--:-- Amy Poehler: This episode is brought to you by Visible. Some searches lead to answers. Others lead to niche conspiracy theories about pigeons. Thankfully, Visible is the wireless that keeps up so you can follow the weird wherever it goes. Get one-line wireless with unlimited data, talk, and text for $25 a month, taxes and fees included. Plus, Visible runs on Verizon's 5G network so you get great coverage and a reliable connection without the premium cost. Ready for wireless that lets you live in the know, make the switch at visible.com. One line wireless starting at $25 a month. Terms apply. See visible.com for planned features and network management details.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Good Hang. This is an exciting one. I'm starting this episode in Los Angeles and then I'm getting on an airplane and I'm flying to New York where I go to that studio and talk to Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, the stars of Broad City, just the sweetest, most wonderful, talented women who in many ways helped my company, Paper Kite, grow and expand into what it is today. And I cannot wait to talk to them. We're going to talk about Broad City, the show, of course, and getting that made and what it was like to do it together. We're going to talk about female friendships. We're going to talk about life as a millennial and how it's changed and what is nostalgia. And hopefully we're going to get to all of those things.
--:-- Amy Poehler: But I always like to start these episodes with people who know our guests, who have good feelings and thoughts about our guests and want to give me questions to ask the guests. And I thought no better people to ask than the women who run Paper Kite Productions, the co-heads, the co-presidents of Paper Kite, Kate Arend and Kim Lessing, who work with me every day and who are going to join me in this studio to talk about Abbi and Ilana. So ladies, welcome.
--:-- Amy Poehler: This episode of Good Hang is presented by Walmart School Supplies. We all remember getting them. I remember Trapper Keepers and so many colored pens, but now I'm sure there's a million more things to get. And thankfully, Walmart has essential back to school supplies starting at 25 cents, plus all the latest tech starting at $9. Who knew? Hello Kitty pencil cases, Nintendo notebooks, food shaped erasers, Chromebooks, keyboards, and more at low Walmart prices. They even have Lilo and Stitch headphones. Who knew? Shop walmart.com to score their favorite back-to-school tech and supplies.
--:-- Kate Arend: [Laughing] Kate Arend and Kim Lessing sharing a laptop today. That's how we work. We just have the one.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Let's all work on our laptop. Hold on, Amy, we have to run your company one second. And send. Send. Sorry.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Okay, I'm so excited to interview you guys because we are here in the studio and next door to Paper Kite offices, which you co-run, and we're talking to Abbi and Ilana about Broad City, and it just felt like it was such a great combo because in many ways you represent millennial and zillennial.
--:-- Kate Arend: Or gillennial.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Gen Y?
--:-- Kim Lessing: I'm so cusp.
--:-- Kate Arend: You're cuspy.
--:-- Kim Lessing: But it's not with Gen Z.
--:-- Kate Arend: But not with the Z.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Anyway, you two represent teamwork in many ways, and I want to talk about that. But also, you know how important that show was to Paper Kite and its growth. So before we start, tell everybody what you do here at the company. What's your job?
--:-- Kate Arend: So Kim and I, as Amy said, we're the co-presidents of Paper Kite Productions, and we are in charge of the many incredible shows and movies that Paper Kite makes, everything from Broad City to Russian Doll, Difficult People, Harlem.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Yeah, we're producers. We don't produce as a team. We actually produce separately. And we really take on projects based on our passion for them, our availability. We really are, we like to describe ourselves as the engines of projects, the connectors of projects. And we really love every second of doing it. And we've both been here working with Amy for 10 plus years.
--:-- Kate Arend: Yeah. We will never leave.
--:-- Amy Poehler: That's right.
--:-- Kate Arend: She'll have to drag us out of here. We have the keys to this.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Well, you do really have all the secrets.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Yeah. And they're bad.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I'm sorry. I'm so nervous. But, like, I was just trying to do the math of the timing.
--:-- Kate Arend: Oh, we both started on Broad City.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Yeah, so tell me how you started on that show and what your memories of the early Broad City days are.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Well, I actually started on the Comedy Central side. I was thrilled to get this job at Comedy Central because they were making Broad City. And then I ended up leaving Comedy Central to come work with you. And I got to work even closer to the ladies on Broad City. And it was like I knew I was in the right place because I felt like I was making something that actually genuinely represented my life and genuinely represented the types of friendships I was having.
--:-- Kim Lessing: So when I first interviewed with Amy, I had just watched season one of Broad City. And I remember being like, holy shit, I've never seen queens like this on TV before. Like, no one's ever existed like this on television my age, doing the kind of stuff my friends and I do, speaking the way that we speak. And my first day at Paper Kite, Amy and I did notes on a season two episode. And I was like, is this real life? Like, what is happening?
--:-- Amy Poehler: That was your first day?
--:-- Kim Lessing: Yeah. Well, maybe my second. But I got to send my boss at the time my notes on one of the first cuts.
--:-- Kate Arend: I think I started on season three, actually. And she used some of them and I was like, I've made it in entertainment. I was like, I'm in. I was so happy. But we used to do a lot of, are you Abbi? Are you Ilana? It wasn't a hard one to really say.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I want to talk about it because what was so cool about that show is it creates these versions of friends. Much like back in the day, Laverne and Shirley or even The Golden Girls or Sex and the City, when you start being like, are you an Abbi or an Ilana? I think underneath that is it proves the writing is good. That you've identified what version of you it was. It was such a specific friendship that it was completely and utterly universal. Everyone was either an Abbi or an Ilana. So what are you, Kim?
--:-- Kim Lessing: I'm obviously Ilana because I'm head over heels in love with Kate and always try to touch her butt. It started with me being like, can I? And then she's like, you're being like, sorry, sorry. I mean, I would never do that at work. That's insane. That's not okay at the workplace. But when we left the office, on the way to the cars...
--:-- Amy Poehler: Hang out on.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Yeah. In the parking lot.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And so Kate, you are an Abbi.
--:-- Kate Arend: I'm Abbi. She's also a deadhead. Totally. Yeah. And we both love Oprah. So that kind of stuff.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And you guys have that crazy Oprah connection where you both like her. So for people who don't know about what we do, we're a film and production company. We do all different kinds of projects: animated, unscripted, half hours, hour-long dramas. But Broad City, we use it a lot as an example when we're talking to creators, young creators who have an idea and want to transfer it. Could you speak a little bit to how we use that as an example?
