Hacks – The Roast of Deborah Vance

By: Kelly Kearney

After learning Danny Collins wouldn’t be returning to the Late Night desk, Deborah turns the heat up on her comedy roast–looking for a PR scorcher to catch the attention of the network. Combining her merchandising empire with her current grip on comedy and pop culture, Deborah knows this is her last shot at making her lifelong dream come true. The roast is just the start of her Deb-domination, as she plasters herself across every talk show and advert Marcus can lock down for her. Also in the episode, DJ invites her mother to NA for a special milestone. It’s been five years since she chose to get sober and she wants her mother there for her big congrats. It’s all laughs, tears, and cringy catchphrases in Hacks’ third episode, “The Roast of Deborah Vance.”

The Late Show Needs a New Host

The episode opens with Ava (Hannah Einbinder) back at Deborah’s mansion trying to exhale the negativity with some morning meditation. Unfortunately for her zen moment, no soft-spoken yoga guru can drown out the screeching of her mentor and once again, boss, Deborah (Jean Smart). Screaming her name as she barges into her room, Deborah expects her writer/producer to be at her beck and call. She needs a punchline that could only work when told by a gay icon like herself. Who better to help than Deborah’s at-home bi-wr, Ava? We learn that gay comedian Mario Cantone is hosting her roast and she needs a comeback worthy of that funny man’s rainbow crown. Ava shakes the peace from her mind and rattles off the perfect joke; day 1 of spending her hiatus in Vance-world. Her privacy is no match for Deborah’s needs, and while she is used to the all-consuming “Vancisms” that go on in the mansion, boundaries need to be set soon. Knocking, for one, and also some guest room redecorating is on order. How can Ava sleep surrounded by photos of Deborah and all the war criminal pals she’s met over the last forty years? It’s tough to clear your mind while looking at your boss cozying up to Saddam Hussein.

At a breakfast meeting with her whole team, Deborah breaks the news about the phone call she received from Danny Collins. Not only did he offer his congratulations on her guest hosting success, but he also tipped her off to his early retirement. The job she has dreamed about is up for grabs and she expects her team to help her nail it down. With her back-to-back successes with the special and the stand-in hosting, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) thinks the timing couldn’t be more perfect. She might be the funniest woman in America right now, but she knows locking down this gig won’t be easy, “I would have better luck running for President.” The network has never hired a female late-night host–certainly not one at her age. Thinking about it, Ava is starting to like the President idea, even if Deborah claims the White House is too cramped to live in. Emotionally, she is taking a big risk here, but Vegas is her blood and according to the ratings, all bets are on Vance if she officially puts her name in for the job. Her first order of business is to focus on her upcoming roast–only Legends get those brutal takedowns and she needs the special to be memorable. Jimmy and Kayla (Megan Statler)are working on the guest list while Damien books her pre-show “Lymphatic Drainage.” Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) is a bit out of his element regarding TV hosting but is always up for a new and profitable Vance-World challenge. Ava’s first order of business is to fire Deborah’s writers and she hates the idea. It is awkward firing people you know but Deborah can’t risk any bad press from two disgruntled ex-employees. Deborah thinks the canning will hit with a softer blow if it comes from one of their own. Ava’s whining gets drowned out by Deborah, barking orders in Polish to the landscaper outside.

Mother/Daughter Bonding

The two writers take the news as expected–they blame each other, and later, she tells Deborah one of them even cried. She hated the whole thing, but not as much as she was going to hate her next job. Jimmy interrupts with bad news: the roast producers want to include a family member on the panel, and since her sister, Kathy, is an instant no, that leaves only the seriously unfunny D.J. (Kaitlin Olsen). Deborah needs this to work but is convinced D.J. can’t hack it. At first, her daughter isn’t interested in being the butt of her mother’s jokes–especially in front of millions of people. The idea of millions excites Deborah, who then turns on the maternal charm and makes D.J. a deal; she will go to her recovery meeting for her fifth sober anniversary if D.J. agrees to do the roast. If it wasn’t a financial obligation,  Deborah wasn’t exactly the most supportive mother, so agreeing to the meeting meant a lot to her daughter.

Awash in a sea of titillating skin and fashion, Ava tracks down her bestie, Kiki (Poppy Liu) as the woman gets ready for her daughter’s PTA fashion show. This showgirls catwalk event isn’t your average elementary school fundraiser, but it is for this bougie learning institution that only the best of Deborah Vance’s money can buy.  The school’s botanical gardens won’t build itself. Before Ava can blow sparkly dust on Kiki’s backside to complete her look, she offers her friend some advice: set boundaries with Deborah if she wants to make her return to their working environment a pleasant one.

The Jokes are on D.J.

The NA meeting turns into a warm-up for Deborah’s act when her heartfelt speech courtesy of Ava morphs into one D.J. joke after another. She wrecks D.J. ‘s entire night, and angry words, accusations, and disappointments are spoken–more like yelled, outside of the meeting. As the argument gets more heated, D.J. lets it slip that she’s pregnant. The fighting comes to a screeching halt and Deborah drops her sparring gloves for a softer approach but the damage is done. DJ is so angry she walks home from the meeting rather than ride in the car with Deborah–who is more concerned with the outcome of the roast than her angry daughter. If D.J. ruins the roast then her Late Night dreams are in jeopardy, and Deborah has no one but herself to blame–not that she ever would.

