Robby Hoffman Goes Too Far, Yet It's Never Enough

If there’s one thing Robby Hoffman knows how to do, it’s talk.

Wringing each thought with impressive dexterity, Hoffman and I spoke about her new podcast, Too Far, cohosted with rising comic Rachel Kaly.

Too Far is a confrontation disguised as a conversation, a podcast in which the two hosts’ differing personalities play a captivating and hilarious game of cat and mouse, dancing through the delightful dissonance of their disparate yet charmingly compatible tendencies.

In their Too Far podcast, Hoffman and cohost Kaly (Digman!), who was recently listed as one of Vulture’s best new comedians, discuss everything from the trivial to the serious; that Hoffman “[goes] off on tangents and rants” while talking on the show provides fodder for the kind of play-fighting audiences love to hear, the point of which, she tells me, is to cross the line.

An orator in the truest sense of the term, Robby Hoffman displays a sincere curiosity and compassion, a commitment to honesty, as well as a genuine willingness to engage in dialogue, despite her argumentative tone.

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“I think nobody is more comfortable being uncomfortable than me. And I think that’s really a skill. I think you have to get good at being uncomfortable,” Hoffman shares. “Because if you’re not good at being uncomfortable, life is not for you. You’re going to be mostly uncomfortable, that has been my experience thus far.”

Both Hoffman and Kaly identify as queer Jews, which provides enough overlap for them to discuss complicated subject matter from different perspectives, and still find mutual connection. This “friction,” as Hoffman describes it to me in our interview, is exactly what she was looking for in a podcast cohost, someone to bounce ideas off of while recording, and it’s what helps the comedians to “naturally explore a lot of the gray” areas in these nuanced topics such as politics and childhood trauma.

In her prolific writing and stand-up career, as well as this new comedy podcast, Hoffman’s ability to convey complex thoughts and opinions with enormous humor, knack for making her meaning known, and flair for the provocative are astounding. She never fails to land the plane on her grandiose, surprising, and sometimes outrageous beliefs, due in large part to their foundation of sound reasoning.

Having “plucked [Kaly] out of obscurity,” a long-running tease on the show, comic Hoffman counters Kaly’s mild mannered, soft spoken demeanor with loud, outspoken verbal volleys, like the Tigger to her Eeyore, Hoffman equates. Listening to their banter is a joy in the way one is exhausted yet content after a hard workout: better for it, despite the discomfort.

She doesn’t remember how she first met Kaly, Hoffman reveals to me, but she does recall quickly hitting it off with the person she calls her “soulmate.”

“Literally nobody [knew] her until me,” Hoffman says of her selection of cohost for her podcast.

It was “instant kismet,” which Hoffman admits she was “very annoyed by,” before figuring out that they should do the Too Far show together. “Your heart knows what it’s connected to and it fuses,” she says of their immediate bond.

“There’s not so much space for another person in a podcast with me which, you’ll see, my partner Rachel suffers with because I do talk so much and I’ve stopped trying to fix it or anything,” Hoffman explains.

When there are pockets of silence in a recording, Hoffman explains, she wants them filled with somebody else’s perspective, a testament to her enthusiasm to build honest connection across dissenting points-of-view: “I was going to do [a podcast] on my own [but]…As a Jew, I’ve got to talk off of someone. I’m not talking into the ether.”

How Hoffman and Kaly’s individual personalities and suitable opposition complement one another makes the show special, giving Too Far its breakout success.

While Hoffman excels at talking, she’s still getting better at having conversation, she admits, and part of the draw for audiences of her new show is hearing Hoffman learn how to listen. Too Far documents a burgeoning friendship between two grown-ups, a healing, riveting endeavor to listen to in our time of factioning and black-and-white thinking.

With her new podcast as well as her new friend, Hoffman is “bringing back a tough love approach,” as she puts it, referencing the no-holds-barred type of comedy she employs in her work with Kaly.

“A touch of bullying keeps a person humble,” Hoffman prescribes with her recognizable wit, candor, and overwhelming magnetism.

Per Hoffman, Kaly “is someone who is very scared,” the foil to Hoffman who, on the other hand, is adept at dealing with discomfort.

Hoffman attributes this trait more so to her growing up in poverty than she does her Jewish background, she further elaborates. She also points to her family’s financial situation as a child as having given her a strong sense of honesty, because when things are tight, everything is out in the open, she tells me. Honesty is the running thread through not only Hoffman’s ethics, but also her Too Far podcast.

Although audiences will often take Kaly’s side in their on-air love-spats, due in large part to Hoffman’s relentless torment, you can’t help but root for Hoffman to keep going. The more she talks, the more room her generation-defining hilarity has to strengthen and rise, like a fresh loaf of challah on Shabbat morning. She portrays an innate humility, which makes her impassioned points all the more compelling, her loquacious compulsions a welcome riot in an age of self-censorship.

“Everybody is just a person with their own circumstances. Yes, [Rachel and I] have the same this-and-that but, my God, you know, we also have oceans of difference,” which seems “crazy,” she says, “because we seem right up against each other,” as two queer Jewish women in comedy with paternal estrangements, among other similarities.

“So, how is there that much bridging to do?” she ponders.

Despite their differences, Robby Hoffman’s wry wisdom shines brightly, her chutzpah at its finest against Rachel Kaly’s droll comedic stylings, making for an honestly entertaining, wildly funny search for common ground.

Listen to Hoffman navigate these uncomfortable conversations with Kaly on their Too Far show, now streaming wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to their Patreon for more access.

Felicia Reich is an entertainment writer and culture reporter. She lives in Brooklyn with her complex first person perspective, collection of decorative pillows, and insatiable curiosity.

Robby Hoffman Goes Too Far, Yet It’s Never Enough