rachel maddow book tour los angeles

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Join us for an in-person & virtual  Live Talks Los Angeles event:   Friday, October 27, 2023, 6pm PT/9pm ET

This virtual event was taped with an audience on October 22 in Los Angeles.

. An Evening with  Rachel Maddow   in conversation with Jacob Soboroff . discussing her book,  Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism . TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR THE VIRTUAL EVENT TICKETS (virtual event only, Oct 27) $50 Virtual Admission* + book,  6pm PT/9pm ET (US Orders Only. Includes shipping to US addresses only) *Event is available on video-on-demand for five days after it airs, thru Nov 1. Books ship one week after event

Rachel Maddow traces the fight to preserve American democracy back to World War II, when a handful of committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted far-right plotters trying to steer our nation toward an alliance with the Nazis.   . Rachel Maddow  is host of the Emmy Award–winning  The Rachel Maddow Show  on MSNBC. She is the  New York Times  bestselling author of   Drift  and  Blowout , and the  New York Times  bestselling co-author of  Bag Man . She has also written, produced and hosted three original podcasts for MSNBC— Rachel Maddow Presents: Bag Man ,  Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra , and most recently the six-episode series  Rachel Maddow Presents: Deja News . Maddow received a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University and earned her doctorate in political science at Oxford University.  . In her new book,  Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism,  based on research for her podcast,  Ultra , Maddow traces the rise of a radical strain of authoritarianism that has been alive and well in America for the better part of a century.   . Taking readers back to the early days of World War II, Maddow introduces us to a clandestine network of far-far-right American radicals, who through a series of sophisticated and shockingly well-funded efforts—including an astonishing amount of support among serving members of Congress—would bring America into a much closer flirtation with fascism than we want to remember. . The resistance of journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens ensured that their goal was never achieved, but the seeds of extremism were planted and have reached forward through history into our present. As we navigate through our own disquieting times,  Prequel   offers a roadmap from U.S. history, marked both with heroics to emulate and traps and pitfalls to avoid.  . Jacob Soboroff is an NBC News correspondent and the author of the New York Times best seller,  Separated: Inside an American Tragedy. For his reporting on the Trump administration’s child separation policy, he received the Walter Cronkite Award for Individual Achievement by a National Journalist and the Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism. He is also the recipient of a Ruben Salazar Journalism Award from the California Chicano News Media Association, and in 2022 was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy® Award for his reporting from Haiti. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Nicole Cari and their two children.

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Event Ticket: Rachel Maddow at Wilshire Ebell Theatre 3/14 at 8pm

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  Tickets for the Rachel Maddow event are now SOLD OUT at both the Vroman's main store and Hastings Ranch locations. 

Vroman's Bookstore presents Rachel Maddow discussing Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power Thursday, March 14, 8pm at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre

The #1 New York Times bestseller that charts America's dangerous drift into a state of perpetual war. "One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier," Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792. Neither Jefferson nor the other Founders could ever have envisioned the modern national security state, with its tens of thousands of "privateers"; its bloated Department of Homeland Security; its rusting nuclear weapons, ill-maintained and difficult to dismantle; and its strange fascination with an unproven counterinsurgency doctrine. Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seriously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a "loud and jangly" political debate about how, when, and where to apply America's strength and power - and who gets to make those decisions.

This event will be held at the  Wilshire Ebell Theatre 4401 W 8th St Los Angeles,CA  90005 Wilshire Ebell Theatre Map & Directions

Event Details - Doors open at 7pm.  Will Call tickets will be available at this time.

- This event is general admission.

- Admission is $26.00 +tax and includes an autographed copy of the newly released paperback edition of Drift .

- Books will be handed out the night of the event upon receipt of the book ticket.

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Rachel Maddow

• Date Nov 16 , 2023
• Event Starts 7:00 PM
• Doors Open 6:00 PM
• Venue Boulder Theater
• Ticket Prices $47.50
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• Age All Ages

Event Details

We are happy to announce the new date for Rachel Maddow's previously postponed event is Thursday, November 16th, 2023. All existing tickets from the originally scheduled October 26th date will be honored. If you're unable to attend due to the new date, refunds will be available until November 15th. Thank you for understanding.

Boulder Book Store and the Boulder Theater welcome Rachel Maddow for a discussion of her new book PREQUEL: An American Fight Against Fascism . Inspired by her research for the hit MSBNC podcast Ultra , in PREQUEL , Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. As we navigate through our own disquieting times, PREQUEL offers a roadmap from U.S. history, marked both with heroics to emulate and traps and pitfalls to avoid. All tickets include a copy of the book. BIOGRAPHY: Rachel Maddow is host of the Emmy Award–winning The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, as well as the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Drift and Blowout , and the New York Times bestselling co-author of Bag Man . Maddow has also written, produced and hosted three original podcasts for MSNBC— Rachel Maddow Presents: Bag Man , Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra , and most recently the six-episode series Rachel Maddow Presents: Deja News , which debuted in June at #1 on Apple Podcasts. Maddow received a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University and earned her doctorate in political science at Oxford University. She lives in New York City and Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.

