Interview: Jeff Hiller on Playing Joel and Working with Bridgett Everett in ‘Somebody Somewhere’

If you haven’t discovered Somebody Somewhere yet, you’re missing out. This gem of a show gives star and executive producer Bridget Everett a wonderful platform to play Sam, a Kansas woman struggling to find herself in adulthood and cope with the loss of her sister. One of her best support systems is her friend Joel (Jeff Hiller), who encourages her to open up and embrace her talent for singing.

Awards Radar had the chance to speak with Hiller about getting to sing and the unexpected similarities between him and Joel, who he claims is nicer than he is. On his own positive religious upbringing, he shared that:

“I grew up going to church every Sunday, and I really thought of it as my safe space, because school was definitely not a safe space, it was an unsafe space. So being able to have this place where people weren’t going to be mean to me and make fun of me and call me the f-word was huge! I think that there is something about faith communities that we don’t necessarily register. They do a lot of great social justice work too, it’s not just about this idea of converting people, converting people, converting people. There are a lot of churches that are not into converting people, that are into helping people.”

Watch the full conversation below:

Season one of Somebody Somewhere is available to stream on HBO Max.