The Stunning Transformation Of Hannah Berner

Hannah Berner has worn a lot of hats — and no, we don't mean the wide array of costume headpieces one might see at one of the theme parties on "Summer House." After spending her childhood and young adult years in the wild world of competitive tennis, Berner made a few major career pivots before landing in the Bravoverse. Her involvement on the reality show set the stage for additional creative endeavors, all of which seemed to come naturally to the tenacious star. As she once told ESPN, "Many athletes have a creative side that they can sometimes suppress, but we're also competitive and hardworking, so whatever creative we decide to do, we go 100 percent into it." What's more, after her years of tennis training and competition, Berner felt prepared for "Summer House." "Reality TV is also a sick mind game, so I was kind of into the whole mental chess game of it all because that's what tennis is," she said. 

After she parted ways with the series, she found a new wave of success as a standup comic. Within three years, she made Just For Laughs' "New Faces of Comedy" roster, landed on Variety's "10 Comics to Watch" list, and was offered a standup special by a major streaming service.

So, how exactly did Berner go from dominating the tennis court to making a splash in the reality TV universe to rocking the podcast game to crushing the standup game? Turns out, her path wasn't as straightforward as it may seem. This is the stunning transformation of Hannah Berner.

Hannah Berner was big into athletics as a child, playing everything from softball to golf to basketball, but it was tennis that stole her heart at a young age. She first picked up a racket at 3 and by 8, had declared a desire to be a tennis pro one day. As crazy as it sounds, this actually made the comedian late to the game. "My parents asked the pro at wherever I was practicing, 'Do you think she can go pro?' He was like, 'Eight years old is too late to start getting serious'," she recalled to ESPN. "I cried that whole day. And I had this chip on my shoulder, like, 'I am going to be a professional tennis player, and everyone else can go f*** off.'" While she did not make it all the way to the top, Berner had an impressive run that culminated with a full-ride athletic scholarship to college.

Berner, who was born on August 12, 1991, and raised in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, took lessons at Prospect Park Tennis Center. She eventually relocated to Florida to further her training. This happened when she was 14, with a Dunlop Sports sponsorship and a national ranking that many Reddit sleuths have disputed. "At 14, there were girls who were better than me, but I cared more and [was] willing to work so much harder, and it pushed me to that next level," Berner said in that same ESPN interview.

Like many young wannabe tennis pros, Hannah Berner moved to Florida at a young age so that she could further her chances of a full-time career in tennis. She eventually realized that it was too much for her, and returned home because she missed her family and way of life. "I moved to Florida to train at the Adams-Flynn International Tennis Academy [in Pembroke Pines] for two years because I thought that was the next step to go pro," she explained to ESPN. "I was playing six hours a day, at least an hour training in the gym afterward. By 16, I was ranked in the top 250 in the world for under-18."

When she returned to New York, Berner enrolled at Beacon High School, a high-ranking prep school known for being hard to get into. Since the school had no girls' tennis team, she played with the boys — and not everyone was happy about it. She received push-back from other teams and their players, who could not handle losing to a girl. "It was crazy, I remember the Daily News and New York Times coming to cover our matches. I remember getting so nervous about that," she said in an interview with New York Tennis Magazine. "The best part about all of this though was that after I graduated, PSAL (Public Schools Athletics League) granted Beacon funds to start a girls team, which my dad actually coached for a couple of years."

Hannah Berner's high school tennis success went beyond the boundary of school championships. She was named New York City's female player of the year at one point and garnered the attention of mainstream publications like The New York Times. All of this helped Berner score a full-ride athletic scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, where she studied communications and dominated in competitions. "I was recruited there for tennis. And my dad loved Wisconsin's basketball team because we're kind of a basketball family. And then when I got there, I was like 'this is the most incredible sports school and college town I've ever seen,'" she recalled to Madison Magazine years later. "I just felt in my gut."

Berner was ranked number one in singles and doubles for a large chunk of her time at Wisconsin. She was even team MVP in her senior year, but by that point, she was feeling a disconnect between her tennis ambitions and her desire to do something more creative. In her fifth year, when she was required to work at the university to maintain her scholarship, she asked to do broadcasting for the athletics department — from which a direct line can be drawn to her later breakout on social media. She told ESPN that once she realized competition did not make her happy, and that tennis was not financially lucrative for most players, she opted to leave the sport at the end of college.