--:-- Kate Arend: We always say Broad City is our North Star. And it is the North Star. I think if you were a young female creator in comedy in the last 10 years, that's it. They did the thing that everybody wished they could do that men had been doing for a long time. There was true, like we said before, no one like them. So we always refer to them as kind of enmeshed in our ethos as a company.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Yeah. And they have a lot of elements of things that we really resonate with: scrappy underdogs, women who love each other, people that have messy edges, and also two characters that really want something. What I always related to about Abbi and Ilana is even though they were silly and messy, they always really went after the things they wanted. They went after it with such passion.
--:-- Kate Arend: Yeah, and they took such good care of each other, which is so important. Friendship is so important to us. We had a conversation day one. If there's any sense of competition or jealousy, we have to talk about it. We have to get it out. Because it will just sit in and fester and make it stressful and miserable. And communication just, we were smart enough to know then that it was the thing that was going to get us through. And today, 11 years later, it's still, we're so brutally honest with each other. And then we say thank you to the other person that we can be so brutally honest with each other. And I feel like Abbi and Ilana were like that.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Totally. And just the other day, for example, Kate was like, you interrupted me a thousand times. And I was like, thank you so much for letting me know.
--:-- Kate Arend: Yeah, we both cried because it was so nice. And I was like, I'm so glad you feel comfortable telling me. And she was like, I'm so glad you're going to stop. It's true.
--:-- Amy Poehler: But, you know, we talk about it a lot here. A workplace is, I like to say it's not a family. It's a country.
--:-- Kate Arend: And I like to say it's a family. We reject that, but that's great.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Lovers are family.
--:-- Kim Lessing: It's a bed full of lovers.
--:-- Kate Arend: It's a bed full of lovers who are all related.
--:-- Kim Lessing: It is not.
--:-- Kate Arend: A family of lovers.
--:-- Kim Lessing: It's a family that everyone borrowed money from.
--:-- Kate Arend: That's right.
--:-- Amy Poehler: No, a workplace is a country and it has its own culture and language and set of rules. And so one of the things I think that our country believes in is that in our experience, female friendships are a natural resource. They are like the most important things in our life. And for the most part, they're not these competitive, awful experiences. They're often the most supportive experiences. And I feel like you're talking exactly about that, that women often come together and help each other in real time. And that help is like rooting for other people's success never gets in the way of your own, basically. But it's hard to remember that sometimes. And I think a lot of work environments are not conducive. Ours was easy. You're our mentor. It was easy to be like, let's team up. But it sometimes takes a lot of work, but I think there's never a time when it's not worth it just to try. It's like reach out a hand and be like, let's be a team instead of enemies.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Rising tide lifts all boats.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Right. Like I think you actually said that once and it was the first time I'd heard it.
--:-- Kate Arend: She invented that quote, I think. I think you're right.
--:-- Amy Poehler: You know, I have a laptop. Let's see who can find who said that faster.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Okay. Can we get to work? Can you move over?
--:-- Kate Arend: Hey, I can do it faster.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Immediately friendship possible.
--:-- Kate Arend: A rising tide lifts all boats is an aphorism associated with what we know.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Oh, it's attributed to John F. Kennedy.
--:-- Kate Arend: Wow. There is no way. There is literally no way. That guy has a whole bunch of quotes. That guy gets so much credit he doesn't deserve.
--:-- Kim Lessing: How dare you? I know you're obsessed. He is the first Irish Catholic. Like, there's nothing wrong with JFK.
--:-- Kate Arend: Literally so handsome. Relax.
--:-- Kim Lessing: My grandmother had a picture of Jesus and JFK in her house.
--:-- Kate Arend: We had such different grandmas.
--:-- Amy Poehler: So that brings me to Million Dollar Advice. Because we're talking about the podcast that you two are doing. The new season is going to be launching very soon. Tell us about what that podcast is.
--:-- Kate Arend: Okay, so our show, Million Dollar Advice, is a work advice podcast where we have people call and email in and we answer their work-related questions. So it can be anything from how do I deal with my shitty boss to...
--:-- Kim Lessing: Kim's dying for a question about what to do if your coworker owes you money. I feel like there's questions you guys are not asking us about. You loan someone money for something and they just haven't paid you back. How do you ask? When's it too soon? When's it gone on too long? That's a great question.
--:-- Kate Arend: That's a good question. But basically, Kim and I, because of this amazing communication and partnership that we have, we're like, we got to share this because we're in on something. I mean, our advice is so good. It's million-dollar advice. It's at minimum million-dollar advice. It's so good. And we get each other through everything. And so many people don't have this kind of work friend, work sounding board. They don't have an Ilana to their Abbi. Or Kate to their Kim, some would say.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Right.
--:-- Kate Arend: So we want to be that for people. And our first season is full of the types of questions we're interested in answering and we're hoping for that money question.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Yeah. So we're making more.
--:-- Amy Poehler: How can people send in questions?
--:-- Kim Lessing: Milliondollaradvicepod at gmail.com. They can send an email. You can leave a voice note, whatever your fancy is, and we'll get back to you and we'll figure out if you want to call in. We'll solve all your problems. We'll fix your life.
--:-- Kate Arend: That's the thing. It's like you're wondering how do I fix my life? What do I do? It's so easy. Email milliondollaradvicepod at gmail.com.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And it's done. Okay, perfect. And then I'm going to get on an airplane and fly to New York.
--:-- Kim Lessing: That's great.
--:-- Amy Poehler: What question do you think I should ask Abbi and Ilana?
--:-- Kim Lessing: I have a good one.
--:-- Kate Arend: Okay, I think I have a really good one.
--:-- Kim Lessing: Okay, so when you make a show together, it's like having a new baby. You're all work all the time. And I was curious what things they did to fill their friendship cup and make sure that they were still in love and staying in love during the most, the hardest, longest hours.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Great question. Million Dollar Advice. We're going to check that out. We're going to talk about it more. Abbi and Ilana, we're going to see them in New York. Thank you guys so much for coming across the street to this studio from our offices.
--:-- Kate Arend: Thanks for having us.
--:-- Amy Poehler: This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Summer is here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered by Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost? Well, you can't get a summer blockbuster delivered, but you can get a block of cheese. A cabana, that's a no. But a banana, that's a yes. You know what I like to order from Uber Eats? Batteries. Don't eat batteries. But I often need batteries, and you can get batteries from Uber Eats. Get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.
--:-- Amy Poehler: You are a little raspy today because of your Broadway performances.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: That's right.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Congratulations.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Thank you so much.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And I cannot wait to talk about it. It's very exciting. Abbi and Ilana are here today. My children, wives, sister, partners in crime. I'm very excited you guys are here. Thank you for doing this.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: We're so excited to be here.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I was thinking about our talk today. There's just so many things to talk about today. And I was so excited. Oh my gosh. Like I have a paper and everything.
