Robby Hoffman Reveals Her Own 10/10 Invention That Her ‘Hacks’ Character Would Make

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Hacks Season 5, Episode 4

HBO’s brilliant comedy series Hacks, which is in its fifth and final season, is going out on a hilarious high note. As they near the big MSG show, Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava’s (Hannah Einbinder) lives are more chaotic and unpredictable as ever. Deborah has an unexpected romance with pop star Nico Hayes (Christopher Briney), Ava is recovering from her stint dating a magician and processing conflicting notes on her pilot script from a producer, and Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) is excited about his big business venture with Deborah, to name just a few of the many intriguing threads being pulled this season.

As we near the halfway point of the final season, the comedy, created by Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello, and Paul W. Downs, impressively continues to be just as funny and bold as it was in Season 1. Hacks continues to evolve, with one of the best changes being the Season 4 addition of Robby Hoffman‘s Randi, Jimmy (Downs), and Kayla’s (Megan Stalter) quirky assistant. Though Randi might not be the most crucial element of Hacks‘ overarching plot, Randi continues to be one of the funniest parts of the series. Hoffman, who’s Emmy-nominated for her work on Hacks, plays the offbeat role with such conviction and confidence that it’s hard to picture the series without her.

During this interview with Collider, Robby Hoffman talks about the physical comedy in Episode 4, her own comedy, her unexpected early beginnings in Hollywood, and what she feels she shares with Randi. The delightfully unfiltered comedian is having a moment, and we’re all better off for it.

Before ‘Hacks,’ Robby Hoffman’s “Film School” Was Her Emmy-Winning Work on PBS

“PBS is like HBO, but without money.”

Image via Max

COLLIDER: I’m excited to talk to you.

ROBBY HOFFMAN: Same!

I’m a big fan of Hacks, I’ll get into that in a minute. A lot of people might not know this, but you have a lot of writing credits on some really cool kids’ programs. You have an Emmy!

ROBBY HOFFMAN: Thank you! Thank you.

It’s so impressive to me, and I feel like writing for a kids’ show must be such a different skill set. What has that taught you about yourself as a writer?

HOFFMAN: Some may not know, but I am an Emmy-winning writer and now an Emmy-nominated actor for Hacks. Writing on a kids show was never something I set out to do. It’s my first job for people who do the deep dive on Robby Hoffman. It’s my first television job. I grew up poor. I grew up without a hope, without a prayer. And when I got into school… first of all, not everybody in my family went to school. My mother told us often that school’s not for everyone, and she said that a lot because it was very expensive, so if you don’t have to do school, don’t do school. When I got into school, I did accounting because they told me that you can get a job right away, and so that’s what I studied. After that, as I got paid every two weeks, I started thinking about writing and different things that I’d never really thought of.

I got a writer’s assistant job on a kids’ show called Odd Squad on PBS. PBS is like HBO, but without money, so they do very good programming. But I was a writer’s assistant, and that was like my film school. I always saw rich kids. They studied things they wanted to do. I knew people who did art history. I knew people who did film. I knew people who went into programs. And to me, school was very practical, whether you were going to take a trade or if I was going to go to university for accounting or for something that you’ve got to learn, kind of a trade or profession. So even though it was kids and we were restricted in terms of language or sexual innuendo, it was still very good storytelling. And it was a volume business. We did 80, 11-minute episodes a season, and so I learned how to write story. Yes, there’s no this, there’s that, but it’s still beginning, middle, end. It’s still A, B story.

It was literally my film school because it started as a small show, and it got really big. I learned everything about set. I was on set. I was on splinter units. I worked with the art department. I worked with hair and makeup. I worked with costume. I worked in all of the different areas as I grew up in that show, starting as a writer’s assistant, then a staff writer, and then an Emmy-winning writer. And I consider Odd Squad really to be my film school, and so very grateful for that.

Of course, after Odd Squad, knowing my sensibilities a little bit more, I said, maybe it’s time we moved to “grown-up.” It’s kind of when you find out like Bob Saget, people know him from Full House, and then they still watch his stand-up and they have a rude awakening. People who know me from Odd Squad as a children’s writer, and then they go and watch Wake Up on Netflix might have that similar rude awakening. And I apologize. Should come with a warning. “Has worked in kids’ entertainment before, so brace yourselves.”

That’s such a fascinating story. I’m glad that was kind of like your film school. It must be really beneficial to write within those restrictions, too.

