Listen: ‘Broad City’ Stars Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer on How ‘The Golden Girls’ Changed Their Lives
By Michael Schneider
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Thank you for being a friend: The entire 180-episode run of “The Golden Girls” is currently available to binge on Hulu, and “Broad City” stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer have been diving in.
“I’ve been watching from the pilot,” Glazer told Variety‘s “My Favorite Episode” podcast. “It’s the best. I am finding myself f—ing LOLing. I am truly slapping my knee. It’s unbelievable. Every joke is so well-written, so well-constructed.”
“” ran between 1985 and 1992, and starred Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty as four women living together in a Miami house. For Jacobson and Glazer, it was comedy school — a show with big laughs, well-defined characters, and interesting relationships.
“I watched it as a kid and it was always my go-to,” Jacobson said. “I don’t think I even realized how much of an influence it was.”
Asked to choose their favorite episode of TV ever, Jacobson and Glazer zeroed in on the “Golden Girls” Season 1 finale, “The Way We Met,” which was first broadcast on May 10, 1986. Listen below:
Through flashbacks, viewers learn how Dorothy (Arthur), Rose (White), and Blanche (McClanahan) first became roommates. It was the capper of a hit first season — and a testament to the fact that the show and its characters had already been well established after a single season.
Jacobson and Glazer marveled at the stars’ performances, including one scene where White, as Rose, tells a ridiculous story — and both Arthur and McClanahan begin to break character and laugh. “They were orgasmic,” Glazer said.
Added Jacobson: “That s— just holds up. These old women are so horny, all four of them, and the jokes come on top of that. … I hope I am like that when I’m older!”
Glazer noted that her brother Eliot is a “Golden Girls” fanatic, and even has a large tattoo of Arthur.
“It’s shocking with the ‘Golden Girls’ how timeless every joke is,” she said. “It’s all based on humanity and character dynamics rather than cultural references, which we have to police ourselves into not relying too much. I think a lot of writers our age do, too.”
Glazer said she once met McClanahan at a comedy club. “She put her hand on my face and said I was pretty,” she recalled.
Meanwhile, as “” just ended its five-season run last month, the stars said it was more than a bit premature to start talking reunion.
“I don’t think we’re planning on that,” Jacobson said. “There are so many reboots now. I’m not shutting it down, but I need to process it ending at all, and I’m excited for what both of us will do individually and together. The saddest part for me, and the thing I’ll miss the most, is never getting to act as that character with Ilana. I don’t know if at a certain point I’ll get like, ‘I gotta do this again!’”
Glazer said she believed “Broad City” ended “in a way that’s satisfying and breathes realness into the show that elevates it from its animated cartoony vibe. I hope that it feels complete and the loop is closed. We feel like we’re launching the characters as if they’re real people, out into the world.”
Variety’s “ With Michael Schneider” is where stars and producers gather to discuss their favorite TV episodes ever — from classic sitcoms to modern-day dramas — as well as pick a favorite episode from their own series. On “My Favorite Episode,” some of the biggest names in TV share their creative inspirations — and how those episodes influenced them.
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