‘Hacks’ Season 4 Midseason Check-In: Funniest Writers' Room on TV?

Greetings and welcome to the Prestige TV podcast.

I'm Mallory Rubin.

Joining me today, she pitched Fran Leibowitz, but Deborah wanted to go with the foot thing.

It's Nora Princiotti.

Hello.

Hello, Mallory.

Nora, we're reunited at last.

I'm so, it feels prestigious, first of all, to do it under these circumstances.

And I'm just, I'm thrilled to be looking at your face in a box on my computer screen, Mallory.

Same.

I've missed you.

It's been literal years since we podcasted together every week about the National Football League.

And so if you want to just...

transition into Bill Belichick talk or any other football topics, college, pro, or otherwise, in the middle of this pod, I don't know what Deborah would have to say about it, but there's only one way to find out.

She would have some Jordan Hudson thoughts, I'm sure.

No question.

No question.

In case anybody can't tell, we are here for a mid-season check-in, mid-season-ish.

There have been six episodes already.

Mid-season-ish check-in on season four of Hacks.

Before we dive in, we're going to do a little bit of a general check-in.

We're going to do some superlatives.

We're going to keep it breezy.

We're going to have some fun.

But this is not the only thing on the Prestige TV podcast.

So before we offer up the candle and the saltines, let's preview for everybody else what else is coming on the Prestige TV pod.

Here we go.

Loaded feed.

First of all, Sean and Craig have a check-in waiting for you right now on the studio.

That show has been fantastic.

Watch the show.

Listen to the pod.

Joe and Rob will, as always, be checking in every week the rest of the Last of Us season on Thursdays on how the Last of Us Season 2 is going, some gamer insights, interviews with the people who are making the show.

Can't miss that.

Joe and Rob will also be checking in on your friends and neighbors on Fridays.

Then over the weekend on Sundays after the latest episode of the rehearsal, you can hear from Jodi and Charles.

Not only can you hear from them, you can watch them because the Prestige TV podcast is available to watch on Spotify or the Ringer TV YouTube channel.

What a buffet.

Wow.

Stacked.

A stacked lineup.

That's what that is.

More than they had at the writer's retreat in Vegas.

That's for sure.

Definitely.

All right, should we dive right in?

Let's do it.

Let's talk some hacks.

Nora, we're here in season four, and we have worked together for half a decade, and we have never spoken about hacks together.

So tell me, and tell everybody listening and watching, just as a little bit of a table setter here, what is your relationship to hacks more broadly over the course of the three and a half seasons that it's been airing?

I mean, I love hacks.

It is one of my favorite shows.

I look forward to it immensely.

I think for me, I really watch Hacks for the one-liners.

It's such an interesting show because it does combine that sort of, you know,

under-an-hour length situation comedy, joke-for-joke identity that, you know, I watched 30 Rock for that.

I was less into The Office, but I think The Office was that for a lot of people.

And it has that.

But then it also has become this narrative,

almost written like a romance show that is this will they or won't they that's developing episode to episode and season to season.

I obviously love that this is a show that's able to do both of those things.

I will say that, you know, I come to this place for magic.

I come to this place hacks specifically for the fact that I think those writers, just on a joke-to-joke, line-to-line basis,

I am desperate to hear what they're going to come up with every episode.

It's just the little, it's the sign-offs at the end of the show where Deborah says thank you to Al Gore and Glorilla.

Like, that's why I'm watching Hacks.

I agree.

The creative team behind Hacks is definitely one of the most like bankably

comedically riveting

creative brain trusts in Hollywood right now.

And like, I remember earlier in the run of Hacks, it was an open question whether Hacks would continue.

And I just, you know, it's not my job to run a studio, and so I am not equipped to comment on this, but I just never understood that because there's actually such a

clearly healthy beating heart of humor and chemistry.

And as you noted, this like core relationship that is driving the show.

I think that's another thing that you probably have to answer for everybody before we dive in further, which is, are you a Deborah or are you an Ava?

I really thought you were going to ask me if I wanted to see them kiss.

You can also answer that.

You're free to comment.

I think, honestly, Valerie, I'm more of a Deborah.

Wow.

Okay.

I love that for you.

I'm definitely an Ava.

Well, and that's why by the end of this episode, maybe we'll have some animosity along the way.

But I think by the end of talking this through, we'll arrive somewhere beautiful and poignant.

I think that's great.

Probably also like Deborah and Ava, though, we will have some setbacks along the way and then work our way back toward each other.

Yeah, it's always like an interesting experience.

Joe and I covered the end of season three together.

And obviously, like that is one of the most, I think still to this day, riveting scenes and harrowing showdowns between people whose relationships you are deeply invested in at that point.

