Isabel Hagen joins Benji for an in-depth conversation about her career as a performing artist and her debut movie, On A String. From Juilliard-trained violist to standup comedian and now filmmaker, Hagen will complete the year 2026 with her first feature film as well as her first comedy special, Live At The Bitter End.

Benji talks with Isabel about growing up in a musical family in Lower Manhattan, attending Juilliard, discovering stand-up comedy, and turning her experiences as a working violist into the narrative spine of On A String. They also get into the influence of films like Happiness, Frances Ha, and Inside Llewyn Davis. Other topics include the realities of the gig economy, the film’s depiction of women enduring insecure men, and the balance between comedy and classical music that runs throughout Isabel’s work.

Later, they dig into some of the film’s best moments, including Dylan Baker’s connection to Happiness, Jamie Lee and the infamous sheet scene, Fred Weller’s guitar performance, the quartet’s climactic escape, Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, and the real-life encounter that inspired the film’s final scene.

Spoiler warning: The second half of the conversation discusses specific scenes and the ending of On a String.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Isabel Hagen and On a String

04:48 Juilliard, stand-up and growing up in Manhattan

14:22 How On a String began

24:01 The gig economy of a working classical musician

28:45 Women, insecure men and dating in New York

35:41 Todd Solondz's Happiness, Dylan Baker, and the film’s influences

41:37 Carl, the guitar and “plausible deniability”

55:14 The true story behind the film’s final scene

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Watch Isabel Hagen's comedy special, Live At The Bitter End

Cover photo: Arin Sang-urai

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