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Rachel Maddow New Date!

November 28, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm.

NEW DATE ANNOUNCED!! Tuesday November 28, 7:00pm

All purchased tickets will be honored at the future event and books will be distributed to ticket holders. Thank you for your understanding and your support.

For information about the Cox Business Convention Center including directions and information about accessible seating visit  https://coxcentertulsa.com  or you can call 918-894-4350

All ticketing questions, call Ticketmaster at 800-653-8000 or visit their help center  https://ticketmaster-us.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9605825450129-How-to-Contact-Us . Our booksellers are unable to answer questions about tickets. Please be sure to contact Ticketmaster or the Cox Center for all ticket related questions.

Magic City Books welcomes Rachel Maddow back to Tulsa for an unforgettable evening in conversation with Magic City Books President, Jeff Martin. Explore hidden histories, pernicious plots, and plenty of jaw dropping revelations. 

Inspired by the research for her #1 Apple podcast,  Rachel  Maddow  Presents: Ultra , from MSNBC,  PREQUEL  traces the rise of a radical strain of authoritarianism that has been alive and well in America for the better part of a century. As we navigate through our own disquieting times, PREQUEL offers a roadmap from U.S. history, marked both with heroics to emulate and traps and pitfalls to avoid.

This ticketed event will be hosted at Cox Business Convention Center located in downtown Tulsa. Tickets for the event are available through Ticketmaster at: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/20005F19BA4DC9B8 or you can purchase tickets in person at the BOK Center box office.

Each ticket comes with one (1) hardcover copy of  Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow and one (1) seat at the event on Tuesday, November 28, 2023. There is a limit of four tickets per customer.

Please note that Winterfest has begun and 3rd Street between Denver and Frisco is closed. Please plan your route to the Convention Center accordingly.

Although Cox Business Convention Center does not own or operate a parking garage, there are nearly 10,000 parking spots nearby. The Civic Center Parkade is adjacent to the venue. The City of Tulsa offers on-street metered parking (using the  Park Mobile app ) and privately owned lots determine their own parking rates.

Doors open at 6:00 pm and the program will begin at 7:00 pm.

Upon entry you will pass through a security checkpoint and then scan your ticket to enter. After scanning your ticket, you will receive your copy of  Prequel  by Rachel Maddow.

Please be advised, only small clutch purses, approximately the size of a hand with or without a handle or strap and no larger than 4.5”to 6.5” will be allowed in the venue for this event. 

Late arrivals will be be allowed entry and seated in your reserved seat.

There are a limited number of Rachel’s earlier book,  Blowout  for the special price of $10 at the merchandise table.

Event information will be sent to the email address used to purchase the ticket. Please be sure to check that account for any updates about the event and share with other members of your party.

If you have a ticket and are unable to attend the event, you will be able to pick up your book at Magic City Books during normal business hours. The last day for ticket holders to pick up  Prequel  by Rachel Maddow is Friday, December 29, 2023.

About Prequel

Rachel Maddow traces the fight to preserve American democracy back to World War II, when a handful of committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted far-right plotters trying to steer our nation toward an alliance with the Nazis.

Inspired by her research for the hit podcast  Ultra,  Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’ confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule.

That effort worked–tongue and groove–alongside an ultra-right paramilitary movement that stockpiled bombs and weapons and trained for mass murder and violent insurrection.

At the same time, a handful of extraordinary activists and journalists were tracking the scheme, exposing it even as it was unfolding. In 1941 the U.S. Department of Justice finally made a frontal attack, identifying the key plotters, finding their backers, and prosecuting dozens in federal court.

None of it went as planned.

While the scheme has been remembered in history–if at all–as the work of fringe players, in reality it involved a large number of some of the country’s most influential elected officials. Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the plot is a dark story of the rule of law bending and then breaking under the weight of political intimidation.

That failure of the legal system had consequences. The tentacles of that unslain beast have reached forward into our history for decades. But the heroic efforts of the activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who sought to expose the insurrectionists also make for a deeply resonant, deeply relevant tale in our own disquieting times.

Rachel Maddow  is host of the Emmy Award-winning  Rachel Maddow Show  on MSNBC, as well as the #1  New York Times  bestselling author of  Drift  and  Blowout,  and the  New York Times  bestselling co-author of  Bag Man . Maddow received a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University and earned her doctorate in political science at Oxford University. She lives in New York City and Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.

