Hacks co-creators Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello, who are also husband and wife, have been performing and writing together for over a decade. Today, we discuss the road to season three of their hit HBO series.

At the top, they unpack the makings of their creative partnership (8:20 ), how they chronicled the evolving state of comedy in Hacks (14:38 ), and Jerry Seinfeld’s recent comments about the medium (20:05 ). Then, we walk through Paul and Lucia’s origin stories (33:45 ), their meeting in an improv class at UCB (38:00 ), and the New York comedy pipeline they fell into with Broad City (46:59 ).

On the back-half, we talk about the making of their feature film debut Rough Night (49:35 ), the road trip where they first imagined the premise for Hacks (53:25 ), their guiding principle while creating the show (59:10 ), and their journey into parenthood (1:05:48 ). To close, a piece of advice on art-making today (1:11:30 ).

For questions, comments, or to join our mailing list, reach me at sf@talkeasypod.com. This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios. Clips courtesy of HBO.

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