Jeff Hiller spent decades in the weird theater and improv trenches of N.Y.C. before becoming America’s BFF on Somebody Somewhere. Now, he’s going back to his roots
If you’ve seen even one episode of the quietly-devastating-yet-hilarious HBO show Somebody Somewhere, you probably feel like Jeff Hiller (he/him but also open to all other pronouns) is your friend. He plays Joel—devoted pal to Bridget Everett’s character Sam—a confidante who makes vision boards, liberally pours martinis dubbed “teeny ’tinis,” and provides steadfast tenderness that radiates from him IRL, too. It’s why, when he pops up on Zoom from his artist husband Neil Goldberg’s studio in N.Y.C. wearing a giant grin and a colorful headband, I just want to reach through my screen and hug him. But he doesn’t mind. Infusing the deeply personal with the overtly comedic is kind of his thing, and exactly what drives his new live stage show, Middle Aged Ingenue.
Why the title? “Because I burst onto the world stage at 45 years young!” he says. (For the record, that “burst” was two years ago. Hiller is now a very youthful 47.) The show is not Hiller’s first rodeo. His production of The Designing Women Monologues looked at gender identity via the formative lens of the ’80s sitcom. (“Do you know how many times I would take a beanie and put it under my arm like a clutch?” he says, “or take off an invisible earring before I answered the phone?”) And Grief Bacon explored the aftermath of his mother’s death. But, after years of not quite “making it,” he’s now selling out shows rather than begging people to come, recognition that’s long overdue.
Acting wasn’t always Hiller’s calling. Growing up “super churchy” in San Antonio, TX, he wanted to be a pastor. “You could be openly gay, but you had to be celibate. So, I said, ‘I won’t go to seminary until that rule has changed.’ They since have changed that rule and…I’m OK,” he says, punctuating the comment with his infectious laugh. He also spent a few years as a social worker, a job that truly put his compassion and empathy to work. Traits, he says, that were instilled by his mother. “She was a little too old for BUST, but let me tell you, she would’ve been on board,” he says. Hiller is, too. When asked if he’s a feminist, he doesn’t hesitate. “You mean the radical idea that women are equal to men?” he asks with faux incredulity. “I do consider myself a feminist, yes.” (As if the Indigo Girls T-shirt he’s wearing in his Texas Lutheran University senior photo didn’t already make that clear.)
After deciding to pursue performing, Hiller moved to New York in 2001 and spent more than a decade teaching improv classes to the likes of Aubrey Plaza, Kate McKinnon, Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, and more at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He connected strongly with the women there, many of whom got famous and put him to work. His IMDB page is rife with BUST faves like 30 Rock, Broad City, and Difficult People. The roles were mostly one-offs, though, until he landed the one that changed everything.
We technically can’t talk about Somebody Somewhere because Hiller’s union is on strike at the time of our interview, but I can ask about the photo he posted on IG of himself on the SAG-AFTRA picket lines with his costars Everett and Murray Hill— evidence that their bond goes far beyond the screen. “We actually spend time together,” Hiller says. “Murray calls Bridget Mamá. She’s the boss. I’m always the peacemaker and Murray’s always the troublemaker. And Bridget—she’s like the Carrie. She’s number one on the call sheet of our friendship.”
–Lisa Butterworth
Jeff Hiller From Somebody Somewhere Sit Down With BUST To Talk About His New Stage Show Middle Age Ingenue
Jeff Hiller spent decades in the weird theater and improv trenches of N.Y.C. before becoming America’s BFF on Somebody Somewhere. Now, he’s going back to his roots
If you’ve seen even one episode of the quietly-devastating-yet-hilarious HBO show Somebody Somewhere, you probably feel like Jeff Hiller (he/him but also open to all other pronouns) is your friend. He plays Joel—devoted pal to Bridget Everett’s character Sam—a confidante who makes vision boards, liberally pours martinis dubbed “teeny ’tinis,” and provides steadfast tenderness that radiates from him IRL, too. It’s why, when he pops up on Zoom from his artist husband Neil Goldberg’s studio in N.Y.C. wearing a giant grin and a colorful headband, I just want to reach through my screen and hug him. But he doesn’t mind. Infusing the deeply personal with the overtly comedic is kind of his thing, and exactly what drives his new live stage show, Middle Aged Ingenue.
Why the title? “Because I burst onto the world stage at 45 years young!” he says. (For the record, that “burst” was two years ago. Hiller is now a very youthful 47.) The show is not Hiller’s first rodeo. His production of The Designing Women Monologues looked at gender identity via the formative lens of the ’80s sitcom. (“Do you know how many times I would take a beanie and put it under my arm like a clutch?” he says, “or take off an invisible earring before I answered the phone?”) And Grief Bacon explored the aftermath of his mother’s death. But, after years of not quite “making it,” he’s now selling out shows rather than begging people to come, recognition that’s long overdue.
Acting wasn’t always Hiller’s calling. Growing up “super churchy” in San Antonio, TX, he wanted to be a pastor. “You could be openly gay, but you had to be celibate. So, I said, ‘I won’t go to seminary until that rule has changed.’ They since have changed that rule and…I’m OK,” he says, punctuating the comment with his infectious laugh. He also spent a few years as a social worker, a job that truly put his compassion and empathy to work. Traits, he says, that were instilled by his mother. “She was a little too old for BUST, but let me tell you, she would’ve been on board,” he says. Hiller is, too. When asked if he’s a feminist, he doesn’t hesitate. “You mean the radical idea that women are equal to men?” he asks with faux incredulity. “I do consider myself a feminist, yes.” (As if the Indigo Girls T-shirt he’s wearing in his Texas Lutheran University senior photo didn’t already make that clear.)
After deciding to pursue performing, Hiller moved to New York in 2001 and spent more than a decade teaching improv classes to the likes of Aubrey Plaza, Kate McKinnon, Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, and more at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He connected strongly with the women there, many of whom got famous and put him to work. His IMDB page is rife with BUST faves like 30 Rock, Broad City, and Difficult People. The roles were mostly one-offs, though, until he landed the one that changed everything.
We technically can’t talk about Somebody Somewhere because Hiller’s union is on strike at the time of our interview, but I can ask about the photo he posted on IG of himself on the SAG-AFTRA picket lines with his costars Everett and Murray Hill— evidence that their bond goes far beyond the screen. “We actually spend time together,” Hiller says. “Murray calls Bridget Mamá. She’s the boss. I’m always the peacemaker and Murray’s always the troublemaker. And Bridget—she’s like the Carrie. She’s number one on the call sheet of our friendship.”
