Most job applicants don’t land a gig by accusing their potential boss of being a “fucking bitch” and a “classist monster.” But most folks don’t work in comedy. Created by “Broad City” alumna Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, and Paul W. Downs, “Hacks” explores the “dark mentorship” between a legendary comedian and the entitled 25-year-old she hires to help her appeal to a younger crowd. A new trailer for the HBO Max series sees Deborah (Jean Smart) giving Ava (Hannah Einbinder) a shot despite being personally insulted by her. What matters is that Ava’s insults make Deborah laugh.

Ava knows Deborah as the “QVC muumuu lady.” Deborah sees Ava as someone who was “plucked off the Internet” at 20 and hasn’t earned her chops. “It’s going to be hard to work together if we can’t communicate,” Ava tells her new boss. Deborah is quick to clarify the nature of their relationship: “We don’t work together,” she emphasizes. “You work for me.”

The spot suggests that Deborah and Ava gradually develop an appreciation for one another, but the former has little patience for her protégée’s arrogance. When Ava maintains that she’s “good” — suggesting that she’s deserving of the opportunities she’s received — Deborah explains, “Good is the minimum. It’s the baseline. and even if you’re great you still have to work really fucking hard. You have to scratch and claw and it never fucking ends, and it doesn’t get better. It just gets harder.”

Smart can currently be seen in HBO’s Kate Winslet-starrer “Mare of Easttown.” The three-time Emmy winner received a nod last year for her supporting role in “Watchmen.”

Einbinder was named Just For Laugh’s 2019 New Face of Comedy.

“Hacks” premieres on HBO Max May 13.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE51pzVpwBg