Paul W. Downs & Meg Stalter Go Shirtless for 'Paper' & Open Up About 'Hacks' Ending

Credit: Paper

Paul W. Downs and Meg Stalter make one incredible comedy duo.

The Hacks co-stars posed for a cover story for Paper Magazine, out now, stripping down and going shirtless in matching Calvin Klein underwear and jeans.

Along with the photos, the talented comedians got candid in a joint interview about their Emmy-winning series coming to an end just weeks ago, the world of standup comedy and how it’s evolved since their series began, and a questionable description of Meg in a recent story.

Check out some highlights inside…

Paper Magazine Hacks Meg Stalter Paul W Downs

On the show ending:

Paul: It is really hard. I will say I am having … While I feel really grateful and relieved in some ways that we got to tell the story the way we wanted and we all made it because the show went through a lot and there were many moments where we were like, will we ever finish? The further we get from it, the more difficult it is. It’s hard. I think we’re all grieving and I am certainly having a hard time.

Meg: I also feel very jealous of whoever he works with next. And I said it’s specific to us being a duo. So if I saw Paul with some funny fat girl, I would start to be sick to my stomach and I feel like I would start maybe not texting him back. Maybe I feel like I would be mad at him and I would feel like I would be upset with him and I would maybe start unliking some of the likes that I’ve given him online.

On putting a spotlight on standup, and how it’s changed over the past few years:

Paul: I mean, that’s a good question. I will say that one of the best parts of making the show has been letting people shine and letting the world see people that might not have been on television before, because that is really honestly the best part of it. Whether it’s somebody like Robby [Hoffman] or this season in particular, we have a lot of amazing standups and comedians and people that have certainly worked in other places, but Caitlin Reilly is so funny in this season and Hannah Pilkes is so funny in this season. Just people that are all comedy stars. It’s just so fulfilling to let other people see them, and to see the love for them online has honestly been one of the best parts of making the show.

In terms of this change of the scene, I mean, Meg continues to do standup. I met Meg doing a live show in person. The first time we met in person was doing a standup show, but post-pandemic, I really haven’t done it just because the show takes up a lot of my time. But the one thing that is exciting to me, is that I think because people couldn’t go out and be in a crowd and see things, it does feel like live comedy, people still go and see it. I think people appreciate it. Hunger is the best sauce. Did you ever do a Zoom standup show? I did one, Meg. It is hard. It’s dark to do a Zoom standup show.

Meg: I feel like I was, during the pandemic, putting up so much stuff online. Once I got to do a Zoom standup show, it was a whole different thing, because I could film myself doing something and then cut it up and put it online. But when you’re trying to be funny in front of people on Zoom, it’s really crazy and really hard.

I feel like when I was coming up as a standup, we didn’t post our stuff online. And I feel like the last five years, six years, people will just post their clips online and then you can find people like Caitlin, Hannah, Jake Shane, because all of their stuff’s online.

I assume casting people look online, too, at people’s videos. I think when I was starting out, you could get a manager if you did well at a festival or something. You’d have to do some sort of audition show, or get seen, but then I started, and everyone started putting their stuff online. And that I think has changed comedy a lot, because you can also see weird stuff. Alt comedians can find their audiences, because there’s so many people that maybe would like that stuff, but they don’t necessarily go to standup clubs.