--:-- Amy Poehler: For people that don't know, Broad City was a long-running show on Comedy Central that Abbi and Ilana wrote and starred in and directed and produced and created. And it was and is like this really important show for a lot of people. And I was thinking about the last scene today. What happened in the last scene? And what were you trying to say in it? And has it lasted?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: That scene came as a vision to Paul W. Downs.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Do you remember that? That's right. He came in. We were writing. We wrote part of season five in L.A. in an Airbnb. And Paul came in one morning and he was like, I had a flash of the last moment. And I think this is where Ilana exits the subway in Union Square and we've FaceTimed, yeah. And Ilana's walking through the city and then the camera leaves Ilana and sees the other pairs.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I just got chills.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I know. And he was like, that was the thing. And that was what we kind of had always talked about, which is just that we're one of thousands and millions of pairs. And we had just been following us. But the New York of it all was like we were showcasing, oh, there's Abbi and Ilana's everywhere.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yes. And we end on, do you know Marie Faustin and Sidney Washington, the stand-ups? But to end on Marie and Sidney was so perfect just because they're so delicious and they're such an iconic pair themselves. Yes.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah, so I think what we were trying to say is that we followed Abbi and Ilana, but everybody's got their own adventures and their own parties. And New York is always this infinitely fruitful backdrop for the craziest shit to happen.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I know. I can't get over it. I've been here 20 years. I can't get enough.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I know.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And what it was and still is. And what you did with that ending, I think, is you gave the show back to the people that loved it. And that's why I think the DNA cry... I love to get people to cry. I think it felt, and still feels, like one of the big reasons why that show sticks around is exactly what you said. People are the main characters of their own story. Everyone is. And everyone feels like they're living a life that feels very much like Abbi and Ilana's life. How am I piecing together a life in real time? And the fact that that ending was like passing the baton, it's very deep. And I think it has a lot to do with what we're going to talk about today in your work.
--:-- Amy Poehler: So for those people that don't know, let's go back to little tiny babies. Ilana's 19. Wow. Right? And Abbi, you guys met at what age and where did you meet? How did you two?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: This is so funny that this...
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: This is 19 years ago. Wow.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: 19 years ago, my dog.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah. This is actually crazy that I did this last week.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Did what last week?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Oh, I'm going to get to this.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Oh, copy that.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Ayahuasca. I did ayahuasca last week, and I went right back there. It's a 22-year-old.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: No, but we met in an improv practice group. We were both taking classes at UCB.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah. I had just graduated college and moved here. You were still at NYU. You know, you take classes at UCB, and then you've got to form a practice group after school or at night.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: After your day job. Our mutual friend, Tim Martin, I remember he was like, I'm in this class with these two brother and sister. And they're great. Can they come and practice with us? And we were like, yeah. And Elliot and Ilana came. And I was like, this girl's on Arrested Development. That's crazy. How does she have time to get off of Arrested Development?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: It just ended. And I was like, it makes sense. She's in New York.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: It makes sense. You're on a huge network show and then you go do practice groups in basements.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Well, this is how I remember it. This is my side. And then we go to McManus that night, which is a bar nearby the theater, and we're sitting at the bar, you and me. And it was only guys in the group except us. And we're talking, where you from, where you from. And I was smitten with this person. Everyone that meets Ilana is. I was like, this person is unlike anyone I've ever met and not like any of my friends. And we were just like, and she was like, I'm from Long Island. And I was like, whoa, two of my best friends from college are from Long Island. She's like, I'm from Smithtown. I was like, so are they. And I was like, and then I said their names. You were like, I know them. And I was like, this is not the girlfriend.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Oh my god, I'm literally crying.
--:-- Amy Poehler: But I remember you were so...
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I'm gonna cry as well.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Wait, Ilana's crying. What's making you cry?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: When she said smitten, I started crying.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Oh my gosh, it's just so sweet. And I remember you know, dramatically falling under the bar that we do know these two same people. It's like, we're Jews, we're from the tri-state area, not that big of a deal. But I was changed. I knew these two people.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I think what you were saying, what was underneath that, is that the universe... It's why it's so thrilling to look back at how things come together, because the smallest changes in our lives go in a completely different way. And what you were noticing, the universe was giving you some signs of familiarity. If you believe in past lives, it's like, oh, we knew each other before. That's the universe just making sure you have something to talk about so you spend five more minutes talking, so then you spend 15 minutes talking, so then you do a show together.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Right.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Wait, real quick. So on Friday, I was in Chelsea and I was confronted with McManus.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Wow. When you said McManus, the first time I almost made a joke. It's so rude. But like a dumpster with bars, you know, nailed.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yeah, McManus is a bar in New York City for people that are listening. That used to be the place where everybody after improv shows would hang out. And it was like green paper tablecloths at the time and the French leather seats. It's just like ass grooves and it's never been changed out. You're sitting in our ass grooves in McManus because it's never been updated. The people in the back were unattainable. At that point we were up at the front looking. There was this hierarchy at UCB that we never climbed. We only climbed it outside of UCB through Broad City.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: But yeah, the further back you went at McManus.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Like an invisible velvet rope.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yes. But I walked in. I went in the side door. Wow. Like, it's crazy. I went in and we went there so much after that moment. But I walked in. We even shot in there. We shot like the cocktail cold open in McManus. We needed to shoot there. But I walked in and just remembered that moment I just said of you and I at the bar.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Wow. That's a real time travel moment.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And so you meet and you're like, you're not Alia Shawkat, but I will have you two be in a scene many years later in Broad City. But you say, okay, I see something in you. I love being with you. We like being with each other. And then you start creating. What do you remember like when that creative content stuff started?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I think being in this improv group, it wasn't like we got so much duo time. There was something like a grit that was like a tension that was not the same. The difference between us that when rubbed together created this spark, this difference. The differences about us that we were like, that's funny. That's funny. And I think also as women and as young women, you're kind of safer together.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: So you're going to cry.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yeah. Now Abbi's crying. I love it. It's so good.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Why do we get our makeup done? We're not gonna get through any questions. Let's cry the entire time. And I'm gonna get one on deck. Tissue on deck.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: But it's so much about sameness when you're young, when you're a young woman. But we were secure enough with each other to recognize our differences and it tickled us. And beyond our sense of humor that was both Venn diagram shared and different, it was also our work ethic. We were desperate to make a spreadsheet, you know?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah. And we had these ideas and we were desperate to list them neatly.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I think that's a lot of when you get out of college in that time period where you're like, I need to give myself a job. I need to be busy because up until now, schoolwork has kept me busy and the course that I've been on has kept me busy. But you're like, now I have to structure my own busyness. I have to create busy things.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Something that's coming up for me is all three of us having worked so much in food and service. There's so much busyness in that.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: You about Steamer's Landing. You just texted me.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Oh yeah. What was that place you worked? Was it actually called Steamer's Landing? Like disgusting. Even if they still exist, I bet the French fries are good, though.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: It's Steamer's Landing. Yeah, but in Broad City, Paul and Lucia had changed it in a script to Dumpers Post. And I remember we were at the office, and we were first reading a script that they got back to us. I fell to my knees, bent over a couch, fell to my knees. Dumpers Post.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And we're talking about Paul Downs and Lucia Aniello, who went on to become creators of Hacks and who wrote and directed and produced with you on Broad City. So they also have their baby versions of this experience.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: That's right.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Well, so we did this improv group for like two years before doing anything Broad City. But it was the two of them actually who we made one episode of Broad City, the web series. And we were, again as Ilana said, so organized. And it was the two of them who saw it and emailed us and loved it. The first webisode came out and they emailed us immediately. They were like, keep doing this, keep doing this.
