Hannah Berner was already well-known for her comedy on social media, showcasing on-the-street interviews and stand-up work to her 2.9 million TikTok followers and 1 million Instagram followers — not to mention listeners of her two podcasts, “Giggly Squad,” and “Berner Phone,” which have more than 100 million combined downloads.
But the attention levels that come from a Netflix special are on a different level.
“It was so weird. I would look when it was charting and I was like, ‘wait, so everyone sees that? Or is it just on my account?’” Berner says about the special’s views a few weeks after it was released.
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“We Ride at Dawn” is the first comedy special for the 32-year-old Brooklyn native, who recorded her set at Philadelphia’s The Fillmore earlier this year.
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“I really put over six years into this one hour, so to be able to let it go and for people to enjoy it in their own homes has just been the best part of everything,” she says.
Berner has gotten word that everyone from Brooke Shields to Rita Ora and Aly Raisman have watched and loved “We Ride at Dawn,” which touches on many sexual topics we won’t print here, as well as things like gun safety and dating older men.
“It’s funny to see just how humor can just kind of connect people,” Berner says.
Growing up in a half Italian, half “European mutt” family in Brooklyn that was “very goofy and always making fun of each other” introduced Berner to the power of comedy from an early age, she says.
“Laughter was just a big thing in our household, but I never thought that you could get paid to do it,” she says.
Originally, she dreamed about playing professional tennis, and received a full scholarship to play for the University of Wisconsin.
“I really never thought I was going to be a stand-up comedian — I always wanted to be a professional tennis player, and that’s where I put my whole childhood. And up until college, I had another dream. So I think this Netflix special is so interesting because it wasn’t on my original path,” Berner says. “A lot of people can relate to having something you thought you wanted and then realizing as you grow and learn about yourself what’s actually better for you.”
Tennis taught her how to handle her “own demons,” performance and pressures, she said.
“When I first did stand-up comedy, I was like, ‘wait, this is tennis, but I don’t lose. This is f—ing fun,’” she says. “With tennis, I had a lot of pressure from coaches and family and my own pressures I was putting on myself. So comedy, I went into it being like, ‘let’s actually make this fun and let’s enjoy what my life is going to be, instead of it feeling like a pressure cooker all the time.’”
Berner earned fame after appearing on the reality show “Summer House” for three seasons, as well as from her “Han on the Street” street interviews. She was named one of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch in 2023.
Social media has been critical to her growth as a comedian, and she says it’s been especially huge for women in comedy.
“It makes you more comfortable putting yourself out and finding an audience, because when you’re starting out in New York City, you don’t always feel safe. You don’t always feel like it’s a space for you. So I think it came about in a very non-traditional way, and I hope it inspires some other people that maybe feel like they don’t necessarily fit into the old school stand-up community,” Berner says. “Anyone can be funny. It’s just now, you don’t have to wait for someone to choose you in a lineup. You can just do an open mic on TikTok and try your jokes out in different places where you feel safe, and then you also can get immediate responses to see if things work.”
She gets inspiration from viral tweets or trends she sees online on a variety of topics, including sex and dating. One bit she felt was important to include in the special, however, centers around how women should be the only people that should have guns, for safety reasons.
“I performed it all over America. And I think it’s a fun bit because everyone gets made fun of in it, but I also leave you questioning some norms,” she says. “At the end of the day, as long as it’s funny, I want to talk about it.”