HOFFMAN: I know the rules of writing. It’s kind of like when you watch a series like Atlanta and people go, well, he broke so many rules in this. Well, Donald Glover is so talented at writing, and he’s so talented at storytelling. He knows all the rules, and then you can break them. That’s what Odd Squad taught. I know the structure. Kids need structure. I know all the rules. Now in my own writing, it’s informed. I’m aware of what I’m doing whenever I’m going off the edges or outside of the lines.

Robby Hoffman Has a Genius Invention ‘Hacks’ Randi Would Approve Of

“If you become a millionaire from this idea, send me $88,000.”

Image via HBO Max

I want to jump into Hacks. I love Randi, as many people do.

HOFFMAN: A little character that could.

I want to get to Episode 4 in particular, but what’s great is that your character has a solution for everything before the problem arises. There’s one episode where Randi invents a tray that warms drinks, and it’s just like a very quick throwaway line, but it was so smart. If there was a little gadget or something that you wish could solve a little daily annoyance you have, what would it be?

HOFFMAN: You know what it is? I don’t read a lot of physical books, but this is something I invented, and it probably exists, maybe now. Or if you have the wherewithal to put this together and get it on Shark Tank and figure it out, you can keep the money. Send me $88,000, okay? That’s all I ask. If you become a millionaire from this idea, send me $88,000.

You got it.

HOFFMAN: I love when I’m reading an article — maybe this will come out as an article — and maybe you’ll use a word that is a little outside of my vocabulary. I could hit that, look up the word, and expand my vocabulary by that one word. When I’m reading a physical book, I have to look it up on my phone or a dictionary, which my mother has sent me a physical dictionary. I invented a bookmark that has a little screen, almost like a PDF reader screen. You can put it on any word as you’re reading a physical paper book for as long as they still last. So maybe this product only lasts for another couple years. And it displays the meaning of the word for you, but it’s thin enough as a bookmark.

That’s pretty genius.

HOFFMAN: Right? And it’s a cute little thing. You put it at the end of Barnes & Noble, you know, the cash register, you just hang it there, right? It’s one of those last-minute grabs. I mean, it’s $9.99, which is a lot for a bookmark, but for a bookmark uploaded with a dictionary, it could be good. I’m Randi-like in that I have very particular ideas for particular uses.

Robby Hoffman Reveals That Her ‘Hacks’ Character Randi Was Written for Her

“I guess I inadvertently do physical comedy, but it’s not a conscious thing.”

One of my favorite episodes is Episode 4 of the season. Anna Konkle was such a fun cameo, and there’s a lot of physical comedy. I’m just curious, do you embrace physical comedy a lot? What was it like filming those scenes with Anna?

HOFFMAN: She was so funny. Anna was so funny. I thought she was the funniest one-off character that I got to work with, with Randi. She was an incredible talent, and all of her takes were great, and her looks. The physical comedy… I think I’ve always been a big talker in terms of talking with my hands. I talk with my whole body. So I guess I inadvertently do physical comedy, but it’s not a conscious thing. If there’s a stage, and you’ll see this in my stand-up, Wake Up on Netflix, I move, I take up whatever room is there. You know, if I have to sit in the chair, I’m sitting in the chair, but look how much out of the chair I already am, right? If there’s a stage, I’m curious, what’s that corner? What’s it like over here? [Laughs] I do end up having more physicality than I think I consciously realize.

And it works well for Randi.

HOFFMAN: Oh, good!

She was such a fun, eccentric character. How much of it is off the cuff, and how much is it on the page that you just bring to life?

HOFFMAN: You know what? It’s funny because Season 4 was a lot more off the cuff. They wrote the character for me, yet I still had to audition, which is fair. They’re like, well, we do know Robby… can she do it? [Laughs] You know, there’s no trust yet. Of course, we nailed it, thank God, and I remember that the few scenes that I had in Season 4, a lot of it was more off the cuff, but then they really knew how to write for Randi by Season 5. So a lot of it isn’t off the cuff. A lot of it I was reading, I was like, “Randi would say that,” or “This is how she would say it.” Still, a bunch is off the cuff. It’s a little bit of both, you know, certainly. Randi is very type A and goes a hundred percent into everything and is encyclopedic in ways that Robby isn’t. That writing is very helpful. And the ways that she’s like Robby, maybe she doesn’t say the right thing, or she’s a little rough around the edges, then maybe Robby comes out in those ways, so it’s a really fun mix.

It’s been a pleasure to talk to you, and I’m just excited to see the rest of Hacks and congrats on everything.

HOFFMAN: Thank you so much. Great interview.

New episodes of Hacks Season 5 air Thursdays on HBO Max.