--:-- Amy Poehler: So when you guys were in your second season of this web series in 2011, I was down the street living in the West Village, and I get a text from an Upright Citizens Brigade teacher, was it Will Hines?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And he said, hey, check out Abbi and Ilana. They're doing some great web series stuff, and they wanted to know if you want to do it. And so I watched a bunch of your stuff, and I thought it was really funny. And it was shooting right down the street from my house. And you two asked me to come do a small bit.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: We were running away.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And I remember oranges fell on me at one point. I don't remember anything about the plot. What was the plot?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: There was barely a plot. It doesn't matter.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: We were running. We were running.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: We were running. And we were trying to get toward a cookie.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Spoiler.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: A cookie. The plot was very Broad City. We were running to get a cookie.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And then after that, as far as I remember, very soon after you sent me an email saying what?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I remember this very well. That last episode of the web series, we knew we wanted it to be the last one. It was like more production value. We worked with this director, it was just bigger. And we emailed you with the cut maybe of it and said, this is our, we've been thinking and we want to go to LA and pitch this as a show. Would you ever consider being the executive producer on it?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: We were also kind of excited that we were pretty much the same height. And when we first met, it was just like, this is funny, you know?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yeah, we all love being short. Literally seeing eye to eye.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: And I remember being like, well, we might send it to Jonah Hill. And we knew we were going to ask you, but we weren't going to ask you on the spot that day.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I'm just here to say it was a genius move to say you were going to send it to Jonah Hill. Girl, incredible move.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Girl, your face. I will never forget.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: If you hadn't mentioned it, would you be like, no way?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: That's what you did. I remember being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I remember just being like, she was pissed immediately. Pissed immediately. In the race. Taking immediately because I am competitive. But I remember thinking like, no, we, Jonah Hill can't have Broad City. And this was not a ploy. We really were like, Jonah Hill. You know what I mean? Whatever. But I remember your expression. And I remember just thinking later, it's always smart to, it's like in a relationship, it's okay sometimes to be like, you're not the only one circling here, honey.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I'm dating, babe. I'm dating. You think I'm just waiting around? Yeah. I'm not going to. Okay. This, we're open.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: So you sent me the email and I was like, let's go. We're in. And we started developing together.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Wait, can I just say one thing?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Your response to that email, I think was the biggest celebration of the entire 10 years. I remember it was on my, I called, I think I called you. And I was shooting some short film upstate. And she was like upstate in the middle of the hour. I was like, hold on. Did you clear it?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: You didn't open your email, open your email. And like we were freaking out. I was like, I think I had to leave a party. I left a birthday party. It was crazy. That was it. I remember all the other milestones, but you saying you were going to send it to Jonah Hill, that was like your hero believes in you. That was crazy.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: And then you remember we met. You were like, "Well, let's meet about it." I'm like, "Okay, let's meet about it." We met before we met for like a good hour. We were like, "Okay, just to get out, just to pre-vomit." We were like, "Yeah, yeah." And we're like, "What's it gonna be like? It could be anything."
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Just in this hallway before we met, I was like, "This forever kiddo, Amy Poehler." You can just picture what your parents saw you as in the doorway at eight. You're always that. And the way you just walked down the hallway to greet us, that was how you walked down the street. She's like, "Hello." All sunshine. You're wearing these cute sunglasses and a dress and it's just sunshine. Your heart is on your sleeve and it's you at eight. And we were like, that was surreal. That was really trippy.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Gloopy. The whole lunch was like as though I was tripping my balls off. After it as well, I don't know. I spent a whole day together around the meeting. Because I remember we were like, she watched every web episode. You came with the legal pad. You were like, "We got to make a teaser." We made the teaser from the web episodes. The legal pad going through our silly little web episodes, what you thought of each one. And we were like, "What is going on?" The thoughts and the real opinions.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: And we were at a restaurant where we were like, this is clearly Amy's favorite restaurant. She was saying hello to everybody. "Hello, George. How's your wife? Oh, my God." And we're like, "We'll just get toast." You don't even know how to order at this time. What do you get? "Well, we'll get that." Just not even knowing how to be a person around.
--:-- Amy Poehler: It's so funny. I have nothing but exciting bottom of show mountain memories of it. One of the many reasons why I'm so thrilled that we're talking today is to put it in perspective for me. Broad City made me feel like a real producer. I had been producing on Parks, I had produced other things, we had technically produced our UCB show even though we didn't know what that was, and our sketches at SNL. But Broad City felt like the child that made me the mother. When I think about it, I feel so proud to have been along for the ride and just being helpful in any way. I learned so much from watching the two of you. I learned so much from trying to advocate for the show. I learned so much about what kind of stuff I wanted to make.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Fully crying. Oh my god, this is it now. And then plus the voice. It's gonna seem so insane, but it's like, dude, it's just like you.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I don't want to cut you off.
--:-- Amy Poehler: No, no. But it's like, I remember this one time that we had lunch and you talked about the sexual politic of the show. And I remember then we'd be out talking and I'd be like, "Well, what we're really trying to do is the sexual politic of the show."
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Oh my god, can I have like a full tissue? This gross half tissue.
