SUNDANCE

How Donald Trump’s Election Affected Broad City’s Fourth Season

Broad City co-creator and star Abbi Jacobson spoke to Vanity Fair at Sundance on Friday.
This image may contain Human Person and Ilana Glazer
Courtesy of Comedy Central/Linda Kallerus.

As Broad City’s inauguration-themed webisode proved, the show’s creators and stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer will not ignore the shifting political climate when their comedy returns for its next season. At the Sundance Film Festival on Friday—where she was promoting the ensemble indie Person to Person, bizarrely, just hours after Donald Trump took the oath of office—Jacobson revealed how the election results affected their Comedy Central series.

Like much of the country, Jacobson and Glazer expected Hillary Clinton—who cameoed on Broad City last season—to win the election, and they scripted Season 4, which premieres this August, accordingly. Fortunately, because of a break both women took to work on other projects, they were able to rescript elements of the new season to address the actual election results.

“Ilana and I took a hiatus and did these films,” Jacobson said, referring to Person to Person and Glazer’s upcoming feature projects. “I don’t think we had that much political commentary [originally]. Then the election happened, and Ilana and I came back and were about to start shooting in February. And we had about a month and a half to rewrite and look at the season and all of the scripts.”

Speaking about Trump’s presidency, Jacobson said, “It’s very much addressed. We had never taken a hiatus [from Broad City] like that. I am very happy that happened, because we got to comment on it more than if we hadn’t taken the break.”

As for what else viewers should expect: “Season 4 is going to be set in the winter,” Jacobson explained. “The show has [been set] in the summer before, and we’ve dealt with what it is like in New York when it’s hot out. But winter is a whole different set of obstacles.”

Jacobson, who was gearing up with her co-star Tavi Gevinson to fly to Washington D.C. for the Women’s March in a few hours, explained that the presidential election was so monumental that it even eclipsed her book, Carry This Book, making the New York Times bestseller list this past November.

When Vanity Fair Executive West Coast Editor Krista Smith congratulated Jacobson on the book’s success, Jacobson replied, “I forgot about that. The election happened [a week after] that book came out, and I forgot I had a book. It kinda got cloudy there for a second. . .Thank you for reminding me.”

Looking back on Clinton’s cameo last season—the only one Clinton made on scripted television during her election—Jacobson said that the former Secretary of State’s willingness to participate “was a very huge moment, maybe the biggest compliment I’ve ever had.”

“Ilana and I feel so proud of the success of the show, but I also have all of these doubts about it,” Jacobson said. “But at the same time, I have the confidence to go after these other [professional goals], and that would be the advice I’d give. I think it’s natural to doubt what you’re doing, but then the doing it and making it and going forward with it has to trump. . .”

There, Jacobson stopped. “That’s a bad word. It has to override the doubt.” She advised Vanity Fair to “bleep” her presidential faux pas. Getting back on track, Jacobson continued: “You just have to force yourself to go for it. And you might fail, but after a certain amount of times you won’t.”

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