bomb's world still kicking.

[Brian Green]

Ebam's world still out there. One of the. The OG E Bomb's world still out there, still kicking. And you know, it sounds funny that we say like, oh, they're still around. And what I mean to say is they have made really good careers being content creators and actors, actresses.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Still relevant.

[Brian Green]

It's still relevant. That was totally your system, a farm system for great content creators. And the good have really made it work. We just talked to Noel Miller who started on.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Green]

And he has, I mean he's like a whole enterprise. He's like, has all, you know, content creators and podcasts and podcast networks. And so it was early proving ground for this kind of model that now we are all involved in, which is create content, distribute it directly to the people who want to hear it. Find your own audience, figure it out on your own and you know, and I guess a prelude to the streamers too. What's interesting to me about this is that you think about vine like you know, six, seven, six second, seven second videos. Now some of the most sought after content where these streamers are now paying attention are in these one minute mellow dramas. Do you know, do you.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yes.

[Brian Green]

Understand this. These soap operas that happen in one minute chunks and then there's 127 of them and then they get released at a certain time and they go out and there are like, Netflix is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to get these showrunners who are just content creators to make these one minute soap operas, essentially, which is crazy. So we're back to. It was long, you know, short format. Long format. Now we're back to short format. It's just all over the place. We can't figure out we. What we want.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Well, you have tight framing, limited sets, low budgets, probably the same five people in it, you have underpaid writers. I have many friends that have. That have applied for these jobs. And the copy, I mean, you just. You churn it out over. You know, but, yeah, it is. It's so wild, you know, the difference between the two things. It's like, short forms, wonderful. But if you're only doing short form as a performer, it's not a sustainable model, and it doesn't help you with law. Like, I remember doing Groundlings the same time as vine, and I would get scolded because all my characters were, like, eight seconds long.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

They're like, all right, and stretch. But stretch.

[Brian Green]

Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I. You know, people say everyone's attention spans are short now, but I beg to differ. I still think that there's a huge market for both.

[Brian Green]

I agree.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And also some. Sometimes I want to consume something really quick and palatable, and other times I want to, you know, binge hunting wives. But. But I don't know. I guess I. I push against the. The notion that people don't want to listen to something or watch something longer. Hence the podcast. That's an hour. Or, you know, like the pit cases. Yes. Yeah. This one's gonna be 16. I. I have all my meals ready to go. But, yeah, but it is wild. There's kind of something for everybody now.

[Brian Green]

You know, that's an interesting point that you make. I. I am not. Like, I like Instagram videos, and I like TikToks, and I like shorts, and it depends on the situation, but I want to get into the pit. I want six more episodes of the Pit. I want that shift to last six more hours. Do you know what I'm saying?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Oh, my God, I love that doctor.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, but if I'm waiting at the doctor, then I want some short stuff. That's right. That's why.

[Hannah Bilkus]

There was a guy and the doctor playing them all at highest volume in the office. Two things. Two faux pas. The loudest volume, and someone at a cafe with their text tone on.

[Brian Green]

Oh, my God, that drives me crazy.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And it was someone from. I'm not gonna say. A reality TV franchise. And I thought, it's gone to your head a little bit because you were so unaware of the world around you.

[Brian Green]

You need to tell that Real Housewife of wherever that. Just shut the fuck up.

[Hannah Bilkus]

It was crazy. I was like, I cannot focus. I'm trying to write the first page of my screenplay over and over.

[Brian Green]

You were in the Ground Leans and Second City.

[Hannah Bilkus]

So I never did the company. I did conservatory at Second City, and we had, like, a Run over there. And then Groundlings. After that, I never. And then I kind of pivoted into more solo material and got to, like, open for a lot of awesome comedians. Got to tour with Paul of Tompkins, and that was great. The nice thing about solo is that you can just kind of bring yourself anywhere. But the training from all those places and all those people that I met there are still my collaborators. And I met my husband at Groundlands in the class.

[Brian Green]

Oh, you did?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

How long have you been married?

[Hannah Bilkus]

We've been married three years, but we met at Groundlings seven years ago, which is wild. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Go the distance. I mean, you might be.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Don't jinx it.

[Brian Green]

You might be on your way up, and this might be your forever marriage. Yes. Not a starter.