--:-- Amy Poehler: But talk about sexual politic for a second. I've said this before. The best thing about getting older is being less and less certain about everything, if you're doing it right. You just know you're supposed to let go of the grasp of the things you think you know. And that is what I think young people do, people younger than you do. Even the very simple way in which you guys approached your own bodies, your own bodies in space, your own bodies in the show. I remember very specifically saying, "If you don't want to get in your underwear for this scene." The pilot. "If you guys feel uncomfortable." And you're like, "We wrote it. We are the ones writing that we're in our underwear and we're so comfortable with how the dynamic is in the scene. We're so..." Like, "Thank you. Good looking out." But you're kind of missing the point in a way. There was a lot of that for me where I watched how you two reminded me of what was an old story or old programming. I think that's what Broad City did a lot and still does.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I will say on that, I don't know how fully comfortable I was in those scenes. But I think that was also like, okay, over here we wrote it and I loved it so much. And I knew that Abbi as actor will have to deal with that when we get to the day. For me, Broad City was in a moment of a little bit later, huge growth. I feel like I grew up a little later.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I'm going to fully cry. And in so many ways because of Ilana, which is so like the Abbi and Ilana.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: That's what's happening. We're all in such a luteal phase.
--:-- Amy Poehler: It's what's happening.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: The confidence of that dynamic, like Abbi is the insecure one and Ilana's got this bravado. That's something that I was learning right alongside the character because that was real. Us being the hottest women in any room was not how I approached going out. And I would go out with Ilana as a friend and that would be like... I don't know if that was fake it till you make it. But that was the charge of like, "Yeah, you know who you are. And my ass is hot." My ass being a hot thing was not something I ever thought we'd focus on so much. I still love it. Only through Ilana, among many other things, was such a huge change for me. So us being in our underwear, I was able to be like, "I might not be comfortable, but I know this is so right. And this is so powerful and so funny."
--:-- Amy Poehler: I think that's what female friendships at their best do. They provide the opposite of a funhouse mirror. They provide this beautiful mirror that you get to look in and see this version of yourself that your friend sees. It's aspirational, it's kind of manifesty, but it is like you are sexy if you say so and you're beautiful if you feel so. Everybody is beautiful and sexy in their own way. Sometimes you just have to have a surrogate feel it for you. That's what you do for each other in female friendships. And that's exactly what Abbi and Ilana did constantly. Pumping each other up is funny.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Oh, it's so funny.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And to the point before about sexual politic, you just validated us as women, not as girls. Everybody called us girls, even the people working for us. You called us women at such a young time where I was like, "Damn, I suppose we are."
--:-- Ilana Glazer: With comedy, it's just the fucking best. Comedy is the best because it's this cosmic container that just lifts you up off the ground of the systems we're rooted in and connects people so efficiently. Obviously farts are the funniest.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Someone farts. I disagree. I'm not the biggest fart-is-funny fan. If somebody farts in a context where they're not supposed to, you don't giggle.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I think it really depends.
--:-- Amy Poehler: That was actually a big thing for us on the set of Parks and Rec. People would fart and I'd be like, "Don't fart." In life.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: No, I don't like that.
--:-- Amy Poehler: If they accidentally fart, I feel a little codependently worried about them.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: No, I mean if somebody farts as a joke to invade your space with odor, that's not cool. That's like sibling. That's not shenanigans. We don't like that.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Well, when are farts right?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Okay, so I remember a good Broad City fart. I'm meeting your parents. It's at your shiva, and Bob Balaban picks me up, and we're adding a fart there. That's what I'm talking about.
--:-- Amy Poehler: That was an excellent fart. I'm talking about professorial, masterful fart comedy. That was really thoroughly thought out and intentional.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: But you're right. A little squeeze that comes into a little... it's cute.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Maybe that's it. Maybe if the farts are cute.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Oh, for sure.
--:-- Amy Poehler: But I'm also talking about adding a sound effect.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: We did. We did add the sound effect. We got to make that clear.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I hear you. And then just to stay in it, to get us on the air, we write a script, we go to FX, we try to make it at FX, they pass. And we kind of have a moment where we have to regroup.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I remember going back to what you're talking about, maybe when you felt like producer. I remember you would be the one that would have to deliver that news to us.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I did. I learned a lot. Yes, that was in real time. I was learning on the job. Like all of us, sometimes you fake it to make it. You have to kind of pretend. I remember thinking, right, my job here is to never let anyone feel like we're not going to solve this problem. You're supposed to keep the ship in the water. Other people can steer it, but you have to make sure it doesn't sink. I remember not quite knowing where we were going to go next, but feeling like I needed to make sure that you felt like we were going to go somewhere good.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I think we did. You did.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I'm remembering now another lunch at a place that we never would go, but we're like, "Totally, we'll meet there. And it's going to be chill." Balthazar.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Anyway. So we met for lunch.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Oh my God.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: But you were like, "So, lucky for us, Comedy Central had wanted us." Which isn't always the case. And you were like, "FX is like a cold boyfriend. You don't even want them."
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Never chase. You don't want that boyfriend anyway.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: And it was like, "Yeah. I don't."
--:-- Amy Poehler: And that time, Comedy Central, maybe to let people know, we were in such good company. Who else was on the air during that time? Key and Peele.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Key and Peele.
--:-- Amy Poehler: It was so funny. Workaholics who had a similar web to TV. Amy Schumer. Inside Amy Schumer. Kroll Show. Maybe Nathan For You.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: That's right. Wow. Early Nathan Fielder.
--:-- Amy Poehler: It was such an incredible time.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Why do you think it's come sprung back in this way right now? It must feel good to have people still come up to you and say they love it and say who they think they are.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: It's also such a newly, as we are becoming literally middle-aged adults, it's such a sweet connective thing when people talk about it. When we were younger, they thought we improvised it. We were like, "We work so hard to write this over and over and over again." They think we're stoned. They think we're the characters from the show. What it is now is it's reached this warm, sweet bed for connection. I don't know if you experience it. When we're out together, people are like, "What are you guys doing on the street together?" My wife Jodi, she's like, "This is unlike anything. To have someone witness it, you get this wild positive affirmation coming at you." That is so rare. I feel very thankful all the time for that.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Before we move off of the Broad City section, I do want to for people that are big fans, hottest day on set, coldest day on set. Any memories of when you were very hot, very cold?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Everything was so sweaty. Literally sweaty. And I don't know why I was always wearing skinny jeans, so really added to it.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Babe, it was the time. Ilana sent me something where something happened and I was like, "You know what's going to happen when you're 70? This has now started to finally happen. Skinny jeans are going to come back around and people are going to be like, 'This is so cool, these really tight skinny jeans.' And you're going to say, 'You know, I used to wear...'"
--:-- Ilana Glazer: It's wild. Here's hoping.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I don't know. But maybe. I mean, remember skinny jeans? I still see people in them.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yeah, I see millennials being like, "Fuck you, I don't care. I'm wearing skinny jeans. I feel organized." And I'm like, "Get it."
