Matthew Trueherz: I hear you had a root canal last time you were in Portland.

Robby Hoffman: The telltale sign of poverty, I feel like, is bad teeth. You can crawl yourself out of it, but your teeth will follow you.

MT: That was just before Christmas 2022, right?

RH: That was also the same trip I took, like, a 24-hour train ride home, because there was some kind of fluke storm. It ended up being this crazy pilgrimage.

MT: We like to shut things down pretty quick.

RH: That’s exactly what you guys did. Portland, stay weird. But then that train was canceled, so I had to take a two-hour Uber to Eugene [to get on another train]. My driver was dressed as Santa Claus himself. I was now in Santa’s sleigh, which had been upgraded for 2022; I was in his Corolla.

The train was supposed to be 12 hours but ended up being 24. It was moving literally at a snail’s pace, like Reese Witherspoon in that Wild movie. That’s what we were doing. We were doing the great Pacific Crest Trail, except I didn’t have hiking boots.

People were losing their minds. You had crying kids. You had old grandmothers who had gifts for their grandkids that they were supposed to get to them. And I’m the one Jew, who doesn’t really have anything to do with Christmas, but now, suddenly, I’m in charge of delivering Christmas, at least in spirit. I was like, “We’re all getting home for Christmas. You’re gonna see your grandkids. Everybody just shut up and look out the window.” People were cheering when we got into the station in Los Angeles. Christmas was saved.

MT: So you’ve been developing a show based on your life, called Rivka, that juxtaposes two timelines: one based on your upbringing as a closeted queer woman in a Hasidic community, the seventh of 10 kids raised by a single mother, and another close to your current reality as a comedy writer in Los Angeles.

RH: I seem so abnormal to the world right now. But actually, in my family, in my world, I couldn’t be more normal. Now I have to operate in this entirely different world, and I’m like, “But I was just normal.” It’s insane. I went from being normal to people being like, “Why would you say something like that? What’s wrong with you?”

MT: You were just one of the 10.

RH: I did not stand out at all. I was completely normal. And people don’t—like, I. Am. Normal. But when you put me in regular society, suddenly it’s like, “Why would you say such a thing?” What am I saying?! What am I saying?! MT: The show is coming soon?

RH: Yes. I mean, I never would say soon with television. You know, Stranger Things took 11 years to make. Stand-up is when I say soon. I’ll be in Portland—God willing—soon. Next week. I toggle between television writing and stand-up. One makes you slow down and one is go, go, go.

MT: Where does the podcast fit in?

RH: The podcast reminds me of the one time I had a decaf coffee and I thought I developed a depression. I was working on a kids’ show, which I won an Emmy for. [Odd Squad, which Hoffman has described as “like Law & Order for kids.”] One day I felt kind of strange mid-morning. So I decided to have another coffee—very unusual for me, I’m quite regimented—and still, by three o’clock I was destitute.

I was at death’s door. I went to my boss and I said, “I must admit, I think I developed a deep depression. They say it, you know, kind of sneaks up on you, and then you realize you have it. And I guess this is what happened. All of a sudden this afternoon, I feel a lethargy I don’t even know how to describe in words.”

And he was like, “Oh my God, Robby, go home. Take all the time you need.” Yada yada. And I was about to leave, and I noticed one of the kitchen staff refilling the big coffee machine thing we had. I thought, Yeah, grab yet another cup. I was self-medicating at this point. Anything to help the lethargy. I go, “Oh, are you making new coffee? And she said, “Yeah, we ran out of regular so we’ve been doing decaf today.”

MT: Meanwhile you’re going on medical leave.

RH: Literally. So that’s what the podcast does for me. It gives me a disorder. But people like it. I do it for you. I just started making a little bit of money from it, but honestly, I do it for you. I’m quite benevolent, as far as artists go. So the podcast is sprinkled in, and so is acting. I’ve been getting a lot more acting opportunities. I’m in an upcoming FX show and I’ll be in a film.

MT: Are you going to act in your own show?

RH: I am always open for casting. But alas, I don’t think we’ll find a better cast.

MT: You’ll play the version of—

RH: —I don’t like to speak of the future, but there’s a big potential. Keep your eyes peeled.

MT: You and your partner [former Bachelorette contestant Gabby Windey] are famous in very different crowds. Has anyone ever known who both of you are?

RH: It happens. It’s this weird corner of the internet. And the few people it happens to, they cannot believe it. That is their Christmas. Their heads just explode.

MT: What’s it like being in each other’s worlds?

RH: Do you know the shirt that Gabby got me for my birthday? It’s a sweet Bode shirt. People started commenting [on it]. They noticed that I wear this shirt to every nice occasion. “Oh, Robby’s got her good shirt on.” I wear it for my birthday. If it’s Gabby’s birthday, I wear it. New Year’s I wore it. I have a beautiful shirt for nice occasions. I don’t have to think about it. If I have something nice I’ve been invited to, I don’t care that I’m wearing it again. It’s a beautiful shirt. Why not wear it again? “Oh, Robby’s in her nice shirt. I wonder where they’re going.” People have started to clock what I’m up to.

MT: There was a swarm of Cosmo and People Magazine articles with headlines like,

“Everything to Know About Gabby Windey’s Partner, Robby Hoffman.”

RH: Listen, Matthew. I’m a media sensation. I’m a media darling! They can’t get enough of me. My favorite was, “What Is Robby’s Relationship to Religion?” She’s Jewish. Just, OK, we get it. Guys, help me help you.