Funny You Should Mention Feat. Robby Hoffman [Podcast]

Sure, stand-up comedy makes us laugh, but that’s not its only purpose. Comics use the stage to make arguments and express bigger picture world-views, getting people to laugh in the process of making deeper points.

In Funny You Should Mention, a new comedy series from Mike Pesca and The Comedy Cellar, Mike spends an hour with each comic, seeking to identify a broader thesis, and pressing comics to put a finer point on their arguments. Funny comes first, but it’s ideas that are explored on Funny You Should Mention.

Comedian, podcaster, and self-described cutie-in-her-own-way Robby Hoffman drops by the Funny You Should Mention to discuss her life, her comedy, and why she takes talking as seriously as any other art form.

From growing up ultra-Orthodox and ultra-poor to becoming a sought-after stand-up with a Porsche no one wants, Hoffman explains how she’s thrived in disaster and learned to mine discomfort for laughs.

The two explore America’s national personality deficit, what makes a story worth telling, and the joys of conflict when you grow up with nine siblings and no private phone line.

Plus: hundos, and the humanity-conferring properties of the nightstand.

Robby Hoffman: Robby Hoffman is a small ex-Hasidic queer Jewish stand-up comedian, writer, and true original. She can currently be seen as the breakout of Netflix’s Verified, their new selection of next generation stand-up comedians. _New York Time_s comedy critic Jason Zinoman compares her “bulldozing stand-up to Larry David because of her mountain-out-of-a-molehill kvetching, but her hilarious rage over people who complain about interruptions during a conversation makes her sound like a modern lesbian Andrew Dice Clay.”

Also a favorite of The Times is her podcast, Too Far (with Rachel Kaly) which is described as an “addictive listen”, and that “truly great comedy emerges from combustible hostility, discord and a melodramatic sense of conflict.”

She was named one of Vulture’s Top “Comedians to Watch,” one of Comedy Central’_s “Up Next” comedians, and was on Conan O’Brien’s “Comics to Watch” list. She has performed numerous times at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival and has twice headlined the New York Comedy Festival. She recorded her first one-hour stand up special I’m Nervous in Toronto, available on CraveTV, and can also be seen in History of the World _on Hulu.

Robby is also a notable TV writer, having written on The Chris Gethard Show (TruTV), _Workin’ Moms (Netflix), and Baroness Von Sketch Show _(IFC). In 2019, Robby won a Daytime Emmy Award for her writing work on Odd Squad (PBS). She is currently developing projects with Showtime, Warner Bros TV and A24.