Ilana Glazer: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Ilana Glazer came up through improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where a web series made with Abbi Jacobson became Broad City — a stoner-picaresque love letter to New York friendship that Amy Poehler shepherded to Comedy Central. This mix traces the sketch and stand-up lineage behind that voice, the downtown NYC web-video scene that birthed it, and the comedians who came after.

The Kynda mix for Ilana Glazer

• Key Influence · Upright Citizens Brigade by Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh (1998). Glazer trained at the UCB Theatre in New York, the institution founded by this Chicago-via-NYC quartet whose Comedy Central sketch show codified their long-form improv gospel: find the game of the scene and heighten it. Broad City's structure — two absurd premises colliding per episode, played at full commitment — is UCB doctrine applied to serialized television, and Poehler herself executive produced the series.
• Influencia Obscura · Strangers with Candy by Amy Sedaris (1999). Sedaris's Jerri Blank — a 46-year-old ex-junkie returning to high school — was the great pre-UCB demonstration that a woman could be the ugliest, horniest, least self-aware thing on screen and still be the hero. Made with Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello out of the same Second City/NYC alt-comedy ecosystem that produced the UCB Theatre, it quietly licensed a generation of unflattering female clowning.
• Local Roots · High Maintenance by Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld (2012). The other great Brooklyn web series that graduated to prestige television, built on the same premise Broad City lived by: weed as a passport through New York's strata of apartments and strangers. Both began as self-funded Vimeo shorts in the early 2010s downtown scene, both treated the subway and the walkup as the real setting, and both were absorbed by networks hunting that authenticity.
• Beyond the Medium · Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys (1989). Broad City is saturated in hip-hop — its soundtrack, its slang, Ilana's whole posture — and the Beastie Boys are the precedent for young Jewish New Yorkers finding a voice inside that culture with humor rather than pose. The Dust Brothers' sample collage mirrors the show's own magpie texture, and the record's downtown-brat exuberance is the tonal ancestor of Ilana Wexler's swagger.
• Peer · Obvious Child by Gillian Robespierre (2014). Released the same year Broad City premiered, Jenny Slate's stand-up-comic abortion comedy came out of the same New York alt-comedy circuit and did the same cultural work: treating a young woman's unglamorous body and bad decisions as comic material without moralizing. Slate and Glazer were part of one downtown cohort turning UCB-honed voices into screen projects simultaneously.
• From the Canon · Broad City by Ilana Glazer (2014). The career-defining work, co-created with Abbi Jacobson from their 2009–2011 web series after Amy Poehler agreed to produce. Five seasons of New York picaresque built on a radical premise: the central love story is the friendship. Its improvised texture, guest-stuffed cast of UCB alumni, and refusal to punish its heroines for their appetites reshaped what a cable comedy could look like.
• Key Collaborator · A League of Their Own by Abbi Jacobson (2022). Jacobson is the other half of everything: they met at UCB, made the Broad City web series together on no budget, and co-wrote and co-starred for five seasons. Her Prime Video reimagining of the Penny Marshall film, co-created with Will Graham, shows what her sensibility does alone — the same interest in queer self-discovery and chosen family, rendered as period drama rather than farce.
• Legacy · PEN15 by Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle (2019). Two women co-create, co-write, and co-star as heightened versions of themselves in a show whose engine is their friendship — the Broad City blueprint pushed into the body horror of middle school. Erskine and Konkle came up in the same Los Angeles and New York comedy world and arrived at a network with a self-made proof of concept, the path Glazer and Jacobson had just cleared.

