59 Fun Facts About Broad City

On which network did the Broad City television series air?

Comedy Central said yes after another cable channel had commissioned the pilot script and then passed; the show ran there for five seasons, from 2014 to 2019.

Before it reached cable television, Broad City existed in what form?

A YouTube web show came first: Glazer and Jacobson made the short episodes themselves, each only a few minutes long, and built a following online before television called.

By Abbi Jacobson's account, which network developed the Broad City pilot and then rejected it as 'too girly'?

FX passed after months of development, leaving the creators 'devastated', Jacobson wrote in her memoir; the show it turned down went on to run for five seasons elsewhere.

In Broad City's early seasons, on whom does Abbi nurse a long-running crush?

Her neighbor Jeremy, from across the hall, is the crush she bumbles around for two seasons; when the pair finally get together, the evening takes a turn she did not see coming.

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer met while taking classes at which comedy theatre?

Upright Citizens Brigade classes led both to the same practice team in 2007. After two years of paying for coaches and rehearsal rooms with nothing to show for it, they started writing together.

What was the name of the improv team on which Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer first met?

Secret Promise Circle was a practice team with only two women in it, Jacobson and Glazer, which is how the pair found each other.

In which New York City neighbourhood does Abbi Abrams live?

Astoria, Queens is borrowed from life: it was Jacobson's own neighbourhood when she and Glazer started out, long before Abbi Abrams existed.

The character Ilana Wexler is a graduate of which school?

New York University: in 'In Heat' Ilana talks her way back into her old dorm there with Abbi, the pair posing as RAs so they can walk off with a student's air conditioner.

What is the profession of Lincoln Rice, Ilana's on-and-off partner played by Hannibal Buress?

Pediatric dentist Lincoln repairs the veneer Ilana breaks on a jawbreaker in 'Pu$$y Weed', while a very stoned Abbi alarms the children and parents in his waiting room.

What is the name of the gym where Abbi works as a cleaner?

Soulstice was a late addition: in the first pilot script the character worked in a coffee shop, before a rewrite made her a gym cleaner who longs to be a trainer.

Ilana works, sporadically, at a web company called what?

Deals! Deals! Deals! is modelled on Lifebooker, a real coupon site for spas and salons where Glazer and Jacobson both worked in sales to pay the rent.

Which recurring Broad City character is played by a real-life sibling of one of its two stars?

Eliot Wexler is played by Ilana Glazer's brother, Eliot Glazer, so the on-screen siblings are real ones. In season two he throws a wedding for his dog in the park.

Which comedian plays Bobbi Wexler, Ilana's blunt and confrontational mother?

Susie Essman of Curb Your Enthusiasm plays Bobbi; in 'Knockoffs' she leads Ilana down a manhole in pursuit of counterfeit designer handbags.

Who plays Ilana's father, Arthur Wexler?

Bob Balaban's Arthur first appears at a family shiva in 'Knockoffs' and is back in 'Burning Bridges', where his anniversary dinner collides with Abbi's secret date.

In season four, RuPaul plays Marcel, Ilana's ruthless boss at what kind of business?

A sushi restaurant, Sushi Mambeaux, where Marcel announces one night that the top earner will take everyone's tips and the lowest earner will be fired.

Which comedian plays Dara, the graphic-design boss who employs Abbi as her assistant in season four?

Wanda Sykes's Dara fires Abbi on the spot when Abbi, while tripping on mushrooms, accidentally kills her boss's cat at a party.

Who plays Lesley, the doctor Abbi dates in Broad City's final season?

Clea DuVall's Lesley ends it by calling Abbi's life a series of shenanigans, a verdict that nudges Abbi to apply for the artist residency that takes her out of New York.

Which politician makes a cameo in Broad City's season three episode '2016'?

Hillary Clinton walks into her own campaign office just as Ilana is quitting, having learned that the job she signed up for is unpaid volunteering.

What is the name of the stuffed toy Abbi hallucinates is walking beside her in 'Wisdom Teeth'?

Bingo Bronson comes to life after Ilana tops up Abbi's painkillers with a cannabis drink; the giant toy then leads her out of the apartment and across Brooklyn.

In 'Wisdom Teeth', a heavily medicated Abbi wanders off and runs up a four-figure bill at which store?