And if you consider yourself an Ava and you put a lot into your work

and you don't have a great work-life balance, that's a harrowing thing to have to really like process and think about.

This has been an interesting season in that respect in terms of where we are in their relationship.

One of my like overall

ongoing interests with hacks, both in terms of like a creative pursuit structurally, how each season functions, how the seasons relate to each other, like I kind of want the show to go on forever, but but then when I step back and think about it, I would, I guess, the compare, this might be a very odd comparison to make, but the thing that pops into my mind often when I'm thinking about Debra and Ava and the way that their relationship fuels hacks.

Now, obviously, a lot of the other figures and hacks are part of its charm, and we will talk about them, I think, frequently as we go today.

But

the comp that I always make when I'm thinking about it, did you ever watch the modern classic Billions?

Yes, of course I watched Billy.

Billions, Sally.

Wonderful.

This is why we get along.

So it's a little bit of the Chuck Axe question to me, which is like, how many seasons in a row can you go back to the same question?

Now, of course, Chuck and Axe were the opposite.

Like, it's the inverse, right?

Where their base position is, we are trying to take each other down.

And then every so often they work toward a position of surprising alliance.

Of course, Deborah and Ava, it's the opposite, right?

It's like they are supposed to be partners.

They are supposed to be teammates.

They are supposed to be unlocking things for each other.

And then they can't help but let each other down.

But both in both, both shows are driven by this core tension of, can these people stay in this place they're supposed to be in?

Or will they have to like

work through, will those boundaries become too porous at some point?

I used to wonder, like, how long can billions do it?

And then as soon as they stopped, I was like, great, but that's what Billions was.

Let's do a little more, please.

Yeah, I think that's a really interesting tension.

I'm wondering how you felt about that just more broadly in season four so far.

Are you as compelled as ever by the state of Deborah and Ava's relationship?

Or is there any part of you that's like, how many times are we going to run back this same question?

While obviously doing it inside of evolving context and circumstances around it, season four is at long last the late night era.

And so that is, of course, a different thing.

Which I think is really promising because it is a relationship between these two people and they are the pendulum is swinging between can they get together and make something beautiful, or will they be at odds and continue to let each other down?

But you also have the third angle of

is this thing that in theory they should be working towards together something that they can accomplish?

They're under so much pressure from the network, they're under so much pressure to make this amazing show.

And I think up to this point, we were recording this after episode six, which I was daily Mrs.

Table,

incredible the $17, $72 Branzino for Mrs.

Table.

Yeah, Yeah.

Now, I might be an Ava, but when she said Branzino doesn't travel and threw it into the window, I believe that everything can travel.

I can't exist.

I can't function in LA or any other city without believing that any best school can travel to my home or my office.

So that was where Ava lost me at last.

Sorry.

Well, and it's funny because I think she was a little bit of a, she was a Deborah in that moment.

She was

coming to terms with the fact that you can't always be friends.

Although, Mal, I like to think that our dynamic runs counter to that takeaway.

But

season six, episode six, I was really happy to see where it ended with a little bit of reconciliation because I have felt that up to this point,

I've been yearning for Deborah and Ava to get back together a little bit.

And I've felt like they've been so at odds for the first six episodes that I want to see them at odds with the challenge that they're facing together.

I think there are the genuine differences of opinion and how these two people who have a lot in common, but also see the world very differently are going to tackle the project of making late night television together.

And I want to watch them do that, which does not mean that they will be on the same page at every turn, but it does mean that they will be.

a little bit more united than they have been.

And I was missing that a little bit.

I thought that we've gone on maybe a little bit too long where they are at odds truly in a personal context.

It's not over the challenge of the show.

It's just these two people really butting heads.

Yes, savagely and viciously personal at times, which is, of course, very

amusing and entertaining to watch, but also like deeply painful.

I agree with you.

I found the final scene of the most recent episode, as I often do inside of a hacks experience where I'm spending most of the 30-ish minutes every week just laughing, like deeply moving.

Oh, when Deborah said, you are my voice.

I know, I was like in tears.

And the moment that got me even more than that was when Deborah, who of course has gone into the ocean using the find me app that Ava had previously installed and then gone into the ocean after her redhead, who is not Ava.

Great stuff.

And then has to be like wrapped up, swaddled like a baby out of a bath

in warm clothing and towels while sitting on the table.

Holding her tea with her two hands.

Great stuff.

And saying

to Ava, I promise I'll make it up to you.

And the moment that really broke me was when Ava said, don't say that.

Please don't say that.

Cause when you say that, I want to believe you, but you always let me down.

Like, I think the key to any good show ultimately, I cover a lot of genre shows, right?

And I'm often like, I feel so

keenly

this story that this wizard or this Jedi is on is so relatable to me.

