Yassss Queen!
Broad City is the hilarious kick-ass show from Comedy Central created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. The show really is one-of-a-kind at the moment. Comparisons have been made, although each one ends with, “but Broad City is way better.”
So, what’s it about?
Broad City follows close friends Ilana and Abbi living in New York City, trying to be adults while also having fun, getting it wrong, getting high, and skyping each other from the toilet.
Earlier this year in an interview with Playboy, Ilana and Abbi were asked how their show is different from HBO’s Girls. Their answer was this:
ILANA: It’s so weird that that’s a thing. Like, “You tell me why I’m going to watch these two shows about talking and walking vaginas.”
ABBI: Who has time for that?
ILANA: You’ve got the one show about some vaginas.
ABBI: And then there’s that other show with the other talking and walking vaginas.
ILANA: I’m not going to watch two TV shows with vaginas in them unless somebody tells me why they’re different!
Broad City is not a ‘chick show’.
It has a strong following from men. Yes, men watch this show, on their own, without their girlfriends next to them in control of the remote, I swear! It was actually George who told me to get onto it.
Unfortunately for Ilana and Abbi, just by being two chicks who play the main characters of their show they’ve been accused of ridiculous things like “sneak-attack feminism.” Totally absurd, since I can’t think of a more blatant, outspoken, in-your-face couple of girls! There is nothing sneaky going on here, guys. See it for yourself.
Ilana and Abbi are the closest thing to real women on TV right now.
Women can actually relate! Abbi wears the same blue dress in several episodes, you know, like real people do, but literally unheard of for TV. At no point do they care what you think of them or seek your approval. Rather a lot like real people that aren’t acting for the camera. They unapologetically do what they want, often challenging male and female stereotypes. Like real people! You get the idea…
#Friendshipgoals #Abbisbluedress
The show centres around their friendship and not their relationships with men.
Ilana and Abbi are besties on the show and in real life. Their friendship can be compared to a bromance, even going so far as Ilana sometimes expressing sexual feelings towards Abbi in the same way that many bromances also border on homoeroticism. Relationships with men are secondary and much less important. They flipped the script!
Playboy: Your characters on Broad City will do almost anything for each other, including be each other’s doo-doo ninjas. Is that a lesson in what true female friendships should look like?
ILANA: That’s not a lesson in female friendships but rather in ride-or-die friendships.
ABBI: Exactly. It’s exciting to write characters who love each other and fight for each other.
ILANA: There’s this belief with no merit that media with women at the center applies only to women, but media with men at the center applies to everyone. Abbi and Ilana’s friendship represents that ride-or-die dynamic for anyone to whom it speaks, not just women.
A show like Broad City is long overdue.
It’s so refreshing to see such an awesome comedy show starring two unabashedly female leads. I also love how they don’t themselves too seriously. The average 20 something these days are all about their careers, avocados and Bali holidays… Many are so focused on becoming that thing they wanna be they forget to relax and most importantly be themselves; a problem that Ilana and Abbi definitely don’t have.
My two favourite Ilanaisms are “Yasss Queen” and “wanna fooook!” Check em out!
Ilana and Abbi play Truth or Truth with Jimmy Fallon.