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah, well that's what I mean. Now it's all the way around to if you're wearing skinny jeans, you're a confident person.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: But I also had these straight down bangs for a lot of the show. And I remember they would get fully soaking wet. Sopping wet bangs. Marceau would have to be like...
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: We try the bangs. That's so funny.
--:-- Amy Poehler: And guest stars. Who comes to mind as people that when you just pop into your head, you're like, "Oh, that was a fun day, that was a good moment."
--:-- Ilana Glazer: There's so many great people that came to the show. RuPaul just cracks me up. He was studying his lines and saying them to himself that I was like, "Damn."
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Kelly Ripa. Just the way her being that version we wrote of her was wild. She was so excited. Her joy was like, "Oh my god," she really wanted to be there. It was so contagious.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Do you remember Lady Gaga tweeting about the show? How important that was?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yes. We were in the writer's room. That was season two, end of season one. She was like, "Oh my god, they used my song. My favorite show used my song." We met her. She asked us to come to a performance and we went on her bus. She was so kind, being like, "You remind me, when I watch your show I feel like I'm not famous and I'm young again, running around the city before all of this." She was clearly grateful for it, but also it was quite heavy. It was so many years ago. She's such a woman now.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: How did we even afford her song? How did we afford her song? How did we do that?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I have no idea. We paid for it, but how did we get it?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I think she liked it. Someone involved liked the show, someone's manager or something.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Whoopi. Whoopi came in.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Whoopi. BG. Wordless background role as Sister Mary Ferns.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah, that was wild. That was wild. I remember meeting her and she comes in the trailer. She is such a badass, so herself. She's exactly who you'd think she is. We were acting totally cool and we were also in stages that were illegal and in an abandoned building essentially. She was leaving and I was like, "Thanks so much, it meant so much to me." Then she left and I immediately turned around and wept and cried in rubble in Bushwick rubble that we were filming in for some reason. Because she not only did our show, but she's such a real ass bitch, such a comedy girl, real woman.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Oh my god, Shania Twain. I think about that a lot actually. We got her to say, "Man, I feel like a smoothie." I think about that a lot. So game. She was like, that was so crazy.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: She did that for... [pointing at Amy] You.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Oh, I'm like, that should be a show.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: That was The Bear. We did The Bear before The Bear.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: You did The Bear before The Bear.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: We did The Bear before The Bear. You're right. For people, there was a scene where I was in the back of the kitchen and there was a whole drama with me and Seth Morris. You guys were exes. We really were exes. And we just created a little bit of a thing. That was so good.
--:-- Amy Poehler: The Bear stole from Broad City. You heard it here first. And you directed that.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yeah. I mean, what the fuck?
--:-- Amy Poehler: So we do this thing where we talk to people about our guests before they come on. I was really trying to think about who I wanted to talk to. What organically came up for me was Kim Lessing and Kate Arend, the producers, co-heads of Paper Kite. They have worked together for 10 plus years. They are millennials. They started when Broad City was, I think, Kate's second or third day was we were doing notes on episode two of Broad City. I asked them what they would want to know from you. From a workplace perspective, they were curious how did you keep your relationship, your actual intimate friendship, healthy while you were working together? As you've gone on to work on other things, how do you keep your workplace healthy knowing what you know now? And how did you do it then too? How do you like to work and what do you bring into your work to keep it healthy?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: As incredible as it was to make Broad City, we would always make sure to have a little time up top to connect and catch up. LOL, catch up from 12 hours ago or whatever it was. But it feels so human to now have dinner and just be. Lately we have been crying so much. It's been so juicy and delicious and nutritious and sweet. But at the time it was very much slotted in to catch up. Things would always make their way into the comedy, which is cool, but it's not the same as it being its own for the sake of its own beauty. I think we knew that the catching up was essential for the thing. It's so derived from us. We had to kind of catch up and be like, "Okay, that's all. Write that down for this thing."
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: What helped you during those times? Did you pick your battles?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I think something also was, there was tension, rise and release of tension constantly. A lot of it was boundaries and space and being like, "See you later." Taking the space. When we were doing it, we weren't hanging out as friends during Broad City. We couldn't.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah. So it's almost like you had to put that a little bit aside. Just not let it atrophy, but not give it a lot of oxygen while you were doing the show.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: It was very after school club. It was this thing of slotting in 45 minutes to talk before we focus. It feels so beautiful now to just not have a task at hand. But during that time, even though we weren't on the weekends, if something was happening, I'd be like, "Ilana, I'm going on a date. What do I..." It wasn't like, "Don't speak to me." It was just after truly 12, 14 hours of Monday through Friday, we were like, "Let's not do dinner on Saturday."
--:-- Amy Poehler: But who did you go on the date with and what did you wear?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Honestly, I remember this is post-Broad City. I saw you the day before I met Jodi.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Oh, my God.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: And I was telling you what I'm going to wear. Your beautiful wife, Jodi.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: And Ilana was in a grocery way. Wait, tell us that story.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Oh, my God. You were going on a date with Jodi? We were in L.A. and you were staying at Liz's house and I was like, "I'm going on a date." By going on a date, it was so deep COVID. She was coming over to my house to the patio. And I was like, "I think I'm just going to wear a sweater and black. I don't know." We were still doing that. And you were like, "Yeah. Don't do too much."
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Totally. What you wear on a date is really important. Because it says a lot. "I'm excited. I'm not excited. I don't care. I want to have sex. I don't want to." There's a ton of things happening.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: And it worked because you bagged that babe.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yep. You bagged that babe. That babe was obsessed. And y'all are so beautiful and romantic. You're such a beautiful couple.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Oh my God. So also hot. Hot as fuck. Beautiful. And both of you have had a very busy 10 years. You become a mom. Both of you have gotten married. You've both done a ton of different projects that you're writing, creating. There's so much that's happened. I was curious, Ilana, motherhood is a big creative center in a lot of your work. You talk about it a lot on stage. You made a movie about it. You have this way in which you're peeling that onion a lot. How has it expanded you and your work?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: It just has organized everything for me appropriately. Things are just in their right place now in my heart. It's been so creative. Work is work. It's a creative context, but it's not how I figure out who I am. It's a part of who I am. I just feel correctly organized.
--:-- Amy Poehler: That's very cool. Abbi, what about the past 10 years with all the different projects you're working on and worked on? How has that changed your creative? I'm curious about you as a fine artist too. You come from a fine art world. For people who don't know, in what way do you express yourself that way? Is it always changing that much anymore? You're good at drawing, girl.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Thank you. I went to art school. A big goal of mine would be to get back into painting and have a show.
