As it moves decisively into a fictional world of late-night television during this, its fourth season, the Max series Hacks has won praise from people long-steeped in the workings, experiences, and frequent insanities of late night for its attempts at true-to-life accuracy.
Nothing has enhanced the show’s late-night credibility more than the actual appearance of Merrill Markoe as a “consulting producer” for the fledgling late-night comeback effort of Deborah Vance, the grand dame stand-up played in the series by Jean Smart, who has three times won the Emmy for best actress in a comedy playing Deborah. (The show has won Best Comedy Series twice.)
Markoe is a late-night legend, having been the driving creative force behind David Letterman’s ascension to late-night stardom in the early 1980’s.
And when Vance and her writing partner/nemesis Ava Daniels (played by Hannah Einbinder) had one of their many contretemps over what sort of writers the new show needed, it was entirely logical that Vance, with her decades of comedy experience, would come up almost instantly with the name Merrill Markoe as the kind of writing talent she wanted for her longshot bid to establish herself as a late-night star.
And so, there was Merrill, in the show’s most recent epsiode, playing a fictional version of herself, breezily telling Ava that working as head writer for a late-night show is “a job for a lunatic.”
There wasn’t really much fictional at all about that comment. In fact, as Markoe confessed to LateNighter, she ad-libbed that line herself. It was obviously straight from the heart, and personal experience.
Markoe poured buckets-full of creativity into the breakout comedy of Letterman’s Late Night show on NBC. Everything from those memorable remote pieces (“Just Bulbs”) to Dave spending Valentine’s Day in the NBC cafeteria, to Stupid Pet Tricks, inspired by her and Dave’s dog, Bob. (She expanded the idea later to Stupid Human Tricks.)
Letterman himself, when Merrill came back for an unforgettable guest appearance on his CBS Late Show several years later, cited her brilliance by saying, “We haven’t had a good idea since she left.” And then she came out and underscored that point with some spectacular repartee with the nonpareil wit, Letterman
In Hacks she plays pretty much the actual Merrill Markoe, which she described as “kind of a mind-bendy experience.”
As it must be, stepping into a world as a creator of a show actually called Late Night playing a character working on a made-up show also called “Late Night.”
“There I am playing Merrill Markoe, but somebody who doesn’t know me has written my lines. So, she is an alternate-universe fictional version of me, who has my name.”
Markoe, though she certainly could have, and had ideas about them, and even offered some alternates, did not write her own lines (except for that “lunatic” comment), which is unusual for someone who always wrote for herself when she made one of her frequent appearances as a character on Letterman’s show.
“She doesn’t always sound like me, but I tried to commit to what they gave me.”
For what it’s worth, as someone who has spent time with the real Merrill, this one comes pretty close.
The pursuit of reality extends to much of the fictional writing staff on Hacks. Markoe noted that the show’s fictional writer named Nate (he’s the one who suggested a bunch of bad ideas in last week’s episode) is played by a real stand-up, Danny Jolles. The writer named Rose is played by a real writer, Sandy Honig. Another comic, Gavin Matts, plays the writer named Eliot.
But only Merrill Markoe is playing somebody named Merrill Markoe. And yes, it was actually a much more pleasant assignment than when she was a real-life head writer.
“It was a fun experience except it took place during the fires, so the commute was terrifying.”
Will there be more of fictional Merrill Markoe in the rest of this season of Hacks? The real Merrill Markoe affirmed there will be. Fictional Merrill will appear in three more episodes, at least in this season.
Whether she is back for more after that obviously has much to do with whether the season ends with Deborah Vance surviving the now-brutal attrition of late-night. The comedy’s three showrunners have said they have a five-season plan for the series, so if Deborah is hanging on in late-night at next season’s start, there’s no guarantee she will make a long run of it.
(One promising indication for Deborah: her network show can apparently still afford its own band. )
For the moment at least, the disposition of Deborah Vance’s late-night career is a plot development not yet up for public revelation.
In her next three appearances, Markoe will be part of the gang in the writers’ room. She will have brief stage time in these, contributing a line or two in each of her scenes.
The real Merrill could obviously contribute much more, but she is out of the lunacy business, and into the acting-out-the-lunacy business.
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Great article Bill- and thanks for the link to her Late Show appearances- they are big fun!!