Whole Foods: Ilana only tracks her down when a call comes through on Abbi's phone asking about the enormous purchase.

Whose coat does Abbi accidentally give away while working coat check in season two?

Kelly Ripa's coat goes home with the wrong guest; when Abbi finally returns it, the wholesome morning host turns out to be far wilder than her TV image.

Which actor plays Adele, the lookalike Ilana falls for in 'Coat Check'?

Alia Shawkat was an in-joke: when Jacobson and Glazer first joined the same improv team, Jacobson took her new teammate for the Arrested Development star.

Which actor plays 'Male Stacy', who falls asleep during sex with Abbi in Broad City's season two premiere?

Seth Rogen's Male Stacy later takes fright at a stray kitten and knocks Abbi's newly acquired air conditioner straight out of the window.

Which NBA player takes Ilana home from a party in the episode 'B&B-NYC'?

Blake Griffin plays himself at a club party the pair gatecrash after overhearing a stranger talk about it on the phone, and Ilana leaves with him.

Which country singer do Abbi and Trey train together at the gym in season four?

Shania Twain plays herself: for years Abbi had been telling people she trained the singer, and in 'Twaining Day' the lie finally comes true.

Which actor plays the mugger who marches Abbi to an ATM at gunpoint in 'Bedbugs'?

Steve Buscemi's mugger takes her cash and her new purse, but not before lecturing her on managing her money like an adult.

Which Broadway star do Abbi and Ilana follow to a drag brunch in 'Lost and Found'?

Alan Cumming plays himself; while the pair gush over him at the brunch, their elderly charge Saul slips away, and is finally found shopping at IKEA.

Which sitcom star plays Abbi's mother Joanne in season four?

Peri Gilpin, Roz in Frasier, plays Joanne, whose health scare sends her on a wild night out in one of Abbi's tight dresses, ending in a sex shop.

Who plays Abbi's father when she goes home to Pennsylvania in the episode 'Philadelphia'?

Tony Danza plays him; clearing out her old bedroom there, Abbi finds the money she raised as a child for an injured classmate and never handed over.

Which former child star cameos in 'Burning Bridges', an episode that pays homage to Mrs. Doubtfire?

Mara Wilson, the youngest child in Mrs. Doubtfire, plays the waitress while Abbi dashes between two tables in one restaurant, the stunt Robin Williams pulls in the film.

What takes Abbi and Ilana to Israel in Broad City's two-part season three finale?

A free trip run by 'Birthmark', the show's stand-in for Birthright: it goes wrong fast, and the pair are tackled on the plane and interrogated on landing.

How does Broad City's season four premiere tell the story of the day Abbi and Ilana first met?

Two alternate timelines, as in the film Sliding Doors, which lends the episode its title: missing a train makes them friends at once, while catching it keeps them apart for most of the day.

Which dating app does Abbi download in 'Rat Pack', filling Ilana's rent party with her matches?

Tinder newcomer Abbi has no idea she can swipe left to turn someone down, so she matches with every man and assumes she has to meet them all.

Which retailer hires Abbi in season four, raising her hopes of designing its window displays?

Anthropologie keeps her on the shop floor, so in the final season she and Ilana build a window display of her own design anyway, and it gets her fired.

In Broad City's final season, Ilana tracks down an old flame to cash out her share of which investment?

Bitcoin: the stake dates from an old fling with a finance bro, played here by Mark Consuelos, and Ilana had all but forgotten she owned it.

At the end of Broad City, Abbi leaves New York for an artist residency in which state?

Colorado, and specifically Boulder: Abbi applied without telling Ilana, who learns the news only two weeks before her best friend is due to leave.

Ilana's new roommate in the final episodes arrives with two Great Danes named after which couple?

Jay-Z and Beyoncé belong to Yamaneika, played by comedian Yamaneika Saunders, who gets the room only after Abbi turns down Ilana's plea to move in.

In Broad City's finale, what do Abbi and Ilana find on the street and try to wheel to Ilana's apartment?

A toilet, and a valuable one: they push it as far as the Brooklyn Bridge, where the pair stop and say their tearful goodbye.

Which New York staple do Abbi and Ilana hunt for in vain in Broad City's finale?

