{"id":32196,"date":"2019-03-29T03:56:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T10:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32196"},"modified":"2019-03-27T12:35:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T19:35:37","slug":"hoffmans-new-crave-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/03\/29\/hoffmans-new-crave-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoffman\u2019s new Crave special"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comedian Robby Hoffman in action. (photo from Bell Media)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Onstage, her energy is barely contained. She delivers lines in a clipped, almost angry fashion, sporting a tight bun and dark clothes. From contemplating pizza\u2019s puzzling popularity, to sharing how one customs officer saw the fire in her that she never knew she had, to musing about what it\u2019s like to be the seventh of 10 children, the fashion choices of antisemites, her sexual prowess and the cost of duotangs, Robby Hoffman is very funny. It is no wonder that Robby Hoffman: I\u2019m Nervous<\/em> is among the new stand-up comedy specials Bell Media released last month on Crave.<\/p>\n

Produced with Just for Laughs and Counterfeit Pictures, Robby Hoffman: I\u2019m Nervous<\/em> was filmed last September at Toronto\u2019s Longboat Hall during the JFL42 comedy festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge deal. It was always a dream of mine to have a special, to have a TV special specifically, and to do an hour,\u201d L.A.-based Hoffman told the Independent<\/em> in a phone interview from London, England, where she was doing gigs, and visiting her girlfriend, writer and director Ally Pankiw, who was there for work. In contrast to her stage persona, Hoffman was relaxed and chatty on the phone.<\/p>\n

A lot of comedians self-produce amazing albums or routines in smaller increments of time, said Hoffman, but, \u201cfor me, in stand-up, it always felt like the pinnacle to have an hour\u2026. It was a really great way to cap off all the work I\u2019ve been doing since I started, and, to have an hour that was sharp, it felt like everything. And to do it with Just for Laughs, name of all names, it was everything and it was incredibly fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman\u2019s numerous writing credits include The Chris Gethard Show<\/em> on TruTV, which just wrapped up last year, episodes of PBS\u2019s Odd Squad<\/em> (which has won an Emmy for writing), and CBC\u2019s Workin\u2019 Moms<\/em> and Baroness von Sketch Show<\/em>. Most recently, she wrote for eight episodes of the series Mind Fudge<\/em>. The Crave special allowed her to jump back into stand-up full-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be doing stand-up night after night until this hour was great. And I had never recorded the hour all at once,\u201d she said. \u201cI was doing it in small increments of 10-minute spots, 15-minute spots, seven-minute spots, so when I recorded the hour, it was the first time I had done that hour. I had to nail it, working through all the themes \u2026 making sure it all cohesively worked, even though I only really worked on it in portions. So, agonizing over the different portions coming together and working on the transitions from different themes so that they flowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they do flow, somehow, despite the vast diversity of topics. She said that (apparent) randomness is a signature of hers. She uses it both to take audiences off guard, but also as part of the joke. As well, she uses it to prepare people for what\u2019s coming. For example, she drops hints along the way to warn the audience well in advance that she will be talking about the Holocaust, so that, when she gets there, they will have been with her for some time. Then, she said, when \u201cwe\u2019re really in the thick of it together \u2026 I\u2019ll reward you with hand-job material or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Hoffman said she doesn\u2019t have any red lines when it comes to comedy, she said, \u201cI talk through my own experiences only. I\u2019m never going to step into a territory that I don\u2019t feel is mine to speak about. But, beyond that\u2026. If it\u2019s something within my realm of what I could talk about and you tell me not to talk about it, that\u2019s what I want to talk about more. For instance, the Holocaust is taboo, and some people are really offended by [jokes about] it. I feel, as a Jew, I\u2019m reclaiming it and, if you\u2019re telling me not to talk about it, I\u2019m going to.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cI think that Jewish people can talk about Jewish experience. I think black folk can talk about black experience. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything off limits within the Jewish community for me. I do think everything is off limits to me with regards to communities I\u2019m not a part of or I don\u2019t have a firsthand experience. My comedy is very firsthand \u2013 I\u2019m not doing observational humour that are these one-liners that can relate to anyone. My comedy is unique, such that I\u2019m the only person who could say my comedy…. You hear of big comedians having writers \u2013 I don\u2019t feel like that would work for me simply because my comedy is so personal. I\u2019m the only person who can write my own comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Hoffman\u2019s background is unique, indeed. Born in Brooklyn, she grew up in Montreal, where her mother raised her and her nine siblings as a single parent, having divorced Hoffman\u2019s father and having left the Chassidic community. Hoffman came out as lesbian in her late teens, left home at 18 and kept kosher until about the same time. She started her working career as an accountant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to have a Plan B,\u201d she explained, \u201cand I knew that the arts was always something free, that if I wanted to do it, I could do it on my own, and I could find a way that wasn\u2019t with the structure of school to do it. But a financial backup plan was not something as easily attained for me, so I went into accounting. I thought, well, I can always get a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a laptop from her employer and a regular paycheque every two weeks, Hoffman said, \u201cI felt like a billionaire. I can\u2019t even explain what it was like\u2026. It was just the best to be able to sleep at night. Being worried about money is not something a lot of my peers thought about. I felt very alone in that sort of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once she \u201cfelt safe and comfortable,\u201d that\u2019s when her \u201ccreative juices went wild,\u201d she said, and that\u2019s when she discovered stand-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t grow up with it, I wasn\u2019t somebody who had the albums and all this stuff, but, once I knew about it, I immediately thought, \u2018Oh, I feel like I could do that.\u2019 I don\u2019t mean to say, \u2018Oh, it looks easy.\u2019 A lot of people think they could do it \u2013 I felt like it was me. I felt, \u2018Oh, my God.\u2019 It felt like me already. And I got started immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thinking that all stand-ups wrote, she started writing. Noting that it was only later that she realized how little comedians also write, she said, \u201cI wrote a pilot and, even though it never got made, it did get me rep and it got me writing on other shows and it started my writing career. But it\u2019s amazing how many times I\u2019ve been the only active stand-up and writer in a writers\u2019 room, which I didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman is driven by her love of the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s so incredible about doing what I do and making a living doing what I do is … I never imagined it possible. I didn\u2019t know these careers as careers. I didn\u2019t know writing was even a thing, let alone what you got paid for a script, nothing like that. But waking up and not dreading where I go to work every day is still something I don\u2019t take for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

