[Broad City theme, “Latino and Proud” by DJ Raff]
Ilana Glazer came to Northwestern on November 12th as A&O Productions’ fall guest speaker. They wear many hats. When asked to describe their career in one sentence, they said, “I am a comedian and activist who does stand-up and makes TV and movies.” They are best known for co-creating the sitcom Broad City with Abbi Jacobson. You just heard the show’s theme song. They’ve also worked on films like Rough Night with Scarlett Johanssen and False Positive with Pierce Brosnan. However, if none of those ring a bell, you might know them from this viral sound on TikTok.
[Broad City] “Do you know them?”
“No. But in da club, we all fam.”
“What?”
“In da club, we all fam.”
“I don’t—”
“In the club we are all family. Are you racist?”
That soundbite was from an episode of Broad City. It was referenced a couple times at Glazer’s speaker event, where they were met with enthusiasm from a crowd of Northwestern students.
[natural sound: applause, cheers]
Before their Q&A, Glazer gave a 20-minute stand-up set from their upcoming comedy special, Human Magic. They talked about raising their toddler, adolescent relationships, and the epidemic of “emo boys” from their high school years. School of Communication senior Charlotte Admokom appreciated Glazer’s mix of bright, bubbly humor with serious topics.
CHARLOTTE ADMOKOM: I think I just like how she kind of like puts like, a funny twist on, like, these everyday experiences and tries to kind of like normalize these things like mental health or, like, you know, motherhood, like things that are like, oftentimes we kind of have to either, like, hide or put a positive light on. I like the fact that she kind of will find comedy within them, and then like she’ll use her platforms to like showcase that.
Admokom recently went to one of Glazer’s stand-up shows.
ADMOKOM: I thought this was better than her actual, like, one-hour show, like I was, like, if only I had known, but, you know, I got the experience twice. So that’s nice.
Glazer co-founded an activism group called Generator Collective, which promotes female candidates and democratic participation. They said the 2016 election spurred the organization’s founding. They urged students to get involved with activist groups backed by small-dollar donations. Ashley Wong, a Medill sophomore, talked about Glazer’s humor and activism.
ASHLEY WONG: I didn’t expect myself to find her standup so funny because it doesn’t apply to me, but what resonated with me was just, like, her ability to understand our generation even though she’s twenty years apart. That she trusts that young people can be funny, and young people can be intelligent, and young people can make decisions and think about the world critically, which is insane for a comedy act.
Cassidey Fralin, a freshman at the School of Communication, said she has worked with Glazer before.
CASSIDEY FRALIN: I’ve been acting since I was really little, and one of the first jobs I ever did was on a show with her called The Time Travelling Bong. And so I met her then and she was super sweet to me.
Fralin is a member of A&O’s freshman group, the Street Team committee. She said she was super excited when the committee announced Glazer as the fall speaker, and that Glazer’s advice to those starting out was inspiring.
FRALIN: As someone who also has aspirations to be an actor and be in entertainment, it was really wonderful to hear her advice, which was basically to prioritize yourself, slow down because things will, come, and also to surround yourself with others that are also making art.
Other fans went to Glazer’s talk out of love for Broad City.
ADMOKOM: My sister and I bonded over the fact that our relationship is kind of like, she’s Ilana and I’m her Abbi, she’s just kind of obsessed with me, and that’s our relationship. And so we’ve always just kind of had a lot of comfort from that.
WONG: I’ve always loved comedy, especially from New York City, and Ilana and Abbi’s story has always been really interesting to me and so it was great. I mean, Northwestern hosting such high-level comedy for free for students is amazing.
Others were less familiar with Glazer’s work. Brandon Kondritz, a Medill junior, hosted the Q&A with Glazer. He said he did not know who the speaker would be when he was contacted to host it.
BRANDON KONDRITZ: I know Liz Casolo, she is on one of the teams here at A&O who was organizing the speaker, and she just kind of reached out to me, and she’s like, “We’re looking for a moderator, I know you from some various spaces on campus, I know that you would really have fun with it and you would kind of be a natural on stage, would you be interested?” And I was like “Heck, yes!”
He learned pretty quickly that he was, in fact, familiar with Glazer’s work.
KONDRITZ: I had heard of Broad City before, I hadn’t really sat down and watched it or anything like that, so I did some research, trust, I sat down and watched a few episodes. Of course I have heard “In da clerb, we all fam. What?” I’ve heard that on TikTok a million times. I didn’t really put the pieces together that was her until today, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, wait, that’s wild.”
And although he was nervous before their Q&A, Kondritz said once he asked a question or two, the main goal was to just have some fun.
KONDRITZ: I, you know, I love being asked to do things like this because it’s, like, this is a story I’m going to tell my children. Yeah I met Ilana Glazer, do you know who that is? Well, let’s sit and watch some of their TV.
A&O hosts speaker events quarterly, bringing in comedians, actors, and other high-profile celebs. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what, and who, winter brings to campus. Ilse von Heimburg, WNUR News.
[Broad City theme, “Latino and Proud” by DJ Raff]
Broad City theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy0qAkL4Wwg
Broad City clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umvJQXZlSHw