[Hannah Bilkus]

You. You always say guests on your podcast either stay together forever or promptly break up after that. Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Green]

Because they came on the podcast. You were on. What?

[Hannah Bilkus]

You're the ring of Dating seven.

[Brian Green]

Did you ever try out for Saturday Night Live?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yes, I did. I got close. Ish. I had a virtual testing agreement during COVID which was sad. So never went to 30 Rock. And, you know, when I got Leigh in, it was sort of like, for however long this goes, that is. And I hope forever. That's not something that you can go out for anymore. So. But I have many a friend. I just had a dear friend get on. Chloe Feynman's one of my dearest friends who, ten years ago at Groundlings, I approached him, was like, hey, you're kind of funny. Would you wanna be friends? And then the rest is history. So, you know, I have a. We all feel connected to it in some way, and we've all been close or sort of close. Everyone in my orbit, you know that I admire and respect product, so.

[Brian Green]

But, yeah, it's. Yeah, it is. Like I said, in a lot of ways, ground zero, or at least a big part of the fabric of comedy, and especially comedic players who go out there and do television or movies. It's just like, there's so much connective tissue to Saturday Night Live over the last 50 years. But can I ask you a question? Because we were talking about this yesterday.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Sure.

[Brian Green]

You're here to answer my questions, so then I'm going to ask you.

[Hannah Bilkus]

All right. And I was. I was unclear in the power dynamic, but now it's clear.

[Brian Green]

Do you think that Chrissy and I believe that there's been, like, a big deal, Bigger deal made out of the fact that Lorne Michaels is turning some of these cast players this year? Than there has been in past years. It feels to me like there's a big uproar online over or a lot of publicity around the fact that cast members are changing when that in fact is just what's always happened. But it feels this year there's some outcry that I haven't read about in past years, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention in past years.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I think I'll say this in as neutral a response as possible. I think a lot of it has to do with. With a swapping out and a rasure of diversity a little bit. I feel like we are kind of experiencing a world. I don't know about, y', all, but I'm a little spooked at the state of the world. I feel like even in media.

[Brian Green]

Feel free to speak. You're amongst friends. You're amongst friends.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I just feel like there is kind of this resurgence of unapologetically feeling like we don't need to diversify. And I wonder if that is. And listen, this isn't bashing anyone that got on. That's not the fault of the people auditioning. I just. For me, a show like SNL thrives when there's different points of view and different perspectives, and when there's too many overlapping ones, you know, for me, you know, you just. It's easy to check out. So I think it's that maybe partially that's like a part and cast members being taken off that maybe we felt like had some interesting opinions and things to say, and I wonder if that ruffled any feathers. Like, I really loved Emil. I loved his updates, and I was really excited about someone that really was speaking their mind. And I think you also read posts about writers and cast members that had mixed experiences. Yeah, I did read that. Yeah. You know, folks having a boycott when Chappelle is on. And so, you know, I think it is pop culture boiled down. It's beautiful and problematic and it's everything in between. Right. So it feels like this concentrate of what we experience daily paired with the fact that I think the industry is at a deeply volatile period. Right. There's so much less work, there's nothing shooting in la. So I do think that there's just less to fixate on right now. I think it's maybe a hybrid of both of those, you know, and. And I say that just as a. As a performer that's even experienced a change in, like, the way things are being written and cast right now, that just feel a little. A little like we're back in the Times, kind of a little bit.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. I had. I was of the opinion that. That it could be a combination of three things. One, it's. There's a lot of PR being churned up because maybe there's some external and external internal pressure that Lauren needs to figure out what happens next with him right in the show. But number two, I said, I think what you're trying to say, which is the political pressure to not act out and the punishment that could come from that, made the choices more clear when they may not have been in the past. Because NBC, the company, NBC Universal, who owns snl.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Maybe not implicitly, but maybe. Maybe not explicitly, but implicitly said get rid of troublemakers or tone it down. We don't want more fines and more focus and all this other stuff. And that's just. That's crazy. But it is part and parcel of the world that we live in today.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I mean, totally. I think that we're seeing it because I'm not an institution, and I famously. I'm always sympathizing with CEOs, and you can put me on record saying that. No, you do. You do. You know, I think about the Kennedy Center, I think about colleges getting defunding, and it's so scary because, you know, the rebuttal is a beautiful thing, but it's also. Is it potentially at the expense of the thing combusting completely because its funding's cut off? What is the right course of action as you're seeing any form of free speech being eradicated? It's a really unprecedented and spooky time.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, I agree with you. And you wouldn't have to go down the whole road, but at the end of the day, it's the thing that some people on a certain. In a certain ideology were bashing against. The wokeism, the cancel culture, the. The silencing of voices, but only when it's happening to them. Right. And then it's. It's just very. It's all very interesting and hypocritical, but I guess at the end of the day, human beings are hypocritical in general. It's just the way that we're built. And so we say one thing, we do another. It's just the way that we are. At least this is the way I know. I can recognize that in my. In myself. So, okay, so now you have Leanne, and so now we'll take the pressure off the political conversation. So now you have Leanne so that we don't get, you know, so that no One finds us. No, I'm kidding.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Right.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

