9 Things Midge Maisel and Deborah Vance Would Definitely Agree On

Two of the best TV shows of the last ten years feature a female standup comedian working with her LGBTQ colleague and bestie to make her career dreams come true.

Although The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Midge Maisel and Hacks’ Deborah Vance are very different—the former an aspiring comedian in 1950s New York and the latter a seasoned pro living in present-day Las Vegas—there are some things they would absolutely agree on. 

1. Late Night is the Goal

Both of these talented comedians are looking to make their way onto late-night television. For Midge, the goal is to land a coveted spot on Gordon Ford’s show. 

The stand-up comic and writer knew a tight five broadcast from coast to coast would launch her into super-stardom, and a few stolen minutes in the series finale did just that. But Deborah has already made it.

She’s toured the country, starred in a popular sitcom, had a long-standing residency in Las Vegas, and launched her own brand on QVC. However, she’s always hoped to host her own Late Night show, a dream that has always alluded her.

Earlier in her career, she almost became the first woman on Late Night but lost out due to some bad press. Now, she is closer than ever to making that dream come true and will not let anything stand in her way. 

2. Cheating Husbands Have to Go

Midge’s husband, Joel, cheated on her with his assistant, Penny Pann, while Deborah’s husband cheated with her sister, Kathy.  When Midge discovered Joel’s infidelity, she got drunk and did her very first set at The Gaslight, launching her comedy career. 

However, Deborah’s family drama led to rumors that she set her ex-husband’s house on fire and destroyed her chance to host the Late Night show she so desperately wanted. 

Both women were too proud to be with men who would betray them but, more importantly, realized that they didn’t have room in their lives for those men or anyone else who would stand in the way of their careers. 

3. You Need a Strong Team

Deborah probably has the best team in the business (minus Kayla). 

She has Jimmy, an agent who quit his job to support her dreams, Marcus, a CEO who’s more dedicated to her life than he is to his own — and most importantly — Hanna, a writer and friend who just gets her and keeps pushing her to do more.  Susie serves a similar role for Midge. 

She’s her manager, her best friend, and the person who keeps driving her forward, even if she needs to wield a plunger to do it. 

Without the backing of these people, they wouldn’t have had their successes. Deborah would have settled on telling the same old jokes at another Las Vegas residency, and Midge would probably still be making briskets and Jell-o molds.

Instead, Deborah was named the first woman to host a Late Night show, and Midge was launched into superstardom. 

4. You’ll Fall Out with Those Closest to You

Midge ditched her fiance, and Deborah doesn’t talk to her sister, but those aren’t the people they love the most. The people that mean the most to these women are their business partners. 

Deborah and Hannah have fallen out multiple times, endured a lawsuit, and most recently after Deb tried to screw her protege out of the head writer job at her late-night show. And Midge and Susie didn’t talk for years after Susie’s poor business decisions and involvement with the mob cost Joel his freedom and nearly cost the comedian her career. 

5. Parenting and Standup Don’t Mix

As Midge said in her career-launching set on The Gordon Ford Show, “I think it’s inevitable that they will hate me when they grow up. Like every other parent, I’ve spent sleepless nights wondering what they’re going to say about me to their psychiatrist. ‘She wasn’t home. She missed my baseball game. She made me listen to her tight 10 for a week before she opened in Toledo and then made us heckle her for three hours, so she had some practice comebacks.’”

Debora’s daughter, DJ, has spent plenty of time with her therapist and in recovery, talking about the damage her mother has done. And Debora is such a selfish parent that she would only support her daughter at Narcotics Anonymous if she would agree to attend her roast. “What a c-nt!”

6. You Can Never Have Too Many Dresses

Even before Midge made it big, she had an outfit for everything. She had so many dresses to pack for her trip to The Catskills that she nearly gave her father, Abe, a stroke by disrupting his perfect packing plan.

But once she hit it big, she revealed racks and racks of her clothing were going up for auction in a 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace. One can only imagine they had been kept in a warehouse, just like Deborah uses for her clothing.

If Midge had been watching Hacks, her jaw surely would have dropped when Deb walked into what looked like an airplane hangar and grabbed a phone-book-sized catalog to find where she kept her custom, yellow Bill Blass dress. 

7. Having a Microphone Can Get You in Trouble

Midge got herself canceled before that was even a thing.

After ranting about Sophie Lennon on stage at the Gaslight for being a thin, wealthy snob instead of an overweight, working-class woman from Queens, the comic found herself blackballed from comedy, and her manager was nearly taken out by two mobsters.

She didn’t learn her lesson and two seasons later lost her opening-act gig for Shy Baldwin after nearly outing him at the Apollo. Deborah also came close to getting canceled when a group of college kids discovered her old standup sets online. However, her willingness to listen and learn kept her from losing her Late Night gig.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t talk her way out of getting kicked off a lesbian cruise mid-voyage after telling homophobic jokes on stage. 

8. It’s Okay to Mix Business and Pleasure

Both Midge and Deb tend to get down with men who have the chance to help when with their careers. Neither could be accused of trying to sleep her way to the top, but they both enjoy spending time with powerful men in their industries.

Midge tried to avoid sleeping with Lenny Bruce, who saved her career by performing with her at The Gaslight following her disastrous set outing Sophie Lennon as a thin, cultured woman who had probably never set foot in Queens. But she gave in as their friendship progressed under the condition that he always remember that she is “very, very funny.”

Deb, on the other hand, had a long-standing situationship with Palmetto Casino CEO Marty Ghilain, who controls her residency, and hooked up with station owner Bob Lipka after he chose her competitor to host the newest iteration of Late Night.

9. You Need to Know How to Swim

You learn a lot about someone when you’re on the road with them. While touring, Midge and Deborah learned that their work besties didn’t know how to swim and took the time to teach them.

For Midge and Susie, this meant a very public lesson at a hotel pool in Florida, filled with children, while Deb and Hannah had a quiet moment together at an indoor pool in Illinois.

Both scenes share a mix of sincerity and laughs, but ultimately show these comedians’ strong bonds with their favorite colleagues. 

Hacks Season 3 is currently streaming on Max. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is streaming on Prime Video.

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