5 Reasons You Need to Start Watching Broad City ASAP

If you have yet to see Broad City, the Comedy Central show created by and starring Upright Citizens Brigade grads Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, you don’t need to stop what you’re doing and watch the show the immediately. Instead, you need to stop what you’re doing, head to the nearest convenience or grocery store, buy some serious snacks (jelly beans, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Nutella, etc.), call your closest girl or gay or sweet straight friend and invite them over to marathon the first season in preparation for the finale, which premieres on March 26, 2014. And tell them to bring more snacks. Here are five reasons why you need to get on board the Broad City train:

They were a web series that could.

Like Justin Bieber or Darren Criss, Ilana and Abbi began humbly crafting their YouTube series of the same name. The web series episodes sort of act as demos or dress rehearsals for the show. Averaging at about two minutes per episode, you bear witness to the potential these two girls have and root for them big time. It’s proof these girls hustled for their success and they have the poop jokes to prove it.

They are funnier than that other show starring Millennial women.

Immediate comparisons have been made to Girls, which is kind of weird because I never thought of it once while watching Broad City. And I am always first in line to criticize that deflating token of the zeitgeist, but I just don’t see it. The Lena Dunham Empire is smartly written and clever at times, but I’m never laughing out loud. There is of course the female friendship parallel, but every show has some kind of female friendship, and I just don’t look at television (or life) that way. Ilana and Abbi are totally themselves with nothing to prove to the world. They don’t care about being the voice of any generation or an archetype of a certain type of a person. They are more concerned with making people laugh.

Amy Poehler is one of the executive producers.

This one says it all. The consistently unsung queen of comedy doesn’t quit. As one of the founders of the Upright Citizens Brigade (who knew?), it’s as though she has taken Ilana and Abbi under her wing. Because Comedy Central is cable television, the girls can push the limit a little more. Add that with Amy Poehler's input and blessing and you have the recipe for comedy gold.

New York City looks like New York City.

We are so used to believing brownstones equal Brooklyn. And while much of that borough does include these brickly beauties, it’s by far not the only architecture that exists. The girls traverse the city as though it is their playground: battling street performers, riding Citi Bikes, attending swanky rooftops parties, refusing to take the “Sei Wah” bus, and riding out a hurricane. We see what real New York looks like and not just the tourist hotspots. There’s even a point where the girls end up in Times Square and they are totally grossed out, which is totally refreshing.

You don’t actually have to be high to laugh.

While I would label Broad City as a “stoner comedy,” it’s not the type of show (Workaholics) or movie (Pineapple Express) that warrants herbal indulging in order to crack up, or at least, to enhance the cracking up. Ilana and Abbi come off as your slightly younger, misguided sisters, who you want to bring around your friends because they are hysterical and can definitely hang. And who are, to your potential dismay, way funnier than you.