How Jesse McCartney Got To Live Out His Hacks Dream

The fifth and final season of Hacks is an all-out celebration — never clearer than in the show’s April 16 episode, where Deborah (Jean Smart) helps Ava (Hannah Einbinder) ring in her 30th birthday with the help of her teen idol, Jesse McCartney.

“This one goes out to the most special world in the world — you know who you are,” McCartney sweetly begins, before performing (what else?) “Beautiful Soul” for the birthday girl.

Just like Ava is a forever fan — gushing, “I wrote about this in my middle-school journal!” — McCartney is an equally big admirer of Hacks. He breezed through the show’s first season with his wife, Katie Peterson, before realizing that his own image appeared in Ava’s childhood bedroom. He reached out and was touched to learn that Einbinder was a fan IRL, and told her: “If there’s ever an opportunity for us to work together, let me know. And so they reached out, like, five seasons later, and they put it into the storyline, and it was a really full-circle moment.”

Below, McCartney opens up about his Hacks visit, future TV plans, and how fatherhood has changed his life and career.

It was such a nice surprise to see you in this show! Was there a specific moment from set you hold close to your heart?

Getting to see Hannah’s reaction — or I guess Ava’s reaction, which, they’re probably one in the same. I mean, she’s a phenomenal actor, but it felt like it was pretty genuine. She was sort of tearing up and welling up in every take. And I could feel the nostalgia running through her. That was a really, really sweet moment to see, because she was standing right in front of me throughout the performance.

If Ava’s anything like me, she probably freaked out seeing you perform the same song on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 21 years ago. Do you remember anything about that?

It was in the height of the “Beautiful Soul” era, during that time where that Disney synergy was happening — where Disney acts were working together all the time. This show reminded me a bit of that performance. Now I go out on tour, and there are so many fans that will show up dressed as Ashley Tisdale and Brenda Song’s characters in the full on-bellhop uniform, the mustaches. When we were filming it, I had no idea how much of a cultural touchstone that moment would be for so many millennials.

This Hacks episode deals a lot with Deborah’s fandom. Over the decades, has your relationship with your community of fans evolved?

We definitely have grown up together, you know? What’s really fun for me is seeing all of my fans now growing up and maturing and doing so well for themselves — and then having this thing, this connection, is really nice. I’m just so proud of that. And it’s nice to have a fan base that is overwhelmingly positive people. I’ve got a good team of fans that still show up to concerts and love to rock out and listen to millennial music.

You do skits on social media and have this natural aptitude for humor. Is there a part of you that wants to dive even deeper into comedy acting?

I think at some point I want to get back to television, and I think specifically a 30-minute, single-cam comedy would be great. I don’t know yet, but there’s a lot of funny [stuff] about my personal life and growth and watching this teen pop star grow up into a man and what that has been like. I think that that would be pretty compelling as a TV show, so maybe doing something like that for myself. But I’ve always been a huge fan of comedy.

It’s my favorite genre — my wife and I even did Groundlings [Theater & School] together for a couple years to sharpen our tools. But yeah, I love to laugh. I love to make people laugh. I think it’s important, especially in pop music, to not take yourself too seriously.

How does being a dad factor into the equation when you’re thinking about projects?

That’s definitely what I think about every day at this point. My son is going to be a year next month, and it’s just the best — better than anything I’ve ever accomplished in my career. It’s humbling, and it keeps you present. He doesn’t know who I am or what I do. He’s just like, “It’s time to change my diaper.” And it’s a really good thing, because it provides a lot of balance in my life. When I calculate what my career looks like, I would like to try to travel a little bit less and try to be home for these months I’ll never get back.

I’ve got a bunch of one-off shows that I’m doing this year, but decided I wasn’t going to go on any full-length tours. I did that last year and missed so many great moments. So I’m trying to be more present, and I think having a family has definitely helped me with that — when I’m with him, [I want to] just be totally there and not thinking about what’s next.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.