Meg Stalter

Comedian Meg Stalter brings her distinctive style to both social media and traditional media formats. Known for her viral TikTok videos where she plays exaggerated characters, such as a beleaguered mom of 24 children, Stalter's creations offer a humorous and often cringe-worthy window into fictional lives that are full of pretense despite obvious failures. This unique style carries over into her stand-up routines, where she explores the painful dissonance between her characters' delusions of competence and their actual situations.

In her HBO Max special, "Megan Stalter: Queer Comedy Showcase," Stalter pushed the boundaries of traditional comedy by removing the audience's laughter from the soundtrack, inviting viewers to experience the desperation of her characters more acutely. Stalter explains her approach to these roles as a mix of apparent confidence and underlying nervousness, an interplay that she believes adds to the comedic effect by highlighting the gap between perception and reality.

Stalter also stars in the HBO Max series "Hacks," portraying Kayla, a deliberately incompetent assistant to a talent agent. The show, which earned 15 Emmy nominations and won three awards, showcases Stalter’s talent for bringing her unique brand of humor to a wider audience. Her performance in "Hacks" is a continuation of her work in crafting characters who are memorable for their flawed attempts at masking their inadequacies, making her role a highlight of the series.