Self-Mockery, Made in Greece

One of New York’s most interesting rising comedians is a Greek-American who describes himself, in his own deliberately harsh terms, as a “bald pervert.” Stavros Halkias recently appeared on The New York Times’ popular Popcast, hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, to discuss his work across television, film, improv comedy and podcasting.

The interview produced plenty of laughter, along with unusually frank political observations. Halkias, 37, never wanted to make political comedy. Yet in 2025 he appeared in a campaign video for Zohran Mamdani, who later became New York’s mayor, and his podcast “Stavvy’s World” often addresses what is going wrong without much filtering. Each episode begins with a distinctly Greek “opa,” accompanied by bouzouki music.

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The funniest people I encountered were in kitchens or my father’s friends in construction.

Born in Baltimore to Greek immigrant parents, Halkias experienced bullying at school because of his weight. That experience appears to have hardened him and strengthened the self-mockery that became central to his humor. He developed his comic sensibility around his mother’s restaurant kitchens, where she worked as a waitress, and construction sites, where he accompanied his small-contractor father.

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I thought, ‘This is funny. You don’t always have to respect him. This guy is making fun of my father. Maybe I don’t have to respect him anymore.’

“The funniest people I encountered were in kitchens or my father’s friends in construction,” he told Popcast. He recalled the first time he saw someone mock his father: “I thought, ‘This is funny. You don’t always have to respect him. This guy is making fun of my father. Maybe I don’t have to respect him anymore.’” Those people, he said, became his first comic models. “I can tell you that right now there are people working in kitchens who are funnier than any improv comedian.”

With a strong working-class consciousness, Halkias moved to New York and joined an underground scene of millennial comedians. The wild podcast “Cum Town,” which he co-hosted with Nick Mullen and Adam Friedland from 2016 to 2022, remains a prominent part of that scene’s cult mythology, while Halkias continued pursuing stand-up comedy.

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I can tell you that right now there are people working in kitchens who are funnier than any improv comedian.