For Caleb Hearon, it was all about striking the right balance in his debut comedy special, Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian.
The stand-up special streaming on HBO Max — which the comedian-actor-podcaster crafted on the road during his So True LIVE Tour earlier this year — sees Hearon tackle everything from politics and internet trolls to “life’s most absurd contradictions,” per the special’s logline. But turning all that into a “full compelling picture” for a one-hour special was the real challenge, but one Hearon was thrilled to take on.
“It makes you laugh even harder to know that the person who just said that insane, goofy thing about blowjobs also holds this serious opinion about politics,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think that’s how we all move through the world, and the balance is the biggest part.”
Below, Hearon shares how he balanced politics with comedy in the special, how he chose what stories to include and his hopes for the future. He also teases his role in the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada sequel.
In the special, how did you go about balancing comedy with your personal stories as well as serious and political topics?
The balance is everything. The balance between talking seriously about what’s going on in the world, I think that’s part of the job. First and foremost, the job is to make people laugh, but I also feel there’s an additional responsibility that I feel to tell the truth as I see it and to talk about what’s happening in our world. And also to share about myself and to share my credibility and how I arrived at the perspective that I have. I think a huge part of this special is sharing, like, “Hey, I’m just some guy and this is the way that I came to these opinions and this is the way that I came to be this person in the world,” and striking that balance is really important for the enjoyment of the special. I think it’s important that you understand those things as an audience member so that you can fully engage with the work. And it makes you laugh even harder to know that the person who just said that insane, goofy thing about blowjobs also holds this serious opinion about politics. I think that’s how we all move through the world, and the balance is the biggest part.
‘Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian’
Emilio Madrid/HBO
Was it challenging to narrow down which stories and bits you wanted to include?
Yes and no. There’s a lot of things that got left on the cutting room floor, not of the actual special but of what I was gonna try and put in. Every part of it calls for a different thing, like when you’re moving from something political, sometimes you want to go a little more political right after that and sometimes you want to veer into something that’s a palate cleanser. You’re thinking of it in 15 and 30 and 60 minute chunks. You want to think of the holistic piece, but also the experience from 5 minutes to 5 minutes. And really it’s just looking at the whole body, as the first hour, it’s like, OK, every joke I’ve ever told is technically on the table for this, except for maybe what I’ve done on Comedy Central. And then you just go, OK, what fits? What makes a full compelling picture here? What feels like a piece and not just some guy rambling, although I think at parts it is just some guy rambling, which I’m OK with (Laughs). But part of making those selections is just going, what is the piece asking for? What does it need right here?
As someone who has a comedic presence on social media and on your podcast, how does stand-up feel different, and what do you appreciate about it specifically?
Many things. It’s funny, I read sometimes about myself that I’m a creator who’s branching into stand up and acting, and it doesn’t bother me anymore, but I find it very funny just ‘cause I’m like, actually, I’m an actor in standup who branched into the internet. But to call yourself a comic to me is to be a stand-up. The reason for that is being online is a whole other kind of funny. Like being a comedian, an online comedian, is a whole other skill set, and you’re lucky if you have both. And I guess jury’s out, we’ll find out if people think I do (Laughs). But I really, really think the thing that makes stand-up so exciting and admirable and cool to me when I watch other people’s work and when I’m a fan of theirs and when I feel inspired by people doing stand-up and things like that, the reason is because there’s no editing. You’re right there in the room with people in real time, and they can see your thoughts happening as they occur, and that work has to be done. You can’t do 20 takes in a row and then pick the best one. The real live aspect of it in front of other people, that’s what makes it different for me and what makes it the original thing I fell in love with, like that and improv together.
As you look ahead career-wise, do you hope to continue to have a good mix of comedy, stand-up and acting, or is there one area you would like to focus on in the future?
Oh, I wanna do it all. I would love to direct. I would love to write more of my own stuff. I would love to be in other people’s things. Eventually, I’d love to produce. I think what’s exciting to me about being an entertainer is that if you get really lucky and you work hard enough and you’re nice enough to people, that you get to do a little bit of everything. Right now I’m kind of in the stand-up moment where I was preparing the special and now the specials coming out, but I’m filming three other movies right now and working on developing some of my own stuff and obviously still putting out the show every week. I get excited by the opportunity to do all of it.
‘Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian’
Emilio Madrid/HBO
When it comes to acting, having leaned into more comedic roles, is that what you prefer or do you hope to take on more dramatic parts?
I would like to go wherever people will have me. I think my biggest focus and when I think about my life and career is I go, well, I wanna work with nice people who love what they’re doing on things we all believe in, and I think that will more than certainly be a dramatic movie, and that will more than certainly be things I can’t even think of right now. Like I’m sure that things will come up in that realm that haven’t even occurred to me yet, and that’s really exciting to me.
You’re also starring in the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada sequel. What can you tease about that?
Yes, Meryl Streep and I ride a roller coaster in at least 20 scenes. No, I’m just kidding. It’s gonna be really, really fun. I’m so excited to be part of it. I have a really, really fun role in it that is not huge. It’s funny, I saw something the other day, some gay publication was like, Caleb Hearon stars in Devil Wears Prada, and I was like, “Honey, I’m 15th on the call sheet. Let’s relax a little bit.” (Laughs). But I’m very excited to be a part of it. A total dream come true, and I think as a huge fan of the original, when I read the script for the second one I was like, actually, this is exactly what I would have wanted as a fan, and I hope that everyone else will feel that way too.
Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian is currently streaming on HBO Max.
