‘Hacks’: Paul W. Downs & Megan Stalter on Welcoming Robby Hoffman as Jimmy & Kayla’s Assistant

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Hacks Season 4, Episodes 1 & 2.]

Hacks is back, and although Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava’s (Hannah Einbinder) feud is at the center of the Max comedy’s return, the expansion of Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla’s (Megan Stalter) agency continues in the opening episodes of Season 4.

While Ava tries getting the upper hand on Deborah, Kayla is making moves to stabilize the management company she and her partner are building by hiring an assistant, whom viewers meet in Episode 2, “Cover Girls.” Robby Hoffman takes on the role of Randi, a task that is not taken lightly by the non-industry hire.

As fans will recall, Kayla once filled that position for Jimmy at their old company, making for an even sillier dynamic now. “Robby is so funny, and that character is so different,” Stalter gushes about her newest costar. “I’ve always thought it’d be funny if, eventually, Kayla had her own assistant because she loved being Jimmy’s so much and made it such a big thing.”

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While Randi is hired as Kayla’s assistant, Jimmy eventually caves to having Randi take on double duty as his assistant for their company, which has yet to decide if it’s going to go by the name Schaefer & LuSaque or LuSaque & Schaefer. “We knew that Kayla was gonna get her own assistant. And we knew that whoever it was had to be a good ingredient to add to the mix for the Jimmy and Kayla dynamic,” Downs, who also serves as co-showrunner, says. “And we have been a fan of Robbie’s for so long… We thought about Robbie for the role. We wrote it with Robbie in mind.”

“The interesting thing is that she loves Kayla as much as Kayla loves Jimmy, so it’s kind of a fun trio,” Downs adds. As viewers saw in this episode, Kayla explored the possibility of representing child and pet performers leaving the office in chaos, but Randi’s quirks and helpful nature proved to Jimmy that she’s up to the task of serving in the joint role. “She’s actually a really good assistant, and you’ll come to learn that as she helps save the day as the season progresses,” Downs says.

Stalter echoes Downs, adding, “I think the funniest part is that [Randi] loves Kayla so much, even though they’re even more different than Kayla and Jimmy. Randi and Kayla are even weirder [than the] Jimmy-Kayla combo, so I think it’s just funny imagining them three in the office.”

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Jimmy and Kayla have come a long way from where they started, with Kayla serving as Jimmy’s assistant, but they’re still finding their footing as a team. Adding kids and animals into the mix might pose some problems, though. “We had so many kids and so many animals in that scene,” Downs says of Kayla’s potential client meetings that left Robby scraping poo off of Jimmy’s shoe. “It was one of the easiest scenes to shoot… somehow that menagerie of kids and animals was seamless,” Downs shares.

Don’t miss Jimmy and Kayla’s ongoing dynamic as Season 4 unfolds, and let us know what you think of their newest team member in the comments section below.

Hacks, Season 4, Thursdays, 9/8c, Max