On the most recent season of the HBO comedy “Hacks,” viewers were introduced to a new character named Randi. She is a former Hasidic Lubavitch Jew from Crown Heights who recently shed her religious upbringing, moved to Los Angeles, came out as queer and took her first-ever job as the unlikely assistant to Jimmy and Kayla, a pair of celebrity managers.
With her heavy Brooklyn accent, no-nonsense delivery and hilarious back story (she just saw her first movie — “Speed” from 1994), Randi quickly became a fan favorite, even though she appeared in only a few episodes.
The character is unusual, but feels deeply authentic. And she should, as Robby Hoffman, the comedian and actor who portrays Randi, has a remarkably similar back story. (The role was written with her in mind.)
Ms. Hoffman, like Randi, was born in an insulated Hasidic community in Brooklyn. She was the seventh of 10 siblings raised by a single mother, and when she was young, the family relocated from Brooklyn to Montreal, where they struggled to make ends meet.
“We grew up no frills, is how I would say it,” Ms. Hoffman said in an interview. “We were going to be fed, sheltered and educated,” but there was little money for luxuries like going to the movies. Her upbringing instilled in her a strong work ethic, as well as her own sense of style.
“When you don’t have anything, you learn the difference between fashion and taste,” she said. “You have to be creative when there’s no money.”
Ms. Hoffman eventually graduated from McGill University and enrolled in a program to become a certified public accountant, only to quit on the first day after deciding she wanted to go into comedy. That decision served her well: After moving to Los Angeles, she hit the stand-up circuit and wrote for shows like “Workin’ Moms,” the “Baroness Von Sketch Show” and the children’s series “Odd Squad,” for which she won a Daytime Emmy.
Her stand-up style — in which she frequently discusses her Jewish upbringing and jokingly complains about minor inconveniences — has drawn comparisons to two other Jewish comedians from Brooklyn: Larry David and Andrew Dice Clay. (In the bio on her website, Ms. Hoffman says she sounds like a “modern lesbian” version of Mr. Clay.)
This year, Ms. Hoffman transitioned into acting, and was quickly hailed as a breakout star. In addition to her role in “Hacks,” she also appeared in the FX mini-series “Dying for Sex” as a retail worker who consults on sexual issues on the side. She is currently shooting an untitled HBO comedy opposite Steve Carell.
“I’m extremely excited about it, and it’s just been really great,” she said of the HBO project. “Suddenly, you go to set and there’s Steve and I’m like, ‘OK, I’m acting with Steve Carell,’ but you have to get over it in three seconds. My brother Shmuley would be like, ‘Did you mention “The Office?”’ But you have no time to mention it, you don’t understand! There are a million people working there.”
Eventually, in a rare down moment on set, Ms. Hoffman said she did mention “The Office” — just so she could tell Shmuley.
“I do risk coming off as a loser fan, because of what I do for my family,” she said. “I don’t think my brother can appreciate the extent of what it does to me and my coolness, but alas, family first, right?”
Though her roots were in writing and stand-up, the shift to acting was natural for Ms. Hoffman, who attended a few community drama classes and camps as a child. At 13, she was scouted for the Canadian teen show “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” but her mother put a stop to the audition process when it required traveling from Montreal to Toronto with her drama teacher to meet producers.
“My mother was like, ‘I don’t think so — you’re not taking her anywhere,’” Ms. Hoffman said. “Like, some strange grown man is going to call and take her 12-year-old to Toronto for some audition? I don’t think so. Yeah, that’s going to be a no for me, dog.”
But, she lamented, “I could’ve met Drake.”
The “Degrassi” role did not work out, but Ms. Hoffman is doing just fine without it. In addition to the project with Mr. Carell, she’s developing a comedy series called “Unentitled” with HBO and an autobiographical series at Showtime called “Rivkah” (her birth name). She is one half of the successful podcast “Too Far” opposite her fellow comedian Rachel Kaly. And she recently received her first acting Emmy nomination — for the role of Randi, of course.
“It’s so stupid,” she joked of her nomination.
The success has been part of a year of change for Ms. Hoffman. In January, she married Gabby Windey, the former “Bachelorette” contestant and reality TV darling who herself has her own successful podcast. Together, they have been called “the Pete and Ariana of the 2025-era queer world,” in reference to the relationship between Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande.
Aesthetically, Ms. Hoffman and Ms. Windey appear to be opposites in every way — Ms. Hoffman gravitates toward thrifted masculine pieces, like a pair of black Boss pants she’s worn to everything from an appearance on John Mulaney’s show to her own Las Vegas wedding, while Ms. Windey, an ex-N.F.L. cheerleader, often opts for miniskirts and crop tops — but their styles complement each other. Their union has also helped merge two very different fandoms.
“Now I have the platinum blond girlies,” Ms. Hoffman joked.
And she takes the Pete and Ariana comparison as a compliment.
“When they say something like that, ‘Oh you’re the this or that of a relationship, you’re the Kylie and Timothée’ — great!” she said. “You know, there are worse things to be called. At least they’re not calling us the Epstein and child.”