Robby Hoffman on growing up Hasidic, leaving it all behind, and building a comedy career from queer identity and outsider life. From her Netflix special to her Emmy-nominated turn on Hacks—bracingly honest about belonging and why the best jokes still sting.
Robby Hoffman
Robby Hoffman is an Emmy-winning writer, Emmy-nominated actor, and comedian whose work spans stand-up, television, and podcasting. In 2025, she was named one of Variety's "10 Comics to Watch" and her debut Netflix stand-up special, Robby Hoffman: WAKE UP, directed by John Mulaney premiered globally.
In 2025 Hoffman also starred opposite Michelle Williams in FX’s critically acclaimed limited series Dying for Sex. She currently appears on Season 4 of HBO’s Hacks, where she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, and is now in production on Season 5. She also currently appears on the HBO series Rooster from Steve Carell and Bill Lawrence. Hoffman is developing UnEntitled at HBO, a new series she is writing, executive producing, and set to star in.
The New York Times describes Robby as a “bulldozing stand-up,” comparing her to Larry David, noting her “mountain-out-of-a-molehill kvetching, but her hilarious rage makes her sound like a modern lesbian Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay.” The New York Times also praised her Patreon podcast Too Far as "an addictive listen.”
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Cascade PBS Ideas Festival
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The 2026 Cascade PBS Ideas Festival was a full-day celebration of ideas, journalism, and public discourse held on Saturday, June 6th, in Seattle's historic Fremont neighborhood. The event featured live podcast recordings and studio television tapings from major media outlets including The Atlantic, NPR, The New Yorker, CNN, PBS, and Pushkin, with programs such as Fresh Air, Radiolab, The Political Scene, Radio Atlantic, and Open to Debate live on stage. Speakers included Ibram X. Kendi, Nancy Pelosi, Monica Lewinsky, Laverne Cox, Kenny Mayne, Tonya Mosley, Adam Schiff, and others drawn from journalism, politics, culture, and the arts. Beyond the main sessions, the festival included community meetups, speaker meet-and-greets, food trucks, DJs, live music, happy hour - and surprises. The festival brought together more than a thousand PBS supporters for what has become a highly anticipated annual event that fosters intellectual discourse and expands understanding of the issues shaping our world.



2026 SPEAKERS
Laverne Cox
Emmy-winning actress, producer, LGBTQ+ advocate, and author
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker Emerita, United States Congress
Ibram X. Kendi
Author, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age
Monica Lewinsky
Activist, Writer, Producer
Tonya Mosley
Co-Host Fresh Air / Creator and Host of Truth Be Told
Kenny Mayne
Former ESPN Host, Podcast Host
Robby Hoffman
Emmy-winning writer, Emmy-nominated actor, and Comedian
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Author of America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries
Knute Berger
Host, Mossback's Northwest
Adam Schiff
U.S. Senator, California
Nick Zentner
Geologist, Host of Nick on the Rocks
Patricia Murphy
Host, Seattle Now / KUOW
Hanna Rosin
Host, Radio Atlantic
Tyler Foggatt
Host, The Political Scene
Danielle Pletka
Distinguished Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Kevin Sur
Host, KEXP's Sounds of Survivance
Paris Jackson
Host, The Newsfeed
David Rind
Host of CNN Podcast, "One Thing"
Girmay Zahilay
King County Executive
Rebecca Nagle
Writer and Host, First America
Laura Gibson
Musician / Writer
Daisy Hernández
Author, Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth
Molly Webster
Senior Correspondent, Radiolab Co-Host
Gene Tagaban
Storyteller, Speaker, Mentor, Teacher and Counselor of the Spirit
Julia Ioffe
Author, MOTHERLAND: A Feminist History of Modern Russia; Founding Partner, Washington Correspondent at Puck
Steve Phillips
Host of Democracy in Color podcast, Author, and Columnist at The Guardian, The Nation
Hozoji Matheson-Margullis
Musician, Helms Alee, Lozen, Tacos!, and Uukwuuk
John Donvan
Moderator-in-Chief
Brangien Davis
Cascade PBS, Arts and culture writer / television host
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist, Author of The Edge of Space and Time