Like mother, like daughter, D.J. barges into Ava’s bedroom the following morning and both women cringe when we see Ava using the restroom with the door open. D.J. saw more than she ever wanted, and now Ava knows Kiki was right; boundaries are in order, and not just for Deborah. The two flush the awkward–literally, and get down to what D.J. wants–joke advice. She never tells Ava what went down at the meeting with her mom, instead, she asks for help with her roast catchphrase. D.J. seems to think all comedians have one–not her mom, but all the rest, and while Ava disagrees, she is speechless when D.J. hangs a, “What a c*nt!” at the end of a series of one-liners. She smiles with pride but it’s just a cover for her simmering rage and Ava tries not to insult the woman. Out of the two people in the room, D.J. is the only one laughing until she randomly spits out, “I’m pregnant,” to a very shocked Ava. She is happy for D.J., or maybe it’s restrained laughter over the idea of Mee-Maw Vance and offers to help her with her jokes while trying to persuade her to drop the big C-phrase at her mom’s important roast. It doesn’t go well, and when Ava fills Deborah in–and wisely leaves out the catchphrase debacle, her boss’s worries only intensify. She needs this to go smoothly and ticking off her hormonal and emotionally neglected daughter is going to have the exact opposite outcome. Ava worries that D.J. might embarrass herself and asks Deborah to consider cutting her pregnant daughter from the show. After a fun little back and forth about naming baby Vance after her “uncle” Ava, “It’s a beautiful–very hot girl vibes’ name, Deborah agrees to talk to D.J. about skipping the roast. Considering the two haven’t spoken since the meeting blowout, D.J. is less than inviting when her mother shows up waving her checkbook around and playing the doting grandmother role. Whether there is truth behind her concern for D.J. ‘s well-being, and we can assume there is, because Deborah is all jokes masking deep layers, she is mostly at her doorstep offering D.J. an out on the roast. D.J. refuses her mother’s gifts as she knows they come with strings, and she has every intention of getting herself a little payback.

Backstage, Ava and Deborah check in on D.J. and the tension between the two is thick. It’s only cut by the handsome comedian, Jack Danby (Luke Cook), who charms Deborah before the show with his special style of throw-back flattery that makes Ava’s eyes roll.

Catchphrases and Late-Night Hosting Wars

After spitting her throat lozenge into Ava’s hand (gross), Mario Cantone introduces Deborah to the stage. Kicking off the hour with Danby, “The nicest guy in Hollywood,” followed by fellow comedians like Patton Oswalt and a slew of others lining up to mock the Queen of Comedy, the roast is a riot and each comedian outdoes the last. All eyes are on D.J. when she hits the stage as Deborah’s side-splitting laughter turns to squirming on her throne. To Ava, Jimmy, and Deborah’s surprise and delight, D.J. nails the material, but it’s that offensive catchphrase of hers that steals the night. She does such an amazing job–including making her mother laugh herself to tears, and her name is on all the guest comedians’ lips. Everyone wants to talk about the legend’s funny daughter and perhaps for the first time in her life, Deborah is proud of her. After growing up in the shadows of her mother’s spotlight, D.J. tells Deborah she finally gets it. That laughter and applause is addicting–she already craves it, and just like she ranked drugs above everything else, her mother ranked fame above her. Too bad for Deborah there isn’t a 12-step program for success, but at least D.J. has moved on from their fight.

Later, at the post-show party, Ava and Deborah overhear the news that Jack Danby charmed his way into the front of the pack for Late Night hosts. His good looks fade fast, and now all Deborah sees is the enemy in her way. According to her, he isn’t even funny, but his mediocre talents combined with his age and good looks mean he is ahead of the game. Deborah and Ava have a lot of work to do, but before they can dive into destroying that smug Jack Danby, they have some issues to go over. Ava–now holding an executive producer title, has a list of boundaries she needs to set for her to continue working for Deborah. She has her boss’s attention and the list of rules seems acceptable: No more spitting things into her hand or firing people. “Done, deal.” But Ava is not done. She wants Deborah to knock before she walks into her bedroom, a set work schedule with overtime pay, no more personal speeches, and the real kicker, no more jokes about her appearance–and that includes the size of her hands. That last one is a bridge too far for Deborah, who wails, “Those are grandfathered in!” but Ava is serious. Deborah let that little bird leave the nest hoping she would grow into a vicious vulture like herself, and these rules are the first signs that Ava has changed. Deborah hates it but she can respect it–for now, and agrees to her partner’s demands if Ava agrees to hers. In Ava’s off time, she has to work on her stuff–not just Deborah’s, and from the surprising look on Ava’s face, she isn’t the only one who has grown a bit during their separation. Deborah from a year ago would’ve never given Ava the space to shine. This is the start of a new and beautiful relationship, and if Josefina (Rose Abdoo) has to be the one who delivers the personal “big hands” jabs courtesy of Deborah’s texts, so be it!