Hannah Einbinder Would Totally Join a Cult

You know Hannah Einbinder as the MVP of the award-winning HBO Max show Hacks, about the contentious friendship between a twentysomething comedy writer and a veteran Vegas comic restarting her career. And despite being one of the youngest stand-ups to ever appear on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Einbinder has logged a lot of time on club stages; her 2025 special Everything Must Go demonstrated a serious knack for blending the confessional and the absurd.

Here’s what you might not know about Einbinder: She would totally join a cult. Under the right circumstances, of course.

“I’m drawn towards charisma, and I do like to feel like a part of a team,” Einbinder noted, when she dropped by the Rolling Stone Studio at SXSW. “I was captain of the varsity cheerleading team in high school, so, you know, I really like to be a part of the group. I think for a bunch of reasons, I would maybe be susceptible to a cult.”

And what would the necessary requirements be in order to recruit her? “Liberation,” Einbinder replied. “Nirvana — I’d like to dip my toe into there. I’d love an open-toed sandal, and like, a dress of some kind, something flowy. Breezy attire. Good jewelry.”

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The subject of cults came up since the film she’s promoting at SXSW, Seekers of Infinite Love, involves estranged siblings (played by Einbinder, Search Party‘s John Reynolds, and Griffin Gluck) who team up with a professional deprogrammer (Justin Theroux) to save their youngest sister (Succession‘s Justine Lupe) from a cult. Asked to choose between competitive cheerleading, improv comedy — Einbinder was on an improv team in college — and her inherited, lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fandom in terms of requiring a cult-like mindset, the actor immediately answered: “The last one. I should have said I’m already in a cult. Philadelphia sports is live or die. I was brainwashed from day one.”

Einbinder also talked about how Everything Must Go was the culmination of seven years’ worth of material, the popularity of Hacks, what to expect from her upcoming collaboration with I Watch the TV Glow filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, and more. To watch her full Rolling Stone Studio interview, go to Rolling Stone’s YouTube channel, or just press play above.