An Oral History of 'Broad City'

The hilarious, often gross and frankly weird saga of Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer debuted in 2010, as a web series, with the two stars and co-creators playing heightened versions of themselves: Young women living in New York City, drifting from one small adventure to the next, often making mistakes (like Ilana's occasional appropriation of black culture), rarely getting what they want, but always taking comfort in their friendship. Abbi, an aspiring artist and the more timid of the two, works as a cleaner at a gym called Soulstice; Ilana, the wild one, spends her days sleeping in the bathroom at her sales job, an online company called Deals Deals Deals. 

The two struggling comedians would see their careers explode after Comedy Central turned it into an untraditional sitcom, thanks to comedian and executive producer Amy Poehler. Through it all, Jacobson and Glazer have remained the closest of collaborators. "We came with these essential parts to creating a partnership that moved each other forward," Glazer tells Newsweek, which spoke to the girls—as they call themselves—and their many collaborators about the story of Broad City, as it draws to a close.

"Tune in to Comedy Central on March 28 and get ready for a cry fest," says one of those collaborators, Lucia Aniello, her own voice quavering with emotion.

THE BEGINNING

Jacobson was 23 and Glazer 19 when they met in New York City in 2007, the only female members of a small improv team, Secret Promise Circle. The two Jewish women from the suburbs of Philadelphia (Jacobson) and Long Island (Glazer) had an instant rapport. Each was taking classes at Upright Citizens Brigade, the legendary improv theater founded in 1990 by Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.

ILANA GLAZER: We had been on an improv team together for two years. Running around the city, losing money—paying for rehearsal space, paying improv coaches. And there was no receipt left of our work. Abbi was working on this project, and her partner at the time did not want [to do it]. I was like, "Why don't you work with me? If I were your partner, I would have gone forward!"

ABBI JACOBSON: We met up at the pizza shop right near UCB, on 30th and Seventh Avenue, and started to come up with ideas for a web series. I still have the composition notebook that we wrote in that night—little ideas that were very New York–based; our experience and hustles and little things that bothered us or made us laugh. I was more improv.

GLAZER: And I was more sketch and stand-up. We made a spreadsheet, stayed organized and reached out to everyone we knew in the comedy community. We were like, "Does anybody want experience on a set or directing or editing? We can pay no money!"

JACOBSON: Our friend Rob Michael Hugel, who we knew from the improv scene, was our first main collaborator, directing and editing most of the web series's first season. I was working at Birdbath bakery in the West Village.

I was doing social media for a cosmeceuticals company, walking through gross. But after work, we'd meet in this beautiful Barnes & Noble.