My Drunk Kitchen’s Hannah Hart: The Autostraddle Interview

The #1 Question:

T: I tried to crowdsource some questions for our interview, and as it turns out, the crowd isn’t very creative. There’s only one question. [imaginary drumroll…] Are you single?

H: Incredibly.

T: I find that hard to believe, given how many people asked if you were single.

H: I know. Everyone finds it hard to believe that I’m single, but my friends know…that I’m very, very single. How could I possibly be single, right? You know, all my friends are straight, I actually don’t really know many gay people in my life.

her grandma's cocktail recipe

T: Really? Wow, I only know gay people. Straight people are a novelty.

H: I grew up in the Bay Area, and I went to college here, and all my friends have been the friends I’ve had for years and years and years and years one of them turned out to be gay, and that one was me. And the end! I mean, but we never meet any lesbians ever.

T: I watched the CBS thing where you were like ‘I moved to Brooklyn because I heard that’s where all the hot lesbians are!’’

H: I did! I live out of a bag right now. Like a duffel bag. I’m just couchsurfing. They call it suitcase dramz, you know, dropping toothpaste all over my books and not having any clean clothes.

I don’t know what it is. I’m much more inclined to meet somebody at an event that I care about or a fun thing or hanging out at a party with people I know. It’s so hard for me to go to a bar and meet a girl.

T: It’s really weird. I think straight people do that. I’m not really sure.

H: I guess the thing is that’s one of those universal non-straight, non-gay problems: It’s hard to meet people. Period. I think it’s easier for our straight single friends, because most of our friends are straight. Straight up. Gay down. That’ll be the new slogan.

I mean a) I grew up really homophobic. and b) In college, in the queer community stuff, I would go and…I’m not really that cool. I’m just being candid. A lot of the queer community was like ‘you have to be super vegan and have lots of piercings and give lots of fucks about everything!’ And i just wanted to be like oh my god you guys, did you see 40 Year Old Virgin? That shit was hilariousss.

T: So you probably didn’t have a fixed gear bike.

H: I didn’t even know how to ride a bike. This has been a big impediment.

T: And…you’re not vegan?

H: I’m not. There’s no hope for me.

her "earnest eyebrows." (hartbreaking)

LIGHTNING ROUND:

1. How many plaid shirts do you own? Rough estimate.

Okay, let me do it chronologically. I love plaid, it’s like, my favorite color. I own roughly 10. I try and expand my collection as often as possible. Back in the day (in 2004), people called them ‘cowboy shirts’. ‘Oh Hannah and her cowboy shirts!’ Now they’re like ‘you’re a hipster.’ Nah, I’m just gay. I’ve been building coming out for years. I am the plaid movement.

2. Can you cook?

No.

3. Favorite L Word character?

H: Um…either Bette or Tina.

T: What?! Who likes Tina and Bette?

H: I also like Dana. RIP.

T: Let’s do Fuck/Marry/Kill.

H: Yeah, fuck Bette, marry Tina, kill Dana.

T: Kill Dana? She’s already dead.

H: We should do another F/M/K. Can we do Glee?

T: Yes.

H: [without prompt] Fuck Rachel. Yeah, I would totally hit that. Marry Santana. I would kill Sam, because I want to be Sam on the show. Kill Sam so I can replace him. Floppy hair, plaid…come on.

T: [baffled silence re: Rachel]

3. Most hated kitchen item?

H: Sliced deli meats.

T: This went in a weird direction.

4. Tell me about your terrible poetry.

H: I like to write poetry. I’ll write you a poem right now. Let’s do a haiku.

[Takes piece of paper, writes hastily]

[Reading aloud]

Dear Taylor,
The sun…of the moon
Left spots of…light
In my eyes…
Where…you…stood.

T: I’m going to sell it on eBay.

[A Beat]

H: Is any of this relevant content for you?

At the My Drunk Kitchen event that night, Hart commanded the mic as three teams with a wildly varying understanding of the rules raced to cook something — I have no idea what. Needless to say, the event was BYOB, and seemed to be in full swing even before it had begun. And while I can’t capture the particular blurry wonder of what exactly transpired at that oddly unmarked and eminently fire code-violating venue in the South Mission, Drinking and Kitchens both factored in prominently, which I think means it kept with the theme.