It's like, I have never had the pleasure of wielding a lightsaber lightsaber in space, but, you know, I've never made a late night show yet, yet.

But it's like,

you know what that feels like to have somebody in your life who is like a central driving force in everything that you do.

And there's a part of you that believes that that is always the right thing to go back to.

It was cool to get Ruby back into this season because that's a reminder of like the choices that Ava has made and the sacrifices that she has made and the things that she has chosen to prioritize for a person that she is going to sit there and say this to.

Like, I want to believe you, but you always let me down because every minute to this point, that has been true.

And it's also been true that Ava is where she is because of her hard work, but also this relationship.

So, like, the complexity of that and finding room to explore that inside of a 30-minute comedy is, I think, awesome and part of why the show continues to be so successful.

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I will spoil for you as we get to our categories, our mid-season superlatives here.

Our first one is favorite episode.

And my pick is episode six, is Mrs.

Table.

Mostly for that reason, I think like there was also a lot of other stuff.

My runner-up, the other one I came closest to picking was the premiere of the season, which I also thought was like really strong.

Incredibly good.

And I think typically, because the start, the finish, and some big moment in the middle is where a hacks episode is really rooted in that emotional connection.

Those tend to be my favorite episodes in the seasons and the ones that I find a little bit more successful than the like, I don't know, Writer's Retreat to Vegas, for example, which was not my favorite episode of the season so far.

But I thought that this episode, which is where Ruby comes in and Deborah just does the most vicious thing that she could do to Ava, who has, while living at the Americana, gone in for a morning makeover to make sure that she has makeup on and seeing her ex, beauty mark it all.

Two little tiny braids.

Two little, little, little tiny braids on a grown-ass woman with a big girl jaw.

Genuinely funny.

Also, she's running around this entire time.

We're obviously supposed to be like laughing at her, lightly mocking her, pitying her.

And I am like, I basically have this exact outfit that she is wearing.

Like, I have those sneakers.

So I was like, extra pointed.

What about about the baggy basketball shorts before they go to Las Vegas?

I thought that that was, we haven't gotten to the best one-liner category yet, but I will say that Deborah saying while visiting Athea Americana and seeing Ava coming down the escalator in the camo shirt,

the baggy basketball shorts and then the Adidas, you know, you're not funny enough to dress like Adam Sandler was just like

absolutely perfect.

Great stuff.

There are are actually a lot of people in culture right now who need to hear that exact phrase.

So I'm grateful for Hacks for introduction to this discourse.

Listen, this is one of the areas of the pod where we part.

We meet and fork in the road and we part.

I thought that was a great look.

Honestly.

Utterly aspirational.

I loved everything about it.

This is where I want to be in my life is right.

I don't like down escalators.

Let me say this.

I don't like down escalators.

In fact, I have a fear.

Mallory, I learned something new about you every time we speak.

I don't like down escalators.

Talk to the Ringiverse crew about this.

Sometimes when we go to screenings together for Ringiverse movies, Jomi will very kindly offer me his arm as we go on a down escalator because he knows they terrify me.

It's very true.

Take the down escalator aside, emerging from the Americana, dressed like Adam Sandler, and then saying that I have my coffee that I got from the Barnes and Noble Cafe.

That's living.

That's living and you won't talk me out of it.

I'm sorry.

What was your favorite episode?

Was yours also episode six or did you have another that stood out most to you?

Well, so I knew that we would talk about episode six because I do think, and

I'll make clear, I think there are moments where this season has felt a little scattered

to me.

Yes, I do.

In the sense that they're doing a lot of things at the same time, right?

Like we have this whole narrative arc.

We're also going through the process of getting the late night era started.

Ava's in a thrupple.

Like, we're just, we're doing a lot of things at the same time.

And I think sometimes, you know, the thrupple will be coming up in another one of my categories.

Okay, fabulous.

I would expect nothing less.

And sometimes I'm waiting for, I felt like I've been waiting for the season to hit its stride and sort of to decide this is the thing that we want to do.

And season six was the episode that I felt got the train on the tracks as far as making that happen.

And so therefore, I do think that it's been the strongest.

I agree with what you said about the premiere being really special, even just the opening scenes where they, it's, it's the two of them and they are fighting.

Like intense.

What a weirso back moment for this show.

Yeah.

The episode that I do want to invoke, which we're already sort of talking about, is episode four, I love LA.

Because I did feel like I needed your take on that episode as an Angelino.

Because I did think that that was one episode where some of the detours.

like Deborah at the gay bar dancing in the cage and then getting knocked out, the detours worked instead of making me feel like, okay, this is sort of funny, but I don't really know why we're spending time with Jimmy Kimmel and Kristen Bell instead of like

the characters that I know and love who are a recurring part of this show.

So I thought that that for a mid-episode was my favorite.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was

that was a that was a fun one.

