![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/e0b95ebadd08200b6a75ad9d368d1f68aa-NYMAG-StavrosHalkias0017.rvertical.w570.jpg\")
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Good One<\/a><\/p>\n \n You can watch this interview and the other episodes of our video podcast on YouTube<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI don\u2019t want to be important at all.\u201d This article was featured in New York\u2019s One Great Story<\/a> newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In late August, in response to the red-carpet photos from the Venice Film Festival premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019s Bugonia<\/a>, one person on X commented<\/a>, \u201cCan\u2019t believe stav shitposted and crowd worked his way into a movie with Emma stone.\u201d It was a common<\/a> reaction<\/a> across social media<\/a> and understandably so: When Stone\u2019s creative partnership with Lanthimos kicked off with The Favourite in 2018, comedian Stavros Halkias was the co-host of Cum Town, a popular but niche podcast where fans would come to expect ironic racism, young male vulgarity, and the possibility of a host<\/a> shitting<\/a> himself<\/a>. Since he left Cum Town in 2022, Halkias\u2019s fan base has only continued to grow: He\u2019s mastered the art of crowdwork clips and has more than 800,000 YouTube subscribers<\/a>, who tune in for his stand-up performances and fitness web series, Stavvy Gets Ripped; meanwhile, his advice podcast, Stavvy\u2019s World<\/a>, has another 300,000 subs. Through all this work, Halkias has distinguished himself by being shockingly open about his flaws, faults, fuck-ups, and appealing brand of inclusive horniness.<\/p>\n Halkias doesn\u2019t know why he, of all people, was cast in Bugonia, but he\u2019s aware that his presence offers some semiotic weight to the film\u2019s exploration of lost men who fall down the rabbit hole of dark online subcultures and conspiracy. In the film, Jesse Plemons plays Teddy, a young man whose life was ruined by capitalism and the pharmaceutical industry and who turns to YouTube with his questions; in real life, Halkias makes his living trying to offer such guys answers. The comedian remembers being an angry \u201cyoung male loser\u201d and knows how susceptible he would\u2019ve been to predatory influencers pitching a combination of misogyny and bigotry, so he now embraces his role as an incel counterprogrammer. Instead of that dangerous path, Halkias pitches an alternative on his podcast and in his stand-up: If you believe in yourself and be good to others, you\u2019ll get laid. And in an era of so much political polarization, isn\u2019t that a unifying message? Just don\u2019t call him \u201cthe Joe Rogan of the left.\u201d<\/p>\n How did you get cast in Bugonia? What was it like for you on set? The moment that was the most nerve-racking was the fact that they were using VistaVision cameras, and you could hear them whirring \u2014 the sound of, If you fuck this up, it costs this amount of film. Who gives a fuck about wasting a gigabyte, but this is rare film stock that they shot Indiana Jones on. I kept thinking, Don\u2019t flub a line, because that\u2019s probably ten grand in film stock. That\u2019s more than what they are paying you.<\/p>\n Considering the film\u2019s depiction of the internet and masculinity, do you think Yorgos cast you because of Cum Town and what you represent culturally? I didn\u2019t think about that going into the movie, of course. I just thought it\u2019s a funny wrinkle\u00a0to take a guy from the podcast sewers and elevate him to be in this movie. [Plemons\u2019s character] Teddy definitely listened to Cum Town. Maybe it wasn\u2019t his favorite thing, but it\u2019s on his rotation.<\/p>\n What did you learn about internet fandoms and subcultures from the experience of hosting Cum Town? You\u2019ve said<\/a> you couldn\u2019t be 40 and still hosting Cum Town. Why is that? But I do think, when you see where we were at the time \u2026 It was when Trump was first coming up. We weren\u2019t fans of that. We did have left politics, but we never really made that a focal point, because I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what comedians should do. But I do think it\u2019s a natural thing \u2014\u00a0you get these people who don\u2019t like what is going on culturally, who had trained in open mics for a decade, who also have a chip on their shoulders. Then you put that all in a blender, and you naturally get this knee-jerk rebellion, which I think is important. Young people should be able to make fucked-up jokes and it not ruin their lives and not be cast out as a specific thing forever. We were kind of rebelling against that \u2014 Shane being the obvious example.