Broad City Is Fucking Awesome

Did you watch the premiere of Broad City last night? If you did, congratulations, I bet you had a good laugh. If not: YA SNOOZE YA LOSE, BRO…or you can just catch it on Hulu or in reruns and get into it a little later than the rest of us.

I’ve been following Broad City since it became a webseries in 2010 and was thrilled when it eventually got a TV development deal (it jumped around networks before finally settling at Comedy Central). I’ve been keenly invested in the show’s success (probably a little too invested), so I can say with all creepy honesty that I tuned into the series premiere feeling a mix of anxiety and excitement. I don’t know Broad City‘s stars and creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, but — having been a fan of their work for so long — I sort of feel like I do and I badly want them to succeed. (You’re welcome for the support, ladies. I’m sure you couldn’t have done it without me.)

There’s a sort of second-hand embarrassment you can get when watching a friend perform or showcase something they created. If it’s bad, you feel worse because you feel the failure of the person who made it. And that’s the anxiety I (again, INAPPROPRIATELY) carried into watching the pilot episode of Broad City last night.

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. It was great (as one should expect from a show executive produced by Amy Poehler). The jokes were fresh, unexpected and edgy. The concept is a recognizable one: Jacobson and Glazer are best friends in the tradition of the Odd Couple. Jacobson is Type A (she’s a janitor at Soul Cycle* who dreams of becoming a trainer; she schedules when she masturbates for better efficiency) and Glazer is Type…Z (she eats pizza in the bathroom after drunkenly barfing; she blows off her job at a Groupon-esque company with regularity). Glazer is the wild card who gets them into bizarre situations and Jacobson is the one who tries to fix it, but rarely succeeds. It’s a set up we’ve seen before, but somehow — in the two comedians’ hands — it all seems new.

Broad City already has a full season order and if the pilot is indicative of what’s to come, that can only mean good news for us.