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Rachel Maddow's west coast book tour

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow traveled across the country this week to promote her new book, "Drift," which reached #1 on The New York Times Best Sellers list earlier this week . Maddow stopped by "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Tuesday ( we posted those clips earlier ), followed by a public chat about the book with HBO's Bill Maher.

Reed Johnson of the Los Angeles Times described the primetime host in an article today, saying, "Maddow's geek-chic persona, a curious mixture of Rhodes scholar gym rat and data-parsing public policy wonk, has made her the professorial but good-humored pundit liberals adore, and the relentlessly chipper anti-Rush-Limbaugh that conservatives love to trash on Twitter."

You can read Johnson's full article on the LA Times website .

Don't miss "The Rachel Maddow Show" weeknights at 9pm ET on MSNBC. For show clips and news from the Maddow staff, check out www.maddowblog.msnbc.com or follow the team on https://twitter.com/#!/maddowblog  

Rachel Maddow

Official personal website, about rachel, rachel maddow is the host of “ the rachel maddow show .”.

Rachel with her dog, Poppy.

“ The Rachel Maddow Show ” airs on MSNBC at 9:00 pm Eastern on Monday nights and is rebroadcast at midnight Eastern.

Rachel lives in New York City and Western Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula. Visit Susan’s website .

PREQUEL: Rachel Maddow traces the fight to preserve American democracy back to World War II, when a handful of committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted far-right plotters trying to steer our nation toward an alliance with the Nazis.

General Discussion

Leftienanner, rachel maddow book tour announced tonight.

Rachel's new book Prequel is coming out in October. She announced her book tour on her show tonight. She will be in 12 major cities across the country. The cost is $45.00 per ticket, which includes a copy of the book. This will sell out very fast. Please go online to msnbc.com/prequel and order your tickets now. I went to her event for Blowout a few years ago. The guys sitting next to me paid $400.00!

We will see her in Seattle. My daughter lives in Culver! Glad I could help.

emulatorloo

Rachel Maddow Tickets

Rachel maddow tour tickets.

Tune in to the liberal side of politics when you purchase Rachel Maddow tickets to see her live on stage. The California television host first dipped into the media industry in 1999 when she was a radio host at WRNX for The Dave in the Morning Show . She had her breakthrough after winning a contest at the station for a position as the new second lead. Shortly thereafter, she went on to host the Big Breakfast on WRSI and then Unfiltered on new Air America.

Maddow gained recognition on television when she became a regular panelist on MSNBC’s Tucker (2005). After appearing on multiple television programs, she finally became the host of her self-titled show in 2008. The program received widespread critical appraisal and quickly rose to become one of the highest-rated shows on MSNBC. Rachel Maddow tickets are sure to provide an exhilarating experience that anyone interested in politics will appreciate.

Maddow’s talent exceeds that of being a successful radio and film host, she also is a renowned author. She is best known for her book, Blowout: Corrupted Democracy , Rogue State Russia , and The Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth (2019). Her book was so well received that the audiobook version, recorded by Maddow herself, was awarded a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 2021. Maddow released her fourth book,  Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, which is based on her podcast  Ultra which began in Oct. 2022. It chronicles right-wing extremism during the 1940s and World War II.  She’s also received several other awards throughout her career history, such as an Emmy Award for Outstanding Live interview in 2017 for The Rachel Maddow Show.

Rachel Maddow Ticket Prices

Rachel Maddow seats may vary in price thanks to a number of factors. Seat demand, venue and city all play a role in determining the price of tickets sold on our site.

How much are Rachel Maddow tickets?

Speaking engagement and lecture tickets sold on our site vary in price, but you may find lecture tickets for as low as the $50 range. For cheap lecture tickets at theater-style venues, you may have the most luck looking in the rear of the venue. For seats at general admission only venues, ticket demand is usually the prime motivator of price. Skip the line at the ticket office and get your seats at TicketSmarter today.

Rachel Maddow 2024 Event Schedule

Consult our site for the latest Rachel Maddow live appearance date and venue information. Our site features a number of speaking engagement tours as well as limited-run or single-event performances. Venue style and size may range, but Houston Arena Theatre in Houston, TX, Paramount Theatre in Oakland, CA and Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, NY have all been known to host speaking events.

While many events feature single performers, it’s also common that groups of speakers who share a common thread will appear together. This is especially common in live appearances by television casts and film stars. Another popular lecture series that many find fascinating to the mind is the National Geographic Live! Check out the schedule above to find events that pique your interest.

When do Rachel Maddow tickets go on sale?

