“Broad City” follows two women throughout their daily lives in New York City, making the smallest and mundane events hysterical and disturbing to watch all at the same time.
We live in a society….Just kidding.
The Broads have done it. They finished five seasons of a quirky comedy aired on Comedy Central and gained a small cult following. Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer created this female-led women oriented comedy that all audiences could participate in. It grew in its popularity, reflecting the larger conversation in our society on a variety of topics in the way that most relevant comedies do: with a laugh. “Broad City,” when watched all together, reads as a distinct reminder of the sentiments on display from the year 2016 on. It may not perfectly encapsulate moral arguments but the feelings underlying the show demonstrate what it’s like to be in your twenties in the 2010s.
New York City. Home to…. Everything cultural apparently. Abbi and Ilana carve a small niche for themselves in that behemoth of a home. They dine on brunches in drag shows. They eat entire pizzas. They live and work and play in the city. The show does not waste a minute idolizing and demonizing the city in equal turns. In the same city where you might make a quick buck banging on some pots and pans, a stranger might steal your bike or a robber might lecture you about your financial security. It’s Abbi and Ilana’s home to enjoy and loathe in equal measures, but that’s the charm of it.
Both women play opposing forces throughout the entirety of the show. They help each other grow and encourage each other to be young. Comedy-wise it’s not always satisfying, given that they go to great lengths for a laugh and the kooky premises don’t always hold a twenty-four-minute muster. Instead, the show shines when it takes itself seriously (something only really accomplished in the later seasons.) Yes, there’s joy in watching Ilana’s face grow into a fat blob after she eats an ungodly amount of seafood, but the two-dinners-one-date joke ran its course early in the episode.
I recognize the joy of watching the show. So often these kinds of jokes (poop jokes, dick jokes, etc.) are reserved for men (see “Workaholics” as a prime example) so it’s initially curious and refreshing to hear these stories told from a different perspective. Still, even dick jokes run their course. Right around the time the show starts to wane in its content (close to mid-season three), it pivots. It maintains its friendly atmosphere and kooky setups but inserts some forms of honesty. The girls start to grow.
I enjoyed watching the show as an on-again-off-again thing. The talent of guest stars grows each season (culminating in visits from Steve Buscemi, early season 2 Seth Rogen, Kelly Ripa, Hillary Clinton, Shania Twain.) Its comedy felt super relatable. Its millennial-focused humor hones in on the woes of a singular generation and makes it a sort of time capsule. I can’t say I laughed at the show all the way through or that its loose narrative throughlines held any impact until the later seasons, but I can say it expertly identifies how I’m living now. In that sense, I can thank “Broad City” for its generational photograph. Au revoir! The Broads are on to bigger and better things!
“Broad City: The Complete Series” will be available on DVD July 9th
