Hours before his new film—a comedy about a cult that he hopes might one day become a cult classic—debuted at The Charles Theatre on Oct. 24, Stavros Halkias was in a mood. He just couldn’t figure out what kind.
“I’ll be honest, it’s really bizarre,” he said. “I’ve never had to be passive and just kind of let a movie come out. With standup, especially when you’re performing, you’re so in the mix. You can’t worry about things because you have to do the show. [This] is the first time I’ve ever made something, said it’s a finished product, and then watched it at premieres and not been able to change it and make little tweaks.”
Halkias co-wrote and stars in Let’s Start a Cult, which will be available on video on demand nationwide beginning Nov. 12. It’s the latest project for the Greektown-born comedian, who’s been on a hot streak. On the heels of his 2023 Netflix standup special, he’s been a fixture throughout his hometown, including appearances on the mound at Camden Yards and on the big screen at The Charles. At the end of this month, he’ll be performing two shows at The Lyric. When we caught up with him about the film, he was at a “secret location in the 21224” zip code.
What’s so comedic about cults?
My favorite type of comedy centers around really dumb but really confident people. That’s the best, when someone is so wrong, but so sure that they’re right. Sandler’s early characters are like that. Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, now Tim Robinson with I Think You Should Leave. That’s such a funny archetype.
I don’t think you can find a better example of very confident and very stupid than a cult member. These people are like, “Oh, this guy says all I have to do is sign my will over to him and I get to go to heaven. Sounds good.”
This movie is filled with either cult members or recruits for a cult, so it was fun coming up with the different types of people that would join a cult. They’re such colorful characters. It’s not like we have the most realistic movie in the world, but the comedy has to come from realistic stuff, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that the people in this movie would join a real cult. You have to create the kind of characters that are stupid enough to just get in a stranger’s car and throw their whole life away because they met two guys having breakfast at a hotel.
I don’t think this will be a spoiler for anyone, but you’re shirtless in several scenes and bottomless in one. Did you have any trepidation about taking your clothes off on camera?
Who do you think wrote those scenes? Do you think anybody else asked for that but me? The director wasn’t begging me. I’m not Sydney Sweeney. My nudity wasn’t going to sell, but I [didn’t know] if I was going to get a chance to make another movie.
I think one classic comedy trope is a really over-the-top kind of sex scene that’s played for laughs. I do a nude calendar every year. It becomes absurd when you swap out a hot woman for a fat guy. You see how ridiculous, how overly sexualized a lot of media is. And I thought putting me in the middle of that is going to be funny. So, no trepidation. If anything, I was the one asking for more nudity.
It was an over-the-top sex scene. It reminded me of the puppet sex scene in Team America.
Yes. Exactly. There’s a lot of great movies with great sex. MacGruber has a great sex scene. Over-the-top and kind of out of nowhere is always very funny in my opinion.
You threw out the first pitch at the O’s game on Sept. 18. How would you assess your performance?
Okay. We can build on it. Hopefully, they’ll let me back. It’s from the mound, that was big for me. And I got it pretty close to the plate. I think now that I’ve been there, if I get another shot at it, we’re throwing heat right down the middle. We’re going to get that radar gun really humming next time.
Was it nerve-racking?
Yeah, it was. I have no problem with attention, but attention on my terms. And it isn’t exactly athletic prowess that I’ve been in front of thousands of people for. It’s always me standing still and holding a microphone. So super nerve-racking. You don’t want to embarrass yourself. You don’t want to end up on most embarrassing first pitch [videos], because those are out there.
Last we spoke, we talked about the inspiration behind Ronnie—your Joe Flacco-loving, Bawlmerese-speaking Ravens superfan persona that provides his viral weekly Ravens recaps on social media. We can’t leave you without getting Ronnie’s assessment of the Ravens season so far. They’re off to a pretty good start.
That’s right. You already know we’re going to the Super Bowl, Mike. You already know we’re going to win the rest of our games. Somewhere between an average of 80 to 0 to 100 to 6. Somewhere in there. The Ravens are winning the whole thing, and he’s got what’s left of his son’s disability checks riding on it.
This interview was lightly edited for clarity.