On the comedy series "Broad City," Ilana Glazer played a zany, free-spirited version of herself, pursuing every impulse to its fullest extent. As a stand-up comedian, she's more nuanced and reflective. Ahead of her show at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Tuesday night, she spoke with Hudson/Catskill Bureau Chief Sam Dingman.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Editor's note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Dingman: Probably because of Broad City, I think of you as rooting so much of your humor in a New York sensibility, and one of the things that I really like about that is that I find that a lot of other comedians from New York sort of like turn that off or like change it.
That is not my experience of you. And I wonder if this is something that you think about consciously.
Glazer: I'm laughing because I can't not be me, man.
And I put a lot of work into being the healthiest version of me, but I I can't not be me. I'm a New Yorker through and through. I just finished a part in a TV show in Manchester, England, and they're they're a very modest culture, and I was like, let's talk about race, gender, and sexuality, and socioeconomic status.
What's happening with the money, Manchester? And I just was like, I'm 39 years old. I think after Broad City, which was a miracle of an experience, but after Broad City and between now, I've done like a lot of intentional growth. I think I would have been maybe a couple years ago embarrassed, like, I can't believe I'm like asking about this, and like shut up, Ilana, stop, hold it back. But this time, I was like, there's just something about the realness.
Dingman: This is making me think about when I had the opportunity to speak to you once before when you came through Phoenix. I used to work at the public radio station there.
This was for your your previous tour, and one of the things that you were talking about on that tour was how much being a stoner has been helpful to you in being a parent, and you said all this really fascinating stuff about how it brings you kind of back to a reactive state, and you talked about the kind of like presence that it gives you, and I have to tell you, I got so many emails from listeners after that conversation who were sort of aghast about that, and it was a very interesting moment because I had not been living in Phoenix for very long at that point, and it was such a realization of the difference in sensibility between the two places because I thought of what you were saying as so real in a very New York way.
Glazer: Not to knock Phoenix or Manchester, but in New York, we're so obsessively reflective. I think, and we're seeing so much propaganda, so much government propaganda masquerading as podcasts or stand-up. These people, it really seems they hate their audiences. They are actively taking steps to make sure their audiences don't have basic rights. I love my audiences, and as our reality is being systematically fractured by like three guys.
It is so important to me to share reality, and I have like a lot of silly bits. For example, I used to get stoned to get groceries, and it's like, why, what? Like I'm running around the grocery store like a lab rat trying to make its way like to the cheese, and I go through how proud I am to be an adult grocery shopping sober.
And therapy. I talk about all this therapy that I do and how I obviously want to have sex with my therapist because you don't want to have sex with your therapist. You're not doing the work. I started the hour with these kinds of bits. But this hour is actually framed by we are in a moment of fascism, techno-fascism, with tech billionaires who think they're worth more than we are as people, but our humanity will prevail.
Dingman: It's very interesting hearing you describe it in this context because it strikes me that you know your comedy and lots of comedy has always thrived in these deeply human moments, but it's almost like the stakes of humanity are higher now.
Glazer: That's right, and it it feels it feels that way. These shows have been - there's just something hot about it. My opening line is if it's now publicly known that our Congress and Senate and White House is teaming with pedophiles, we're still doing daylight savings. And it's just like this is not for me. This is for the audience.
Dingman: The last time we spoke, I was starting to hear you say publicly, and I'm curious where you are with it now, that you saw comedy in a way as an extension of your Jewish faith, and that you saw these things as as intertwined, and where are you with that currently? Does that still feel as deeply connected?
Glazer: You don't have to confirm or deny, but I feel like you're asking this question in the context of Israel, Palestine, and my dedication to speaking up for Palestinian humanity and dignity and Muslim humanity and dignity, just like I want safety for Jews and just like I want safety for Muslims as well, has only been defined more.
My Jewish faith and my search for truth feels only clearer to me in my advocacy for Palestinians, and only even more connected to my comedy because it's just that as Jews we've been exiled for thousands of years, and how are we going to get through it other than to like laugh and move beyond it, and linking arms in our search for truth, safety, and humanity only further defines each of our authenticity and our identities.
Dingman: I actually was not asking you that question in that context. I promise, but I'm very grateful that you brought it there.
Glazer: I just have to say the truth. It's scary, but it's okay.
