Broad City: How the 2016 election and New York winters transformed the show (Report)

Cult sitcom Broad City’s fourth season is its realest – and darkest – yet. Creators and stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer explain how the election and New York winters transformed the show.

It’s no longer always sunny in Broad City

Every season of the show so far has been set in the sweltering heat of a sticky New York City summer. Who can forget, as a result, guest star Seth Rogen trying to deal with a case of “swamp ass” by stuffing a load of tissue between his bum cheeks? Season four, however, is set in the crisp chill of winter, and incorporates the weightier thoughts that time brings, like depression and mortality. “We wanted to see that version of New York and then, when we started looking into it, we were like, ‘It’s pretty depressing,’” says Ilana with a laugh. “New York in the winter is cold. It’s lonely, but it’s also hard to be lonely in New York. It’s darker and heavier. When we started getting into specific ideas it was like, ‘Well, I guess you drink a lot more.’”

Trump is affecting their mojo

While Broad City’s politics is mostly subtle, it’s always had a very obvious set of lefty values – the kind that are directly at odds with President Trump’s. As a result, Ilana’s bedroom wall is now plastered in Planned Parenthood posters and protest signs, and the episode ‘Witches’ sees self-proclaimed “cum kween” Ilana visit a sex therapist when she realises she hasn’t had an orgasm since the election. “The show always stems organically from what we’re talking about,” explains Ilana. “Even since the web series we’d get together, talk, vent, and then get to work.” Reacting to Trump may not have been a conscious decision, but it was something the women felt they needed to do. “We couldn’t stop talking about what was going on in our personal lives, and in the world, and with the country,” Abbi…