Review: ROBBY HOFFMAN, Soho Theatre

“It could be worse”

Robby Hoffman does not actually begin with Robby Hoffman. Instead, the show begins with an opening act, Rachel Kaly, Hoffman’s co-host of the Too Far podcast. For a one-hour show, it is certainly an interesting choice, and I did not love Kaly’s sense of humour, which was very deadpan and asked obvious questions like “Did you guys hear about the pandemic?” in a monotonous tone. 

From the beginning, Hoffman is not afraid to be direct and aggressive, starting by calling the audience “f*ggots” and continuing to use the word for the next several minutes, claiming, “I’m so used to language, nothing offends me.” But, even with this aggression, she believes that she is the “opposite Ellen” - someone who may seem rough around the edges but is actually kind on the inside. Unfortunately for the audience, it is rare to see that kindness shine through, making for an uncomfortable hour. 

While Hoffman may not be offended, others might be, as many of her jokes tend to go past the line of what many consider to be “safe” jokes, including an entire section on trying to find the best in paedophiles and placing blame on the children that are “into paedophiles.” This then goes into a bit about Prince Andrew and King Charles, whom she refers to as the “Epstein and Diana paedophiles.” 

Throughout the show, Hoffman returns to one phrase that keeps her going - “It could be worse.” She has a tendency to focus on the past, with one example being reenacting how someone invented dominoes out of pure boredom one day. But, even though everything could be worse, Hoffman brings up a range of topics that annoy her.

One of these topics includes how so many people are labelling themselves as queer, which she believes to be ridiculous, asking the audience, “Do you know what it’s like to go down on a girl?” She even has one audience member who one might identify as a femme woman, who identifies as queer, stand up, only to for Hoffman to go on this rant. It feels like Hoffman is angry at people for calling themselves queer without having the same experience as her, which is a shame as we should be working to make the LGBTQ+ community more inclusive. She also makes some rude comments about the polyamorous community later in the show. 

In the most uncomfortable parts of the show, Hoffman turns on the audience themselves, particularly a group in the front row. She is direct with all of them, including one audience member sitting by themselves whom she called the “lone” and “broke” lesbian. A long amount of time is spent asking hetero-presenting couples what kind of bin they have in their toilet, as Hoffman has some strange vendetta against kick bins and will attack anyone who thinks differently.

While one or two comments may have been funny, Hoffman continually refers back to the same people, growing angrier and angrier each time. It is difficult to tell whether this is a part of the show or if Hoffman is genuinely annoyed with the audience members. But, when she finds someone in the audience she does like, she holds out two of her fingers, saying, “Scissor me. You’ve earned one.”

That’s not to say that there aren’t funny moments in the show because, as Hoffman declares, she is indeed “Funny, not fun.” I particularly enjoyed her section about why companies chose to focus on gay men for pride, comparing an outgoing gay man to a lesbian. There is also another great moment in which Hoffman discusses her awe at men’s inability to learn, using the example of how quickly women were able to advance in learning once they were allowed to attend schools. There are also some moments in which Hoffman reveals things about herself like her love of documentaries and her interest in how people first came up with words

While I wanted to enjoy, Robby Hoffman, I felt myself pulled out of the funny moments by aggressive crowdwork and angry rants that held no real meaning. The show feels like a work in progress, a bit disorganised but still having some potential. At the end, Hoffman says, “We’ve been through a lot. I really want to go home.” I can’t help but agree. 

Robby Hoffman ran from 11 to 16 March at Soho Theatre.

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