What influenced Ilana Glazer

• Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth (1969). Portnoy's Complaint (Philip Roth) — culture for Ilana Glazer (openlibrary.org)
• Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys (1989). Paul's Boutique (Beastie Boys) — culture for Ilana Glazer (musicbrainz.org)
• Strangers with Candy by Amy Sedaris (1999). Strangers with Candy (Amy Sedaris) — ghost for Ilana Glazer (themoviedb.org)
• Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973). Fear of Flying (Erica Jong) — culture for Ilana Glazer (openlibrary.org)
• Curb Your Enthusiasm by Larry David (2000). Curb Your Enthusiasm (Larry David) — titan for Ilana Glazer (themoviedb.org)
• Saturday Night Live: The Best of Gilda Radner by Gilda Radner (1970). Saturday Night Live: The Best of Gilda Radner (Gilda Radner) — titan for Ilana Glazer
• Upright Citizens Brigade by Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh (1998). Upright Citizens Brigade (Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh) — titan for Ilana Glazer
• An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May by Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1960). An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May (Mike Nichols and Elaine May) — ghost for Ilana Glazer
• Tina Fey. Broad City (Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson) — legacy for Tina Fey (via Broad City)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Amy Poehler. Poehler joined the finale of Glazer’s Broad City web series. (also via Broad City, Upright Citizens Brigade) “We shot it, and then we formally asked her — in an email — if she was interested in executive producing our TV show.” (Television Academy)
• Abbi Jacobson. Jacobson and Glazer worked together on the Broad City prototype. (also via A League of Their Own) “We made a production schedule and release schedule and put all our money into it.” (Television Academy)
• Lucia Aniello. Aniello and Glazer worked on each other's shorts and on Broad City. (also via Time Traveling Bong, The Planet Is Burning, Hacks) “I directed one of the episodes of the web series, and it was literally just the three of us making a video” (Newsweek)
• Jen Statsky. Broad City (Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson) — collaborator for Jen Statsky (via Broad City) “JS: [With] Parks and Broad City , you're so wanting to end these characters' journeys the right way. And that is the same thing for Good Place .” (The A.V. Club)
• Paul W. Downs. Downs starred alongside Glazer in Time Traveling Bong. (also via The Planet Is Burning, Ilana Glazer) “On April 20, 2016 Downs starred in the Comedy Central miniseries Time Traveling Bong alongside Broad City co-star Ilana Glazer .” (Wikipedia)
• A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson (2019). Glazer was a producer of A Strange Loop. “thrilled to be producing A Strange Loop in London, a musical that celebrates the beauty and complexity of being human.” (Trafalgar Entertainment)
• Eliot Glazer. Ilana and Eliot Glazer worked together on two named shows. “Eliot Glazer -- who you may recognize for his role on Broad City, where he guest-stars alongside his real-life sister, Ilana Glazer --” (The Advocate)
• George Clooney. Glazer appeared in a play written by and starring Clooney. “When I met George and Grant, I was so enthralled. Even just during this two-day reading, the aliveness of the play was palpable.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Generator Collective. Glazer co-founded Generator Collective. “Ilana is the co-founder of the non-profit Generator Collective, which defines minimal civic engagement and aims to humanize policy through people-powered stories on social media.” (The Gander)
• Alex Charak. Glazer and Charak co-created Chronic Gamer Girl. “With Ilana Glazer ("Broad City"), we co-created the online series "Chronic Gamer Girl" .” (Alex Charak)
• Hacks by Lucia Aniello (2021). Hacks (Lucia Aniello) — collaborator for Ilana Glazer “=== Work on Broad City === Aniello also met Ilana Glazer of Broad City through the same Upright Citizens Brigade class where she met Downs.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• A League of Their Own by Abbi Jacobson (2022). A League of Their Own (Abbi Jacobson) — collaborator for Ilana Glazer “Glazer co-created and starred the Comedy Central series Broad City (2014–2019) with Abbi Jacobson.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Scarlett Johansson. Glazer and Johansson starred together in Rough Night. “Glazer starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Kate McKinnon in the 2017 comedy Rough Night .” (Wikipedia)
• Rough Night by Lucia Aniello (2017). Glazer is named as a star of Rough Night. “It stars Scarlett Johansson , Zoe Kravitz , Kate McKinnon , Jillian Bell , Ilana Glazer, Demi Moore , Ty Burrell and Colton Haynes .” (Wikipedia)
• Grant Heslov. Glazer describes participating in a reading of Clooney and Heslov’s stage adaptation. “When I met George and Grant, I was so enthralled. Even just during this two-day reading, the aliveness of the play was palpable.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Kate McKinnon. Glazer and McKinnon starred together in Rough Night. “Glazer starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Kate McKinnon in the 2017 comedy Rough Night .” (Wikipedia)
• Obvious Child by Gillian Robespierre (2014). Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre) — peer for Ilana Glazer (themoviedb.org)
• Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) — peer for Ilana Glazer (themoviedb.org)
• Insecure by Issa Rae (2016). Insecure (Issa Rae) — peer for Ilana Glazer (themoviedb.org)
• Difficult People by Julie Klausner (2015). Difficult People (Julie Klausner) — geography for Ilana Glazer (themoviedb.org)
• Bowen Yang. Broad City (Ilana Glazer) — geography for Bowen Yang (via Broad City) (themoviedb.org)
• Search Party by Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers and Michael Showalter (2016). Search Party (Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers and Michael Showalter) — geography for Ilana Glazer
• High Maintenance by Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld (2012). High Maintenance (Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld) — geography for Ilana Glazer
• Comedy Camisado by Hannibal Buress (2016). Comedy Camisado (Hannibal Buress) — collaborator for Ilana Glazer

Who Ilana Glazer influenced

• Betty by Crystal Moselle (2020). Betty (Crystal Moselle) — legacy for Ilana Glazer (themoviedb.org)
• PEN15 by Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle (2019). PEN15 (Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle) — legacy for Ilana Glazer