AUSTIN, TX: Of their many big “gets” of their third season, Broad City’s biggest is undoubtedly the forthcoming, much-hyped, and rather surprising guest appearance by Hillary Clinton. In a panel at the South by Southwest Interactive this morning, the show’s creator/writer/producer/stars, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, revealed that episode (in which Glazer’s character goes to work for the Clinton campaign) will air this Wednesday – and responded to concerns about the endorsement that some fans believe it implies.
The question came late in the audience Q&A portion, and it was a pointed one. “Did you want to make a statement,” asked a woman in the audience, “because you’re saying you’re liberal, but I feel like you guys would classify more with Bernie Sanders than Hillary Clinton?”
Abbi Jacobson at Marie Claire’s “Broad City” panel at SXSW. Jason Bailey / Flavorwire
“I think we are not trying to make a statement to the audience,” Jacobson replied, carefully. “Our writing process for the show is, we wrote season three a year ago, at this point. We were not like, Let’s take a political stance here, that’s not our show. It was really more, this is something that Ilana’s character would do. And Hillary, regardless of where we stand – and we love Hillary – is such an iconic figure right now, and she always has been. And that’s someone that these girls, being around someone like that is not an everyday thing. It’s how we feel being around her, it was like, Oh, this is a different world.”
“And we’re trying to make really good TV,” Glazer added, “And I think you’ll watch the episode, and think it’s a really good episode of TV. And after seeing it, I think you’ll agree that it’s really great TV because Hillary Clinton is in there.”
We’ll have more from Glazer and Jacobson’s panel tomorrow.