I liked that one a lot.

I really, I think part of the reason that I picked episode six is what you said.

I agree with like it feels like that's where the season has fully settled in to what it wants to be doing.

I love the start of the season.

Then I think we dipped a little bit.

And then, like, episode six felt like, okay, here we are, we're going.

And I think it also had the right balance for me.

Like

the various, the sprinkling of various vignettes with Deborah and this and the late night social media kid.

It's like

the Jake Shane jump scare.

Is Jake Shane a part of your life or your content diet?

Do you know who that is, Mallory?

I do know who that is.

Okay.

I do know who that is.

I hope that's not an insulting question.

I just, I was so not expecting that.

And when he says you're going to pretend to catch a bag of Frito

from

Mariska Hargany, like I've lost it.

We go from the lips to Fritos to happy birthday to Dakota fanning to chicken dance challenge.

I said with the clarification of arthritis research, we don't support arthritis.

We don't support arthritis.

Very amusing.

And then next up, we have the twist and shout challenge to help infants with scoliosis.

Are you ready?

So good.

Astonishing stuff.

Astonishing stuff across that episode.

And yeah, this is like you said, also the episode where Ava, who has spent all season.

One of the things that I did like about episode three was Ava really like positioning herself as, you know, the man of the people, right?

I'm the, I'm the boss who's also the friend and thinks that she's the one kind of saving the team from Deborah, but then is constantly the one putting everybody on the spot to be like, you don't want to do this, right?

Also making them say a thing they don't want to say or choose a side they don't want to choose.

And so while it was painful to see Ava have this like break down and throw the Branzino in the drive through the gate, though I did like the return of the gate guard who had previously looked at her license and been like, hmm, that's

a great little touch.

But yeah, like to have to just get to the breaking point where she's like, oh, I'm not in the group chat.

I'm not your friend.

And like, you don't want me to be was

very fun.

Was very fun.

I liked liked that as well.

Do you feel like answering your LA question, you have the proper appreciation for and understanding of life at the Americana after six episodes of season four of Hack, Axe?

No, I don't, but I do believe that that's because I never could and never will.

Have you been to Din Taifeng on any of your trips to Los Angeles?

Pretty much.

I spent the Americana now at the Galleria, the other mall that is like

15 paces away from the Americana.

Are you familiar with this entire part of LA?

Do you follow the Americana at Brand Memes Instagram?

Oh, which is definitely the best Instagram.

Oh, you got, okay.

Justin and Donnie, one of us has to remember at the end of this to send Nora the Instagram.

You'll understand.

Can you put this in New York City terms for me?

Because I've been to Dentaifeng, but I've never been to Dintaifeng in LA.

I've been to Dentaifeng in like Palo Alto and in New York City.

Can I put it in New York terms?

No, it's such a

LA.

Yeah, this is why, like, I

respect

that part of LA thing.

I respect your culture.

I just can't, I know that I cannot be a part of it.

Okay, fair enough.

Nora, let's get to our next category, which is best scene.

And I am picking a scene from your favorite episode, which is how I will engage with you on episode four.

But why don't you tell us first what your favorite scene of the season so far is?

So I'm giving up another one of my later answers.

Okay.

But

can I tell you that right now in my life, there is no one in culture or entertainment who I am more charmed by than Robbie Hoffman.

Okay.

Okay.

And

Robbie's

just like across the board.

There's just no one who I think is funnier or doing a better, admittedly somewhat niche job as being a very funny person in public life.

And so Robbie as Randy,

getting hired at Schaefer and Lusak or Lusak and Schaefer

to be determined the order.

Yes.

And I haven't decided yet.

Yeah.

Suggesting Suggesting that they sign Sandra Bullock because she just saw Speed.

First movie.

First movie she's ever seen.

Yeah.

I could, like, I miss Kayla and Jimmy a little bit.

I feel like they're getting a little underused because there's so much going on.

And I think because of that, the fact that in that extended scene, the two of them and the three of them,

and imagine thinking that you have this duo that is perfect together.

Like Kayla and Jimmy have such magic together.

And to find a third person that you can introduce to that dynamic and have it work as successfully as robbie hoffman joining that tribe i was so thrilled i've i've rewatched that scene like six times and it is funnier every single time um i agree i think the introduction of randy the assistant is one of the true genius strokes of the season so far uh i had this is a relief to me because this was not the category where i was going to talk about randy but i had we have one of our categories say is most amusing new character and i was really torn between two two picks.

And now this is a way to talk about Randy and then pick my other character there.

So that's just great news for me.

Of all podcasting, baby.

There you go.

Dame work.

Not a riff killer.

It's great.

Hard to pick the best moment from Randy's incorporation into Jimmy and Kayla's lives, but if I had to pick one.

