The following article was written by Kristyn Burtt for Soaps.com. To view the original article, click here.
If you’ve missed Deidre Hall on primetime television (Our House fans unite!), then make sure to mark your calendars for her debut on Max’s Hacks on Thursday, May 23. The episode, titled “The Deborah Vance Christmas Spectacular,” has Hall making her debut as Jimmy’s mother via a fictionalized version of herself. Yep, she’s playing Deidre Hall!
Hall didn’t actively seek out the role in her hilarious turn as Jimmy’s mother, but she has showrunner Paul Downs (aka Jimmy) to thank for bringing her aboard. And guess what? He’s a “big fan.” She tells Soaps.com that Downs “was introduced to Days of Our Lives very, very early in his life” by his mother, Regina, and they would watch the sudser together. “When this part came up, his mother said, ‘Well, why don’t you see if you can get Deidre Hall?’ It was her idea, how sweet and how lovely to have someone so supportive to play,” she says enthusiastically.
All it took was one phone call and the “schedules married up very well” because Days of Our Lives was “dark that week.” Hall calls the experience “just spectacular” because her scene also involves Christopher Lloyd, playing an eccentric relative of Fatty Arbuckle. Hall’s chemistry with the Back to The Future star leaps off the screen even though she admits there was a “temptation to be a little bit overwhelmed by his presence… he’s such an idol of mine!”
To make this moment even more special, Hall brought a touch of Salem to primetime with a wardrobe contribution that should have every Days of Our Lives fan talking. She reveals, “I was doing the wardrobe fitting and they said, ‘You’ll be in the kitchen. You’ll be cooking and here’s an apron.’ I said, ‘Well, I have an apron that I could bring in.’ So, I brought the Brady’s Pub apron, and they went crazy. So, there it was!”
There are several other soap references in the episode, but we certainly don’t want to spoil all the juicy Marlena Evans details. Although viewers won’t see the daytime legend cross paths with star Jean Smart in the episode (a missed opportunity!), Hall spilled the tea on the Deborah Vance moment she had earlier in her career. Hall revealed that she dabbled in stand-up comedy in a seven-minute set that felt like “half a lifetime.”
“A number of years ago, I was taking a lot of college courses and there was a course in stand-up comedy,” Hall recalls. “And I thought, ‘Oh, a stand-up course would be fun.’ And it was a lot of lessons. What we were told to do was to write our own stand-up and then get up in front of the class and do it. Then it was critiqued.” The Days of Our Lives star thought she nailed her set, “talking about my family and different things,” but her instructor had a hot take on what she really should be discussing.
“The teacher said, ‘I’m sorry, you’re a television legend, that’s where the comedy needs to be.’ It didn’t even occur to me! He said, ‘You need to take another run at this thing and do stand-up about being a soap opera actress.’” Hall says there’s a video of her performance somewhere in her archives, and we think it’s time to dust it off and share it with all of us. Maybe her turn on Hacks will inspire her!
While her guest-starring role on the show was a one-time appearance in Season 3, there’s always the possibility that she could return if Max picks up the show for a fourth season. Hall is game to come back because it was not only a “lovely set,” but the cast and the crew also have “all the time in the world” to shoot. Oh, and one more thing: “They’ve got craft services,” Hall says excitedly. “The day that I was there, they catered an unbelievable outdoor barbecue.” Can we please get the daytime icon the delicious snacks she deserves?
Hall appears on Episode 7 of Hacks , debuting Thursday, May 23, on Max.