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s a young person\u2019s game. It\u2019s kind of being like, \u201cFuck you, Dad.\u201d You could argue 28 was too late. We were just emotionally and mentally stunted guys. Even if people our age keep doing that style of comedy, it should exist, but it also changes with the times. Honestly, I think for some 20-year-old, the equivalent would be making Charlie Kirk jokes at this point, as it is what the dominant culture says you\u2019re not allowed to do. Instead of making fun of people who want to get you canceled, it would be making fun of this weird culture where people are taking their cues from the president, which is pathetic. That would be transgressive in the way that ironic racism and making fun of \u201cI\u2019m With Her\u201d during Hillary\u2019s campaign was.<\/p>\n You often describe Stavvy\u2019s World as an \u201canti-incel\u201d podcast. What does that mean to you? Now, everyone\u2019s like, \u201cThere\u2019s a young masculinity crisis.\u201d I know what a 15-year-old boy cares about, and I just want to say, \u201cHere\u2019s the actual path to getting girls to like you. You don\u2019t have to go down that road. This is poisonous. This is not good for you. I promise you, you will just feel better by being a good hang. The bar is actually really fucking low for straight dudes now. Just don\u2019t go down the dark side, brother, and you\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n After the last presidential election, people were discussing the possibility \u2014 or even necessity \u2014 of a \u201cJoe Rogan of the left.\u201d What does it mean to you that your name was and still is often thrown around in such conversations? Look, do I feel a little pressure to be a little more clear about where I stand on things? I do, but philosophically I just can\u2019t lead with that. I can say, \u201cGet the ruling class\u2019s dick out of your mouth and just admit it\u2019s not immigrants and trans people that are the reason your life\u2019s bad. It\u2019s because there\u2019s tax cuts going to the 0.001 percent. It\u2019s because of inequality.\u201d I did go to school for public policy but when I was 20, I decided I was going to stop learning about that and I was going to learn how to talk about my little dick for a living. I do think, at some point in my life, I\u2019ll sort of return to that. I want to do it on a community level first. I grew up in Baltimore, and we didn\u2019t have a lot. I do want to help kids in Baltimore. I was in some art programs that really helped me growing up, so I\u2019ve been thinking about that.<\/p>\n I look at the arc of my life: I had some beliefs, I got educated, and I realized what I wanted to do had nothing to do with my education, but it still kind of clarified what I think about the world, what I want to happen, and how I want people to be treated on a base level. And now that I\u2019m in the period of my life where I have a career and my goals are artistic, I\u2019ve decided I don\u2019t care about the world as much as I care about having a good time.<\/p>\n I believe you, and yet there is something about how you are denying it that makes me think, He\u2019s sure sounding like the Joe Rogan of the left right now. On Caleb Hearon\u2019s episode of Stavvy\u2019s World<\/a>, you said you were shocked and disappointed that Rogan endorsed Trump. Can you walk me through those feelings?\u00a0 Because listen, I get being like, \u201cI fucking hate both these candidates.\u201d That was my position. I got not liking Kamala Harris, but I did not in any way, shape, or form understand being a free-speech guy and then being like, \u201cTrump\u2019s my guy.\u201d That was really the crux of it. And it is worse than even I thought, obviously, with these fucking ICE pieces of shit with masks and no due process in America. And that\u2019s your freedom-of-speech guy? He was suing journalists he didn\u2019t like before this. I just thought it was a simplistic view of freedom of speech that\u2019s like, essentially, \u201cWe should be able to say slurs.\u201d They\u2019re not that worth it. Take \u2019em back, bro. I would like due process and no slurs. I would like due process and bleeping out a couple fucking words.<\/p>\n You endorsed Zohran Mamdani<\/a> in the New York mayoral race. Why? This is what I mean where I have to be a little more explicit about my beliefs. I don\u2019t think they needed me \u2014 his campaign is really well-run \u2014 but that\u2019s where I\u2019ll be like, \u201cHey, if I think I can make a difference in any way, even if it helps this much, I\u2019ll help candidates I believe in or causes I believe in, or fundraise for things I believe in.