Oh man, it's hard.

It's okay.

I'm gonna, I can't.

I'm gonna pick two.

I mean, I just heard about Summer Fridays.

Isn't that ridiculous?

Why would Fridays be season dependent?

It's just

astonishing and incredible.

And then,

but I think my favorite was.

This is one of those things where you're like, how do they come up with this?

Yes, when they're making the show.

100%.

You truly want to assess somebody as a candidate.

Why don't you ask them how many peanut M ⁇ Ms they can fit into a Honda Civic?

It doesn't matter the answer, just to see see how they think.

Is that how we're doing hiring at the ringer from now on?

Just to see how they think.

That's how Josh Challenger is.

I know that's how I got in the door.

Yeah, absolutely.

How many, except we didn't ask him how many Peanut MMs would fit into a Honda Civic.

We asked how many Peanut MMs would fit into a Dodge Challenger.

Hope I did not know.

Well, as the one who doesn't have a LinkedIn,

I wouldn't know.

I cannot help you on that, Fred.

So that'll just have to be a mystery.

And maybe some listeners can let us know.

Well, LinkedIn is nothing but a printout of lies.

This guy's incredible stuff.

Also, just the delivery of you're standing and shit was very memorable.

Very memorable.

See, like in some ways, even though Deborah and Ava are the heartbeat of the show, in some ways, the show I really want is just, and maybe this is actually part of how they continue the hacks universe moving forward.

I do just want Caitlin and Jimmy running their agency.

It's like Caitlin and Jimmy running their agency for dog fluencers.

And kids.

And don't forget the kids.

Where Caitlin's like, please sign in with your name and your species.

Do you think we can get Halo signed up?

Oh, I mean,

listen, he's a private guy and he lives a private life, but I have had moments given how absolutely stunning he is.

Yeah.

And obviously brilliant, charming, where I've thought, did I really blow it?

You know, could he have been like what would have happened if this cat had representation?

What would become?

Where I, while I love Kayla, I don't think I would let her anywhere near my cat, to be frank.

Sorry, sorry to Kayla.

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All right, let's get to the thrupple for a second because my favorite scene of the season

is from episode four, and it's Ava and the sex shop.

I was in tears.

I was laughing so hard watching it.

It was incredible.

There's a lot of like, first of all, amusing moments, the interplay between Ava and this cashier at the sex shop, but a lot of also physical comedy, like scam the way that he is like swinging the dildo, incredible.

But of course, because the thrupple ends up being kind of a key part of the next three episodes of Ava's plotlines at this point, watching, like, especially in a rewatch now, watching their faces, watching Dev and Emily's faces in the background when Ava first walks in.

And it's like, she's running into a sex shop because her car is about to be towed.

And so she needs a receipt.

No returns, but she needs a receipt.

No No returns.

Kill me.

She needs a receipt to prove or fake her way into proving that she was actually parking there because she was going to purchase something from the shop.

The fact that the scene is built around Ava having to run into a sex shop and cut in line and shout, it's an emergency.

This is miraculous.

Absolutely miraculous stuff.

I thought it was.

incredible.

And then the payoff later when, I guess, this is the same episode where, as you noted, at the club, Deb

hits her head,

has to go to the hospital.

Dancing in the cage.

Dancing in the cage, doing poppers, has to go to the hospital, has forgotten to remove Ava as her emergency contact.

And so Ava receives a call from the hospital.

She has just given

this.

It's a testament to how fucking funny hacks is, that just describing hacks is hysterical.

She picks up her phone after they've trapped her off and says,

Here, says this Ava Daniels.

Yes, is this Emily?

My friend from the sex shop couldn't wait.

Gotcha, and they're like, No, this is Cedar Sinai.

Absolutely incredible.

It's really good.

It's really good stuff.

And I do, again, I can only be an observer and an appreciator of your culture from the outside, but the fact that needing to get your parking validated was a core turning point in terms of the progression of this plotline does feel canonically Los Angeles.

Yes, I agree.

The only universal experience inside of that, I think, was Ava realizing, well, she's probably going to have to request an Uber asking for a cell phone charger.

And then the guy's like, do you have an Android?

I mean, no matter what city you live in, you know what that feels like.

It's like, sir, I do not.

No.

Let's go.

Crystal Bell, though, apparently.

Yes.

Yeah.

The blue ball, the green bubbles.

The green bubbles.

The green bubbles.

Didn't want her to be the only one in the chat with the green bubbles.

So that Kimmel could inherit her when Conan died.

Tough drive-by on Conan there.

I loved it.

I loved it.

Me too.

Great stuff.

Nora, you already mentioned that one of the things you love most about hacks is the one-liners.

This is one of your requested categories today.

I don't know how you're going to be able to pick just one.

