Baltimore-born comedian, writer and podcaster Stavros Halkias was destined for the spotlight. He commanded a mic at age 3. Now he delivers authentic, unfiltered comedy that fuses his Greek American roots with sharp observational banter. He’s on his way to becoming a cult classic.
Also known for his exceptional crowd work, Halkias is set to gain recognition for a different achievement: acting. Beginning Oct. 25, fans will get to see Halkias take on the movies in “Let’s Start a Cult.” Centered around his character Chip, a misfit member of a cult who misses a date with ritual suicide, the indie release mines joy from a dark place.
Today, the red carpet is being rolled out for the movie’s Los Angeles premiere at West Hollywood’s Harmony Gold Theater, where cast and crew — including director Ben Kitnick, who co-wrote the film with Halkias and Wes Haney (who also co-stars) — will celebrate the success of their creation. These pals, along with their funny friends, set out to have some fun in the Catskills and ended up putting together a must-see movie that transports you on a road trip full of maniacal laughs, heartwarming laughs and even a few crying laughs. We recently spoke to Halkias, 35, by phone.
After years of your steamy social photos, it felt right that there was a love scene in “Let’s Start a Cult.” It would’ve been a total disservice if we didn’t see that bod.
Amen, sister.
Where did all of your confidence come from?
I really don’t know. I think it was not having confidence as a kid. I was that shirt-in-the-pool kid and then I was just like: There’s no reason to be like this. Maybe I’m not the sexiest guy out there, but there is such a small percentage of sexy people, so I got over that lack of confidence very early on. Being the class clown as a kid came naturally to me and I got a lot of attention from that. When I started getting positive attention just from doing what I was good at, it kind of fed into the confidence of it all. It’s like a classic “clown origin story” where being the funny kid got you noticed. Once I got a taste of that, I didn’t need much to get me going. And luckily, I had a very supportive immigrant mother who thought I was going to be one of those kids that goes to Harvard at age 12. She was way too supportive of me.
You have such a surprising range and it’s really fun to watch. Is acting something you’ve always done?
Thank you. I’ve always kind of been into it. I love stand-up so much, but long before I ever thought stand-up was a viable option, I liked acting. I was in a lot of school plays, and I would do readings at my church when I was a young devout Greek Orthodox boy. I literally just did things in front of people. My parents have this story of when I was 3, and there was a Greek festival across the street from our house. It just happened to be that we lived like a block from our church, and they had this recreational area that they’d have the festival in. The band started playing a song that I really liked as a baby, that I would sing for my parents, so I just got up, got on stage, and asked for the microphone. I was a 3-year-old and not scared at all and was just like, Oh, my song is on! It’s my turn to sing in front of all these people! I think that just shows you that sometimes, you just can’t help what you like and who you are.
Baby’s first festival.
I was a show-off from birth. I think the first time I got that buzz was from a school play or doing something especially funny. Up until sixth grade I went to an acting program and then after that, I decided I was going to be a jock. That was one of the worst decisions I ever made. I was like, no more acting for me. I’m going to go pro in football or basketball. I couldn’t even start for my Greek church league, but I thought I might make it into the NBA.
I think you thinking you’d make it to the NBA might have actually been the comedian inside of you trying to get out.
Yeah, that was a big mistake. But then I got into comedy through these classic movies like “Animal House” or anything with Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and all the Apatow movies. I think my love of being a funny actor predates my love of comedy, but that’s what brought me to stand-up. Getting the opportunity to make a movie like this is almost like living out a childhood dream. I want to make my Billy Madison. I want to make my really silly thing.
Do you think that acting more frequently has changed your comedy?
I think it definitely has. With stand-up, I was a very set-up-punchline comic, and I think a lot of people know me from crowd work, which develops over time, but it’s not like I’m giving a huge performance. It’s more just being quick and stuff like that. I think acting has really helped because it makes me so much more aware of my face, my movements and just the way I appear to someone else. Acting is this visual medium and you’re so aware that somebody else is going to watch it. Stand-up is visual too, but when I’m doing stand-up, I’m just trying to be as funny as possible.
I’d pay to see the outtake reel from “Let’s Start a Cult.” How did this movie happen?
Ben Kitnick, who directed it, and my co-star Wes Haney, we all did a short version of this, maybe five or six years ago. We worked on it and wrote it together over six months to a year, and it was a great experience. We just wanted to make something fun and funny, and cults are really funny. Delusional people are the best and I think a lot of comedy comes from your surprise in other people. The way people in cults think — you can’t apply logic to it and it’s going to make you laugh. I like cults and think they’re super funny, but it’s not like anyone was dreaming of this project for 10 years. This was more like: This is funny, we all like working together, we all like stupid, punchy 90-minute comedies, let’s not overthink it. Let’s just make it. We got a bunch of funny people together, got a little Airbnb in the Catskills, and we just kind of improvised a movie. We had a loose structure to it and we had so much fun doing it. I’d love for that to be a big part of my career going forward, just making a handful of really dumb, fun, quick comedies.
Taking a page from the film, how do you think you can achieve the best version of yourself?
Oh, great question. Well, if we’re being honest, probably quitting entertainment and eating vegetables, walking and exercising. We’ll aim for some middle ground though, because I do think the best version of myself is a guy that gets to make funny stuff, whether it’s stand-up, TV or dumb comedies for the rest of his life. I think that is the best version of myself. I really hope people see this movie because I think my well-being hinges on it.
