Hilarious UW-Madison Alum Comedian Hannah Berner Spills the Beans Before Wisconsin Tour - What's in Store? - lulu

Hannah Berner attends the premiere for “No Hard Feelings” at AMC Lincoln Square on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, in New York. Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Hannah Berner never set out to be a comedian. 

The 33-year-old stand-up originally had her sights set on tennis. She played all four years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduating, Berner gravitated towards making funny videos on social media. From there, she eventually found a passion being on stage and making people laugh. 

She believes her tennis skills have helped her go from the court to the stage.  

“Tennis was a lot of pressure. Serving against Duke, second serve, third set — all your teammates are watching you. That was nerve wracking to me,” Berner told “Wisconsin Today.” “When I got on stage that first time, I thought I might feel nervous like I was hitting second serve, but I actually felt quite calm. And I think that’s what you have to chase in this life — the things that, for whatever reason, you feel like fit. So I weirdly feel comfortable on stage, and I’ve kind of just been leaning into that.”

Berner is currently on tour, with two dates in Wisconsin: Oct. 25 in Green Bay and Oct. 26 in Madison.

She recently sat down with Rob Ferrett on “Wisconsin Today” to talk about her time at UW-Madison and her comedy career. 

Rob Ferrett: You’re from Brooklyn. You came to college at UW-Madison. Was the Midwestern college town a culture shock for you?

Hannah Berner: You can’t experience a true sports college in New York City. That’s just not a thing. So when I realized the whole state was involved with the Badgers — I’ve never seen fandom and school spirit to that extent until I went to Madison. 

RF: You were an athlete yourself, right? You played tennis. 

HB: Yes. I was on the tennis team all four years and then did a fun little semester afterwards to graduate. So four and a half (years). Not to brag.

RF: Were there things from New York that you were like, “Oh, you can’t get a good version of that thing in Wisconsin”?

HB: Good question. Let’s be honest. Pizza. (But) I love pizza because of cheese. So when I realized you could get tons of cheese here, that was amazing. I became a cheese curd connoisseur.

I was a big Ian’s Pizza girl. I really loved the mac and cheese pizza. I put my Brooklyn stamp of approval on it. 

RF: That’s good to hear. Now, you worked in media for a while after college and did some reality TV. What led you into the world of comedy?

HB: I would always go to Comedy on State to see comics, but it was just subconscious, like, “Oh, this is entertaining.” Tennis was my whole life. You really don’t have a lot of time being a student athlete. 

But I had learned how to edit and I was on camera doing a lot of sports broadcasting. My last semester, I worked for the communications department. I’d been friends with a lot of the athletes, so I had some videos do well — like I interviewed Frank Kaminsky. I was following a lot of the women’s sports, too. 

(After college) I was like, I miss being on camera. I miss editing. Am I a ham? Like, it’s not that I want attention. I want to create videos. And I saw those old videos (I’d made) and they really inspired me.

I love making people laugh. I think I’m just a goofy person. So it was a natural kind of progression into realizing I’m good at editing and I’m funny. And for stand-up comedy, that’s actually really helpful to get seen in the business, if you can start editing your own clips. And I feel like I have the work ethic of a Badger.

RF:  I think of myself as being pretty funny. Don’t ask my coworkers to confirm that. But one of the scariest things in the world to me seems like doing stand-up and being in front of people — being alone on stage and living or dying by their response. How stressful is it?

HB: Everything is truly perspective. I’m 33, from New York City. I just got my driver’s license last week. I know. Big deal. But I’m terrified of driving. That’s my fear, (even though) most people can drive. But talking in front of 2,000 people, for whatever reason, doesn’t trigger anything in me. 

RF: A lot of what you do is kind of person-on-the-street interviews. In one of your street interviews, you asked men to explain why women aren’t funny, based on, I guess, very common internet comments from men dismissing women as comedians. Why is that such a common thing for men, at least online, to feel like they got to say that?

HB: We’re all speaking from our experience, so some people will connect more with people who are similar to them. But I also think men can get kind of scared when a woman is funny. It’s like their biggest fear. Where I actually think the best relationships between men and women are when we’re roasting each other and being silly and having fun.

Laughter is my love language, and that’s what’s worked out for me and my husband. But it is just funny… (On) the internet, there’s something about a woman holding a microphone that could sometimes make men be like, “I don’t trust this girl.” 

RF: You have a book you co-authored —  “How to Giggle: A Guide to Taking Life Less Seriously.” Are there things in the book or that you’ve learned as a comedian that could help us all take life a little less seriously?

HB: Oh, 100 percent. So much of life is how you react to it. When I see I’m taking myself too seriously, everything seems more difficult. Everything seems heavier. So when you decide to see things as kind of fun and more of a joke, things  don’t affect you as heavily.

Life is not what happens to you, it’s how you react to it. So I always choose to find the funny in it, and it’s been making life easier for me thus far.