Review: 'Hoff The Record'

It might be a bit unfair, but David Hasselhoff is thought of as a bit of a joke in the United States. It's not just that his big claim to fame is that he starred in the cheesy, albeit successful, beach TV series Baywatch or the equally campy Knight Rider. There are the odd acting jobs, the weirdness of his connection with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ongoing unlikeliness of his European singing career. And then there are the three divorces and the public meltdowns. One of which included Hasselhoff being captured on camera drunk and begging for a cheeseburger.

But I've interviewed him a couple of times over the years and he's pretty self-aware about his reputation and his personal problems. Like William Shatner, in recent years Hasselhoff has decided to embrace his public image to try a build a new self-ironic career for himself.

The latest move in that new career is the mockumentary "Hoff The Record,", which premiered this week in the U.K. on UKTV's Dave Channel. The series falls into the genre of television in which a celebrity plays a fictionalized version of themselves (think Episodes or The Comeback). And what ultimately makes Hoff The Record a success is Hasselhoff's commitment to the idea. He's a vain, self-absorbed actor who vacillates between arrogance and despair. This version of Hasselhoff is arguably the worst possible interpretation of his psyche and the fact that he tackles the role so completely makes it an entertaining cringefest of a TV show.

Of course part of his comfort with the idea probably comes from the fact that Hasselhoff has long played this weird over-blown alternative version of himself in front of the camera. He often refers to that show-biz persona as "The Hoff," although when you speak to him in person it's not clear there is a real definitive line between the real man and the self-fictionalized rendition of himself. He talks about The Hoff in the same way Garth Brooks talks about "Garth" and there's a disconcerting weirdness about it that is compelling.

In the premiere episode, Hasselhoff is headed to the UK because he is unable to get work in the United States. He has a new manager who mistakenly signed him up thinking he was getting a heroic dog act, a personal assistant who knows nothing about show business and a crude creep of a driver who spends most of his time regaling Hasselhoff with wildly inappropriate stories.

Hasselhoff is stuck in a frightening hotel in Carshalton and in his first audition he finds himself unsuccessfully trying to win the role of David Hasselhoff in a new movie. The fact that he is auditioning opposite a group of actors that include a little person, a couple of Asian actors and a biker is an indication  of the weirdness of the situation. Then there are the endless jokes about his age, his unnaturally stretched-out facial skin and the black humor of his battle with alcohol.

These awkward, black-humor faux-documentaries can either be impressive or cringe-worthy and luckily for fans of Hasselhoff, Hoff The Record falls into the first category. There are a lot of funny, painful moments and it's a tribute to Hasselhoff's commitment that he never wavers from the premise. There aren't any self-referential winks at the audience or moments when he seems to be simply being  good sport. Hoff The Record is very entertaining and a reminder that he is someone with some acting talent lurking below the C-list celebrity veneer.

There aren't currently any plans to air Hoff The Record in the United States, but the Dave Channel is co-owned by Scripps Interactive, which also owns a number of cable channels in the U.S. It's easy to see this six-episode series finding a home on GAC or perhaps even the Travel Channel. Here's hoping that happens, because based on what I've seen so far, it's a show that will likely find an audience here.

UPDATE: Season One of Hoff The Record will premiere in the U.S. on AXS TV on Thursday, March 31st, 2016.