‘Broad City’ co-creator Ilana Glazer performs stand-up as A&O fall speaker

Comedian, writer and actor Ilana Glazer co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central sitcom “Broad City.”

Desiree Luo, Reporter

November 13, 2024

Comedian, writer and actor Ilana Glazer is well aware of the TikTok edits to the viral sound “In da clerb, we all fam.”

“I’m just eating it up,” Glazer said.

Glazer performed stand-up and answered student questions in a Tuesday evening Q&A in Norris University Center’s McCormick Auditorium as A&O Productions’ fall speaker. Around 300 people attended, according to Medill senior and A&O Marketing and Media co-Director Charlotte Che.

The TikTok sound spread in October from Season Three of the sitcom “Broad City.” Glazer co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central series with comedian and actress Abbi Jacobson through the 2010s.

Student improv group The Titanic Players opened the event. Characters in the routine got pulled over by police, spent time in prison and met actor and comedian James Corden.

Glazer then took the stage in a 20-minute stand-up routine, in which they joked about being a new mother. They said their experience with drugs made them more empathetic to their 3-year-old daughter.

“Toddlers are naturally tripping their balls off 24/7,” they said. “That’s child psychology.”

Medill junior Brandon Kondritz moderated the Q&A with Glazer, who spoke about their obsession with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) Instagram page and “doing molly” with Jacobson. The discussion also touched on Glazer’s start in comedy at New York University and Generator Collective, a project Glazer founded in 2016 to promote youth voting.

When it came to managing a career in both the arts and family life, Glazer struggled to find a healthy balance throughout their 20s, they said. They added they now do therapy and advised students to find time for rest.

“It’s not even a balance,” Glazer said. “It all feeds each other, like the recycling symbol. Your rest, I swear to you, feeds your art.”

Titanic actor and Weinberg senior Lauren White stayed to watch Glazer after performing.

As a New Yorker, she said she was a “Broad City” fan in high school and appreciated their work.

“There is an unabashed passion and excitement and a lot of intentionality behind their work, which is really a powerful and beautiful thing,” White said.

White said her favorite moment was Kondritz asking Glazer if she would rather have a “gay son or thot daughter,” a reference to a popular social media trend.

Glazer said they wanted both.

“I’m obsessed with this question, and it makes me so happy and hopeful,” Glazer said, drawing laughs from the audience.

Che said the A&O speakers committee began looking for fall speakers by contacting agencies this summer. After securing a speaker, the media and marketing committee began interactive campaigns. It dropped hints about its speaker on Instagram and at The Rock last week.

Stand-up comedians draw large audiences due to the high number of comedy groups at Northwestern, Che said. She said A&O selected Glazer for their appeal to college audiences.

“We know that she can definitely reach a lot of people on a personal level, and she’s obviously very funny,” Che said. “We didn’t time this at all with the whole TikTok trend, but it worked out well because she was just popping off.”

Glazer and Jacobson spoke about “Broad City” at a joint A&O and NU Hillel speaker event during the Fall Quarter in 2015, just months before the show’s third season.

Nearly a decade later, the show remains in both the cultural zeitgeist and in Glazer’s mind.

“I’m always in da clerb in my mind,” Glazer said. “It’s pretty much a mindset. If you’re f—ing dope, we’re all f—ing fam.”

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