Rachel Maddow tickets may be found on sale up to a year in advance of a scheduled appearance. Our site will have tickets listed as soon as they are available, with no presale code needed.

Rachel Maddow Seating Chart

From bookstores to convention centers, speaking engagements can take place in any sort of venue. Be sure to consult our site to stay up-to-date with dates and locations on the Rachel Maddow schedule. Some venues may be general admission with first-come-first-served seating, for which it may be advised you arrive early to secure your preferred seats.

For theater-style venues, the best views of the stage are usually offered in the front sections of the orchestra. As balcony or mezzanine sections usually overhang the rear of the orchestra, you may prefer a seat in the front of an elevated section to one in the rear of the orchestra. For venue-specific seating information, as well as the ability to select your favorite event seats, check out TicketSmarter’s interactive seating chart.

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TicketSmarter was designed to be a safe and secure ticket-purchasing platform, with the privacy of your information in mind. You can order with us and feel confident that your tickets will be just as valid as those from the box office, as every ticket we sell is guaranteed to be legitimate.

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Order Rachel Maddow tickets comfortably with the knowledge that all TicketSmarter seats are 100% guaranteed. Feel free to view our reviews, as verified customers have rated our site 4.6/5.0 stars.

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The #1 New York Times Bestseller – Now available in paperback

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Now available in paperback

Blowout book tour, night one

Hosted by W. Kamau Bell at the Streicker Center in New York City

Blowout in audio

A sample of the grammy award-winning audio book read by rachel maddow, the full atlanta tour stop, published by georgia public broadcasting.

Chicago Humanities Festival

Rachel maddow in conversation.

This was the Chicago tour stop!

All In with Chris Hayes

Rachel maddow on corruption in the oil and gas industry.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Rachel maddow: russia uses oil and gas as a weapon.

Pod Save America

October 10, 2019 - pod save america youtube, new york times magazine, this is the moment rachel maddow has been waiting for.

How the MSNBC host staked her show on Trump — and won the largest and most obsessive audience of her career.

Rachel Maddow on the "Complicated, Challenging, Upsetting" Job She Loves — and Building a Life Outside of the News

"The question is how long I can do it for, but I wouldn’t trade any of this for anything in the world," Maddow tells InStyle of the toll of keeping up with the news.

Maddow examines the disconcertingly disproportionate influence of big oil on world affairs.

New york times, maddow’s “blowout” details the political problems caused by our reliance on fossil fuels., washington post, "what sets [maddow] apart from other serial fulminators is that she does it with facts — and sardonic wit.", ny journal of books, “this is not a feel-good but a get-mad book.”.

In her next book ‘Prequel,’ Rachel Maddow will explore a WWII-era plot to overthrow US government

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Rachel Maddow’s next book will be an exploration into right-wing extremism in the U.S., including a plot to overthrow the government at the start of World War II.

Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced Monday that Maddow’s “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism” will be published Oct. 17. The book expands upon research for the liberal author-commentator’s podcast “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra,” for which Steven Spielberg has acquired film rights.

“Just as I like to dive into the backstory and deep origins of any particular news event, I also find it helpful to know if we’ve previously contended with something like what we’re seeing in today’s news,” the Emmy-winning MSNBC host, who discussed the book on “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Monday night, said in a statement released by Crown.

“Even though I find it disturbing and a little scary that, in our own time, some sizeable chunk of Americans seem ready to jettison real elections and instead embrace rule by force, it’s somehow heartening to me to know that this isn’t a brand new challenge - another sizeable chunk of Americans felt essentially the same way in the lead-up to World War II.”

In “Prequel,” Maddow will describe anti-government actions involving a Nazi agent, more than 20 members of Congress and the anti-Semitic America First Committee that led to a 1944 sedition trial, which ended in a mistrial.

Maddow’s previous books include “Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth” and “Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power.”

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Jean Smart Is Having a Third Act for the Ages

Like her character on “Hacks,” she’s winning late-career success on her own exuberant terms.

Jean Smart. Credit... Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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By J Wortham

J Wortham is a staff writer for the magazine. They visited the set of “Hacks” in January in Los Angeles, and interviewed the cast and crew over the course of a few weeks.

• May 12, 2024 Updated 2:51 p.m. ET

Calling someone a “hack” is a particularly vicious insult. It implies that they have no talent or, worse, that they have wasted it. The slight is hurled early on in “Hacks,” the popular HBO series starring Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, a seasoned comedian who teams up with a younger one named Ava (Hannah Einbinder) to freshen up her act.

When they meet, Ava takes stock of Deborah — her glitzy mansion, her residency at a casino in Las Vegas, a hustle selling branded merchandise on cable TV — and sees her as the definition of a hack, a sellout cashing in on her former fame. Deborah is unfazed. Amused, even. What does this kid know about her career, about years of hard work, about the unfairness, sexism and disregard?