--:-- Amy Poehler: What do you like about painting?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I think I'm in my head a lot, which is something that we really bonded over. It's very meditative for me. But I've painted two and a half paintings in the past two years.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: You should say you're the painter that makes one painting a year and then everybody comes and watches you finish it. That's what a guy would do.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I know. That's right. No, I'm dying to do it. I think it's just like, it's so cool that I only do this much. I only do two and a half. And everyone's like, "He's a genius." A withholding genius. You're right. It takes me a whole year to do it.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Can I ask you about Prelude?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Can you talk about it?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Oh my God. Because I forgot I told you all about it. Oh, and you did the thing. I did the thing.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Do you want to talk about it a little bit?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah, we're in the thick of it right now. Prelude is this fellowship program I created with Mika Tennant, who's my partner. It's an eight-month program where there's 10 fellows that we select. It's early, early, early career storytellers. We set them up with mentors and there's ongoing programming. They have mentorship every month. We have programming every month that I run. I have people come in and talk where I ask them questions. Amy kicked it off, which was like they still talk about that. They still cannot believe that you came.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Of course.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I'm realizing that for me, the success is that they have confidence in themselves. That's the best that we can do. That would be my goal. They all leave feeling like they have confidence and that they know that someone believes in them. Which truly, to go back full circle, is what you did for us. I said this to you on the day, I'm going to cry again. You believing in us and what we were doing, I think is what has fueled us to do everything we've done since. If I could do that for them, that is...
--:-- Amy Poehler: That is so cool, Abbi. So awesome.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: And it really does feel kind of like crying again.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Everybody who's listening crying again. I just want to ask about Good Night and Good Luck because, Ilana, it's very exciting. A Broadway debut is such a singular goal. Did you have it? Did you ever have that goal? Did you want to be on Broadway?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I am accentuating the way. Broadway. I know. Community ends. A bunch of community ends. I believe it's supposed to be Broadway. Talking about Broadway. It wasn't really in my thinking, especially since I had a child. It's so time consuming. Since I've kind of got my stand up and touring, now I get how to do it. Broadway, you're so in someone else's control. I just hadn't thought about it. It was such an incredible experience. It reminds me of Broad City. And also before that, the early days of comedy, you're just seeing the same people night after night after night.
--:-- Amy Poehler: George Clooney was the co-writer and star of this performance. How is our man George?
--:-- Amy Poehler: An angel. An angel.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: He is an angel. He is my hero. He is my hero from the personal human being to the public figure. He is, oh my gosh, it was such a privilege to perform his writing. And you know, Abbi, we don't have to get into it, but you had a beautiful relationship in *A League of Their Own*. What was the best takeaway of that show?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Oh, I was just talking to Darcy about it. I know our great Darcy Carden. The most kissable.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I know. And just so... So it makes sense. She was kissable. So funny. Because I was like, I kissed Paul so much on *Broad City*. And then I was like, I guess I'm going to kiss another one of my really close friends.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Listen. Listen. We kiss our friends.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: But it also is like, I found like, I don't know. I think I'll do that forever. Of like, I'm in love with my friends. And there's already that chemistry there. Yeah. But I guess in the middle of *Broad City* is when I was like, oh wow, I think I like women too. Which was like, obviously Ilana was very much there for me during that.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yes, of course.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: And then I was like, like everything else, I want to put that in the show. And that was very much in the show with Clea, which was so fun. And I was so happy that that lined up to get to have that on *Broad City*. And it was truly us getting to explore what was happening to me was happening with Abbi, but differently, but the same. Which was incredible to be able to do that. And then on *League*, I loved making that show. It was very hard in a lot of different ways. It was a period show. It was baseball. It was the inner workings of Amazon, not Comedy Central. There was a lot more money. And at the end of the day, I was like, I'm writing this ensemble and everybody, it is just a bigger sort of friend group. So to expand that into a group was incredible. And then to get to write this love story with Darcy was a dream. People really responded to that relationship in that story. It's been a really cool, kind of like on the street kind of thing. I'm like, I know which one you're going to say based on what you look like.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Having made comedy for so long, what's your relationship to comedy now? What do you watch, read, go to? How do you make yourself laugh right now? What's making you laugh? Who's making you laugh? Like, what's the place when the world is getting really intense that you escape to?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I have a hard time.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Yeah, me too.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: And so I have two things, but I have a hard time finding them, so I'm very interested.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: So I just saw, just last week, I saw Caperland's new show at the Bell House.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Oh wow.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I mean, she's so funny. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. So live Caperland, I recommend. She's on tour, I think, starting now. And then the show I'm watching that I'm obsessed with that Brooke told me about.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Brooke Posh. Instrumental in the early *Broad City*.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: *Big Boys*. You've seen *Big Boys*?
--:-- Amy Poehler: No, nothing. Guys. Okay, hold on. Googling right now.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: It's so good. It's on Hulu. It's from the UK. It's so, and it's the mix of, it's so funny and really heart, like there's heart. It got me. So it's a sitcom. Two boys from very different ends of the spectrum of masculinity become best friends at Brent University, freshers week in their first year at university. They explore, experiment and try to discover themselves. I've never read the description. That's what it is.
--:-- Amy Poehler: All right. And Ilana, what are you listening to? How do you check out or laugh?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I've been really, I want to see Kate's show. I really love what my friends are making, like *Hacks*. I still have to catch up on season four, but that's been really killing me in a good way where I'm just like, oh, this is so good and so funny. I'm living, I'm dying, you know what I mean? And also, the last time I laughed so hard was at O'Mary. Oh my God. I just died. I'm starting to get into old movies though. I just watched *Prince of Tides*.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Okay, not so much funny.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: David wants to watch all of Barbra Streisand's stuff because we have biographies for little kid books. And we're looking at Barbra and reading her life story and we're like, let's just watch the catalog. Oh my God. And she's so stunning, dude. That's a sweet man there. Her nails in *Prince of Tides*. She directed that. She directed it. And Nick Nolte? Like, gorgeous. And to see, first of all, she's so hot and beautiful. And I'm looking up on Wikipedia and doing the math. She's like 53 in it. And she directed herself and is like, yeah, I'm fucking gorgeous. And so Jewish. Would she say like *Prince of Toids*? Would it be Toids? It's just like, get it, bitch. Get it. Fucking get it. She has a bio that just came out. Autobiography. And you should hear her do the audio book. Yeah, she's incredible.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Barbra, we know you're watching. And listening. Barbra, please come. Please, dude, that would be such a good guest. Barbra, Tina and I did the movie *Sisters*. Her husband James Brolin played our dad. And my parents visited the set one day and my mom was like, "I wonder if Barbra Streisand's ever gonna come." And I was like, "Mom, Barbra's not gonna come visit you on Long Island, the set of *Sisters*." Her husband is an actor. And she did. And it was the day my mother was there. Yes. She came to visit, just came to drop by to see her husband James. And my mom was like, "I told you." And I was like, "This doesn't happen all the time. Don't get used to this."
