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Talk about being prescient.
Before CBS introduced that they had been pulling the plug on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, season 4 of HBO’s Hacks already handled the same scenario the place protag Deborah Vance’s late night time present host went fiercely toe-to-toe with community brass over freedom of humorous expression — a combat which will get the Jean Smart character fired.
One of the rumors out there’s that CBS axed The Late Show as a consequence of its slanting humor in opposition to POTUS (the community claims it was about lack of profitability in late night time), and to appease the administration in its latest blessing of the Skydance-Paramount merger.
Still, there’s one thing soothsaying in Hacks season 4 in the case of not simply its commentary on late night time, however the state of comedy total. We communicate with Hacks co-creators Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky about all of it in immediately’s episode.
L-R: Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in ‘Hacks’ Season 4
Courtesy of Max
Downs, taking a fast break from the season 5 writers’ room, tells Deadline’s Crew Call, “We were shaken by the news of Stephen Colbert’s cancellation because, it’s literally the same circumstances under which Deborah chooses to leave her show.”
“It was kind of a crazy thing to have that happen. Almost witchy, that it happened right after this. I mean, literally like three months after the episode aired,” Downs continues.
The state of comedy leisure is at the moment seeing the perfect of occasions and worst of occasions. On one finish, stand-ups are seeing growth occasions because of social media, however sketch artists and comedy gamers are discovering it arduous to launch exhibits as streamers pinch pennies. That’s irritating contemplating the format has at all times been thriftly priced. Still, streamers have an effectivity obsession on the ratio of value vs. viewership.
Says Downs, “I don’t think it’s harder to make comedy (nowadays) because of the culture or climate. Why it’s harder to make comedy now is because there is no Comedy Central. And now with the cancellation of The Late Show, which for a lot of writers is the place they get their first job; and for a lot of standups, it’s a place they get their first break and they get seen for the first time. Institutions like that going away and Comedy Central Originals going away — that’s why it’s hard to make comedy. And it’s exactly what we deal with in (the episode) ‘A Slippery Slope’.”
“It’s harder to make comedy because, you know, people, the business has changed so much, and now it’s not enough just to make a small profit,” Downs provides.
“With tech, with streaming, with public companies that have stock prices to worry about, I do think that now it’s not enough just to make a profit.”
“But particularly in comedy, it’s really scary. We hear anecdotally things all the time from our writers whose agents say, ‘You know, maybe you should write a drama script.’ So, I think it’s harder to make comedy basically because of the marketplace and because people are scared of taking risks. Because when a comedy does work, I think it’s really successful and really lucrative for people.”
“Deborah actually deals with that in her monologue. She says there are good people on the business side. When she gets it, it’s a business. But she leaves the show because she believes that we don’t need to roll over to business as usual. And like her corporate overlords, she believes in fighting for a business that works for both executives and for artists.”
We additionally chat with Statsky and Downs about the way forward for Hacks, returning to shoot in Altadena which was impacted by the fires (and noticed the lack of the mansion the place Vance lives), in addition to their subsequent present Kansas City Star starring Kaley Cuoco.
Hacks counts 9 Emmy wins together with a shock prize final 12 months for Outstanding Comedy Series. Hacks is up for 14 Emmy noms for season 4 together with Comedy Series, Lucia Aniello’s directing on “A Slippery Slope” in Comedy Series Directing, and Aniello, Downs and Statsky’s Comedy Series Writing for that episode.
Listen to our dialog beneath: