Hacks is back for season 3, and as usual, the hit Max comedy series has a great roster of guest stars – including some of Deborah Vance’s comedian colleagues playing themselves. Like Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm before it, Hacks uses its showbiz setting to allow cameoing celebrities to make fun of themselves. Previous seasons have featured self-parodying guest appearances by Margaret Cho and Wayne Newton. The series has also brought in A-listers to play fictional characters, like Laurie Metcalf playing Deborah’s tour manager or Ming-Na Wen playing Jimmy’s rival talent agent.
Season 3 brings more guest stars into the Hacks universe than ever before. The two-episode premiere alone sees George Wallace and Carrot Top playing themselves as Deborah’s peers, and Helen Hunt as Ava’s new TV boss. There’s even been a hint at a Tom Cruise cameo with the revelation that Deborah’s name has joined his Christmas coconut cake list (but it’s extremely unlikely that Cruise himself will appear on the show). Hacks season 3 has a ton of great guest stars, either playing one-off bit parts or recurring roles.
Hacks season 3, episode 1, “Just for Laughs,” opens with what seems to be Deborah Vance walking through a Vegas casino and being ushered onto a stage in the middle of the casino floor, which seems to be a step backward for her career. But, as it turns out, it’s not Deborah – it’s a drag queen dressed as Deborah, and they’re joined on stage by a bunch of other Deborah Vance impersonators. And that’s when Christopher McDonald reprises his role as Marty Ghilain, the CEO of the Palmetto Casino.
McDonald is best known for playing villainous golfer Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore. He has appeared in a handful of previous episodes, and in the season 3 premiere, he unveils a Deborah Vance-themed slot machine at his casino. The tease that Deborah’s career had taken a nosedive is upended by the revelation of slot-machine-level fame.
Rachel Lindsay has a brief cameo appearance as herself in the Hacks season 3 premiere. Lindsay first rose to prominence as a contestant on The Bachelor season 21, and later became the central focus of the 13th season of the show’s spin-off, The Bachelorette, which made her the first Black lead in The Bachelor franchise. From 2020 to 2023, Lindsay was a correspondent for Extra, and she co-hosts the podcast Higher Learning with Van Lathan on The Ringer platform.
Bringing in real-life media personalities always makes the world of a showbiz-based series feel more believable and authentic, because it’s recognizable as real-world media. Lindsay’s presence in the Hacks world helps it feel less like make-believe. Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12 used a similar trick by bringing in Willie Geist to profile Larry David and comment on his trial.
Legendary comedian George Wallace makes a brief appearance as himself in Hacks’ season 3 premiere. Wallace is shown to be an old friend of Deborah’s who gives her a spot at his self-named comedy club. Wallace himself is a former Vegas headliner, much like Deborah, so they probably met on that scene.
This standup set serves an important function in Deborah’s character development. It shows that, after the success of her special, she’s become so famous and beloved that it’s not as much fun to do comedy anymore. The audience will laugh at her jokes just because they love her. They won’t even let her get to the punchlines – they just laugh at whatever she says – so the laughs feel unearned. This lack of challenge becomes the key driving force for Deborah’s character in the season 3 premiere.
While Ava and Jimmy are mingling at a party full of industry suits at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, Jimmy spots Winnie Landell across the room. Winnie is the head of the network that airs Ava’s highly acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning comedy series, On the Contrary. She’s played by Helen Hunt, the beloved star of Twister, What Women Want, and As Good As It Gets.
Hunt instantly proves herself to be a hilarious addition to the Hacks season 3 cast. She bluntly tells Jimmy that she once had sex with his dad, although he can’t remember if it was while he was still with Jimmy’s mom (which freaks Jimmy out, because he’s not sure if his dad had an affair or not). Hunt is surely being set up for a larger role later in the season.
Hunt reprised her role as Winnie in episode 4, “Join the Club.” Jimmy and Kayla join her on the pickleball court in an attempt to pitch Deborah for the Late Show hosting gig. They’re surprised to find that Winnie is fiercely competitive, but against all odds, they end up making a good impression.
In Hacks season 3, episode 2, “Better Late,” Scott Thompson – better known by his stage name Carrot Top – has a hilarious cameo appearance as himself. In the Hacks universe, Carrot Top is Deborah’s neighbor. When Deborah is offered a guest spot on a late-night show, she realizes she has no anecdotes to tell, so she decides to fabricate one by pulling a prank on her neighbor. She sends a couple of contractors to Carrot Top’s house to threaten to remove a bush from his front lawn.
Much to Carrot Top’s dismay, a digger comes bursting onto his property, ready to rip up his shrubbery, and he freaks out. Then, he sees that the digger is being driven by Deborah, who’s laughing hysterically. The best part of this storyline is that Deborah ends up guest-hosting the late-night show, so she doesn’t even need the anecdote.
Deborah gets roasted by an all-star panel of comedians in Hacks season 3, episode 3, “The Roast of Deborah Vance.” The roastmaster of the evening is Mario Cantone, appearing as himself. Deborah and Ava spend the early scenes of the episode trying to come up with jokes making fun of Cantone for Deborah to use in the roast.
Cantone is renowned for his fast-paced, high-energy style of comedy, as well as his impressions, ranging from well-known celebrities to his own family members. Cantone is best known for his TV roles as Anthony Marentino in Sex and the City (and its sequel series, And Just Like That…) and Terri in Men in Trees. In “The Roast of Deborah Vance,” Cantone is just one of many famous faces that arrive to poke fun at Deborah on stage.
Patton Oswalt also plays himself as one of the roasters in Hacks season 3, episode 3, “The Roast of Deborah Vance.” In his roast, which is only shown briefly in a montage of all the roasters taking their shots at Deborah, Oswalt focuses on making fun of Deborah’s huge gay following. Oswalt is one of the world’s most famous standup comics, having released such acclaimed specials as Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time, Talking for Clapping, Annihilation, and We All Scream.
Oswalt is known for his recurring TV roles as Spence Olchin in The King of Queens, as Principal Ralph Durbin in A.P. Bio, and as the narrator of The Goldbergs in the guise of grown-up Adam Goldberg. He voiced Remy in the Pixar animated movie Ratatouille. Oswalt also wrote the books Zombie Spaceship Wasteland and Silver Screen Fiend.
Natasha Leggero is another one of the roasters to appear at Deborah’s roast in Hacks season 3, episode 3. Leggero has appeared in a couple of Comedy Central Roasts, so it makes sense to bring her in as one of the roasters at Deborah’s roast. Leggero first rose to prominence as the host of the MTV reality series The 70s House and a regular roundtable panelist on Chelsea Handler’s late-night talk show Chelsea Lately.
Known for her observational comedic style, Leggero co-created and starred in the sitcom Another Period with Riki Lindhome. She’s also played a few voice roles, like Callie Maggotbone in Ugly Americans, Ethel in Brickleberry, and Shannon in Hoops. At Deborah’s roast in Hacks, as usual, Leggero doesn’t pull her punches and goes straight for the jugular in making fun of the roastee.
Andy Kindler also plays himself as one of Deborah’s roasters in “The Roast of Deborah Vance.” Kindler first rose to prominence as a regular guest on Late Show with David Letterman, and with his recurring role as Andy, Ray Barone’s friend and fellow sports writer, in the hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. He also voices Mort the mortician in Bob’s Burgers and played himself alongside Marc Maron in the IFC comedy series Maron.