What are some of the. I'm curious, what are some of the other shows that you're watching or, like, Guilty Pleasures or Comfort when things get scary and crazy in the world?

[Hannah Bilkus]

Well, ironically. And this makes sense. And now I'm piecing it all together. 30 Rock's always my comfort food. I mean, just a laugh a minute.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Watch it all the time.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And Jane Krakowski doing O Mary now. I'm so excited. Just. I mean, everyone. Jinx. Monsoon. Betty. Betty Gilken. I was Gilpin. Betty Gilpin. I am. I'm watching Hunting Wives. Of course.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Of course.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And having an absolute ball. I watched that limited series, Dying for Sex, and I loved it so much. I'm just such a Jenny Slate fan. It's. It's heartbreaking, right? And I will watch. I love watching Love is Blind in Germany or Japan or Brazil. I mean, guilty guys. It's. Isn't it the most. That in couples therapy, I think, is one of the most authentic. I know it's saying honest portrayal and love is blind, but I do think if you've had a couple drinks and you start having the, like, Munchausen of, like, being in this enclosed space, you do forget there's a camera there. And I think then it's just stream of consciousness. And I find it. The etiquette, what manners look like, how they dress, and just the differentiation between cultures is so fascinating to me.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Very.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, totally. Couldn't agree with you more. I love watching shows from Europe or even Japan or shows that are familiar formats, but they're taken somewhere else. And you see the differences in comedy and what's funny and what's interesting, the psychology and the mannerisms, and it's just. It's all fascinating to me. I'm with you on that. That. That is comfortable. I did. Because you're now a Netflix superstar and probably, you know, in some way embedded in the company, but. Did you watch Unknown Caller?

[Hannah Bilkus]

No.

[Brian Green]

Documentary. Unknown Caller.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I haven't seen that either.

[Brian Green]

Okay. I'm not. Go watch it. I'm not gonna say anything about it. Go watch it. About the two high school kids that started getting tech. They were a couple, and they were, like 13 years old, and they started getting text messages from an unknown caller saying some of the most incredibly hurtful, damaging, crazy things to them to try and get them to break up. And then it's a true story. Obviously, it's a doc. Watch it. Oh, watch it. That's all I'll say. I'm not gonna ruin it.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And then if you need a palate cle after that, you can watch Trainwreck Poop Cruise.

[Brian Green]

Oh, I saw it.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I watched that.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Oh, my God.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I watched that. What I love the most is people crying in the end. And you're like, we don't need to make this a murder dog. It sucks that there was feces around.

[Brian Green]

But you're okay? Yeah, you're fine. Everything's okay.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And there's these girls and they're like. Yeah, they're like, we couldn't take shots. We couldn't do limbo.

[Brian Green]

It was so hot in there. It's like you were on a cruise. You know, you were. Everything was fine. No one's gonna. No one was gonna let you. They opened up the bar.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yes. Oh, my God. Worst idea of all time. Of course, one other comfort thing I will shout out is my father loves Korean soaps. Loves them. And I said, well, which. I said, which ones have you seen? And he said, all of them. Really?

[Brian Green]

Korean. Korean soaps.

[Hannah Bilkus]

So he has gone through all the catalog of Korean soaps on Netflix and he's ready for more. Yeah, he says they're just so comfortable. And I watched squid game and he's like, I don't need a squid game in my life right now. I need a. An optimistic love story. And he loves the Korean soap.

