Hacks

SHOW:

Hacks

WHERE TO WATCH:

Showmax

OUR RATING:

4/5 Stars

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:

Hacks follows ageing comedian Deborah Vance as she teams up with millennial comedy writer Ava in order to make her material relevant again. 

WHAT WE THOUGHT:

Comedy has predominantly been a man's game for the longest time, and the few women that have become successful in it, have had to tread a difficult journey. Although a lot has changed within the industry to make space for women, there are still many struggles that are prevalent today. Hacks tries to bridge the gap between a female comedian who was part of the 'old guard' and a young comedian as they learn from each other's struggles.

Hacks tells the story of Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a Las Vegas comedian whose long-running show at a casino is threatened because the casino boss (Christopher MacDonald) wants to incorporate younger acts such as the Pentatonix. Enter Ava (Hannah Einbinder), a talented comedy writer whose career went awry when she made a distasteful joke on Twitter and got cancelled. Deborah and Ava's shared agent Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) comes up with an idea for the two to work together, for Deborah to update her content and for Ava to make some money in the interim.

The two immediately clash, as Ava sees Deborah as a has-been, a fossil from a bygone era that panders to the lowest common denominator when it comes to her comedy. While Deborah sees Ava as an entitled, elitist millennial. Throughout the course of the ten episodes, the two grow to understand each other and learn from one another. The relationship between the two reminded me a lot of the film, Late Night with Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, which had a similar comedy mentor/mentee premise.

A lot of the conflict in the series centres around the generational divide between the two women. Deborah rose to fame when most stand-up comics mainly were men, and she had to fit inside a particular mould to fit in and be successful, and she's still trying to work within that mould. In one particular episode, Deborah says: "They would rather laugh at me than believe me," and it had a chilling effect. And while there is a lot of value in self-deprecating humour, many older female comedians used it in a degrading way and made them more palatable for a male audience.

Ava, however, has grown up questioning everything, even the traditional way that comedy has been done. The two meet in the middle after a turning point. While archiving Deborah's material, Ava discovers an unaired pilot of a late-night show hosted by Deborah (the show used de-ageing technology in this scene and worked perfectly). It is touching to see how emotional Deborah gets in this scene, only for her dream to be taken away. Something similar happened to Joan Rivers when she was one of the first women to host a late-night show. The trials that Deborah faced are rooted in reality, which makes it even more poignant.

For Deborah, Ava encourages her to be more truthful in her comedy, to not only rely on punchlines. And we see how that causes Deborah to use comedy in a new way, to make a statement and court controversy. In a way, that has become more popular among comedians recently, especially Hannah Gadsby and Dave Chappelle. Being truthful is a theme of the series as both Deborah and Ava see themselves as relatively honest (and perhaps blunt at times), but there are certain truths about themselves that they either have not seen or have chosen not to see, which they become aware of throughout the season.

Even just watching one episode of the series, it is easy to see why Jean Smart won the Emmy for Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Comedy this year. She is sensational, and her magnetism keeps you glued to the screen. She has been going through a career renaissance on TV recently with acclaimed roles in Fargo, Watchmen and Mare of Easttown, and she is such a natural fit for Hacks that if you had told me that she had been a stand-up comedian for fifty years, I would believe you.

Real-life comedian Hannah Eisbinder is compelling as Ava, but sometimes she is outshone by Smart, which perhaps is true to the characters. However, the writing is so clever that it knows when to isolate Ava to concentrate on the character, appreciate the subtleties of Eisbinder's performance and learn more about the character's journey and motivations.

Even though the show is about comedy, it's not extremely funny. Very little is shown of Deborah's actual stand-up routines, and much of the humour in the two main characters are derived from the banter between them. However, the biggest laughter can be found in the scenarios with the supporting characters such as Kaitlin Olson as DJ, Deborah's jewellery-selling daughter, Poppy Liu as Kiki, Deborah's personal blackjack dealer and my personal favourite, Megan Stalter as Kayla, Jimmy's inept assistant.

Carl Clemons-Hopkins plays Marcus, Deborah's chief operating officer and the one who manages her business outside of stand-up, such as her appearances and products. The character of Marcus is interesting as it explores his own identity issues, being a successful black, gay man who lives his life at the beck and call of this white woman, and how he has prolonged enjoying his own life because of it.

Hacks tells a layered story of the journey of women in comedy, both then and now, it tells a story of growth, of understanding, of the power of telling the truth, but most of all, it tells the story of two women. It reminds us about how much we can learn from each other, and how far we still have to go to gain equality. It is an excellent series, and well worth all the accolades it has been receiving.

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: