Robby Hoffman was born into an viewers. Rising up as one among 10 youngsters in a Hasidic Jewish household in Brooklyn, the comic says she has all the time been most snug in a crowd.
“I’ve all the time lived in very dense residences or neighborhoods,” she says. “It feels very pure. I really like being with so many individuals, the extra the merrier.”
However 2025 is the 12 months that Hoffman’s viewers reached new heights. She appeared on HBO’s “Hacks” Season 4 as Randi, the off-beat assistant for Paul W. Downs and Meg Stalter’s new administration firm — a task that earned Hoffman an Emmy nomination for excellent visitor actress in a comedy. She additionally married her longtime girlfriend, former ICU nurse and “Bachelorette” star Gabby Windey. And to cap off the 12 months, Hoffman’s first Netflix stand-up particular, “Wake Up” — directed by John Mulaney — premiered on the platform Sunday.
“I’ve by no means been the in a single day success,” Hoffman says of her profession. “I by no means had connections or the quick monitor in any manner, form or type. So I simply bought used to sluggish and regular wins the race.”
Hoffman credit the origins of her profession to her upbringing. She turned culturally knowledgeable concerning the world of comedy by means of trying out comedy movies on journeys to the library organized by her mom each weekend. However most of all, Hoffman knew being humorous ran in her household.
“We had been all humorous,” Hoffman explains. “Not all the things was a humorous state of affairs. We weren’t a state of affairs comedy, plenty of it was dreadful.”
From dropping out of CPA college to working with John Mulaney, Hoffman’s journey displays years of persistence in pursuing her comedy goals and simple expertise.
(Aaron Wynia)
The comic recollects a selected occasion as a toddler when she observed a glass jar labeled Hoffman Emergency Fund contained only some quarters. Realizing this was all her single mom of 10 youngsters had saved for the complete household, Hoffman says she and her mom burst into laughter. “It was heartbreaking, and likewise extraordinarily humorous.”
The household moved from Brooklyn to Montreal, the place Hoffman went to varsity at McGill College. She deliberate to review accounting, after an instructional advisor mentioned it could be the most effective route to maximise the best paying profession for the least quantity of faculty. However throughout this time, she found the Only for Laughs comedy competition and her love of stand-up. On her first day of graduate college for her CPA certificates, after already accepting a job at an accounting agency, Hoffman dropped out to pursue comedy.
Wanting on the careers of Ellen DeGeneres and Jerry Seinfeld, Hoffman determined that the most effective path to a profession in comedy could be by means of writing a TV present. Utilizing the free laptop given to her by her accounting job, Hoffman wrote a script in Microsoft Phrase — manually formatting the pages to imitate the look of a screenplay since she couldn’t afford script-writing software program like Last Draft.
Hoffman introduced the script to the places of work at HBO Canada and different networks. She posed as a courier, telling the receptionists that the script was requested by an govt. “This was the good thing about not figuring out a lot about stand-up. Had I identified, I’d’ve had some disgrace,” Hoffman says.
However Hoffman later obtained phrase that the script was learn and bought an choice deal for $1,000. Whereas the undertaking by no means materialized, this expertise led her to being employed as a writers’ assistant on the PBS kids’s TV present “Odd Squad.” Hoffman gained an Emmy in 2019 for her work writing the collection and gained her first expertise on a set.
As Hoffman took on extra writing jobs for varied TV collection, she moved to Los Angeles — fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“I had a letter I bought to open once I was 18 that I wrote myself once I was 12 … It mentioned that I hope I dwell in L.A.,” Hoffman recollects. “My father lived in Los Angeles and I all the time needed a relationship with him, however for no matter purpose he wasn’t in a position to be in our lives the way in which that we needed … I all the time felt the pull to California and all the time felt linked to L.A. I bought to go to my father as soon as [in L.A.] once I was 15 and it was wonderful.”
Hoffman describes “Wake Up” as a end result of her California goals. Shot on the Masonic Lodge within the Hollywood Endlessly Cemetery, the brand new particular is the grand assertion she needed her first Netflix particular to be.