\u201d But I\u2019m not going to have the politics hour every week on my podcast.<\/p>\n I saw you at a recent stand-up show, and when the host said something to the effect of you being the last line of defense in the world of bro podcasting, you essentially said that everyone has idiot friends, it\u2019s just that your idiot friends have millions of listeners. Everyone does have idiot friends, but how do you process and consider the millions of listeners? You can\u2019t calcify into an idea of, We\u2019re on opposite sides. I really, truly, in my heart, think you are falling for it if you cut off your friends who don\u2019t share these same beliefs with you. What they want is to divide you and your friends to destroy communities along these fake culture-war lines. Ultimately, I don\u2019t think these are hateful people. Especially when you talk about the entertainment industry, you get swept up in a lot of stuff, and especially depending on how into your career you are, you want to walk a specific line. But I do think it\u2019s important to be friends with people who have completely different thought processes as you \u2014 as long as you think they\u2019re redeemable.<\/p>\n As this so-called last line of defense in the world of bro podcasting, do you feel a level of responsibility? When I saw you live, you spent the majority of the set defending LGBTQ+ people. When the comedian Jordan Jensen was on your podcast<\/a>, she said a slur for transgender people in a convoluted point she was making, and you stopped her. I was curious how this situation is different than other times on your podcast where, say, someone has said the F-slur and you let it go. When I said \u201cAustin trans brain,\u201d I wasn\u2019t saying, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be allowed to joke about this.\u201d It\u2019s just so hack, and no one has an interesting take. I am not even saying I wouldn\u2019t ever laugh at a transphobic joke ever. My example of this is Patrice O\u2019Neal. Elephant in the Room is one of the best specials of all time. He says legitimately misogynistic shit, but with his thought process and what it says about him as a human being, it paints this hilarious picture that surprises you. You\u2019re like, Is he getting me to agree with him? How am I laughing at this? And that\u2019s actually the hardest hurdle to clear. If you\u2019re making me laugh at something that I fully disagree with, you\u2019re really good.<\/p>\n The problem is I don\u2019t think anything right now rises to that occasion. It\u2019s become shorthand to show \u201cI\u2019m one of the fucking cool guys.\u201d That\u2019s like saying on your first day at boot camp in the Army that you should get nuclear weapons. Man, learn how to use a fucking slingshot; you\u2019re not fucking good enough to do this. I think a lot of the Austin trans-brain shit was all these open micers thinking they have an interesting take on a very divisive, radioactive subject. And it\u2019s like, You don\u2019t have the skills for this yet, man.<\/p>\n Jordan is very funny. She didn\u2019t really deserve the pile-on, and in hindsight, I wish we had maybe even cut it from the fucking episode, because I wanted people to see her fucking special. I just also hope people let go of the hack.<\/p>\n You made your career outside the Hollywood system, and now you are getting your feet into traditional Hollywood. Where do you want to live between the two going forward? When someone starts getting heat, their team starts thinking of all the other directions they can take them. I am curious about your interest in any of the following: major-brand partnerships. A book. Hosting SNL. A Marvel movie. A dramedy \u2014\u00a0either a movie or TV show. Possibly with A24. Hosting an awards show. A reboot of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. One Great Story: A Nightly Newsletter for the Best of New York<\/p>\n The one story you shouldn\u2019t miss today, selected by\u00a0New York\u2019s editors.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Bobby Doherty\/\n <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been the coolest, most surreal experience of my life at every turn.\u00a0My agent was like, \u201cHey, we think Yorgos wants to do a Zoom with you.\u201d And I was like, \u201cWhat the fuck are you talking about? This is one of the best, most visionary directors of a generation.\u201d It\u2019s compulsory as a Greek person to be a fan of his, even if he was bad, but I happen to love his stuff. We had this cool conversation, but I was just waiting for them to email me to say they\u2019re going another way. The reason I made an indie movie<\/a> was to show people, Hey, I can not embarrass myself onscreen. So if you need a guy who looks like this \u2014\u00a0if you need a diner owner, if you need a disgraced member of the community who\u2019s being shunned for sexual-harassment allegations, if you need a landlord \u2014 maybe think of me. This was exactly what I had dreamed, and it just got handed to me.<\/p>\n
