AS The Title of His New Memoir – Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail To Overnight Next – Suggests, Jeff Hiller, 49, Did Not Take the Express Bus To Startom. Best Known As Joel, Best Friend to Bridget Everett's Sam On The Peabody Award-Winning HBO Series Somebody SomewhereHiller Accepted Dozens of Small Parts and Guest-Star Gigs While Bouncing Around Showbiz, Often Playing Killers and Creeps Thanks to What He Calls His “Unconventional” Looks. The Book, Out June 10, Chronicles The Hustle It Took For A “A way Too Gay Little Boy in 1980s Texas” to make it as a full-time performer. During a recent interview with Rolling Stonehe shared some lessons learned.
Everything is material
In His Book, Hiller Shares a Trilogy of Aicsehole Stories – “Not Metaphorical Axholes,” He Writes. “These are stories about Anatomical Assholes.” In One, He Recouns a Zoom Visit with a Corny Joke-Cracking ProTologist During the Pandemic. “He would be like, 'Sorry, that's My Dog in the background. He's a Real Aichehole. And I would Know.' And, 'I'm going to recommend you go to this other doctor – You'll love Him, he Has Really Small Fingers.'
Hiller Tells Rolling Stone There is even more to the story: “The Even Wilder Thing Is, Where I Went to the [other doctor]we went Through This Really Intimate Exam. The Got Dresses and He Said, 'Do you have any questions for me?' Whatever, Blah, Blah, Blah. And then he was just like, 'and May i Just Say, I Really Love ASSSSSCAT [Upright Citizens Brigade’s long-running improv show]. And you're reality funny. ' I was wearing in Mask, and all he's Seen is my Butthole. Throughout the Entire Experience, the Just Kept Thinking, 'This is so Humiliating, but I am Going to get a Great Story Out of this.' And the did. ”
Practice Gratitude
One of Hiller's First TV Roles Was in the 2005 FX Dark Comedy Starvedat Very Dark Comedy Show with Jackie Hoffman and Laura Benanti and Sterling K. Brown As Members of An Eating Disorder Support Group. He was cast as a sex workr Providing Services in A Bathroom Stall Where Two Guys Were Trying to Make Themselves Vomit. He did not sg. on the room. “It was My First Sitcom Job, and for That I was grateful.”
Find Your People
Hiller Says The ChapTers of the Book devoted to his child are a “Love Letter” to His Mother, “Who Was Just Such in Passonate Defender of Kids – Her Kids, Specificially, But Also Just All People, Really. Her Heart Led With Compassion. And in the 2020s, That's not not Necessary Been The Number One Emotion to Lead with.
Know When to Quit
Before he ventured Intreforming, Hiller was a social worker. The Challenges Left Him Deflated. “At the beginning i was like, 'I'm going to change the world.' Then When I Got There, It Was Just Like, 'Oh. You Really Need to [be OK with] A Lot of Conflict. And i Just Didn'T Have That Skill. Even when I'm be like, “I'm going to Fight for Them,” The People would Just Trounce Me and I'd Be Like, 'Oh, Well. That didn't work. ' Saying I was Really Bad at it is also a way to relieve my guilt over abandoning literal homeless people for an improv team. Where I was making no money. In The Basement of a Grocery Store. ”
Enjoy where you are
Describing the Somebody Somewhere Fandom, Hiller Cites a song from the musical Title of show Called “Nine People's Favorite Thing,” Which Goes, “I'm Rather Be Nine People's Favorite Thing Than a Hundred People's Ninth-Favorite Thing.” “We are Nine People's Favorite Thing,” Heys. “I Can Walk Down The Street and Nobody Will Notice Me. But then One Person Will Be Like, 'Oh, My God, I Never Say Anything to Anybody, but I have to say Something to you.' It's the Perfect Amount of Minor Fame, Where the Only People Who See you are, Like, Weeping. [season]. ' I'm like, 'Well, If It Were My Choice, We'd Be Doing a Hundred-Episode Seasons.' ''
Dream big
Asked What His Dream Job is Today, Hiller Tells Rolling Stone“I'm love to be in some disHy Limited Series where i get to wear nice clothes. Because i've Only Ever Worn Clothes that are like pleated khakis. Because, you know, I look like this. So play the nerd a lot, or the wear a witer uniform, or something. Yes, I'm love to be on season four of White Lotus“.”
