What you need to know about The Audacity on HBO Max

IF THERE’S A Succession-shaped hole in your life, you’ll be happy to know there’s a new satirical show in town that might take its place: The Audacity.

Here’s everything you need to know about it.

What’s it all about?

The Audacity is set in the world of US tech, and is described by HBO Max as “a dark, sharply funny satire of the self-styled tech elite”.

It comes from Emmy winner Jonathan Glatzer (Bad Sisters, Better Call Saul), and has a cast that includes Lucy Punch, Simon Helberg, Sarah Goldberg and Billy Magnussen. It’s pitched at fans of Succession and Silicon Valley – anyone who likes seeing tech bros be made fun of, in other words.

While Glatzer is the showrunner, Gina Mingacci (Killing Eve) also serves as executive producer.

What’s the plot?

Magnussen plays a data-mining CEO called Duncan Park, who’s trying to rise in power in the tech world. 

Park calls himself an “inventor of the future”, and like a lot of real-life tech leaders he is all about getting others to use tech products, but not his own children.

As GQ explains:

He’s also in charge of Hypergnosis, a data-mining firm that’s set to be bought out by rival corporation Cupertino, before Dunc leaks the acquisition and screws up the deal, plunging him into a state of damage control.

Sopranos fans might be happy to hear there’s a therapist involved – Sarah Goldberg plays Dr JoAnne Felder, who gets mixed up in Park’s shenanigans. The always funny Zach Galifianakis is on board as the CEO Carl Bardolph.

The show has already been out for a few months in the US, and has been renewed for season 2.

What are critics saying? 

It’s been going down well so far, particularly as these days we are very hungry for anything that pokes fun at tech billionaires.

The Guardian says:

The Audacity excels at one liners. When Duncan’s daughter expresses qualms about her “admissions consultant”, who games the system and guarantees her spot at a top-tier university, Duncan reassures her with a Trump-y aphorism. “Cheaters never lose. And losers – they never cheat.”

Variety says:

For a show about men — and some women, but mostly men — working to build the future, “The Audacity” feels a little old-fashioned. That’s mostly a good thing: This ambitious, sprawling, talky satire plays like an artifact of prestige television’s recent, but all too distant-seeming, past.

The New Yorker says:

It’s the focus on data harvesting that gives “The Audacity” its strange verve, born of a conviction that it can make this perpetually overlooked issue an object of emotional investment. Its satirical aim feels spot-on. 

When can we watch it?

The Audacity is streaming on HBO Max/NOW now.