She started as a writer\u2019s assistant. \u201cI was first one in, would get there early, have my coffee, enjoy. I was last one out. I was never more motivated \u2013 and it\u2019s still to this day. I would have to be literally on death\u2019s door not to go into work because I love it so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also really lucky in that the shows that I do work on, I choose to work on them for a certain reason. There\u2019s something about them that either gives me growth or it gives me a challenge or I really just love it. And it\u2019s a pleasure to work creatively all day, every day, and to be valued for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what lies ahead, Hoffman said, \u201cI have so many goals. Think of the biggest goal you can imagine, and that\u2019s what I have for myself. Yes, my own show. Yes, who knows, my own studio. I don\u2019t even know where it could go. I just want to try for the biggest, best thing. I want my life to be as much as I want it to be. There\u2019s no limit on wanting that for yourself. There shouldn\u2019t be a limit on dreaming. I never want to lose that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost, for a second, lost my childhood curiosity and dreaming and spirit, for a second, because, when you are poor and you want to be normal, and you want to make ends meet, you do give up a lot, and I was never somebody who was able to dream. We weren\u2019t told to dream, we weren\u2019t taught to dream, we weren\u2019t taught we could be anything we wanted to be, almost nothing. There was not a lot of encouragement, so I gave that all to myself…. I always want to tell myself to reach for the biggest, best, whatever that is, and that changes for everyone. Within my career and within my capabilities, I want to continue growing forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comedian Robby Hoffman in action. (photo from Bell Media) Onstage, her energy is barely contained. She delivers lines in a clipped, almost angry fashion, sporting a tight bun and dark clothes. From contemplating pizza\u2019s puzzling popularity, to sharing how one customs officer saw the fire in her that she never knew she had, to musing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[5278,8836,8835],"class_list":["post-32196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-comedy","tag-robby-hoffman","tag-stand-up"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}