‘Hacks’ Creators: Emmys, Colbert, and What’s Next for Deborah and Ava

Obsessed: The Podcast

The Daily Beast

Tv & Film

4.5 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The three creators of the Emmy-nominated comedy series ‘Hacks’ had no idea they were predicting the future when they had their central late-night host character defiantly speak out against her network bosses and then lose her dream job. In this episode, Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky break down the “surreal” parallels between Deborah Vance’s arc in Season 4 and the real-life tribulations of Stephen Colbert. They talk about the importance of late-night TV, what its future might hold, and reveal how they got Jimmy Kimmel to play a bully version of himself on the show. The trio also goes deep on casting leads Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, as well as this year’s Emmy-nominated guest stars Robby Hoffman and Dance Mom herself, Julianne Nicholson. And they tease what might be in store for Season 5—including why fans are so desperate for Deborah and Ava to finally hook up. Follow Paul W. Downs on Instagram @paulwdowns Follow Matt Wilstein on Bluesky @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Last Laugh. I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast and joining me today on the show are three brilliantly funny writers and comedians who together created my personal favorite comedy series of the past several years hacks.
0:18.5	Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, welcome to The Last Laugh.
0:23.0	Thank you, Matt.
0:23.8	Thanks for having us.
0:24.9	Hi.
0:25.2	I'm so thrilled you.
0:26.1	You guys are here.
0:27.0	Yeah, of course.
0:28.2	I've been loving it since the beginning.
0:30.2	And I feel like I just, it's, it's so good.
0:32.5	And congrats on the 14 Emmy nominations, I believe, for season four, right?
0:56.5	Thank you, yeah. Yes, thank you. So we're in this voting period of the Emmys now. Are you guys ready to start shit-talking the competition? Or how are you feeling? Bring it on. No shit-talking here. I mean, we, you know, we really come from the world of, like, number one, more than anything. We're We're like all come from comedy, obsessed with comedy for us.
1:00.2	Like we truly, and I really mean this, like want every single comedy to succeed.
1:02.3	We want every comedy to get another season.
1:05.0	We want every number, like everyone to be so watched.
1:10.0	Like we really just believe so much and root so much for the comedy ecosystem to thrive.
1:15.4	Yeah. I mean, you guys are coming off a very exciting win for Best Comedy Series last year.
1:20.3	I was rewatching the moment where you won, and you seemed genuinely shocked in the audience.
1:22.3	Like, you really were not expecting it.
1:23.5	Was that the case?
1:25.5	Yes, that was genuine. That was very much genuine shock.
1:27.7	You know, like Lucia has said this before.
	...

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