IN CONVERSATION WITH ROBBY HOFFMAN
When I got the PR request to speak with Robby Hoffman, I of course said yes immediately (I'm a huge fan of her work). Though I must admit that I was confused as to how she would fit amongst the rest of my interview guests being that she was a writer and comedian first. Funnily enough, in perfect Hoffman-like fashion, she started our conversation by bluntly asking why she was even here in the first place. We agreed that we were both confused but were willing to see the next 30 minutes through. This turned out to be one of my favorite conversations yet... Robby and I spoke about the importance of well-fitting clothes, trimming the brims of her hats, embracing the sizing of men's clothes, inheriting a love for the Porsche brand from her father, and so much more!
Hagop Kourounian: Just some quick background on what I do here is, my little platform is called Director Fits, and I basically talk about filmmakers and directors and their sartorial habits…
Robby Hoffman: What’s sartorial?
Hagop Kourounian: It's just a fancy word for clothing.
Robby Hoffman: You're kidding.
Hagop Kourounian: Yeah, it's actually a great word. Sometimes I use it too much.
Robby Hoffman: When you talk about Fits, you're talking about Fits, like clothes. When you said Director Fits, I'm thinking, movies, you know. Fits is sick, I'm down for that. By the way, I have no idea what I'm doing talking to you, I'm just enjoying it.
Hagop Kourounian: You know what, when I got the email asking if I’d like to speak with you, I was not exactly sure what kind of connection there would be here. But I'm honestly a big fan of yours. I saw you at the How Long Gone live podcast like two or three years ago here in LA and my friends and I were absolutely dying at your set. I've been following your work since then and I feel like a lot of my audience also are big fans of yours.
Robby Hoffman: Shoutout to everybody who loves Hagop. A friend of Hagop is a friend of mine.
Hagop Kourounian: Hell yeah, there we go! Even though I focus on directors and filmmakers, I do still think there's an interesting connection here. I’d love to hear about your opinion on that subject, but also you're an entertainer, you're an artist, you're a writer and I still think there's an interesting through line here. We can talk about clothes and see how that translates to who you are.
I’d love to start by asking you about your own personal style, which I'm a big fan of. What’s your relationship like with clothing and how much time do you spend thinking about it? I've noticed there's somewhat of a uniform going on, especially in your more public appearances. I love your button-ups, I’m a huge Oxford shirt guy.
Robby Hoffman: I love that they're called fits because to me it's all about fit. My style I feel like was never dictated by what shit looks like, but more how it fits. I always look at how something fits. Does it fit the way I like it to? For me it's an interesting evolution, just like everyone. I'm a girl who wears guys' clothes. So fit is going to be very important to me because it's not in my size, right? Uniqlo makes XX small. Fantastic, maybe I can pick up something there. But then I started embracing the sizing of men's in general. It doesn't have to fit perfectly. Actually I like the imperfect fit. I like just buying off the rack and leaving it however it is. I mostly shop vintage, so you're not going to get those sizes anymore. I just kind of buy whatever size it is. If I gotta crop it, if I gotta cut it, it's fine. If it's big, it's fine. If it's small, I wear it open. I just make do. But for me, clothes are a really inexpensive way to feel yourself. As somebody who's had top surgery. Let's say you're somebody in the middle, you like to wear this, you like to wear that. You don't need surgery, you don't need anything. But on this side, there are inexpensive and impermanent ways to feel yourself. You could find a shirt at the Goodwill in the fucking bins that makes you feel great. It can change how you walk, how you feel more like yourself. So that's what clothes have done to me.