[Brian Green]

He's reading it with the subtitles. Reading it with the subtitles or the dub? Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Well, now he's fluent in Korean. No. Maybe eventually. No dubbing. He knows Korean. No, but he says if you need comfort and to seek some solace somewhere away from this world, it's a good watch. And I do mean all of them. I mean, that's hundreds of hours of content that my dad's.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That's incredible.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I know your dad already.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Oh, he's the best quirky kind of guy. We need in our lives is a.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Guy who's in Korean and he's your next guest. He's on his way up.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, he's on his. Do you. Does he live in New York?

[Hannah Bilkus]

He. So we grew up in New York. My dad's Dutch, grew up in Holland, and then we moved to New York. And now my entire. It's a sitcom outside of a sitcom. My mom, my dad, my sister, my brother in law, their dogs, my nephew live a mile from me in Pasadena.

[Brian Green]

Oh, that's amazing because you live there. Like they all decided to move.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yes. And I think we all lived all over the world. My sister and her husband lived in Hong Kong. Cause he's an Imagineer for many years and when they had a baby.

[Brian Green]

He's an imagineer.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

I'm so excited about this. Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And he's your guest after my dad.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, no, I'll take him. I'll take your dad and your brother in law. Both of them. Yes.

[Hannah Bilkus]

But I think when my, my sister had a baby, I think we all. And I think Covid was really illuminating of time and life is really precious and you know, so now we, we, we just had my dad's birthday in my yard and we see each other, you know, once every couple of weeks. It's great. Yeah, that's.

[Brian Green]

That is incredible. I like that. It's cozy here. My wife is Venezuelan. Family is everything in that culture.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Sure.

[Brian Green]

Everybody is family, right? The third cousin 50 times removed.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Doesn't stay in a hotel. When he comes within 100 miles of Atlanta, he stays in our house because that's.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I love that.

[Brian Green]

So I'd love to hear when families, especially American families, where I think that things are much different here and we don't focus on the family and as much as we should. And I'd love to hear when families are taking care of each other and, and that's awesome.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah. Yeah. I also like think there's something really beautiful about how adults meet each other on new terms. Like I think me being in my 30s, living near my parents, versus me at 18, you know, drinking a Coca Cola in bed, sleeping till 2, being like, get out of my room. You know, it's been a really cool thing for us all to kind of get to know each other this way. Yeah.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It's different dynamics for sure.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, yeah, that's.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I love that.

[Brian Green]

I feel like that's something that happens is as you get older, you meet your parents as people and not as parents.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah, totally.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. The authority.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And you're like, wait, you had friends? You know, it's like, it's really shameful. This, like you, you, you project onto them that they have no history and their sole purpose and function is you.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

They should have been perfect when they're.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Exactly. Yeah. That's a thing I've been thinking about a lot. Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Because I'm perfect.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, you seem perfect. You have been the perfect guest. Yes. Absolutely delightful. One more question. Not about you, about your brother, about your brother in law. He's an imagineer and so he worked to open Hong Kong Disney when it opened.

[Hannah Bilkus]

So he, his company works with a bunch of different companies. So yeah, he did a lot of the work at Disney in Abu Dhabi and in Hong Kong and had a lot to do with building the Star wars ride for Disneyland. A lot of what his company does is, like, things to scale. So if you look from far away and you think something's massive and you get up close and that's just forced perspective and also building materials. So rock. That, of course, isn't real rock. He's like the kind of guy where you come over and he's like, whittling a walking stick for his son while making a souffle. You're like, some people are just wired different. Yeah, it's. It's crazy.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. I love it.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I can't wait to have him on.

[Brian Green]

Yeah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yes, I know. Yes.

[Brian Green]

We'll ask him all the questions we've always wanted. My son is fascinated with all things Disney. And we've been watching this behind the attraction where they talk about these on Disney+ where they spend an hour talking about one famous, you know, Space Mountain or whatever it is, and all the imagineers and all the people that did it and why they did it and the thoughts that went behind it and Walt and all this other stuff. And we've been watching it at night, and I am just as fascinated by this as he is. I'm like, wow. You just don't think about it. You go on a ride you love. Disney is a great place, but you don't think about the minutia it took all the powerful, creative, wonderful people who were behind making it come to life and the small decisions that they made. And these are full grown fucking adults making these decisions about, you know, like, which rock, what the rock is gonna look like from a hundred yards away. It's like that stuff as my adult life. But that's his job. That's very cool.