Yorgos was cool as shit. I mean, he\u2019s weird \u2014\u00a0you\u2019ve seen his fucking movies. But he\u2019s normal and gregarious. Really what I was nervous about was I don\u2019t know Jesse Plemons; I don\u2019t know Emma Stone. And they were so nice. I was like, Is this a Dinner for Schmucks situation? Why is Jesse Plemons acting like he knows who I am and is happy to see me? Emma Stone and I are just having lunch together.<\/p>\n
We didn\u2019t talk about it, but it\u2019s fun to think about. As a movie nerd, I like thinking about the subtext of casting, and Cum Town definitely represented, in the mid 2010s, something edgelord-y, troll-y. We would never consider ourselves anti-woke guys. It was never a political distinction for us, but we did hate fucking tattletale losers. We did think that was annoying. Some of us more than others, but even I \u2014 whose role was to rein us in, as a straight man \u2014 philosophically agreed that Shane Gillis should have not gotten fired from SNL.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not like other art forms where there is a separation of self and art. It\u2019s dangerous. Extreme niche internet fandom was almost like a vaccine for getting ready for fame. I never thought I\u2019d be famous in this way. My Cum Town experience helped me realize it doesn\u2019t matter what other people think of you, as corny as that sounds. You can say that intellectually, but when you spend the first two years of your career just having people tell you who you are when that\u2019s not you at all, it starts naturally rolling off your back.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to sit here and tell you that when we started the show, we had some grand theory to be like, \u201cOh, we\u2019re going to get back at these people who are trying to get people fired for old tweets.\u201d No, we were in our mid-20s, broke as fuck. We didn\u2019t like those people, and we were mean-spirited comedians who had a bad life. I thought there were going to be ten episodes of the show. I didn\u2019t care if we were offensive; I had nothing to lose. Then once the show started making me money, I bought my family a house. I would\u2019ve done actually awful stuff for 30 grand. I would\u2019ve done a minor crime for that.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a weird mean-spiritedness amongst young male losers that is harming them. I only say that because I was a young male loser. It took me until pretty late in life, well into college, to even have a little confidence and start dating. I think about what would\u2019ve happened to me at 17 if there was somebody being like, \u201cIf you\u2019re mean to girls and you\u2019re racist, they\u2019ll have to fuck.\u201d I would\u2019ve been like, \u201cNice. I guess I\u2019m racist now. That seems so much easier than believing in myself and becoming a good person.\u201d<\/p>\n
What it means to me is that, man, we\u2019re fucked. If they\u2019re coming to me, if they\u2019re even sniffing around over here, it means we need some more cultural figures on the left. Or what it really means is journalism is broken down in a way in this country that\u2019s pathetic. Everything is for profit, and there\u2019s now more and more powerful people buying our newspapers, like Bezos buying the Washington Post. I also think part of it is because comedians have boosted some right-wing voices, it\u2019s unimaginative thinking to be like, Well, we need our own comedians to do that.<\/p>\n
I do think people are self-aware too much and they think about their careers too much. And cynically, I think it would be really good for my career if I brushed up on a little fucking policy \u2014\u00a0if I got a couple statistics together and went on some news shows and debated people. I wouldn\u2019t be nervous on fucking CNN, right? I am more entertaining and funnier than those people, and they\u2019re not that fucking smart. If I studied for a month, I could do this thing, and it would be really good for my career. But I despise that careerist climbing bullshit.<\/p>\n
