The Hoff is back.
David Hasselhoff returns to American television with “Hoff The Record,” a six-episode mockumentary series spoofing the “Baywatch”/“Knight Rider” star’s very public life and career.
(There’s even a scene referencing the infamous 2007 viral video of a shirtless Hasselhoff slurring his words while sitting on the floor of his Las Vegas hotel room, eating a cheeseburger. More on that later.)
The series, one part “Curb Your Enthusiasm” with a dash of “This Is Spinal Tap,” follows Hasselhoff as he jets to England to resurrect his career — aided by a clueless manager (Fergus Craig) and an overwhelmed production assistant (Ella Smith), among others. “Hoff The Record,” which aired in the UK last year, premieres Thursday on AXS TV (9 p.m.).
To promote its launch, Hasselhoff, 63, hosts a mini-marathon “Hoff-A-Thon” Saturday at 3 p.m., which includes his sitdown interview with AXS anchor Dan Rather.
Is “Hoff The Record” an attempt to own your public image in a humorous way?
No, but I like to tell everyone that this was a way at getting back at the press through humor and drama and acting — but that’s really a lie. The reason the show is based on what it’s based is because the stories of my life were more entertaining than trying to make something up. In the show I come to the UK, but instead of having two ex-wives I have five ex-wives, and when I open the door to my hotel room there’s my illegitimate son, Dieter (Mark Quartley). He’s wearing my leather jacket with lights on it. I happen to have a leather jacket with lights, which is actually 24 years old.
So, dare I ask: Do you have an illegitimate son?
[Laughs] I’m sure I do somewhere around the world and I hope they never see this series. No, I don’t [have an illegitimate son]. The illegitimate son was just too perfect because he was conceived on the Berlin Wall. Mark Quartley came up with that [idea]. I love “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and wanted to take a combination of improvisation where we would work through an idea in a room with comedians and film it. Sometimes we filmed for five minutes and sometimes we let it go for 25 minutes. I wanted each character to be dysfunctional but to have some redeeming quality so [that] you like them. In “Baywatch” and “Knight Rider” and all the shows that worked for me I always put in heart, humor and action. There’s not much action in this show but a lot of heart and humor.
Tell me about the scene referencing the “cheeseburger incident”
That felt so great to do that [scene]; I walked outta there in one take and said, “That’s it, I’m not bringing up this crap anymore.”
I got taken through the ringer because I had a hamburger and had a few too many beers because I was not in the best mood that day because I lost a series and I was having marital problems. So it was not a good day. There’s been so much crap about me for no reason. I’ve had a fantastic life. It’s not what I did, it’s the perception of what I did. I didn’t do anything bad, it’s that everyone played it out to be bad. It caused me a great deal of emotional pain with my daughters. I didn’t play into it but I can do that in [“Hoff The Record”]. In one episode I go into rehab and you see what happens there. I can do a whole series about what happened to me in rehab [in 2002, for alcoholism], the treatment and recovery. My God, there are so many wacky and heart-warming stories.
In the end, the David Hasselhoff character walks away as an eternal optimist. He walks away doing the right thing and that’s kind of what my life is about.
No matter what happens in my life, I end up on top.