{"id":44515,"date":"2026-08-14T14:34:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T09:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44515"},"modified":"2026-08-14T14:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T09:34:40","slug":"kaitlin-olson-on-the-hacks-finale-and-losing-her-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44515","title":{"rendered":"Kaitlin Olson on the \u2018Hacks\u2019 Finale and Losing Her Father"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">His lungs turned fibrotic and what followed was, in Olson\u2019s words, \u201ca long, slow, miserable event.\u201d Doctors intubated and sedated him for two weeks while Olson stayed by his side with her mother and brother. When it became clear he\u2019d be in the ICU indefinitely, she began flying back and forth between Oregon and her Los Angeles sets. Olson says she couldn\u2019t stop apologizing to a <em>Hacks<\/em> production that kept rearranging its schedule around an actor who wasn\u2019t exactly the lead character. \u201cEveryone over at <em>Hacks<\/em> was so incredibly flexible and kind and understanding,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is a gigantic nuisance, and I\u2019m a guest star on their show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Eventually, the first day on the <em>Hacks<\/em> set arrived, and she arrived on set at 5 a.m. for hair and makeup. Then, her phone rang. Her dad had lost consciousness. \u201cHonestly, at this point, it\u2019s a blur,\u201d Olson says. \u201cI collapsed in the line producer\u2019s arms. I said, \u2018I have to go.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Don, who had moved to a rehab center, had contracted pneumonia, slipped into a coma, and was in an ambulance headed to the emergency room. &#8220;Shutting down a production like that is devastating,\u201d says Olson. \u201cI\u2019ll forever be grateful to them for their grace around that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Eventually, he stabilized. The doctors told her there would be no real recovery, and that his lungs would never again work on their own. But her parents encouraged her to go back to work. \u201cI\u2019m trying to digest that information and shoot a comedy,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d have to stop and take phone calls and wipe away tears and come back and then try and be funny. And it felt so weird. I felt guilty, because I was legitimately having fun. That was confusing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Downs describes Olson as \u201ccompletely fearless,\u201d and says for the episode she had to get into a pen with untrained goats. \u201cWhen a goat would knock her over she would use it\u2014she&#8217;d incorporate it into the scene seamlessly, never breaking character,\u201d he says. \u201cShe is so committed to comedy she will do anything for the work, no matter how punishing or how insane and it&#8217;s a marvel to watch. She&#8217;s like a modern day Lucille Ball.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Olson and Smart texted Don, a big fan of <em>Hacks<\/em>, videos from set throughout the shoot. \u201cHe especially loved me screaming at people\u2014we\u2019re just not yellers in real life,\u201d she says. \u201cSo every scene I was doing, I was like, \u2018Oh God, he is going to think this is so funny.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">That episode of <em>Hacks<\/em>\u2014which includes DJ refusing to accept failure in learning a clown routine\u2014would end up being the last episode of anything Olson made that Don watched before he died. \u201cAnd he loved it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s just always going to be very special to me, because he got to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"AssetEmbedWrapper-iJvQnD cOWUYC asset-embed\">\n<div class=\"AssetEmbedAssetContainer-fnduJP iaVSwI asset-embed__asset-container\"><span class=\"SpanWrapper-kFnjvc eKnjjD responsive-asset AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset\"><picture class=\"ResponsiveImagePicture-jKunQM gjCCFj AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset responsive-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Tamara de Lempicka Aquirax Uno Adult Person Art Altar Architecture Building Church and Prayer\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_120,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 120w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_240,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 240w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_320,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 320w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_640,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 640w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_768,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_960,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 960w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_1280,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_1600,c_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"100vw\" src=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7dfb99867dce1bee76f9b5\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/TCDHACK_H7342.jpg\"\/><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"CaptionWrapper-bpPcvW kzGGxb caption AssetEmbedCaption-eZIMNW gMgneI asset-embed__caption\" data-testid=\"caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionText-cQpRdU klhnDX hbiMYj caption__text\"><\/p>\n<p>Olson and Smart performing a mother-daughter clown dance in the \u201cD&#8217;Amazing Race\u201d episode of <em>Hacks<\/em>. \u201cIt felt like a perfect send off and a testament to how far they both have come,\u201d says Downs.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionCredit-cUgOGk gsdIcD hRFzlA caption__credit\">HBO Max\/Everett Collection<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>His lungs turned fibrotic and what followed was, in Olson\u2019s words, \u201ca long, slow, miserable event.\u201d Doctors intubated and sedated him for two weeks while Olson stayed by his side with her mother and brother. When it became clear he\u2019d be in the ICU indefinitely, she began flying back and forth between Oregon and her&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a7e015a686eed4452ccd99a\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/h_16498023-(1).jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}