Over the weekend at SXSW, the final three episodes of Broad City were screened in for a packed house. Ahead of time, creators/stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer spoke to ComingSoon.net about ending their run after the fifth season, and the growth they’ve done as writers, creators, and themselves.
“We truly were growing up right next to the characters,” Jacobson said, referring to the semi-autobiographical nature of the show. “I think it’s just finding the different parts of ourselves that we want to amplify and that we’d want to give to the characters over the past six years.“
“Also, we’re both growth-centric individuals,” added Glazer. “I think Broad City has been created from the inside out: as we keep growing as individuals from the inside out, we’ve brought that to Broad City, and then used Broad City to reflect back.“
Though the show is heavily influenced by the pair’s real-life experiences, Glazer acknowledged the growing sense of responsibility they’ve felt over the past five seasons toward their increasingly devoted audience.
“We are lucky enough to be the vessels carrying this thing and channeling this thing,” Glazer began. “We’re just the girls that we are, and we’ve been the girls that we’ve been, but you need an audience to validate and to interact [with]. So much of Broad City is in the audience and what we’ve just received from them. So, in raising our consciousness about this privileged tool that we have to communicate with people, we’ve felt increasingly responsible to our audience over time.“
Jacobson also gave credit to Comedy Central, which always remained open-minded about the show’s evolution, helping make the show a success.
As we grew as writers, we wanted to talk about more and make the show juicier and meatier,” Jacobson said. “They were such incredible collaborators and truly just let us go, and that is huge.“
The last few episodes of Broad City will air every Thursday on Comedy Central.
