You may recognize Mark Indelicato as “The One Who Is Always Running Around” in Hacks. “The One Who Is Always Running Around” does have a name—it’s Damien—and a job title: personal assistant to comedy legend Deborah Vance (Jean Smart). More often than not, you’ll find Damien chasing Deborah down an airplane tarmac, hectically karate-chopping pillows to look more aesthetically appealing, or shuttling corgis around for family pictures.
Damien is always tripping over himself trying to make Deborah look flawless.
“In Season 2, there was an accident,” Indelicato tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, laughing. “It was this scene where we’re on the bus. There’s the QVC set-up that Damien’s trying to break down and he falls, and is like, ‘Fuck!’ That was not scripted. I fell on accident.”
That one fall was so hilarious, Indelicato says with a sigh, that he then had to do it over and over again, in dozens of takes. “Lucia [Aniello] came up to me and was like, ‘Yeah, babe. You’re going to be doing that for the rest of the day. Buckle up.’”
Now, as Hacks has returned, better than ever, for its third season on Max, Indelicato is back in the trenches. But it’s all worth it for Damien, who is preparing Deborah for the potential job of a lifetime: becoming a late night talk show host.
In a conversation with The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, Indelicato unpacks how queer representation has changed from Ugly Betty to now, which other HBO stars he’d like to see appear on Hacks, and a potential love interest for Damien.
Well, I’ll start with what I’m most curious about: What is it like to work with Deborah’s corgis on set?
They’re extremely well-trained. But it’s always difficult. Isn’t there that saying about working with animals and kids? When they have something deliberate to do, where the shot is dependent on them running through at a certain time, as well-trained as a dog can be, dogs are dogs. I don’t have to work with them as much as Hannah [Einbinder] and Jean do, but it’s definitely a journey.
I’m also here being like, “Never work with kids!” And I was a child actor.
But you’re one of the best.
Period! You said it, not me.
What was your favorite episode to film this season?
I really, really love the finale. I just finished watching them. I’m just so thrilled to have seen Hannah’s journey as an actress from Season 1 to now. When we met in Season 1, she was a lot less sure of her acting prowess than she is now. It’s extremely incredible as her friend, but also as a viewer. As an actor, watching your friends, sometimes you can be like, “Oh, that’s my friend doing that.” But it was in [a big finale] scene, for example, when I was so lost in what [Hannah] was doing. Her and Jean’s chemistry and the way that they work off of each other is always so incredible to watch.
I’m also such a huge fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. When it was revealed to me that Kaitlin Olson would be playing DJ [back in Season 1]? GAGGED. I was gagged. Sweet Dee is one of my favorite characters of all time on television. It’s not very often that I get a chance to be in the same scenes as Kaitlin, so any scene where I get to watch her work is incredible. She’s one of my comedy idols.
Yes! As you mentioned, there are a lot of great guest stars on Hacks. Do you have any dream visitors? Maybe a love interest for Damien?
I like the idea of Damien being this sexless individual. There are so many other interpersonal relationships on this show. We get to see Marcus hooking up, Ava, Deborah. I like Damien being this asexual character. It wouldn’t make sense to me, at this juncture, if he was hooking up with someone. It would take him out of the position that he’s in, in terms of the audience’s eyes. But I mean, listen—if they want to hire some hot man for me to make out with, I am more than happy to do so.
I hear you. What about guest stars in general, then? Anyone you want to be in Hacks?
Carl and I were talking about this in something else we were doing today, but I would love to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer in Hacks. Selina Meyer is up there with Sweet Dee as one of the greatest comedic characters of all time. Veep is one of my favorite shows ever, so anyone from that show. Preferably Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
I was super-gagged by J. Smith Cameron coming on this season, which is awesome. Right on the heels of the last season of Succession, and Gerri was my favorite character on that show. I was nervous. I was starstruck in a huge way. I asked Lucia, like, “How do I talk to her?” She was like, “Uh, say hello? She’s a person.”
Well, did you talk to her about Succession?
I didn’t. I got nervous, I don’t know. I feel like it would go in the direction of, “I love you so much.” I didn’t want to do that at work.
Understood. Veering back into Hacks: I feel like you’re always doing physical work on the show. Like chasing everyone down an airplane tarmac, down on your knees taking notes for Deborah. Does that get tiring?
For every character on the show, the writers try to find as many different quirks that are unique to them as possible. I really enjoy doing the physical comedy. There’s something about Damien’s frantic energy and his nature that feels symbiotic with physical comedy. Even something like, in this season, he chops the pillow on the late night show. We did a bunch of versions of that. Lucia and Paul [W. Downs] and Jen [Statsky] were like, “Keep chopping the pillow. Just keep chopping.” We did it for what felt like forever.
I’ve seen fans raving about the Damien-Josefina (Rose Abdoo) relationship. What do you think their conversations look like behind the scenes at Deborah’s mansion?
In Season 1, we got to get a bit of a glimpse of the Damien-Josefina dynamic. Their dynamic, when we first meet them together, there’s some semblance of animosity that Damien has for her. As the seasons have progressed, and especially in this season, they really are a team. Damien and Josefina definitely caught up. They definitely gossip.
And talk about growing up with someone on TV—Rose Abdoo! Like, oh my God! Gilmore Girls, That’s So Raven, are you kidding me? I would hope that [Damien and Josefina] friends. Because I love Rose. She never stops working. I need to take a page out of her book.
You mentioned that animosity Damien had for Josefina—he also has this perpetual, unexplained beef with Ava. Why do you think that is?
I don’t actually know. I really can’t pinpoint it for you. One of the things that I love so much about playing Damien is that it’s the first time in my entire career that I’m playing someone who is not at all really like me. I feel like it’s the first time in my career that I’m actually…acting. [Hannah and I are] such good friends, but Damien hates Ava. It makes me feel like we’re acting, I guess. That’s fun! I like my job.
Something I love about Hacks is its queer representation. There are a handful of LGBTQ+ folks involved in making the show, and so many of the characters are also openly queer. Does that feel like a radical new step forward, or does that just reflect the state of the entertainment industry?
I think it’s both. Two things can be true at the same time. It’s definitely not lost on me, seeing that when we were making Ugly Betty there were very, very few queer people and characters on television. It’s a representation of the noise that the LGBTQ+ community has made, in terms of wanting to see people like us with our unique lived experiences represented on television.
But I also think that one of the nice things Hacks is doing is a departure from this antiquated queer narrative—by that I mean the normative “coming out” story. Yes, we did that on Ugly Betty, but that was also in 2010. That was a really long time ago. Whereas now, there are many queer characters on Hacks.
Using Damien as an example, it’s pretty much understood that Damien is a queer person, but no one talks about it—including himself. All of our sexual orientations are not at the forefront of our identities. That’s a departure from a more antiquated understanding of queer characters. Not every queer person leads with their queerness. Some do, and that’s totally fine! But that’s definitely not a universal lived experience.
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