‘Broad City’ Creators Bring ‘SheWork’ to Life in Manhattan
By Mackenzie Nichols
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Looking for a cheap space to get some work done? “Broad City” creators and actors Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson have a solution: “SheWork,” an outdoor urban work space not to be confused with real-life workplace company WeWork.
In a season five episode of “,” Glazer’s character devised “SheWork” as a smoker-friendly outdoor office that she charges people to use.
On the streets of Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, Glazer and Jacobson on Tuesday hosted a mock-up “SheWork” event using “Broad City” props to bring the vision to life. Glazer and Jacobson used the pop-up to campaign for Emmy noms and to connect with fans of the show, which completed its final season on March 28. The event was complete with snacks, free WiFi, complementary selfies and even a little late-spring rain.
When asked about WeWork’s reaction to the spoof, Jacobson and Glazer said they haven’t heard anything.
“I think [‘WeWork’] has been making so much money they don’t care about ‘Broad City,’ ” Glazer said.
Glazer and Jacobson have been living in the “Broad City” universe for 10 years, since it began as a web series. Glazer compared the ending to sending a child off to college and joked about experiencing “empty nest syndrome” as the series came to a close. Jacobson said she’s proud of how the series ended with her character moving on from New York City.
“I feel like the show is still so absurd and amplifies so much crazy s–t, but at the end of the day it ended in a very real way,” Jacobson said. “And that’s the feedback that I’ve gotten where people are like ‘I’m in the middle of this, my best friend is moving away’ and that’s what happens.”
Glazer and Jacobson have no plans to part ways off screen. At present the two are creating an animated show and producing a live-action comedy, both for Comedy Central. Mike Perry, who illustrated “Broad City”’s title sequences and coloring book, will be working on the animated show. David Litt, a former speechwriter for President Obama, wrote the live-action comedy about friends living in Washington, D.C.
“It’s been really fun to help someone create a world because we have gotten so good at it with ‘Broad City’ and it’s been so funny to live in that D.C. world. I don’t know that world at all,” Glazer said.
As fans gathered at the “SheWork” pop-up, Glazer took the opportunity to chat about her support of prosecutor Tiffany L Cabán in the race of Queens District Attorney, noting that the primary is set for June 25. Glazer is known for her activism on social media.
“[Cabán] is a queer woman of color. She’s been a prosecutor for four years. She has fresh eyes on the system and fresh solutions. Queens County is the second largest county in the country, so it’s an important election,” Glazer said. “It’s exciting the representation being put out for queer people and queer people of color. It really does shift the culture.”
(Pictured: , )