Despite realizing that she no longer wanted to strive for a career as a professional tennis player, Hannah Berner was — like many recent graduates — confused about what she wanted to do after graduation. "I really had an identity crisis," she told the Los Angeles Times. "I was like, I think I have a creative side to me that I want to search for." Her first stop was in sales, which the comedian found neither interesting nor creative enough for her. She then tried marketing, which did not draw out her creative side as she had hoped and which she quickly quit due to how boring she found it.

Her next move was the right one, however, as Berner excelled at making humorous videos for Betches Media. She did it all — writing, directing, producing, on-camera — and found her love for comedy in the process. "I wasn't getting paid a lot, but I had at least found something that brought me joy," she told Into the Gloss. "With that job, I ended up working with a lot of comedians, which made me realize they were my kind of people." Berner worked at Betches until 2018, and it was because of connections made there that she (and colleagues Paige DeSorbo and Jordan Verroi) was offered a spot on "Summer House," the Bravo reality show about a group of friends who spend their summer together in the Hamptons.  

In 2019, while she was still a part of the Bravo reality series "Summer House," Hannah Berner was invited to do a live podcast on stage at Caroline's on Broadway, a historic stand-up club. Berner was dared by a friend to accept the offer, which became a short standup set rather than an hour-long podcast taping. Though she had been writing comical content for a while and had numerous friends working in stand-up, this was Berner's first foray into that world. "I did 10 minutes of stand-up, which you're not supposed to do in front of 300 people your first time. But ignorance is bliss," Berner told Variety. "At the end of the show, my reality TV friends were like, 'Oooh, that's what you're meant to do.'"

Berner felt similarly about her calling after that first time on stage, where she created a makeshift set by piecing together tweets she had posted. "I took all the tweets I'd been posting about relationships, insecurities, and horoscopes for years, and put them together," she explained to Into the Gloss. By the time Berner was fired from "Summer House," she was already making waves in the comedy world. She has since done multiple tours, including her first headlining one — "The Housebroken Tour" — in 2021. "Connecting with people and feeling their energy and being the reason why someone got to forget their problems for an hour is awesome," she once told The Italian Rêve.

When Hannah Berner joined "Summer House" in Season 3, she earned a lot of fans. Her no-frills attitude and tendency to chill in bed with "Summer House" co-star and bestie Paige DeSorbo won over viewers, which helped earn her a large online following. However, "Summer House" Season 5 saw Berner framed as the antagonist and turned fans against her. She appeared emotionally and mentally exhausted on camera, fought with multiple cast members, and was criticized for how she acted toward former love interest Luke Gulbranson. Granted the cast was cooped up in their Hamptons house 24/7 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the edit largely ignored this fact and its impact on mental health.

After a disastrous final reunion — "eight hours of torture," she told The Daily Beast — Berner announced her departure from the show. And with that, she was not a part of "Summer House" Season 6.

In 2024, Berner claimed she was fired after doing an ad for Truly Hard Seltzer, a competitor of "Summer House" co-star Kyle Cooke's Loverboy brand. Others have disputed this claim but, regardless, the time Berner spent on the show helped her establish enough name recognition to propel forward in entertainment. "I lasted three years on the show and went away feeling like I was able to get an audience and could parlay it into what I'm actually good at," she noted to Into the Gloss.

Of all the projects Hannah Berner has worked on since entering the public eye, her time as a Bravo talk show host is probably the least discussed. After all, while "Bravo's Chat Room" was entertaining in its own way, it really only came to exist because of the COVID-19 pandemic and always seemed a bit like filler. The series aired for only one season; 52 episodes were produced. Because of quarantine, the whole series took place on Zoom, with each co-host filming from home. The show — which aired on Sunday and Monday nights beginning in September 2020 — was low-budget and no fuss, which made it a perfect COVID-era program.

Berner — who appeared in 42 episodes — was one of four Bravo stars tapped to co-host the series. Her fellow co-hosts included "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Porsha Williams, "The Real Housewives of Potomac" star Gizelle Bryant, and former "Below Deck" cast member Kate Chastian, all of whom are known for having strong opinions and solid senses of humor. "I am thrilled for these Bravo ladies who already have such big personalities on our network to come together (virtually) for the ultimate group chat," executive producer Andy Cohen said to People when the show was announced. "Their quick wit and powerful observations will provide a much-needed voice in today's pop-culture landscape delivered in a way that only Bravo can."

