The comedy series featuring Jean Smart as Deborah Vance is Hacks.
Deborah Vance is a legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedian whose career faces pressure from changing audience tastes and younger comedy voices. The series begins when Ava, an inexperienced comedy writer, is hired to help refresh Deborah’s act, creating a tense but productive partnership between two performers from different generations.
Hacks was created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky and premiered on Max in 2021. Jean Smart’s performance as Deborah combines abrasive show-business authority with vulnerability, making the character both intimidating and emotionally layered. Hannah Einbinder plays Ava Daniels, the younger writer whose ambitions repeatedly clash with Deborah’s instincts.
The other choices are also television comedies or comedy-category contenders, which can make the question tricky. But Abbott Elementary, The Bear and Shrinking do not feature Jean Smart as Deborah Vance; that character belongs specifically to Hacks.