Just minutes into the competition (a term I use loosely), Hart had dissolved the boundary of the audience and swept a room of 100+ delighted MDK devotees into a full-blown interactive drinking game, punctuated by endearingly lisped, ever-hilarious narrative gems. With the plaid-claid rising YouTube star confidently at the wheel, an ostensible cook-off evolved into a rollicking, chaotic house party with 100 former-strangers-turned-drinking-buddies.

Given the preponderance of half-empty bottles of Stoli resting next to open flame, it’s a wonder anyone made it through in one piece. But lo, at the end of the night, the audience poured out onto Cesar Chavez Street, sated and abuzz, alive above all. This Harto, I have a feeling she’s going places.

Can’t get enough of Hannah Hart & MDK?
Follow @Harto on Twitter and visit the My Drunk Kitchen website, for yet more untold wonders!

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74 Comments

  2. I would say “Joel McHale is so underrated” but I’m not really top at pop culture so maybe people love him and I’m just not aware. Anyway, I love Joel McHale and Hannah Hart and Taylor Hatmaker. Thanks for the interview!

  3. Great interview and article, but none of her videos have over 1 million views. So that line, “but her last vid racked up a million views in a week’s time” seems wrong to me, even though I do think she’s awesome.

      • I wasn’t trying to be annoying, I am a subscriber/MDK watcher and I just didn’t recall any videos getting up to 1 million. I’m sure by next week she’ll be there! I thought it was well written and a great interview. Thanks for posting!

  4. This is a fantastic interview, love it.

    I’ve only watched one My Drunk Kitchen but this has inspired me to watch more!

  5. I love Harto so much, and it makes me happy that she’s taking the leap and pursuing her dream. Just a side note: you asked her how many plaid SHITS she has. I hope the answer is none, cause that ain’t right.

  6. I heart Harto! Hannah, if you’re reading this. I’m also single and always the designated driver. Also I can sort of cook. This could work out well, just sayin’.

  7. She IS so damn likable!!! Everyone who sees an ep immediately wants to drunk cook with her! Shes the girl next door….that we all wanna have over for a beer….etc. ;)

  8. I never knew Harto was gay until I went to her website, where I think it was mentioned in one sentence on the front page. I watched the MDK videos, and the last thing I think of when she’s ‘doin her thang’ is her sexuality. I just didn’t see it as a big deal; not one of my guy friends at work cared (in either way; i mean one of the guys was a bit bummed out for like 3 minutes.). What I mean to say is I feel like I hear more about her sexuality in than anything else. Power to the proud of the community, yes, definitely. I just didn’t ever understand how big of a deal it was that she’s gay until I’ve read like EVERY ARTICLE ABOUT HER EVER (maybe my sample set is small; I’m okay with admitting that). Bash me if you want *shrug* She’s cool for being this crazy, funny person on my youtube that makes me angry – “I *can* cook and I *dont* have a show! This woman can’t and DOES! She is a goddamned genius! (this isn’t sarcasm, i know it sounds like it, but it really isn’t.) ” She’s not a lesbian (or anything!) to me. Just talented. And mazel tov to her for being a talented human.

    –also we non-gay folk meet others the same way the gay people do :) i guess the percentage chance of it happening is higher :(

    • Well this is an comment.

      You don’t really get to choose whether she is a lesbian “to you.” That’s her identity and it seems like it’s pretty important to her.

    • I think this article and AfterEllen are the “big gay articles” since they are on LGBT themed sites. :)

      I don’t know if it’s mentioned much in her other features, like on Time and HuffPo and such. I know Hannah (personally) and she doesn’t ever talk about being gay, but interviews seem to talk about it for her.

  10. (Autostraddle + Taylor) + myharto x all my love for these things = !!!!!!!

    True math right there.

  16. I’ve just been influenced to watch more of her videos.

    Also, I completely relate to her comment on queer social life. Almost all my friends have known me since I was a teen (several years before I came out). Throw in a longish stint in the military, and I’ve only recently begun branching out into the big queer community.

    In other words, she’s the kind of girl that would be awesome/fun/hilarious to be friends with.

  19. “…and give lots of fucks about everything!”

    Yeah here at Autostraddle we know just the right amount of fucks to give…

  20. I read this while eating oreos in bed wearing plaid pajamas. Everything about the last five minutes has been pure happiness made perfect by Harto and this interview.