Spoiler alert, I didn't.

You didn't.

There you go.

Perfect.

All right.

Give us your, however many you ended up choosing favorite one-liners of the season.

So far.

Okay.

So I'm going to go outside our core duos here because I do think that again, sometimes these like side characters just get these moments to shine.

Diana, Deborah's psychic from Sedona, who comes on as the consulting producer

stage the writers.

As a preamble, as a runner-up in the Diana category, I'll offer you, as she's saging, lots of sad divorced men have sat in these chairs.

However, that is only second to a line that left me in stitches when she looks up, looks Ave in the eyes, and goes, does a hat on a hat mean anything to you?

Absolutely incredible.

Just comics writing about comedy and the process of the creation of comedy, not something that I've experienced, but that just feels so delicious to

hear them.

riffing in their own universe.

The other character who I think is getting just some of the best lines of the season is Winnie, the network executive.

One, I have to spend time with my kid, Dr.

Sorters.

Two, George Clooney only does pranks because he's sick.

I love that.

I love that.

That was a great moment.

It's just, there's a whole idea with it.

Like, George Clooney is this sicko who can only get his kicks by

pranking people.

And then my absolute favorite, I don't even know who she was talking to when she says this.

I believe it's in episode one.

It might be in episode episode two.

It's early.

They're doing just like a walk and talk through a hallway, and someone walks by, and she just turns to the side and says to someone, By the way, that Aman you sent me to was dog shit.

And then keeps it moving.

Yeah, at the party, at Bob's party, I think.

Yeah, that was great.

Really good.

Incredible stuff.

That might, if I had to pick one, that honestly might have been my favorite, my favorite one-liner of the season.

Okay, fantastic.

Here's, I'm not done, Mallory.

I'm giving you a couple more.

I wouldn't expect so.

Sort of a subcategory.

Yeah.

The sketchboard with the ideas.

Very good.

Yeah.

On the index cards, like desert island dilfs.

Yes.

It's a rich text.

Yeah.

And then the last one, I brought it up already, but the sign-offs, thanking the guests.

Thank you to Shibuzi and Nancy Pelosi.

Thank you to Al Gore and Clorilla.

Like, that's the meeting I want to be in, is where all the hacks writers are just coming up with combinations.

The little teases for the affiliate stations have also been like quietly just

lethally funny.

Really, really great.

Those are incredible picks.

We have, I'm astonished to say we have no overlap in

for this category.

I'm not astonished.

This is a rich, rich buffet that we have to pick from.

That's true.

I think I went kind of with the opposite logic, which is I actually felt, oh, wow, I'm kind of Deborah Ava light in some of my categories.

I'm actually like going heavy in other directions.

So a lot of my picks here do orient around either Deborah or Ava or both.

I'll give you my winner first and then a couple runners up.

Right at the beginning of the season.

Episode one.

The pranks begin.

The panties.

Panties were at work.

Act appropriately, you fucking skank.

And then Ava replying.

That's rich coming from you.

Aren't you and Mary Magdalene neck and neck for the title of world's oldest whore?

It's unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

That was my favorite.

I loved also in episode one in the HR training scene for the entire staff when Deborah and Avert are just pinging questions about each other to Stacy.

I think my favorite one was Deborah saying,

Can I fire someone for free bleeding in the workplace?

Yep.

Absolutely unbelievable.

I really also liked in episode two when Deb, when they were talking about hiring writers, Deborah described Ava as

someone who had gone from straight from co-producer to executive extorter.

It's very clever.

You see why Deb wants to be in the writer's room?

She's got what it takes.

But on the discussion of hiring writers, the clear winner in that stretch of the story is Deborah saying to Ava,

stay in your lane, which I believe is the drive-through lane in Tal Taco.

And I honor her, Ava, for replying, nice try.

I'm a jack-in-the-box girl.

What fortitude?

And then I do want to shout out Damien here because

I really loved, I mean, I will say we spent more time on bare urine than I was anticipating this season.

Far more time.

But at the very beginning of our coyote stifling bear urine journey, when Deborah first said I need bear urine, I did love when Damien replied,

Still are sparkling.

Still are sparkling.

Great.

It's great.

You know, just the little moments when he comes, he'll come through a door and say, I've learned that it needs to only be from male bears.

Like, just as a little thing that they're threading in and out is so funny to me.

Had to had to run to you all.

They wouldn't let him.

TBA wouldn't let him get on the plane with that much bear urine.

I think the last thing I'll shout out is just Ava calling Deborah bitches.

Yes, yes.

Thank you.

I was going to shoehorn it in if you didn't break it up.

I'm going to be in the pod without that.

Wonderful stuff.

Oh, God.

Amusing.

Okay.

Speaking of amusing, who is your pick for most amusing new

central character this season?

