Hannah Einbinder Shares a Cut Scene from Hacks Christmas Episode: Ava 'Used to Be an Irish Step Dancer' (Exclusive)

"I had like, two lessons and I just was giving it my all but I think the episode ran long," she laughed while chatting with PEOPLE

Hannah Einbinder attends the 2024 GQ Men of the Year Party at Bar Marmont on November 14, 2024
Hannah Einbinder attends the 2024 GQ Men of the Year Party at Bar Marmont on November 14, 2024. Photo:

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Hannah Einbinder is dishing on a hilarious scene that was left on the cutting room floor.

In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE at the GQ Man of the Year party on Nov. 14, the Hacks star, 29, opened up about a scene from the series' Christmas episode that she was sorry to see cut from the final product.

"It's revealed that she used to be an Irish step dancer," she said of her character Ava Daniels with a laugh. "They make her perform and I had like, two lessons and I just was giving it my all but I think the episode ran long and they had to cut it."

Hannah Einbinder, Jean Smart
Hannah Einbinder (left) and Jean Smart.

Jake Giles Netter/Max

While Einbinder's routine may never see the light of day, the comedian revealed that the footage still exists.

"I actually watched it yesterday, cause I was like, 'Dang, I can't believe [it],'" she added, sharing that a series producer, Lucia Aniello, was still holding on to the clip. "She just pulled it up on her phone. She just showed it to me. It was wild."

The Max series finished airing its third season in May 2024, with season 4 announced the day after the finale was released. The show follows the relationship between Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), an out-of-touch and past-her-prime comedian, and Ava (Einbinder), an up-and-coming writer who is hired to revive Vance's struggling career.

Since starring in Hacks, Einbinder has been met with critical acclaim and has received three Primetime Emmy Awards nominations and two Golden Globe Awards nominations.

Hannah Einbinder at 2024 Emmy Awards
Hannah Einbinder.

Getty Images

In October, her mother, Laraine Newman, told PEOPLE how amazed she was about her daughter's meteoric rise in comedy.

"I am a genuine, proud mom," she smiled, before recalling the moment her daughter announced her decision to pursue acting. "It was very late. I mean, she had been an athlete and then she went to Chapman for broadcast journalism and then switched to TV writing. And kids were saying, you're funny, why don't you join the improv group? And so that was when she tearfully admitted to me at one point, like the dirty secret, 'I want to be an actor.'"

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Though she admits Einbinder was a bit "late in terms of how early a lot of people start," Newman noted how her daughter had the chops to go far "right away."

Despite being a comedy legend herself, the actress told PEOPLE why she chooses to not to get too involved in her daughter's career. "As a parent, you want to protect your kid, but children perceive advice, unsolicited advice, as criticism," she explained. "And for my part, my experience is when I try to do that, I pull back a bloody stump. So it's just, no."

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