In late August, in response to the red-carpet photos from the Venice Film Festival premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia, one person on X commented, “Can’t believe stav shitposted and crowd worked his way into a movie with Emma stone.” It was a common reaction across social media and understandably so: When Stone’s creative partnership with Lanthimos kicked off with The Favourite in 2018, comedian Stavros Halkias was the co-host of Cum Town, a popular but niche podcast where fans would come to expect ironic racism, young male vulgarity, and the possibility of a host shitting himself. Since he left Cum Town in 2022, Halkias’s fan base has only continued to grow: He’s mastered the art of crowdwork clips and has more than 800,000 YouTube subscribers, who tune in for his stand-up performances and fitness web series, Stavvy Gets Ripped; meanwhile, his advice podcast, Stavvy’s World, has another 300,000 subs. Through all this work, Halkias has distinguished himself by being shockingly open about his flaws, faults, fuck-ups, and appealing brand of inclusive horniness.
Halkias doesn’t know why he, of all people, was cast in Bugonia, but he’s aware that his presence offers some semiotic weight to the film’s exploration of lost men who fall down the rabbit hole of dark online subcultures and conspiracy. In the film, Jesse Plemons plays Teddy, a young man whose life was ruined by capitalism and the pharmaceutical industry and who turns to YouTube with his questions; in real life, Halkias makes his living trying to offer such guys answers. The comedian remembers being an angry “young male loser” and knows how susceptible he would’ve been to predatory influencers pitching a combination of misogyny and bigotry, so he now embraces his role as an incel counterprogrammer. Instead of that dangerous path, Halkias pitches an alternative on his podcast and in his stand-up: If you believe in yourself and be good to others, you’ll get laid. And in an era of so much political polarization, isn’t that a unifying message? Just don’t call him “the Joe Rogan of the left.”