A bodega bacon, egg and cheese: the quest was one of the first episode ideas Jacobson and Glazer ever had, and they held it back for the very last one.

Which Saturday Night Live veteran plays David, who hires Abbi and Ilana to clean his apartment in their underwear?

Fred Armisen's David strips down to a diaper mid-clean and then refuses to pay, so the pair help themselves to his fur coats and his drink.

Whose concert are Abbi and Ilana scrambling to afford tickets for in the very first episode?

Lil Wayne bookends the series: in the second-to-last episode the pair try to see him again, and are turned away with fake tickets bought on Craigslist.

Who directed the season one finale, 'The Last Supper'?

The Writers Guild Foundation later listed the episode's script among the best of the 2010s.

Which Primetime Emmy did Broad City win in 2018?

Outstanding Motion Design went to animation director Mike Perry's team for 'Mushrooms', the episode that turns into a cartoon once Abbi and Ilana's trip takes hold.

Abbi Jacobson went on to voice the lead in which animated Netflix series?

Disenchantment, from Simpsons creator Matt Groening, made her Bean, a princess who would rather be drinking than doing her royal duty, starting with her own arranged wedding.

Ilana Glazer grew up in St. James, in which part of New York?

Long Island is Ilana Wexler's home ground too: in season three she still heads back there for a doctor's appointment, with Lincoln as her driver.

Which art school did Abbi Jacobson graduate from in 2006?

Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore, is where she studied fine art and video; she then moved to New York for acting classes, and it was improv that stuck.

Abbi Jacobson co-created and starred in which 2022 Amazon series based on a 1992 film?

A League of Their Own cast her as catcher Carson Shaw; Amazon renewed the series, then cancelled it in 2023 and blamed the Hollywood strikes.

Who plays Trey, Abbi's oblivious boss at the gym?

Paul W. Downs also wrote for the show; in season two his squeaky-clean trainer turns out to have a past in adult films under the name Kirk Steele.

Who plays Matt Bevers, the mooching boyfriend of Abbi's absent roommate?

John Gemberling plays against type in the season four premiere, where a flashback shows Bevers as fit, polite and anxious not to be a burden.

Which chain is Abbi's happy place, where she greets the staff with elaborate personal handshakes?

Bed Bath & Beyond inspires such devotion that Abbi's delight at a stack of its coupons later gets her invited into a celebrity's apartment.

Who directed the Broad City television pilot?

Lucia Aniello was little known when Jacobson and Glazer insisted on her for the pilot; she went on to direct more of the show's episodes than anyone else.

The 'broad' in Broad City is old-fashioned slang for what?

A woman: 'broad' is dated slang, usually an offensive one, and Glazer has said the title takes it back, because a broad is a full person.

How is the opening episode of Broad City's final season presented?

Like a long Instagram story: the pair post their walk down the length of Manhattan for Abbi's 30th birthday, so the whole episode plays out on a phone screen.

Abbi tells Ilana she is leaving New York in the middle of which long-running theatre show?

Sleep No More, the immersive take on Macbeth, lends the episode its title; Ilana has just asked Abbi to move in with her when the news lands.

Which classic sitcom have critics compared Broad City to, citing the characters' lack of personal growth?

Seinfeld, with a twist: one critic called Broad City 'the bizarro Seinfeld', a show about nothing where everything ends as it began, but in a world where kindness isn't stupid.

Which Broad City mobile game was released in April 2018?

Broad City: High Score, made with the developer Built Games, arrived on 20 April, better known to the show's stoner heroines as 4/20.

What is Ilana's roommate Jaimé celebrating aboard a party boat in season two?

Becoming a US citizen: the boat is packed with lawyers from the firm of Abbi's roommate Melody, so Jaimé and Lincoln spend the night as cheerful gatecrashers.

Abbi Jacobson is from which Pennsylvania town, also her character's hometown on Broad City?

Wayne, on Philadelphia's Main Line, is where the season three episode 'Philadelphia' sends Abbi home to clear out her childhood bedroom.

Ilana Glazer co-wrote, produced and starred in which 2021 horror film?

False Positive casts her as an expectant mother who grows suspicious of her celebrated fertility doctor, played by Pierce Brosnan; its director, John Lee, had directed episodes of Broad City.