The feminist comedy premiered on Wednesday, September 13 on Comedy Central. Broad City follows Abbi Abrams and Ilana Wexler, played by Abbi Jacobsen and Ilana Glazer respectively: two fierce femme fatales navigating bad jobs, complicated relationships, and the big city of New York at each others’ sides.
The premiere, titled “Sliding Doors,” is an homage to the 1998 film where the two main characters explore what their first time meeting, and what their subsequent friendship would have been depending on whether they had caught the same train or not.
This day is a long time coming for the two stars and creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. In February of 2009, Jacobson and Glazer launched Broad City, a short web series on Youtube featuring Abbi and Ilana, two fictionalized versions of themselves. For two years they wrote scripts, shot film, edited, and posted two-five minute videos telling the story of the fictional versions of themselves also named Abbi and Ilana. Two years later in 2011, Amy Poehler, renowned actress and comedian for works such as Parks and Recreation and Saturday Night Live, approached Jacobson and Glazer about turning their web series into a real television series. Together they developed a pilot, which they pitched to the cable network FX, but the network did not approve of the script. They then turned to Comedy Central, who loved the script and contracted them for a pilot. This pilot turned into what is now three completed seasons of ten episodes each and has had rave reviews.
Not only is the show hilarious – it is also extremely feminist and diverse. The characters range in race, religion and sexuality. The show uses comedy to discuss issues that are often overlooked in typical media such as female masturbation and sexuality, and political issues. They did not shy away from the 2016 election and even had Hillary Clinton in an episode in season three.
Season four promises to be better than ever, you won’t want to miss it! Episodes air Wednesday nights at 10:30 on Comedy Central and are available on the Comedy Central app. And, as always, don’t forget to smile.