Jesse Mccartney made a surprise guest appearance in Hacks Season 5 Episode 2, turning Deborah’s extra-special party for Ava into a live nostalgia blast after the pair’s New York City adventure landed a slot at Madison Square Garden. McCartney sang his classic song “Beautiful Soul” at the celebration in “Number One Fan.”
The cameo paid off a joke that had been planted back in Season 1. Hannah Einbinder said she was asked then who would be on posters in Ava’s childhood bedroom, and she answered Jesse McCartney. A poster of him later showed up in Ava’s room when she returned home for her father’s funeral, a detail that quietly set the stage for the moment that followed five seasons later.
McCartney said he and his wife had binged Season 1 and quickly became fans of the show. Then a friend urged him to rewatch an episode because there was a poster of him in Ava’s bedroom, which he had missed the first time. He DM’d Einbinder after seeing it, and she told him she had grown up a huge fan and had even been to one of his shows as a kid. When the producers finally reached out five seasons later, McCartney said he had just three days off between tours when the call came in.
That is what gave the appearance its weight: a pop singer brought into a sitcom that had already turned him into an in-joke, then used the party scene to make the payoff feel earned. The celebration also folded in a Massachusetts touch for Ava, including Bertucci’s and Papa Gino’s, but the emotional center was McCartney standing in front of Einbinder and singing the song she had once imagined on her bedroom wall. McCartney said he got to meet her, perform for her and watch her tear up during “Beautiful Soul.”
He said they met at the premiere and hugged, and Einbinder called him “fabulous and a sweet guy,” adding that he had not disappointed her. McCartney said they may even have jammed on set to “Body Language” and “How Do You Sleep?” off camera. For a guest spot that started as a poster on a wall, the punch line ended up being simple: the fan casting was real, the payoff arrived, and McCartney showed up exactly when the show finally asked him to.