  23. i have the biggest crush on her, not gonna lie. i saw this article on the headlines and screamed a little bit, and now my roommate thinks there’s something wrong with me. no regrets

  24. H: Yeah, fuck Bette, marry Tina, kill Dana.
    T: Kill Dana? She’s already dead.

    HOLY SHRIEKS OF LAUGHTER INDUCED
    this is the best thing ever, thank you so much autostraddle <3

    • Reminds me of the first conversation I’ve ever had with my best-friend-since-high-school-that-turned-out-to-be-as-gay-as-me:

      Girl-I-was-friends-with-’cause-we-were-both-Polish-and-the-tutor-therefore-thought-we-should-sit-together: I love Kurt Cobain. I WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIES.
      [a moment of silence]
      Future-best-friend-that-I-inevitabely-ended-up-having-a-crush-on: …But he’s dead.

  25. It honestly took me like a minute to calm down before I could read this article because Autostraddle + Hannah Hart = explosion of homogay fantasticalness. So, um, thank you so much for this wonderful article. She sounds even more awesome than I imagined (as if that were possible). Plus it was cool to find out that she’s also from the Bay Area. :) Sadly, I can totally relate to this part: “The weather’s lovely. I moved to the East Coast, and I was like…holy fucking shit. Turns out, I do not want seasons.”

  26. I love it, plaid should definitely count as its own color. And we totally do have the Meat-Eating Atheist/Skeptic queer geeks group for the non-vegan lesbians among us.

  28. When my wife came home today I was guzzling the last drops of cava from last night’s bottle. “I re-watched all the episodes of MDK today,” I told her, “which is why it’s okay that I’m doing this right now.” She just nodded. It totally worked!

  30. Harto also has great taste in music. Check out her “twittah” for some of her musical taste. I always want to tweet back “I love this song too!”, but don’t want to be that creeper, ya know? But, yeah…funny, awesome taste in music, down to earth… makes ya just want to hang out with her and have some fun. She should do a cross country kitchen tour doing MDK crashes. Kind of like musicians crashing on couches and playing house shows for trade.

    • …”have some fun”. Teehee. You mean, get her drunk and into your kitchen right? I bet she’s really awesome with buns.

      • lol, actually by “have some fun”, in my dorky mind I pictured playing board games! She seems like the type of person that makes all situations fun and nothing can get crazier than hilariously intense board games…though, would I object if there was some “fun” in the kitchen? Nah, nada, nope!

        • I’ll say! I mean, I pretty much missed out on Monopoly – which mean I pretty much missed out on childhood. I love me some Monopoly.

  31. I actually freaked out when I saw this on the Autostraddle front page. My two favorite things, brought together.

    Great interview, it exceeded my extremely high expectations!

  33. I was so excited when I saw this interview in the headline! I just skipped every other article to find it. She is so cute, I don’t even have words. Taylor, you are THE BEST.

  34. I didn’t think I could luv someone who didn’t share my fondness for sliced deli meat, but I was wrong. “Flower Heart,” you are a delight.

    I get the “fuck Rachel.” But to marry Tina? She’s a second string mistress at best.

  36. I’ve said this roughly a thousand times, but I would violate all of my personal principles for Harto.

    I’m serious. If I ever meet a girl like that, I’m wifing her immediately.

    • right? book the uhaul! i totally identify with her not identifying with All The Queers…not so easy to establish yourself as a homogay in the post-grad world!

  37. harto is my fave!
    this interview is exactly what i needed to read after a dull chapter on statistics

  38. It’s really hard for me right now, trying to take in her cuteness AND yours, Taylor. I just can’t even.

    Sheesh.

  39. Harto just seems like the most down-to-earth person who is also damn funny. I wish she lived in Sydney so we could be friends.

    • I think that wanting to be her friend is one of the main feelings to be had while reading this.

      Whenever I watch MDK, it’s like ‘shit, that could be me’ (minus her being able to speak japanese. I definitely cannot do that).

  40. I feel like playing the Community drinking game with Harto would be such a worthwhile enterprise.

    REALLY hope her hosting career gets kicked off a treat.

  41. i have long brown hair. i cannot sing. but if Hannah got wasted and i said my name was ‘rachel’- here’s to hoping she’d tap that. ;)

  43. I caved and joined twitter just so I could keep up with MDK and Hannah. Her stuff and Autostraddle are the most legit things on the Web <3

  44. :D

    Late reply a year later. :P

    Buut…umpteeth Harto fangirl comment worshipping her easygoingness and her relatability. Then again I’m friends with many Hannahs, so having the actual Hannah would be heavenly. <3

    Cheers and we love you, Harto-san!

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