I've always focused on fit, how it fits, how it should fit. Does it fit too big? Does it fit too small? So how I work the fit into my fits is huge. Even just chilling with you here, okay, I did not want to do this today. I want to be honest with you, okay, I worked late last night, I do stand up. I said, "Anyway we could do one o'clock, 1:15?." They said, "No way." I said, "No problem." I threw this on, everything I have I've had my whole life and I wear it all the time. It's one of the few pieces, even though it's just a hoodie it makes me feel like me, okay. So even in my casual moments I just always like to feel like me wherever I'm going. But it doesn't have to be expensive and it's not permanent. I could take this off, put something else on and feel completely different. So it's a very great way to feel yourself. I feel like my style was almost decided for me because of what fit initially on the boys side. So I just wear that because I bought it in a boy's size, I'll wear that. I once had a therapist who was like, "Well, would you feel more comfortable if you just wore girls clothes or something?" Because in the beginning I was like, sometimes I have to go places. Now it's no problem that I always look like a lesbian. But back then I didn't like that. I don't like that people know what the fuck is going on. It's like I just would rather blend in. So she was like, "Would you feel better if you just chose girls clothes?" And then I realized that style is almost not even a choice for me. Like let's go back to the Uniqlo example, which has a very distinct men's side and women's side. When you go into any Uniqlo, there's a women's side, there's a men's side. She was making it seem like I choose, I don't choose style. Like when I see the Uniqlo, I'm immediately like, "Ooh, they got new cords. I wonder if they have those cords in my size." You know, I'm on the boys side. I'm not choosing. It's just my taste. I never go through the dresses, versus my wife does. We're just letting our taste speak to us. So that was a long convoluted answer, but these are big questions to me.
Hagop Kourounian: 100%. I totally agree. That's exactly why I talk about this subject with artists. Clothing is something everybody has to wear, right? You can't go outside naked. So everybody has to make that decision, whether it's intentional or subconscious or just what you gravitate towards aesthetically. It's something everybody does. So I always feel like it's the number one way to tell somebody who you are without having to say something and where you stand and how you want to portray yourself to people. But that's a perfect segue to my second question. You just talked about wearing men's style and comfort being a very important thing. How does that play a role in your stand-up? Does that help you become the hilarious person you are on stage and on set?
Robby Hoffman: I don't think it helps me become. I think I was always that and I could just now wear stuff that is me. I would say from a very young age, I always liked baggy pants and that sort of thing. I wasn't as able to wear that and I did play more around with stuff, but I don't think it shaped me. I shaped my style. I think it came from me and now I actually can get away wearing this shit I want to wear. Maybe in the beginning you feel a little awkward. You said you like my button downs. I feel like now people are trying to look like dykes. I feel like we're having a renaissance, but we've been keeping men's fashion alive for a very long time. I just always liked the button down. I think maybe the men in my community wore white button downs and that sort of thing and I just always like the shirt. From a young age, I always had a button down. To me, it's a very versatile piece. It hasn't been new. Nothing has been new. There's just adaptations. All of my stuff is like $5.
Hagop Kourounian: I love that.
Robby Hoffman: When I do have a couple really snazzy pieces, like a Miu Miu shirt, which is the same as my $5 shirt. I got it on sale or for resale at a good price. Obviously, that's not $5, but most things I have are. I have these khaki pants that I wear all the time. They were $6.99 at the Goodwill in San Francisco. My friend Carmen was covering me because you can't go into a dressing room in the Goodwill anymore because people are in there not trying on clothes, whatever. Carmen was blocking me and I put the pants on. I could get them on, so that's enough of a fit to me. I only have four pairs of pants. My whole wardrobe is maybe under $65, except for a few really expensive pieces that I also got at a huge steal.
Hagop Kourounian: Hell yeah, I love that. You don't need to pay a lot of money to have good style.
Robby Hoffman: Style to me is the difference. I think style comes from the poor. Because what we've been able to do with nothing is amazing. You see the rich copying the poor because they don't have style. They have to mimic it. That's why they're doing ripped jeans after the fact. That came from people's jeans being ripped because they couldn't afford new jeans type of thing. That continues to persist to this day that we see high-end brands making simple workwear or simple stuff. Style comes from the poor because when you don't have money, you have to be creative at how to feel yourself and what style is. Maybe it's a hoodie. Maybe it's a hat. Maybe it's a couple of things that make you feel you. I don't think the rich have that heart. I don't think it comes from that. I think it comes from wanting to look a certain way versus with the poor it's wanting to be a certain way. It's wanting to be who you are. It's like how can I be the most me without the money because you don't have the option versus the rich who are still exploring who they are. I feel like being poor helps you understand who you are much quicker. You almost start with that versus having to go to Europe and find it later.
Hagop Kourounian: It's like a weird kind of poor cosplay and also some sort of masking.