Deborah, meanwhile, sees Ava as a bit of a hack herself — an entitled and spoiled young internet persona who was canceled for posting a joke about a closeted senator. (“Sounds like a Tuesday for me,” Deborah retorts when Ava complains about it.) Deborah is a workaholic on the verge of bitter, someone who grew tired of being cut and so became a knife. She’s shameless, litigious, petty, vengeful, stubborn — qualities that become a comedic asset for the character and a narrative engine for the show. Just how far is Deborah Vance willing to go?

Throughout the first two seasons, much of the drama — and delight — is in seeing Ava puncture Deborah’s carefully lacquered facade with her Gen Z earnestness and sharp wit. In one of the show’s funniest moments, Deborah bluntly asks Ava, “You a lesbian?” Ava leans back in her chair while considering the question. She responds with a treatise reflecting the identity politics of a generation raised with nonexistent boundaries and zero sexual shame, ending with a graphic description of how she orgasms. Deborah doesn’t miss a beat. “Jesus Christ!” she exclaims. “I was just wondering why you were dressed like Rachel Maddow’s mechanic!” Deborah and Ava are mirrors for each other, gifted and perspicacious performers at opposite ends of their careers, both trying to be their most audacious selves in an industry that will dispose of them the moment they cross an invisible line.

Over the last three years, “Hacks” has earned its two Emmy nominations for outstanding comedy series by cultivating a polyphonic, fast-paced humor relentless as Deborah’s own quick mind. There are constant insult jokes about Ava’s appearance (“Your manicurist must use a paint roller!”); manic banter between Jimmy, Deborah’s beleaguered agent, and his delusional assistant (played brilliantly by the comedian Meg Stalter); antic bits like a seemingly poignant scene of Deborah’s daughter playing classical piano as a reflection of her gilded upbringing, before it devolves into absurdity when the music is revealed to be the theme song from “Jurassic Park.” And then there are the battles royale in which Ava and Deborah fire hilarious barbs back and forth until their frustration gives way to awe at each other’s cleverness and something like respect blooms. It’s weaponized therapy.

One day in January, Smart was filming an episode of the show’s third season at a private villa near Pasadena, Calif., kitted out to resemble a mansion in Bel-Air. She sat in a magisterial library on a caramel leather Chesterfield. Deborah is meeting with the network executive who canceled her show in the 1970s after she (allegedly) tried to set her former husband’s home on fire upon discovering that he was having an affair with her sister. The ensuing scandal banished her to the edges of the entertainment industry. She hopes the conversation will yield some clarity, perhaps even closure.

No one would mistake Deborah Vance for soft. And yet here she was, defanged — somewhat. She wore an expensive silk leopard blouse, a reminder of her latent ferocity. As Keith Sayer, who worked with Smart to craft the image of Deborah, remarked to me while observing the scene: “She went in thinking there might be a battle.”

In the scene, Deborah’s voice is low, pleading. “Before I do this all again,” she says, “I really need to know why it didn’t work the first time.” The executive is perplexed. To him, it’s obvious. He reminds her of the chaos that followed her very public meltdown with her husband. She is chastened by the memory but recovers. “I know,” she says. “I’ve just always thought if I’d been a little bit better, a little bit funnier, if I’d been undeniable, it could have happened.”

The entire crew seemed to collectively hold their breath as they watched Smart, as Deborah, waiting for the reply. From behind a cluster of monitors, the show’s creators, Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello, sat watching the process and whispering to one another. (Smart calls them “J.P.L.” for short, which she says stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratory.) At one point, Aniello asked Smart to do a take with her eyes not lowered, to add some of her potency back. “Less like a wounded deer,” she added. They wanted her to strike a delicate balance between humble and proud. They gave Smart a few pointed notes, which she metabolized quickly, speed-cycling through a spectrum of emotions on command. Smart is a maestro of microexpressions: She can adjust the lines on her forehead to convey pain or arrogance. Her voice is an ember that can smolder or burn red-hot; her laugh can sound coquettish or sharp, like the cries of an exotic bird.

At this point in the show, Deborah and her career are trending. After combing through Deborah’s extensive archive, Ava realized that her most powerful work could be drawn from her own history. They devise a new act that satirizes Deborah’s shadow selves: a jealous ex, a vain and self-involved mother, a bad feminist and a power-hungry entrepreneur. Self-aware and self-skewering, the act revives interest in Deborah and pushes her back into the spotlight, so much so that her team pitches a comedy special. Networks won’t touch it. Undeterred, Deborah decides to finance the special herself, and it goes viral.