I guess you're not,

or are you?

Are you going right back to I'm going right back to the Randy well?

How could you not, honestly?

How could I not?

It's it again, just the fact that we can introduce a third into the Kayla Jimmy Jimmy office dynamic and have it be so funny and so seamless is absolutely fabulous to me.

Great pick.

As I noted, I was basically in a coin-flip tie.

So we've now properly honored Randy and I'm relieved and thrilled.

I will now give some time, as we should and as we must, to Stacey, the HR rep.

It's one of those things where like...

Like,

should this character be this present?

But somehow it keeps working.

In that first episode in the training scene with the staff, I think my favorite moment was about taking nude photos at work.

Well, if they're taking a photo of an abnormal mole for a medical professional,

and then Deborah says something like, she's got freckles all over the place and she doesn't do a thing about it.

Exactly.

Great stuff.

I loved the, when she's formally assigned to be their chaperone and at the end of episode three, after all the complaints, and then she takes the sip of the water and just starts choking and apologizing, trying to choke out an apology through her gasps and her coughs.

I do that a lot.

I aspirate, great stuff.

But obviously, the best Stacey moment of the season so far is

insisting that they continue their argument in the bathroom because she has to pee,

and then

abashedly asking them to please leave because she has to take a shit.

Change of plans.

Do you guys actually mind stepping out?

Remember your tools.

Compassion, not compensation.

Just unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

The other one that is my favorite, even maybe beyond the bathroom scene, is just the reveal that they have $4,000 in the microaggression jar.

Yeah, she doesn't feel comfortable carrying it around.

Also, her like absolute rage after the trip at the fall and the injury that Ava cannot remember the Peabody submission deadline.

Great little touch.

It's really good.

Great little touch.

That's really good.

Nora, many times today already, you have mentioned Kimmel and Belle.

They're not the only cameos this season.

We have had many.

Carol Burnett has been here.

Randy Newman has been here.

Rosie O'Donnell has been here, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you have a pick for most memorable cameo of the season to date and it can be for good or bad reasons so i've i've said that the jake shaden pop-up in episode six really did get me and that got me in a good way prior to that do we that's gonna be a cameo though i feel like he's like gonna i feel like you think he's here to stay yeah maybe not but i kind of think so I will say that in episode five, when there was a real glut of the cameos, I find myself going a little bit like,

why are we doing this?

There are so many wonderful characters, including some.

I mean, since that scene where Randy joins Jimmy and Kayla, we've basically not seen Randy.

And I would love to see more of Randy.

I think I've made that incredibly clear.

I'm with you.

And so even though I felt that some of the individual lines were very funny, I was a little bit like, I don't really need this thing about Kristen Bell.

I would like to spend time with my hacks friends.

Fair.

Fair.

Totally fair.

I am going to pick Kristen Bell and Jimmy Kimmel as my favorite or most memorable the season, but here's why.

I'm going to, I agree with your overall point.

I think the reason that that one feels

more effective to me than just like, I'm popping up for half a line or half a scene.

And it is about, it is like, okay, this is a late night show in LA.

Famous people would be in their lives.

Let's cram as many as we can into a season.

This one built, right?

So it's like they're connected to each other.

And it was centrally connected to like the thrust of that episode, which is the idea that, yeah, show's going okay.

Show's going well.

One note, women hate Deborah.

Like,

how do we fix that?

And going after Kristen Bell at Cookbook, another very LA sequence, and then Kimmel cornering.

Hold on.

That's a real grocery store?

That was like an idea that they weren't trying to do Erewhon without having to pay Erewhon.

That's a real place?

This is a real place.

Okay.

I have no doubt we will be at Erewhon soon.

Okay.

Okay.

That's just, I'm just glad to know that.

Yes.

And I think my favorite exchange inside of that was Tuesday, I'm speaking at the UN.

Are they flexible?

Wonderful stuff.

But I did think that Kimball showing up and mentioning like the work that he'd put in, the switch to Sam song so she wouldn't be the only one in the chats with the green bubbles.

But the best part, of course, was

I wore a K-Bel brand organic diaper on a billboard.

You think I did that because I'm proud of my body?

No, I did it for bookings.

Lovely stuff.

Lovely stuff.

But at the end of the day,

your core contention, which is we need more time for Randy and we need more time for Kayla and Jimmy, is not one that I will dispute or challenge because I agree.

And that brings us to our final category today, which is favorite duo.

And with respect to Deborah and Ava, they can eat shit because it is time to talk about Kayla and Jimmy.

My pick this season and every season for favorite duo.

And I think genuinely

one of the most effective pairings in television right now.

They are just incredible together.

I'm just going to.

run through very quickly, rapid fire here, some of my favorite exchanges

of the season so far.

