Paul W. Downs

I mean, how do you feel sort of sitting where you sit and overseeing the show that you oversee and watching that stuff play out, especially as sort of, you know, comedians yourselves and people with careers in this industry?

Yeah.

How do you watch this and what do you have to say about it?

We are so grateful and thank you so much.

I'm going to have you record that as a separate ad.

I absolutely will.

Thank you.

I'm sure audiences will love that.

The consolidation piece in the media industry and the entertainment industry is really interesting to me, and it's something that the show absolutely touches on and comes back to in a few different ways.

I think one of the ways that stood out to me in season five, without giving too much away, is Debra having this very startling realization that she pissed off the wrong boss, right?

She pissed off a guy who had the ability to take a lot of her work out of her hands and ensure that audiences would not be able to access it.

I'm wondering how you see sort of that parallel with what's happening in your industry now in terms of fewer and fewer players at the top having that kind of control over so many different networks, so many different streaming platforms.

What does that mean for you in the real world outside of the show Hacks?

I want to be thoughtful about your careers and your livelihoods, but you have overall deals with Warner Brothers, right?

So you're getting a new dad.

You're getting a new big dad at some point in the next few months.

And I have a lot of friends in the news industry who are affected by that acquisition as well of Paramount Skydance taking on, you know, Warner Brothers and everything that that encompasses.

How are you thinking about that right now?

Does that worry you?

We just don't know what it will look like.