In the absence of Joan Rivers (in September it will be 10 years since her death), we have Deborah Vance in Hacks. In one of the promotional interviews for the third season of the series, Jean Smart, the actress who plays her, said that during the filming of a sequence – she does not specify what it was about – she left a pause too long in one of her lines after telling a joke. When the director asked her to shorten it in the next take, she explained why she had prolonged her silence so much: “I was waiting for the laughs.” The director laughed, thinking it was a joke in itself, but Smart insisted: “I’m serious, with a bit of luck the people at home will be laughing. How many times do you watch a series or a movie and you miss half the lines because you’re laughing?”
The actress’s question was rhetorical, but I can’t help but answer: in my case, less and less. I don’t think I’ve laughed out loud since Little faithI suspect it’s not because there’s a lack of funny comedies, although the recent trend in television has led many comedies to shy away from laughter, as if provoking laughter were vulgar and not one of the greatest feats of communication; things of posthumor. I suspect it has more to do with a professional deformation: I often see the seams of the joke, I process it before I enjoy it. I recognize its value, I know it’s funny (when it is), but I don’t laugh, doctor.
We have also put humor into question. While the struggle between the exegetes of the joke, the dowsers of the offense, and the bullies of the word who complain in prime time of their lack of freedom of expression, Hacks finds a way to reconcile old and young humor. First, through the design of its two main characters. Deborah and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) are each products of their time, but they know how to see beyond their prejudices. They find each other because, above all, they make each other laugh. As Deborah said in the first season: “When you share a sense of humor with someone, it’s like finding someone who speaks your same little language.” Hacks He continues to speak our language. I wish he would never shut up. At most, just the seconds necessary to let us laugh.
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