“Hacks” is a similar turning point in Smart’s career. Despite working steadily in Hollywood for three decades, she has never played a lead character that has captivated audiences quite like this one. Casting her was a stroke of genius: There’s a relish to her performance, not only because she’s perfect in the role but also because she and Deborah would both delight in the idea of proving wrong anyone who overlooked or underestimated their gifts. Smart, as Deborah, gives the lie to the idea of the hack and repurposes it as a glorious wink.

In 2015, Downs, Aniello and Statsky were road-tripping to a monster-truck rally in Portland, Maine, where Downs would be filming a segment for a sketch-comedy special. The three met in 2009 while bumming around New York trying to get their comedy careers off the ground. Downs and Aniello began dating after they met in an Upright Citizens Brigade improv class, and Statsky and Aniello met in a sketch group. The three formed a tight-knit circle.

As tends to happen on long drives, the three found themselves deep in existential conversations. One turned to talented people who had fallen into obscurity. A theater actress with a vibrant and illustrious career had died recently, and articles about her life stunned them. “How come we are only learning about this woman and her work in her obituary?” Downs, who plays Jimmy, asked. “Why did we not see her in every guest role on TV?” It reminded Statsky of the improvisational-comedy duo Nichols and May — Mike Nichols, she said, “went on to have an incredible career, but you weren’t quite sure what happened to May.” (Elaine May did have a long career, directing films and writing screenplays, but she is not nearly as well known.) They thought about other great female performers who seemed to disappear — or worse, lost control of the joke and became the butt of it. They had just heard Kathy Griffin’s appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast , where she discussed how much easier it was to become a reality-TV star than to sustain the life of a comic. They had also watched “A Piece of Work,” the 2010 Joan Rivers documentary that highlighted the verdant years of her comedy career, before she became better known for body modifications and red-carpet cattiness.

These women were meteoric talents whose reputations eroded over time because of the industry’s exclusionary practices. Many became spectacles, cartoonifying themselves with antic behavior and plastic surgeries or tawdry television appearances. “It was really just a way to survive, a way to commodify their art,” Aniello said. “They weren’t being taken seriously as geniuses or auteurs, so they had to go into this other lane and create it for themselves. And sometimes we look down on that art form, and it’s unfair, because they were literally just trying to exist.”

Statsky reckoned with her own dismissal of those women and others like them. “Did I have some weird bias?” she said. “Thinking this person is hacky or writing them off in a way?” Why, they all wondered, was it easier to remember these women for their cheapest career moments than for their best work? And more to the point — what drove those comedians to devalue themselves in the first place?

The friends were juiced enough after the car ride to try to create a character, a woman in her third act who refused to accept the notion that she was past her prime. They also devised her foil, a younger comedian weaned on viral fame. They saw the narrative arc so clearly that they knew exactly where the series would end. They also knew that they wanted to staff the show with comedians and comic actors who they felt hadn’t been fully given the chance to showcase their talents. All three were admirers of Smart, and so they sent the pilot script to her agent; she was the only actor they met with. “When she walked into the room, you just felt Deborah was alive — she’s glamorous and dry and smart and blond — just a perfect fit,” the trio told me in an email. They pitched the show in 2019, and the first season aired in May 2021.

When Smart first read the script, she was enraptured by the depth of the writing for Deborah. “It ticked all the boxes,” she said. She recalled a scene in which Deborah has a liaison with a younger man. Rather than writing it as purely salacious, the creators infused it with real sensuality — and the encounter kindles a burst of creativity for Deborah. “She discovers something new in her work that just brings back some real joy to her,” Smart told me.

The character of Deborah is based on an amalgamation of female comedians, including Griffin, Rivers, Paula Poundstone and Betty White. There’s a little Lucille Bluth of “Arrested Development” in there, too. Phyllis Diller may be the most important model for Deborah — Smart once dressed like her as a girl — but while Diller leaned into the garish to the point of surrealism, Deborah is firmly established in the leisure class. As Kathleen Felix-Hager, the show’s costume designer, told me, “She has money.”

It was important to the show’s creators that Deborah’s difficulties are not financial. By many definitions, she has already made it. But her ambitions extend beyond her bank balance. She wants a certain stature, a reputation, a desire to be, as she tells the executive, undeniable . But “you can be undeniable, and you might still get denied,” Downs said. If Deborah is a hack, she was first made that way by a sexist and ageist industry that disposed of her as soon as she became inconvenient.

