From there she demonstrates that she doesn't know how to treat women, starting with a stereotypical flub about lesbians and golfing before tumbling face-first into some crowd work that incorrectly assumes her audience is horny for her. "But you have welcomed me with open arms, and I am so flattered! And if you know me at all, you know that flattery is my biggest turn-on." The audience applauds.Ī beat later Deborah sings out, "I should have known – women know how to treat women!" This nets more thunderous applause. "Honestly, when I first found out I was booked on a lesbian cruise I was angry," Deborah declares at the top of her act. RELATED: "Hacks" is a generational sucker punch Like many of her straight male comedian counterparts, she misinterprets their attention as flirting.
That means she interprets her fellow passengers' individual gestures of validation and acceptance the wrong way. Ava's aware that Deborah has spent her career catering to men, gay and straight, clawing her way to success in a field dominated by straight white men. The audience cheers and claps along because they don't know Deborah – not in the way Ava does.
Ava understands that her boss thinks she's communicating with the audience in some magical language, letting them know she's on their side. " as she recognizes the mimicry.īut what Deborah does is worse than simple imitation. Seeing the first shimmy makes Ava blurt, "Ohhh no. "Hacks" acknowledges Ellen DeGeneres' broad influence by having its star comic Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) open her show on a lesbian cruise by dancing awkwardly to Pharrell's "Happy." This is uncharacteristic of Deborah, and her writing partner and protégé Ava (Hannah Einbinder) knows it.