[Hannah Bilkus]

And you're also like, you know, he must come up with the concepts like, oh, he's got a good imagination. And he's an architect. And you have to do physics and you have to do chemistry because there's the safety, the building, the aesthetic, the lighting. I mean, it's. And of course, there's a bunch of people working together. But when I went into his office, I expected it to be all these tchotchkes. And it's a. It's just blueprints. Many, many blueprints. There's just, like you were saying, there's so many technical aspects that we take for granted. Like if it's a log flume ride, it can't sink. So you have to figure. And they were doing a bunch of testing for a Pirates of The Caribbean ride and figuring out, wow, what is the capacity for people. How do we make this beautiful illustrious ship not sink? And so I'm so fascinated by it too.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, I love that your family would be good dinner guests. So next time I go to Pasadena, California, I'm going to invite myself. Come on over.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yes, yes. Join our sitcom outside of miss it.

[Brian Green]

I love that Hannah is in the television show Leanne that's now on Netflix. All 16 episodes. Am I right about that? All 16 episodes available currently on Netflix. She will also be at The Elysian, the 27th in LA. Tell us more about this. What, pray tell?

[Hannah Bilkus]

This is a show I'm doing with mackenzie Berman. We're going to be trying out some new material to bring on tour eventually. It's just going to be a super fun variety show. We have a bunch of awes special guests, some of your favorite comedians. So yeah, come on out. 7:30 in Legion.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Okay. And so I'll put a link to get tickets. I'll make sure that I link to the Netflix and all your social media and all that stuff. You have been an absolute delight to.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Have such a commercial. What a dream. Thank you guys. I would love if at the end of some you go, so this has been a time we're here.

[Brian Green]

Trust me, we've had them. I can name them, you will know them. Yes.

[Hannah Bilkus]

These are five things, five words. Worst guests.

[Brian Green]

We did that once. We did that once. We called it out like we saw. We're pretty honest with the audience, but we've done hundreds of guests at this point and not all of them go, well, not everybody's super nice. Not everybody is as pleasant. You don't know what you're gonna get. Right. It's a mixed bag. Most people are awesome. They're wonderful. Some people are. We have a lot of fun with like you. And then there have been a few where we have left the interview. Just wondering if we should even run it. Yeah, like, oh gosh, time's up.

[Hannah Bilkus]

We gotta go 10 minutes dating where it's like, oh, we have 12 minutes to date. Okay. It's been humid out, huh? Yeah. No, I've loved getting to know you guys and I've listened for a long time. So super fun to get to be here.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Thank you so much. You are welcome back anytime. We hope that you will come back. And all of Hannah's information available in the show notes. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks Hannah.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Bye. Thank you guys.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Let me do something Brian has never done.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Be brief.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Follow us on Instagram at the commercial break. Text or call us 212-4333, tcb. That's 212-433-3822. Visit our website tcbpodcast.com for all the audio, video and your free sticker. Then watch all the [e-mail] thecommercial break and finally share the show. It's the best gift you could give a few aging podcasters. See, Brian that really wasn't that difficult now wasn't it? You're welcome.

[Hannah Bilkus]

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[Hannah Bilkus]

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[Chrissy Hoadley]

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[Hannah Bilkus]

What does possibility mean to you? That's a hard question.

[Brian Green]

Something that you can strive for.

[Hannah Bilkus]

I'm able to do anything I set my mind to.

[Brian Green]

You're confident in yourself and you believe in yourself.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Stuff that you could achieve. I feel it's Sarah Anything is possible when you're more confident.

[Brian Green]

Shoes are a huge part part of that. They are the most important part of my style.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

You can like express yourself in the.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Right shoes, anything is possible.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

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[Brian Green]

Imagine the possibilities. Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from EPGLIS.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

After an initial dosing phase, about 4.

[Hannah Bilkus]

In 10 people taking EVGLIS achieved itch.

[Brian Green]

Relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing.

[Sponsor Voice 4]

EVGLIS Lebricizumab LBKZ a 250mg per 2ml injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Epglis. Allergic reactions can occur that be can severe eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epglis. Before starting Epgliss, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection searching for real relief.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Ask your doctor about Epglis and visit epglislily.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979.

