Like a good joke, HBO Max's 'Hacks' finds hilarity in the details and the build-up

Hacks begins with past-her-prime Las Vegas stand-up Deborah Vance unleashing a crass sex joke about an ungenerous lover who won't take his shirt off in bed because, in her telling, his breasts are larger than hers.

That wisecrack's real payoff happens a half hour later, though, as the second episode opens with Vance...