Streaming on: Prime Video
Comedies about comedy are hard – just ask Aaron Sorkin, who saw his usually sure touch falter when it came to investigating the mechanics of laugh-grabbing in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. But Hacks, a little like its main character, Deborah Vance, pulls off the trick.
Vance, brought to life by Smart in a performance that blends soaring ego, brassiness, scorn and brains, is a big name in Vegas, a former sitcom star with a troubled past who has spun her puns into a headline show, a wealth of QVC shopping endorsements and, well, wealth. But when smarmy casino owner Marty (Christopher McDonald) attempts to downsize her slot to make way for younger talent, she’s understandably irked. Her stressed agent Jimmy (Paul W. Downs, who created the series with fellow Broad City veterans Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky) suggests the key to long-term survival is freshening up her act with some new blood. Cue the arrival of zoomer Ava (Einbinder), a once-successful TV comedy who is looking for her own new gig after an unfortunate joke tweet saw her shunned. It’s hate at first sight for these two – a culture clash of kaiju proportions.
But though Deborah and Vance don’t agree on much, they are both creatively funny in their own way, and the show wisely develops their collaboration. Ava pushes the older performer to be more vulnerable, while also learning a lot about why Deborah is the person she is, and beginning to figure out her own angst-ridden life. Aniello, Downs and Statsky are interested in more than just pitting the two against each other, examining how culture in general and comedy in particular treat women.
This isn’t trying to be a gag factory, and that’s in its favour
Around the main pair orbit a reliably solid group of supporting performances – Vance’s consigliere Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) has everything about her life on lock but struggles to define his own existence as a gay black man working for a white woman, while Deborah’s impulsive, issue-laden daughter DJ (Kaitlin Olson) endlessly hopes her mother will invest in her latest get-rich-quick scheme. Then there’s Megan Stalter as Jimmy’s scatter-brained assistant Kayla — the source of some delightfully wacky misunderstandings.
Yet this isn’t trying to be a gag factory, and that’s in its favour. Indeed, the tone can be melancholic, but it certainly bears sticking with, as the story develops in unexpected and delightful ways. Writing about comedy might be hard, but Hacks makes it look, if not easy, then well worth the effort.