[Brian Green]

So keen eared listeners will have heard that she mentioned a movie with Kevin Bacon when she was a kid. I did not know that this. But I went and I researched it during the break and it's the Woodsman.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian Green]

And I've actually seen this film. I watched it maybe sometime during the pandemic, so maybe a couple years ago, but it came on somewhere, Pluto or something like that. And I watched it and I thought it was an okay movie. I actually liked it. And now I know she was the character who like talked to him about bird watching or whatever. Anyway, she's been doing this for a very long time. A very long time.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Kevin Bacon too.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Wow.

[Brian Green]

To start off, 7 degrees of bacon. There you go. Kevin's everywhere. It can all be put together. Hannah was absolutely wonderful. Delightful, delightful. Delilah, she was delightful. She didn't go to Burning man, so we didn't have to skewer about that. She's got the asthma and the vocal fry and all that. She, she called out her own vocal fry. She said, I have vocal fry, but I have a feeling that has more to do with the asthma than anything else. It's not because she's on some reality show. I love you. So all of the information down below in the show notes, check out Leanne. It's getting great reviews. Chrissy watched it. She said she liked it.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I give it my blessing.

[Brian Green]

Comfort food for the soul. And Leanne Morgan, who is now quite frankly become legendary at this point. You know, there are people who you've been watching for a long time but you don't really like. They don't come to top of mind like Leanne. And then all of the sudden they are everywhere and you realize this is the moment when they are moving into legendary status because she has been doing this for so long and finally getting the recognition, admission that she deserves. And the television show that we all hope gets a second season.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Good for Netflix.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, you know, good for Leanne and.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, well, of course.

[Brian Green]

And good for Netflix. They're figuring it out. Pretty soon we're all going to be watching TV exactly as we did before at 7:30 on Saturday night or whatever it is. You know, 8:30 on on Thursday. It's just weird. It's weird. But anyway, going to get into a whole rant about it. Go check out her stuff. And if you're in the LA area and on the 27th, you want to check out her variety show. Tickets are available. Links.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I would totally go to that if we lived in la.

[Brian Green]

Totally. She's naturally funny. Like you can just tell she's one of those people that you'd want to have at a dinner party because she'd spice it up a little bit and it would be fun. Plus her brother in laws have an image near an imagineer.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I felt your, your, your spidey senses.

[Brian Green]

You could feel me go tingly. Yes. I've never met a real imagineer. I met a guy who I one time had dinner in Epcot with Astrid.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Okay.

[Brian Green]

When we were, I think when Astrid was pregnant with our first child, we went and we had dinner at the Hibachi place in Japan in Epcot. And then we met a kid who was from Japan. He was a Japanese guy.

[Hannah Bilkus]

He was.

[Brian Green]

He worked there and he worked in Imagineering. He was doing like an internship at Imagineering and he was working on future rides and ideas and concepts. So we met someone who was in the building. But we've never really. I've never really met an imagineer because they really are quite frankly like, you know, the cream of the crop.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Those are the kids that, those are the kids that make other kids happy. Those are the people that do things that are magic, basically. And if you've ever been on some of those rides, they, you know. Same with Universal. What do they call the Universal ones? Imagineers for Disney.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I don't know. You're the Disney expert.

[Brian Green]

Universe for Universal. Not really sure. Anyway, check out the show notes and check out all of Hannah's stuff. Thank you so much. We appreciate her being on. 212-433-3TCB 212-433-3822. Questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas. Get involved in the conversation. Text us. We'd love, love to hear from you. We will respond. One of us will respond directly to you. Might take a couple days but you know, we're busy at the commercial break on Instagram, TCB podcast on tick tock and YouTube.com the commercial break for all the video the same day they air here on the audio including this episode available now. Oh, tcppodcast.com your free sticker. Okay, Chrissy. I guess that's all I can do for today.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I think so.

[Brian Green]

I'll tell you that I love you.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And I love you.

[Brian Green]

Best to you.

[Hannah Bilkus]

Best to you.

[Brian Green]

Best you out there in the podcast podcast universe. Until next time Chrissy and I will say we do say and we must say goodbye.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

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[Hannah Bilkus]

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[Brian Green]

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[Hannah Bilkus]

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[Brian Green]

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[Hannah Bilkus]

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[Brian Green]

Sam that's the sound.

[Sponsor Voice 4]

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[Brian Green]

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