When Smart was done filming, she bundled us both into the back of her car, and a driver took us to a favorite Italian spot in Toluca Lake. In the back seat were a satin pillow (for napping) and sequin jackets (for a drag show later). She was energized by the day’s shoot, particularly by the verve of her co-star, Hal Linden of “Barney Miller” fame, now in his 90s. “I hope to keep working like that,” she marveled. As we walked into the restaurant, heads perked up as Smart waltzed past, and we found a roomy, private booth in the back.

Many people remember Smart from her role as Charlene on “Designing Women,” in which she played a version of herself as a teenager growing up in Seattle: the “blue-eyed, blond-haired, goody-two-shoes cheerleader,” as she described it to me. In person, Smart is as warm and loose. At lunch, she slapped the table to punctuate her sentences and unleashed her distinctive, bellowing laugh at high volume when she was pleased by a detail or an interaction. She straddles generations; she doesn’t do social media yet knew to ask me for my pronouns. Her knack for physical comedy seems second nature. When the waiter asked if she wanted a “baby” glass of wine or a big one, she shot me an impish glance and then used her thumb as an arrow to indicate that she would like the adult-size version. “I’m not driving,” she said slyly. After she served us both from a communal plate, she said: “I’m not your mother. Why am I cutting up your food?” and then continued doing it.

Smart described with glee how she leaned into the role of Deborah. She loves getting to be a demanding boss and a sexpot. “I’ve had more action on this show than my entire career put together,” she told me. She has a one-night stand with Devon Sawa, makes out with Tony Goldwyn and has an ongoing love-hate relationship with Marty (Christopher McDonald), who owns the Las Vegas casino where she performs. She was awarded two Emmys for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series in 2021 and 2022.

Smart wondered aloud where all this adulation was 20 years ago. By her own estimation, she has always been this dynamic, this charismatic, this compelling. But Smart talks about her career with oracular calm: She knows that her time is simply her time. Smart is 72, and for women of her generation, the range of archetypes available to them has always been narrow, and it dwindles even more over time. “At 40, you’re going, They definitely aren’t going to be calling me for that role,” she said. “Experience is hugely important. It’s going to trump brilliance every time.”

Smart’s easy grace is offset by a frenetic energy that makes her irresistible to watch but difficult to categorize. She’s 5-foot-9 and always felt that her height cut against her beauty-pageant looks, transforming them into something more formidable. Smart was never an ingénue. “I’ve always been part way to between leading lady and a character actress.” She worked consistently after leaving “Designing Women” in 1991, but it wasn’t until she was 53 that she began being cast in larger roles with more edge and gravitas. On “24,” she played Martha Logan, a mentally unstable but cunning first lady who managed to make being unhinged admirable. In “Fargo” (2015) and “Mare of Easttown” (2021), she played cunning and at times malevolent matriarchs. She had a powerful role on “Watchmen” (2019) as the retired vigilante turned F.B.I. agent Laurie Blake. (She got the role after Sigourney Weaver turned it down and told me that “if I’d won the Emmy for that, I was going to thank her.”)

Kate Winslet, who worked with Smart on “Mare of Easttown,” described how she combines intuition with exquisite control of the distinct regions of her face. Smart played Winslet’s mother, Helen, who is both all-seeing and self-absorbed. “Jean has the power to do a tiny thing and flip the energy of the scene,” Winslet told me — raising an eyebrow, say, or sharpening the edge of an inhale. “It’s fresh, because it means every time you walk into a scene, she’ll always do something that will surprise you.” Winslet recalled a moment while filming “Mare” after their characters attended a funeral. They were walking off the set when suddenly Smart turned to her: “Oh, shoot, I wanted them to paint my nails.” She knew that Helen was the kind of woman who would have gone to the beauty parlor to get her hair set and nails done. “It mattered to me that she cared in that way,” Winslet said.

Smart’s willingness to surrender vanity for her art impressed Winslet, but Smart has sometimes wondered if allowing herself to be styled as matronly or haggard hindered some of the momentum she was building. In “Fargo,” for example, she let them color her hair, and “all of a sudden I looked so much older.” It felt like being led out to pasture. “Casting directors have Rolodexes full of actors,” she said, “and if they can’t type you or pigeonhole you, it’s like, Is it really worth the time and effort to try to figure out what that person can do?” By the time she arrived on set at “Hacks,” she had acquired the ability to draw from her letdowns in Hollywood with enough distance to satirize them. On “Hacks,” Smart explained, Deborah represents someone who is pushing back and saying, I’ll decide when I’m done.