John Mulaney, who has turn out to be probably the most celebrated comedians of the final decade, reached out to Hoffman and requested to direct the particular when he heard it was in improvement. He introduced Hoffman on tour with him as an opener and has celebrated her expertise as an artist. “Wake Up” even begins with a short introduction by Mulaney the place he describes Hoffman as “a legend on the high of her recreation.”
“He’s actually the definition of a person,” Hoffman says of Mulaney.
Hoffman’s comedy stylings have typically been in comparison with Larry David. Along with her thick Brooklyn accent and observational materials, Hoffman performs like a millennial with the soul of an outdated man. “I’m humorous, however not enjoyable,” she says in “Wake Up.” She is the grasp of an exclamation and may zero in on her complaints on a subject as vast as all males or as slim because the decreased use of defibrillators in media.
The particular’s title is a reference to an oft-repeated phrase in Hoffman’s materials that she addresses on to the viewers. However the comic additionally sees the similarity between the title and a typical criticism by some high-profile comedians, akin to Joe Rogan and Ricky Gervais, in recent times: that individuals aren’t allowed to say what they need in comedy anymore due to new “woke” requirements towards political correctness. “Wake Up” supplies a powerful counterpoint. Matters lined within the particular embrace pedophiles, sexuality, gender roles and up to date pronoun use. Hoffman zips by means of these topics with ease; she says she doesn’t method her materials as controversial, solely as what’s at the moment on her thoughts.
Talking on the present comedy local weather, Hoffman says, “You’ll be able to say no matter you need, however be ready to face on what you mentioned. Possibly any person doesn’t like what you mentioned — hell, I’ve skilled that. You’ll be able to say what you need, however so can different folks.”
As a substitute, Hoffman trusts her viewers will come to her. She says she hasn’t discovered sure audiences kind of receptive to her work in several geographic areas or that her materials has been too provocative. “I believe I get away with, ‘Effectively, what are you going to do? It’s Robby Hoffman.’”
Hoffman achieved main milestones in 2025: an Emmy nomination for “Hacks,” marriage to Gabby Windey and her first Netflix stand-up particular, “Wake Up.”
(Aaron Wynia)
However regardless of her comparisons to pessimistic comedians like Larry David, Hoffman stays an optimist. When discussing the rise of synthetic intelligence, which in recent times has been characterised as a serious menace to the leisure business, Hoffman believes that this second has the power to spice up human artistry.
“Possibly that is simply because I’ve all the time completed higher in storms,” Hoffman explains. “However the silver lining I believe can be this actual push of unimaginable inventive work. Nearly just like the Renaissance interval or one other interval the place humanity faces an existential menace to some extent. It simply pushes the most effective out when it comes to creativity in our humanity as if to say, ‘We had been right here.’”
2025 may be referred to as a momentous 12 months for Hoffman. However she sees the years of dedication she has put into her profession as culminating so far. To her, it’s fortuitous timing so many milestones have occurred previously 12 months. Every thing is the results of work that Hoffman has been doing since she walked out of that CPA program over 10 years in the past.
“Nearly yearly feels momentous,” Hoffman says about her profession path. “This feels as momentous as once I bought $1,000 for an choice of a script.”
And Hoffman nonetheless sees the magic in all the things. Whereas describing the sensation of capturing the ultimate season of “Hacks” in L.A., she continues to be in awe of the place she finds herself. “Issues don’t get outdated for me, that’s why I might nonetheless have saltines each single day,” Hoffman says. “I really like working in L.A., it’s unbelievable: I drive onto the lot … [I see] the palm timber, the gates, the massive water tower …Lengthy dwell the water tower.”
Hoffman’s future is wanting as busy as ever. She is ending filming “Hacks” Season 5, growing a TV present and showing in a brand new comedy collection from Steve Carell and “Ted Lasso” creator Invoice Lawrence — each for HBO — and embarking on a stand-up tour in 2026. However for the comic, this 12 months doesn’t symbolize a sudden explosion of success. As a substitute, that is the 12 months the true dimension of her viewers lastly discovered her.
“I used to be saying from the start, there’s one thing right here. I used to be the primary one saying that. I used to be saying, ‘I believe there’s one thing with Robby Hoffman.’ However now all people’s becoming a member of me.”
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