Hannah Berner started her first podcast, "Berning in Hell," in an effort to approach mental health topics from a comedic standpoint. The pod was launched in 2018, a year before her "Summer House" debut. Berner still hosts this podcast, but she did a total rebrand after tying the knot with Des Bishop in 2022.

Bishop also happens to be a comedian, and Berner enlisted him as her co-host. Now called "Berner Phone," the podcast was turned into a hotline for viewers to call in and solicit advice from the married couple. "Berner Phone" is highly rated and has a solid following, but it pales in comparison to Berner's other podcast, "Giggly Squad," which consistently ranks within the top 15 comedy podcasts on both Apple and Spotify and has an army of fans who call themselves "Gigglers."

Berner and fellow "Summer House" star Paige DeSorbo started "Giggly Squad" as an Instagram Live show during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, then transitioned it into a podcast. There are no guests, and the podcast is simply two friends discussing life — pop culture, careers, pet peeves, fashion, periods, whatever — and being their authentic selves. "My favorite conversations with Paige normally involve imitating our Italian moms or when we pick a guy's name and riff about what kind of guy we think he is," Berner said in an interview with The House Magazine. "Paige is very stylish and girly, and I'm sporty and disheveled, and I think people identify with different parts of us."

Hannah Berner is often credited with being a stand-up, podcaster, and reality television star, but it would be unfair to leave content creator off her list of titles. In fact, it was the virality of Berner's "Han on the Street" series of videos — where she asks New Yorkers about things like pubic hair, oral sex, and pooping — that helped the star grow her audience beyond "Summer House" fans and enter the next level. After leaving reality TV, Berner gave herself three months to amp things up and was posting three times a day on TikTok. "It changed my life," she admitted to Elle in 2024. As of August 2024, Berner has roughly 2.9 million followers on TikTok and 1.3 million Instagram followers.

Berner eventually branched out from interviewing random people to interviewing celebrities, including huge stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Lawrence, and the Jonas Brothers. She has also scored plenty of partnerships for video series, with brands such as Snapple, Maybelline, and Caribou Coffee. In addition to interviews, crowd work videos, and videos from her podcasts, Berner uses her TikTok to spitball new ideas. "Now, TikTok I use as my open mic. I just think of a bit and try to come up with a punchline and post it. My whole gun bit started from a TikTok rant that then developed over two years to become what it is now," she explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

Receiving an offer to film a special is a huge win for a comedian, no matter the streamer offering the deal. But certainly, there are some streaming services that dominate when it comes to stand-up, and Netflix is amongst the elite. For Hannah Berner to be offered a Netflix special less than three years after her first big tour is bananas in the best way possible.

Berner accepted the offer, but as she told Elle, she also made Netflix wait 10 months before filming the special. Her husband, fellow comedian Des Bishop, recommended she spend a little more time touring so she could keep sharpening her set first. 

Berner taped her Netflix special, entitled "We Ride at Dawn," in Philadelphia in March 2024. "I was, like, too calm until two weeks before the special. I was like, 'I got this. I could do this with my eyes closed.' Then I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't get one word wrong!,'" she recalled to Variety. "I have high expectations for myself and dealt with anxiety the week before. But I had a lot of comics telling me that it's healthy to have nerves before shooting your special. It means you care." Berner's special came out on July 9, immediately hit Netflix's Top 10 for TV, and finished its first week with 1.9 million views.

Hannah Berner has clearly accomplished much over the course of her life and, especially, in the years since leaving "Summer House" behind. With the success of her first comedy special and all of the things "Giggly Squad" has going on, her star is only on track to shine brighter in the future. The comedian has a number of big aspirations, including things she has yet to try. For instance, she dished to The House Magazine that she hired an acting coach after deciding that actor was something she would like to add to her very long list of job titles. She is also already planning a follow-up special, where she hopes to take aim at tennis and her parents.

Berner has a bunch of exciting things happening with "Giggly Squad" as well, including a tour set to begin in September 2024. "Giggly Squad Live: Club Giggly" will take the comedian and her co-host/bestie Paige DeSorbo to 28 venues in 25 cities, where they will undoubtedly be met with legions of Gigglers. "I've been on the road for stand-up alone, and I really miss having Paige," Berner told Cosmopolitan. "I'll be on stage and people will be like, where's Paige? And I'm like, guys she couldn't come to St. Louis for no reason this weekend. But when we're together it just becomes a party, and that's why we called it Club Giggly." In addition to the tour (their second ever), the duo is releasing their first book, "How to Giggle," in April 2025 via Simon & Schuster.