Robby Hoffman: Yeah, and listen, they can't help how they were born either. It's still better to be born rich. It's horrible to be poor. So the whole silver lining you have as a poor person is you probably have an understanding of yourself more because you've had to be through more and depend on yourself more. Those resources aren't available. So it doesn't surprise me that I believe that style comes from the poor. Expression comes from the poor because you don't have the resources. You're screaming all the time. “Hey, I'm here. This is what I'm about. This is what's going on.” I think sometimes in rich communities you hear a lot more about them trying to feel something. They get into expensive drugs. They can't feel anything. It's like we feel too much when you're poor. There's empathy all around you. They're trying to feel more human. But yeah money can't buy taste. It's just that old saying. That said, there are people with money who have taste, but for the most part, it’s way sicker on the poor side. Listen, I still don't think poverty should exist but at least we get to look sick.
Hagop Kourounian: I just noticed your Everybody's Live with John Mulaney hat. I love that show and loved your appearance on it.
Robby Hoffman: Thank you. This was free. See I cut this myself. For me, the problem with hats is that I got a small head. So on a men's hat the brim comes out too much and it would cover my eyes too much.
Hagop Kourounian: Oh, wow, did you literally cut the brim?
Robby Hoffman: Yeah, I cut my own brim. I always cut a brim.
Hagop Kourounian: Oh, that is so sick.
Robby Hoffman: I make it whatever size I want. See, the brim has lines. You can trim it to wherever you want and follow the line.
Hagop Kourounian: Can I take a screenshot of that?
Robby Hoffman: Yeah, of course. But yeah, I cut my own brim.
Hagop Kourounian: But there seems to be some interesting influx of very stylish comedians. I love John Mulaney’s style. Of course, I love yours. I love Kate Berlant. Robin Williams is like this mood board god. I'm curious if you think that there's some through line with comedians wanting to appear stylish. Your Letterman's and such, they used to stick to a suit for a long time. Now there seems to be more of an emphasis on style with comedians.
Robby Hoffman: I don't think so. I think you have a skewed view because we're a younger generation. So we think it's happening now. But I think style and comedy has always been a thing. I think you're looking at straight white men comics. I would say the Eddie Murphy's and that era where style was a big deal. Bernie Mac fucking wore jeans with his own face hand painted on them. You look at these guys and I think style was always an emphasis. I would say look at Bernie Mac and look at Eddie Murphy and maybe those are my influences. I think for us, it’s that we think we're young, we think it's only happening now, but there's always been style if you look for it. Look up Bernie Mac's pants. It's one of the best sets I've ever seen. He's wearing his own face painted onto the jeans. That's crazy. Okay.
Hagop Kourounian: I also loved you in Hacks this season, it’s one of the best shows on TV at the moment. I noticed that your costume is not too dissimilar from what you normally wear. Was there any kind of conscious decision to keep some of your typical wardrobe in the show?
Robby Hoffman: Well, they're not going to put me in a dress. It's still boys clothing, but I do think it has a different fit and a different feel to what I wear. Except for maybe the button up. I love a polo. Again, maybe that's because I grew up with all the boys in my community wearing striped polos. I like polos. I would say my style felt more like new or fast fashion-y on the show than it is in real life. I think a real reason why I like to thrift and stuff is that I like handmade, tactile things. I watched that Netflix documentary that was all about the afterlife and near death experience. I think the takeaway was that the material world is limited so you have to learn what's important in life as soon as possible. Relationships and love and all that. But my takeaway was really like, well, we know the material world is limited. Okay. If we're not going to have the material world forever, then let me enjoy the material shit I have when I can have it. My character, Randy, is a little cleaner, more business. She's a little more basic or just, she's a little more professional. She'll wear a suit when I won't in real life but then they'll throw her in a polo and I’ll ask if I can keep it after filming and they say no.
Hagop Kourounian: That's interesting that they didn't let you keep any of the stuff because I watched your MC hosting gig for Indie Wire. You threw in a joke there about how they didn't pay you, but they let you keep the Armani shirt that you were wearing.
Robby Hoffman: Yes. They gave me $1,000 to buy clothes. They wanted me to hire a stylist, but I said, I style myself. I know me the most. I don't need that. I just like to wear what I want to wear. Why overcomplicate?
Hagop Kourounian: Most of the people I've spoken to for this interview series are people who style themselves. I think stylists have one of the hardest jobs on planet earth. But sometimes it's so awesome–
Robby Hoffman: By the way, you're wrong. They don't have the hardest jobs.
Hagop Kourounian: You don't think so?