I agree with you, and we have not gotten enough of them.

Though I will say re-watching these episodes, because every week you're like, oh, I only get one or two or one and a half scenes with Kayla.

It's just simply not enough.

But then, like, sitting down to revisit them, I felt their presence a little bit more.

Episode one, family guy.

That guy, Brian, is hot.

The dog?

Is he a dog?

Yeah, Brian is the dog.

Bob's party.

What's the one thing I asked you not to do tonight?

To talk about the Lenny Kramitz penis video.

I'm sorry.

They brought it up.

I'm not even going to say who's which which quote is Jimmy and Kayla.

You know, you know, you know.

You know, episode two.

Dog clients we already talked about.

Everyone sign in with your name and species, all right?

There's too many humans with dog names and dogs with human names.

The firm name, Schaefer and Lusak.

Lusak and Schaefer.

We're still arguing about the name.

Don't tell people that.

And then Kayla replying, lucky for you, they hung up.

I really loved what Kayla in that episode said when they were just

would Jimmy sleep with his assistant.

She's like, You're a man of power now.

You don't know what you'll do.

Kayla's just the best to me.

She's like an endless treasure trove.

Episode four:

Kayla on her power trip, right?

Everybody at late night needs to know who they are.

They rep the main talent, they rep the head writer, but then still Kayla is there holding up the raisin box to Jimmy and saying, Come on, would you do her?

The raisin girl?

She looks kinky.

I was just like,

Sorry, this might be my favorite of the season, though.

This is also episode four.

See, Jimmy, when you lead with love, you give people the option to say no.

You mean consent?

Don't politicize everything.

Yawn.

So who's

Diddy and Bebo?

Diddy and Babbitts?

I told you, read women.

I told you, I mean, most of the best ones Kayla gets.

I told you read women from Jimmy was

so good.

I also loved in episode five while they're doing the focus group feedback.

And Kayla says, off turns to Jimmy and whispers, I'm doing no-nut November.

And he says, cool, it's February.

I just love it.

And like, this is kind of like a little similar actually to your point about the Clooney line earlier, like how Hax is really deaf to just doing, you get one little moment that like hints at this larger thing behind it.

Inside of Kayla and Jimmy, I really loved the little conversation about the twins plan, right?

How to get the Olsen twins back.

And like, I didn't have to speak Tia and Tamara because twins listen to other twins.

It's just like you understand without having seen any of those prior conversations that Kayla has like talked about this 500 times, right?

I just thought that was incredible.

Um,

obviously, everything with dance mom and imposter syndrome, just great stuff.

But

up there for the best moments in episode six, when they are helping to look for Ava and go to the Americana, and then Kayla yells at a passing child,

child,

have you seen a lesbian ginger?

They say no, and then she says, Thanks for nothing, wanders off, and Jimmy has to say, Kayla, come on.

We're not getting Wetzel's.

We're lucky to be alive to watch these two together on Tim.

We really are so blessed.

The blessings are so many.

I also love when she's helping Eva find an apartment.

Neva says,

I'm going to rent.

And she goes, oof, I didn't know people were still doing that.

Incredible stuff.

Yeah.

incredible stuff.

Love it.

They're my favorite duo as well.

I mean, there could be no other.

No, I mean, they're the best.

They're just an absolute

brilliant pairing.

And I would watch a spin-off.

I will say it one more time about their agency.

Think of how much Randy we would get if we got the spin-off.

And two.

Do you think they should go with Schaefer and Lusak or Lusak and Schaefer?

I think they should just

keep letting it go back and forth.

And I do love the detail where they have both of them in both orders up on the wall.

So every time Randy is answering a phone or Kayla is sitting behind that desk, you just see both of it.

Brilliant.

To your point, I do think that while I stand by my opinion that I would like to spend a little bit more time with them this season, the limit does not exist for how much of them we could get and I would still want more.

So I think that leaves no other choice but the spin-off.

I agree.

All right, we solved it.

Maybe we are ready to run a studio.

I think we could do it.

I could book Dance Mom.

You definitely could book.

You and Jodi would have done a were obsessed segment on Dance Mom.

On Dance Mom.

No question.

No question.

Yeah.

Still could.

You guys have your finger on the pulse.

Still could.

All right, Nora.

We did it.

We checked in on the first six episodes of Hacks.

There are only four episodes left, and I believe the next two air at the same time, which means there are only like a few weeks left.

So I hope to be able to discuss the end of the season with you again, check in once more before we say goodbye to Jimmy and Kayla for another offseason.

And I hope that they and Ava and Ava's various wide leg pants and Adidas speciales remain in our lives for a long time to come.

It was wonderful to see you today.

Wonderful.

You are my voice.

You are mine.

You are mine.

I promise not to let you down.