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Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

“Hacks” wonders why saying sorry is rare in comedy

“Never apologize for a joke,” says Deborah Vance, echoing many comedians. This episode challenges that notion

Published May 24, 2024 1:30PM (EDT)

Spoiler alert: This article discusses major plot points featured in Episode 8 of "Hacks," titled "Yes, And"

“Hacks” at its best is an exercise in wish fulfillment. That, and the regrettable gifts-with-purchase that come with realizing long-deferred dreams. The outcome of “Yes, And,” the season’s penultimate episode, proves this when at long last, Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) wins the job that has long eluded her after decades of playing to pliant Vegas slot jockeys content to giggle at the broadest pabulum.

Getting there took a lot of clawing through others’ low expectations and a moral flogging session at the finish line, courtesy of students at her alma mater, a situation she set in motion years before more of them were born. Her crime? Telling the same bad jokes that everyone else was telling.

We’re constantly reminded that Deborah is one of the toughest people to work for in show business, and that the same drive that made her wealthy and iconic also makes her a bit monstrous. And yet, the love she shares with her protégé Ava (Hannah Einbinder) is obvious to anyone with a working heart.

Deborah understands that working with Ava makes her more than a sharper performer. Ava makes her a better person, whether Deborah likes it or not. Of course, the world isn’t privy to the moments when Deborah shows she’s grown by defending bisexual people to a group of her comedy contemporaries at a gathering from which they’d long excluded her.

Ava, meanwhile, endures the brunt of Deborah’s hazing in the form of verbal jabs........

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