The Dynamic Duo Behind Broad City On How To Provoke the Right Reaction

Broad City creators and stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer talk about finding a common voice - and always pushing the limits.

- KC Ifeanyi

You two met as improv students at the Upright Citizens Brigade’s training center, created Broad City as a web series in 2006, and cranked out 34 episodes before the show was picked up by Comedy Central. Is anything lost when you transition from a personal project to something bigger?

Ilana Glazer: We’re really lucky that Comedy Central shared our vision and nurtured our creativity. They never put our balls in a vise. I think other networks are catching on. 

Abbi Jacobson: Yeah, they’re realizing that they need to trust [content creators] more or else [shows] get canceled. Stuff gets canceled constantly because [networks] are trying to fit something into a box that they think [people] want, but it doesn’t work—nobody watches it.

There are so many entertainers on YouTube trying to get an ounce of the fame you’ve both achieved. How were you able to get noticed?

AJ: We took [the web series] so seriously. I didn’t know what to do after three or four years of day jobs and trying to do comedy at night. So when we started this, we both sortof duct taped ourselves together. Like, “We’re doing it!” We latched onto it so hard.

IG: No matter what, if you focus your energy on building momentum, you will be rewarded in anything: in a friendship, in a romantic relationship, in volunteer work— anything you do. That’s been the most maturing experience, seeing how time works: You put your time and energy into something and it comes out the other end.

AJ: You can’t just be funny—you have to be strategic.