Meet queer comedian Robby Hoffman, who plays Randi on Hacks
Hoffman grew up in a Hasidic Jewish household and almost became an accountant – she’s also currently starring in HBO’s Steve Carell-led Rooster
HBO’s hit comedy series Hacks released its fifth and final season on April 9.
Here’s everything you need to know about Hacks star Robby Hoffman.
She was initially studying to become an accountant
The seventh of 10 children, Hoffman was born in December 1989 in New York and raised by her single mother in a Hasidic Jewish household. Her family later moved to Montreal, Canada.
The comedian has spoken extensively about living in poverty throughout her childhood and how she attended McGill University in Canada in hopes of building a stable life. “I don’t enjoy being poor. I like to sleep, I like not to have those worries. I thought school would be my ticket out of that situation,” Hoffman said in an interview with Forbes.
After her college graduation, she was enrolled in the school’s CPA programme to become a chartered professional accountant, but dropped out only hours into her first day to pursue a career in comedy instead.
Hoffman would regularly perform bits for her friends at dinner parties, and performed her first stand-up routine at an art loft in Montreal shortly after her graduation. She recalled almost fainting and being unable to finish her set. However, she asked the set manager to let her try again and soon enough, she was a regular, per Jewish Journal.