What surprised me about Joe in particular is I do think we align on a lot. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s this far-right guy. It was just shocking, because he is an avatar for a regular dude. A lot of people do swing wildly. He liked Bernie; he liked Trump. There\u2019s a lot more people in America that are like that. To me, it was more like, Whoa, what the fuck? How did Democrats allow this kind of thing to happen?<\/p>\n
I got not liking either candidate in the 2024 presidential election, because I do think the Democratic Party does not offer fucking anything right now. Mamdani represents something that is exciting to a lot of young people. Democratic leadership is like, \u201cHow do we get people excited after running the most bullshit consultant-driven campaigns possible?\u201d Whereas Mamdani is a guy who\u2019s fucking 33 and who just has excited people, but the Democrats don\u2019t want that because they\u2019re also bought and paid for.<\/p>\n
By the way, I am also an idiot. Me and my idiot friends have millions of listeners, and that\u2019s fucked up. We really should just be dumbass comics who have specials, but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n
Yeah, a lot of culture comes for them. When so much of stand-up comedy has this negative view, for whatever reason, of trans people, with my last special, I was like, I can\u2019t have a trans joke. It\u2019s hack to even have one. I\u2019m still working on the material for the next special, but that\u2019s what I meant where I hate that I have to do bits that almost feel like they\u2019re in conversation with stuff that exists in the real world. It\u2019s really pathetic that things are getting so bad that stand-up comedy actually might, a little bit, matter. I fucking despise that. I don\u2019t want to be important at all.<\/p>\n
I want to talk about that, because I feel bad for Jordan. To be clear, I would never cut out a thing on a podcast to make one of my guests look bad. But somebody took shit out of context and posted it<\/a>. Jordan is a thoughtful person who has interesting ideas about gender and about her own representation and the spectrum of gender and sexuality. If I thought this was going to be a big deal, I probably would\u2019ve engaged with it a little more. But my real thought process was like, Dude, we just started the fucking episode. If she had brought it up a half-hour in, maybe it would be different, but I was literally thinking, Dog, you\u2019re promoting your special. Let\u2019s start with some fun observations about your niece or whatever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m incredibly fucking lucky. I have surpassed every wildest dream in every fucking way possible. My family doesn\u2019t have to worry about money. So I\u2019ll never get away from stand-up. When you\u2019re starting, you\u2019re like, Fuck being an actor, but then the road is hard. And then you do a movie, and it sucks. You go from being your own little king in the castle to being like, Oh, I guess I\u2019ll wait here for 12 hours in case they need me in the background of a shot. And the money\u2019s not as good. It\u2019s like a guy who\u2019s like, \u201cLet\u2019s have an open relationship, babe,\u201d and then his hot wife just fucks a bunch of dudes and no one will talk to him. Acting is a lot harder than I realized, and I love my wife of stand-up comedy. Why did I think I could do better than her? And we\u2019re sort of reconciling now. I am meant to tell dick jokes.<\/p>\n
It depends. I won\u2019t do gambling. I won\u2019t do crypto. There are things that I was advertising and I was like, Why the fuck am I doing this? I hate this shit. But if it aligns, I\u2019m open to it.<\/p>\n
Before I even started doing stand-up, I actually really wanted to be a writer. I like the personal essay a lot. I would want to do it if it\u2019s not a pure, cynical cash grab. I want to sit in a fucking cabin with a fucking typewriter and fucking cardigan. I want to do the whole thing, but it\u2019s not on the top of my list.<\/p>\n
Yeah, for sure. Without question. It\u2019s still, for so many people, your first entry to comedy.<\/p>\n
Nah. Well \u2026 Nah, I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I\u2019m open to that.<\/p>\n
I actually have had that thought, and the stress I get in my chest means I should do it. The reason I\u2019m so scared of this is because I would be good at it. And I\u2019m like, Fuck, I don\u2019t want to learn a new thing. I don\u2019t want to do all that work. But yes, I definitely am interested in doing that.<\/p>\n
Hell fucking yeah. Nia [Vardalos], let me get the fucking rights. I\u2019m ready to shoot five right now. I got the idea in my head. I don\u2019t even want to reboot. This would be the next one in the franchise.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n