Robby Hoffman: They don’t have a hard job… on planet earth? There's deep sea coal miners…
Hagop Kourounian: Okay, yeah you’re right. That was an exaggeration, a hyperbole…
Robby Hoffman: There are surgeons who have to operate on fetuses in the mother's womb… There’s hard jobs. Have you ever watched the deep sea fisherman show?
Hagop Kourounian: Yes, yes, yes, there are definitely harder jobs. But in this entertainment space, public image type of space, it is a very hard job. Because a lot of people are not like you who know themselves very well. So, as a stylist, having to come in and kind of tell someone else’s story through clothes is a very hard thing to do. But all that to say,I love when people style themselves because that is kind of the whole essence as to why I do this. You obviously have very specific esoteric opinions on certain things.
But for one second I’d move away from clothes. I'm also a huge car guy. Growing up here in LA, cars are a huge part of our lives. It's an extra accessory that also says something about you as well. I loved your ‘80s Toyota and I know you sold it.
Robby Hoffman: I literally was talking about it yesterday. I wish I could afford to keep that at that time. It was becoming too hard for that to be the daily. Especially if I have to try to San Diego for shows or this and that. It was pristine.
Hagop Kourounian: That era of cars is so great, they’re a little boxy and have so much more character than a 2025 Corolla. You recently upgraded to a Porsche Cayman so I'm curious, how did you get interested in cars? What is it about interesting cars that speak to you? Why don't you just have a boring new electric car or something?
Robby Hoffman: Well, because everything I want to enjoy. I bought a $13,000 Porsche, which isn't for everyone, but it works as a car and it's great. Why pay 30,000 for a new Kia that I'm financing for $400 a month when I can have no car payment and have a Porsche that's actually a great car and could work for 20 more years. I just don't understand the consumerism society of paying $400 a month for a Kia and at the end it’s worth nothing. My Porsche will still sell even with 200,000 miles on it. Somebody's going to buy it.
The Porsche thing is sentimental to me because I don't have a relationship with my father. Growing up my father was really funny and there's a lot of ways that I'm like him. Unfortunately, he's not healthy enough for us to have a relationship with him. When he was healthy he always wanted a Porsche. When he was no longer in me and my siblings lives, he bought a Porsche. Instead of supporting us, he bought a $6,000 Porsche 944. He sent us pictures of him sitting in the Porsche to try and get my mom back and all the kids and stuff. But it's like, we're poor and he's in this car. But he bought this used car and he loved it and he loved Porsche. I got to visit him once, it was one of the last times we had a relationship together. I was in the Porsche with him and I don't know... It's a way for me to still have a relationship with my father. Like I'm in the Porsche. He loves the Porsche and I just feel him every time I get in the car. So even though I don't have a physical relationship with him, these are ways for me to keep a relationship alive in some ways, you know. I can pick the good stuff, it's a connection to me. And I feel him when I'm in the car, when I see the car and I can love from afar and maybe it's not ideal but this is the way. I'll take any part of a relationship we can have. And if this is the way to do it, then I'm all for it.
Hagop Kourounian: Wow. That's honestly so beautiful. It’s crazy that a material object can do something like that.
Robby Hoffman: Yeah, it's not like I knew of other brands, I just knew Porsche. My father loved Porsche and eventually got one. I have that same love. I'm half of him, whether he's here or not, I have a relationship with him inside me. Just like I have a relationship with my mother, you know, by being half of her too. Then, you know, the other half is just Rob.
Hagop Kourounian: Speaking of your mom, I read that she had awesome taste in art and movies and culture. So growing up you watched a lot of great films and I'm curious were there any films that truly inspired how you wanted to live your life, who you are today, or had a big influence on you?
Robby Hoffman: I think it's hard to say which films in particular. I think all of it. We had so much art and movies in the house from Spike Lee joins to Woody Allen movies. It just seemed available. My mother was always reading. My mother collects records and played records all the time. She had a couple comedy records now looking back, but it was just around and it never felt like art was this far-fetched thing. She was so into movies and so into television. I remember the HBO logo coming on Saturday nights when we would watch Sex and the City together. To us that was a family show. So I think it was just something that I marinated in quite literally.
Hagop Kourounian: Thank you so much for the time Robby!
Robby Hoffman: I appreciate you so much, man. Thank you.