Those expecting a traditional comedy show at University Union’s “Broad City” event Oct. 24 were surprised to instead end up watching a question and answer session with Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson.

Glazer and Jacobson, who play characters loosely based on them in Comedy Central’s hit show “Broad City,” spoke on a panel Saturday night in Goldstein Auditorium at the Schine Student Center. University Union’s co-director of public communications Alli Reich moderated the panel.

“Broad City” has two seasons with a third slated to premiere on Comedy Central this winter. The duo said they just finished editing the first episode of the new season and that season three overall will be more “real” and emotional compared to the previous seasons.

“The boundary that we pushed hardest this season was sincerity,” Ilana said. “That actually does push the comedy because then the contrast between that sincerity and the comedy hopefully makes the comedy funnier.”

The event, presented by University Union, did not sell out. Although most of the seats on the balcony of the auditorium were empty those who did show up many of them were fans of Glazer, Jacobson and the show.

One audience member had a sign — written in golden glitter glue — that said “wanna fook?” a line Ilana yells at a group of men playing soccer in “The Matrix,” the sixth episode in season two.

Another audience member brought in a doll reminiscent of Bingo Bronson, a completely made up toy that Abbi hallucinates coming to life while high on drugs in the third episode of season two, “Wisdom Teeth.”

Glazer and Jacobson spoke about their entrance into comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy troupe started by Amy Poehler who now serves as an executive producer on “Broad City.” They also talked about turning their web series, also called “Broad City,” into a TV show on Comedy Central with Poehler as an executive producer.

Poehler, to the astonishment of Glazer and Jacobson in the beginning of their career, was not only was a fan of the web series, but also helped the pair get “Broad City” on the air at Comedy Central.

“It blew our f*cking minds that Poehler had seen the web series and wanted to be involved with the project,” Glazer said.

Reich asked Glazer and Jacobson about the show’s portrayal of Ilana as “unapologetically sexually fluid.” Glazer responded by saying she is “surprised that people are so surprised” about the show’s progressive take on sex and sexuality.

“People are like, ‘Wow these girls are filthy huh?’ But are they? Women are horny and have sex, it’s surprising that it’s such a big thing,” Glazer said. “The Internet has really opened up a much more honest conversation than TV and film have… there’s just bigger voices for the queer community.”

Published on October 25, 2015 at 8:55 pm

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu