SmartLess

Snapshot · SmartLess

"Robby Hoffman"

Explore episode Aug 10, 2026
Society & Culture
Father's one email after coming out

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

After Robby came out, her still-Hasidic father sent exactly one email saying the behavior was 'not befitting of a daughter of Israel' and calling it promiscuous, despite Robby having only one girlfriend.

Where this was said

Coming Out: The Italian Girl and the Bathroom Stall

At 34:08 · chapter starts 26:10

Robby opens with a disarming admission: she didn't know she was gay. Not even a little. She was, by her own description, the most homophobic person possible — because she was in denial. She asks her older sisters what they think about gay people, testing the waters. One sister says Rosie O'Donnell is gay; Robby is horrified because O'Donnell loves Tom Cruise. Another sister delivers the line 'if God wanted gay people, he would have made Adam and Steve' — and Robby finds this completely persuasive. Into this context arrives an 'Italian girl' in her CEGEP class in Montreal who is persistently, relentlessly pursuing her. The girl suggests they share a tent on a camping gym intensive; Robby finds this insane and reports nothing. When the girl tells Robby another girl kissed her on the trip, Robby's response is: 'call the police.' But the girl walks Robby to the Western Union to pick up $200 her father wired for tuition — they talk for eight hours. Eventually, at an end-of-semester bar event, the girl follows Robby into a bathroom stall and kisses her. Robby's first comment: 'You have abs.' She describes it as the moment she became 'gay secret.' When she eventually came out, her still-Hasidic father sent exactly one email: 'This is not befitting behavior for a daughter of Israel.' He called it promiscuous. Robby notes she had only one girlfriend at the time and resents the characterization.

Society & Culture
The $200 Western Union Walk: Robby and the Camper

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026 Society & Culture

Robby's broke father somehow wired her $200 for college tuition. The Italian girl — the same one who later kissed her — walked her to the Western Union because Robby had never heard of one. Eight hours of talking. Then everything changed.

Society & Culture
Discovered gay at 17

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

Robby didn't realize she was gay until age 17, when a persistent Italian classmate followed her into a bathroom stall at an end-of-semester bar event.

Similar snapshots

Society & Culture
Private adoption costs $40,000–$70,000

Tortilla Face · Aug 10, 2026

Private domestic infant and international adoptions typically cost $40,000 to $70,000, while foster care adoption is the most affordable route at $0 to $2,000.

Society & Culture
7th of 10 children

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

Robby Hoffman is the 7th of 10 children raised in a Hasidic household in Montreal, where the family was poor and comedy was a survival mechanism.

Society & Culture
No concept of 'too soon'

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

Robby's Hasidic community had no concept of 'too soon' in comedy — if it was funny, you threw it, and if you bombed, your sibling told you immediately.

Society & Culture
Discovered gay at 17

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

Robby didn't realize she was gay until age 17, when a persistent Italian classmate followed her into a bathroom stall at an end-of-semester bar event.

Society & Culture
$799 Vegas wedding

"Robby Hoffman" · Aug 10, 2026

Robby and Gabby married in Las Vegas for $799, a package that included a limousine, an officiant named Reverend Nature, and a photographer named Nathan.