At lunch, Smart was open about the recent tragedies in her life. In 2021, Richard Gilliland, an actor she met on the set of “Designing Women” and married in 1987, died after a heart attack. Covid restrictions meant that she got to see him only twice in the hospital. There was still a week left of filming for the first season of “Hacks,” and Smart was asked if she wanted to take some time off. Her inclination was to keep working. “I figured, I’m still in shock,” Smart said. “Let’s just do it, you know?” In the episode they were filming, Ava’s father has suddenly died, and Deborah crashes the funeral and gives a speech that brings the house down. When the time came to get in front of the camera, Smart started shaking. It had been only a few days since her own husband’s death. She wasn’t sure she was going to make it. She recalled taking a deep breath (and an Ativan) and jumping into the scene. Deborah asks the mourners to share a memory of the deceased when he was drunk. Aghast — and titillated — they allow themselves to be goaded into unruly stories, which she tempers by sharing a rare gem of praise for her protégé. Smart remembers it as cathartic.

You can see, in that scene, how Smart excavates her own subterranean emotions in her performance. Occasionally, while talking about her life’s hardships, I got the impression of Smart as a large, silvery body of water and her difficulties as opaque shapes moving underneath. But they never fully surfaced unless she wanted them to. Smart is now raising her youngest son alone, something she never imagined doing at her age. (She has another son who is in his 30s; she and Gilliland adopted their second son 20 years later.) He is now a teenager, and she wants to be present for all the moments of wonder, anxiety and introspection. As our meal wound down, she began talking animatedly about picking him up from school. He was in rehearsals for his high school’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” and she was excited to hear about it while she made him dinner. She doesn’t go to bed before he does, even if he stays up until 10 p.m. and she has a 4 a.m. call time. Smart’s zest for her life — all of it, even the challenging parts — comes through clearly. She is determined to enjoy the pleasure of her children and her career as long as she can.

At the end of the previous season, after a tumultuous road trip, a lawsuit and the triumph of pulling off a comeback tour, Ava and Deborah part ways at Deborah’s insistence. She wants Ava to forge her own career. She is also pushing her away out of fear: The closeness has proved to be too much. Deborah is still working out her trust issues, believing that dependence on others has never served her.

When she finally gets what she craves — recognition and power — the axis of the show turns to wondering how this second wave of success will influence her. Will she operate like the ruthless executives she worked under, or will she create new ways of being? Can she? Can anyone? “Hacks” also asks the question of Hollywood itself: What would it be like with different people at the helm? It’s a fantasy of second chances, shifting hierarchies, upended power dynamics — but, appropriately for a moment when the gains of racial-justice movements, #MeToo and D.E.I. initiatives are being rolled back, if not eradicated, “Hacks” refuses to be rosy. Deborah Vance is no utopian leader. She is as flawed as anyone else, but through her, the show explores how people are shaped by systems that misuse them and the damage they can inflict, or undo, as a result.

Deborah’s relationship to biological motherhood is evidence of her priorities and ambivalences. DJ, Deborah’s daughter on the show (played by Kaitlin Olson), is a monument to Deborah’s narcissism. (DJ stands for Deborah Jr.) Their relationship is fraught, as DJ, who feels neglected, commits minor acts of sabotage toward her mother, including tipping off the paparazzi to photograph her in unglamorous moments. It’s later revealed that Deborah not only knows about this but lets DJ get away with it. “Makes her feel self-sufficient,” she tells Ava. It’s a clarifying moment: It is easier to let her daughter think that she’s exploiting her than to affirm or be affectionate toward her.

Deborah finds more kinship with Ava, recognizing herself in the younger comedian’s unabashed careerism and raw talent. Zero blood ties yield more honesty between them. The show understands that chosen family can come in many, sometimes demented and occasionally toxic forms, including work relationships that become stand-ins for our most intimate ones. “Mother” is a verb as well as a noun, and Deborah finds her footing nurturing the next generation of feminist performers and their outrage (on one thrilling episode, she pays an obnoxiously misogynistic male comedian $1.69 million to never perform publicly again). Ava also nurtures Deborah, teaching her how to embrace her vulnerability through comedy and invite people into an incisive and exploratory investigation of the self.

Later in the season, Deborah is being profiled by a magazine when some unsavory, racist material from her past resurfaces online. Ava pushes her to hold herself accountable for her offensive behavior, but the reckoning becomes deeper than that. She is asking Deborah to look hard at her own her complacency, her willingness to adopt the status-quo tendencies of exploiting others for her own gain. Deborah agrees to appear at a town hall, but she also insists on charming the students in her own way, crashing a frat party, doing keg stands and buying everyone pizza.

When the article comes out, Ava reads it aloud to Deborah. Ava is quoted in the piece, and she pauses as she recites her own words. “A hack is someone who does the same thing over and over,” she starts. “Deborah is the opposite. She keeps evolving and getting better.” It’s an apt description of the show, Deborah and anyone who faces their worst moment — and survives to joke about it.

Stylist: Micah Schifman

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