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Did they have a moment?
--:-- Amy Poehler: They had a little hello. She was lovely and very lovely to us. And you're right, we don't talk. Barbra, when you come on, let's talk about the things you've directed. I want to talk to you just as a director. Like truly, it was so cool. And learning how to light yourself as a woman in your 40s and your 50s and your 60s, just be like, just make it soft. Just like feel. She is irresistible. We were just like, she is so hot.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I had a *Broad City* moment the other day that felt very *Broad City*. Speaking of lighting yourself, as I was shooting something, I was looking at the monitor, and I said, "Can I just take a peek to see where you are at with lighting?" And the young director of the piece said, "Oh, don't worry, you look great." And I was like, "Can I give you a little feedback? I think when women, especially my age, ask for the monitor, saying 'don't worry, you look great' is not helpful." It's not like we're being faint or insecure. We're just trying to tweak what we would our voice or performance. We have a sense of how we're going to feel comfortable and how we want to come across. Lighting is a big deal.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I don't think he understands. This person understands. I think he's actually trying to make me feel better. I totally get it. But it's just like, LOL, bro. LOL, bro. I mean, OMG, LOL, bro. And then a little... Did you get to see?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Of course. All you do is you go like this. [gestures] Yeah, I mean, it's always, and this is very *Broad City*, it's always like how much in the moment do you want to correct and how much do you want to just like, you know.
--:-- Amy Poehler: I think what we're talking about today is the reason why people love the show. They feel like there's people looking out for each other, sticking up for each other, taking care of each other. There's a community in the show. There's a vibe. And then what that does, it allows you to do that for yourself. And then you become your own advocate for yourself. That's what the characters did.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: That's right. I had a *Broad City* moment on Saturday too. I don't know if it has a big culmination like this, but I went to a premiere and I went alone, okay, which is wild. And then I went to the party after. And I was like, I'm going to schmooze and all that. And I knew someone and I was like, okay, we're eating, we get a bite and then we're going up to the bar. I was like, let's get a drink. And we go to get a drink and they were like, "You know what, I don't want to hold the martini, I have to pee, I'm gonna go pee." And I was like, "All right, well what do you want? I'll get it." And I get the drink and I was like, oh look at me at this premiere. I get the two martinis and then they never came back. So I truly was standing with two dirty martinis. People would come up to me and then I told Jodi later, I was like, oh God, like people would come up to me that I knew and then people come up to me that love *Broad City*, me holding the two martinis. And I was like, I'm fucking Abbi. I'm like fucking Abbi. And I was wearing a thing where I kind of had to keep adjusting it. Finally, I was like, this one looks better. And I started drinking. I was like, I abandoned.
--:-- Amy Poehler: How many minutes would you say that you were double fisting martinis?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I would say too many.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Any number?
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: I would probably say 20.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Yeah. Okay. Well, I was like, she's going to come back here. And then I was like, this is a good martini. They made it. I didn't pay for it, but I was like, that's very Abbi. They made it, it's a nice martini, I'm gonna waste a martini? And then they're watching me and I don't want them to think that I'm not drinking it. And then I was like, I abandoned it. And then I was like, I'm leaving. In the spirit of self-improvement, if it was 20 this time, how many minutes will you give it next time? There's no world in which I'm getting the drink when someone goes to the bathroom next time. I think I'd be like, "That's a good correction. I'll see you when you get back. I'm gonna get myself a drink."
--:-- Amy Poehler: And Ilana, have you had an Ilana moment recently? Is there something that happens where you're like, oh, this is an Ilana moment?
--:-- Ilana Glazer: I have one that I can't say. I'll tell you after. It's so naughty. It's naughty.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Have you had an Abbi moment? Us filling it in might be more fun. Kind of like what you were talking about with your show, us filling in what your Ilana moment is. Dot dot dot.
--:-- Ilana Glazer: Babe, yeah. Let's leave it at that. But I'll tell you after.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Well, dot dot dot. It is. I love you too. Thank you so much for doing this. I love talking about the show. I love talking about what's next. You always were. You always will be. Not from, not, oh, Amy Poehler, she's an icon. No, from the fucking in the flesh, delicious, forever eight-year-old person that you are, mother that you have always been to us, big sister, just friend. You're just incredible. We're so grateful.
--:-- Abbi Jacobson: Thank you for letting this eight-year-old be your producer. She did it. She did it good.
--:-- Amy Poehler: Thank you, guys. Thank you, Abbi and Ilana. Thank you for coming and doing the pod. It was so, so great to talk to you. And it's just a delight always to see the two of you together. And today's Polar Plunge is brought to you by Wayfair, here to help you make your home your happy place. So as we plunge today, I just want to remind everybody about the podcast that Kim Lessing and Kate Arend mentioned at the top of the show, two women who run Paper Kite Productions, the company that is my production company and that made *Broad City* and many other things. They have a show called *Million Dollar Advice*. And we would love to hear your questions about your workplace questions that they can answer. So please send them in to
[email protected],
[email protected]. And also head over to wayfair.com and find something that's just your style today. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. Bye!
--:-- Narrator: You've been listening to *Good Hang*. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, and Alea Zanaris. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles. This episode is brought to you by Happy Egg. Happiness is important, right? Everyone has different things that make them happy. It's your work in life to find out what that is. Everyone deserves some happiness. And it's just the same for the humble chicken. Because a happy hen makes a happy egg. That's why Happy Egg partners with family farms across the Midwest to raise hens outdoors with plenty of room to play, scratch, and spread their wings. And the eggs they lay are delicious. You can see and taste the proof yourself in the rich orange yolk. Crack open happy today. Find Happy Egg near you at happyegg.com slash Amy. This episode is brought to you by Welch's Fruit Snacks. Listen up, everyone. Sharpen those pencils. Get out those lunchboxes and stock up on snacks, because it's back to school time. And we know, we parents know, finding the balance of snacks you trust and snacks that your kids love is hard. And that's where Welch's Fruit Snacks come in. They aren't just delicious. They're made with real whole fruit. And your kids need snacks so they can feed their brains for learning. Find Welch's Fruit Snacks in stores nationwide. Go back to school with Welch's Fruit Snacks.