Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - ILANA GLAZER — on their Hulu special 'Human Magic' and cruising for future husbands at Washington Square Park

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Actor and comedian Ilana Glazer joins the show. Over celebrity chicken and crab leg curry, Ilana tells me about their motherhood inspired Hulu standup special 'Human Magic,' their iconic meet-cute with their now husband, and hilarious conversations they've had with their doctor. This episode was recorded at Jitlada in East Hollywood, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Oh my God, can you imagine? Fucking Gen Z, Richard Simmons. Totally. They're incredible, by the way. Yeah, they are. They're incredible, they're way. Yeah, they are. They're incredible. They're unstoppable. They have a light that shines beyond the room they're in. This is Dinners On Me, and I'm your host,

Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Broad City, the Comedy Central scripted series starring Alana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, has got to be one of my favorite comedy series of the last decade. With its humble roots as a sketch comedy web series, it absolutely opened up the possibility of what a television show could be

and also who could create it. That show became a launching pad for Alana and Abby, its young, brilliant creators. And since its series finale, they have both been so busy making an impact in both television and film. A few months ago, I was asked to be a guest on Dinner Time Live with David Chang, and I was so excited when I heard that the other guests would be none other than Alana Glazer.

Now I had never met them in person, but my admiration for them ran very deep. David Chang's show was taped live, and Alana was running late, so we were getting live updates from them on their way to the set, and it seemed like I was going to have to meet Alana for the first time live on television. Now, fortunately, they arrived right before we went live, and I got to gush to them before the cameras actually turned on. But after we wrapped that show, Alana and I talked about having them

on as a guest on my podcast. I was so glad that Alana made time for me when they were in town to promote their new comedy special, Human Magic. Get on time. Is this live? Hi! I was like, is he just popping it down in the middle of the restaurant? And you are in D. I brought Alana Glazer to Jitlada in LA's Thai town, which I guess is technically East Hollywood,

but it's a part of LA that makes me feel so lucky to live here. Truly, it's hard to walk a block here and not have some of the best curry of your life. Don't let Jitlada's hole-in-the-wall vibes fool you. Jonathan Gold, may he rest in peace, was a regular here. It's featured in the Michelin Guide and numerous food documentaries. Walking distance from the old UCB theater

on Sunset, it also garnered a lot of love from comedians and showbiz types. Try not to be distracted by Simpsons creator Matt Groening's illustrations, which he drew for the restaurant and adorned the walls. Gelato's spicy food and eclectic energy felt like just the vibe for my friend Alana. Okay, let's get to the conversation. How's your day? It's been good. I actually flew in from this morning.

I woke up in Vancouver this morning. You woke up in Vancouver? In Vancouver. In Tenton Lane? Don't know how I got there. Yeah, shit. Oh, shit. It's one of those. No, I woke up in Vancouver

because I went to see Taylor Swift's last show on Sunday. Oh, how was it? It was really incredible. Yeah, she's so special and powerful and like a magical white woman. She is a magical white woman. You know what I mean?

She's just like positive and yeah. I mean, it was, I saw her in LA when she performed after 1989 I was like oh I like this. I like this a lot. And then she started re-releasing her old music which I fucking love that she's doing that. I love a litigious bitch. I love a litigious money making woman

who's like oh I wrote them, do you know? Did you know that I have the talent? Like, damn, girl. So when she started re-releasing that stuff, I started visiting her older albums, and I was like, oh my god, forever you've been amazing. Mm, cool. Yeah.

Hello guys. Hi. You ready to put in the order? Oh, have you looked? No, you haven't looked. What are some of your most popular dishes? I know I love the celebrity chicken, but if there's something I should venture out and try what would it be? Well green curry is gonna be the always the most popular one So basically you can't go wrong with curries or seafood. Okay. I wanted to ask

I just saw that handwritten side king crab leg curry. What do you think? Well, the king crab leg is basically The whole crab leg is gonna be stir-fried with your choice of Sauces, for example the garlic sauce if you want like salty pepper kind of thing Okay, or the Thai curry which is gonna be like a thicker kind of curry. Yeah, very good It looks really good. If I got the green curry, would you have some with me? Sure, but I'm really into that crab leg curry. Does that interest you? Do that one. Okay, cool.

A taste of curry. I'm gonna have, I'm gonna do the celebrity chicken. I've been thinking about it all day. Do you want a taste of my curry? I wanna taste your curry. Okay, great. That sounded so wrong. Oop, I love it.

I wanna taste your curry, yeah.. It's tasty I will warn you. Dankly tasty. Okay I'm gonna go with the king crab leg curry which Jesse Taylor Ferguson said he wants to taste and I'll do it with the Thai curry sauce. Is there an appetizer or something? Well probably one of our best starter dish I would say the salad called the crispy morning. Glory salad. That's what you were saying Number 61 is basically deep-fried Chinese watercress with fresh human onions or number 21 on the white section Which is called a crying tiger. I've had that isn't super spicy Well, there's gonna be a spicy sauce on the side,

but the crying tiger itself is not. I do remember liking that a lot. A very good dish. What do you think? Beef or pork? What did you say? Beef, let's do beef. Yeah, let's do beef.

May I please have sparkling water and a Diet Coke? Thanks so much. I'm gonna do a sparkling water as well. Great, thanks Amel. Thank you. Okay, so you woke up in Vancouver. I woke up in Vancouver. Great, thanks Amel. Thank you. Okay, so you woke up in Vancouver. I woke up in Vancouver. You know, black out drunk.

Black out. Black out. From Taylor Swift. From Taylor Swift. The baby stayed home? The baby stayed home, yeah. Daddy's night out. Daddy's night out.

So sweet. We really do wanna take our four year old to concerts in the near future. He did see the Taylor Swift movie. Love start. You have two boys? Two boys, yeah. Oh, delicious. I know, yours is three and a half now, right?

Yeah. I saw a photo. Delicious, yes. Uncle Elliot's here. Uncle Elliot's here showing pictures. He eats her up, dude. But boys, the vulnerability of boys that is so rarely allowed to blossom is so beautiful. Yeah. So beautiful, these sweet little baby boys. He loves, he loves Taylor Swift. so rarely allowed to blossom is so beautiful.

So beautiful, these sweet little baby boys. He loves Taylor Swift. We were watching some clips of the Aras tour at home and he was like, I want a beautiful dress. And I was like, great. So Justin was in charge of buying the beautiful dress online. Went to amazon.com or something and bought something

and he came in the mail. What he bought back at was the homeliest little sack dress like little house on the prairie. That was not what he wanted. Beige. No. No, it has no shape. No, no, he wanted a fabulous dress.

He wanted, well he asked for a flowy dress. So it did have flow. Yeah, like a moomo has flow. Yeah, exactly, 100%. And so it kind of just like went away for a little while. But then the other day, when Justin and I, Justin was, when I was married to Lincoln for Halloween, so he was wearing a dress with like, you know,

hoop-screw underneath. Wonderful. Wonderful, shout out to Koli Skola. Yeah, Koli, hoops underneath. Wonderful. Shout out to Coli Scolo. Yeah, Coli Scolo, genius. Beckett out of the blue goes, where's my Taylor Swift dress? And we found the little sack dress and he's been wearing it. Oh, he enjoys it now. He now enjoys it. Oh, I love it.

Yeah. He's come around with it. My kid does that too, where she's like, she says, no, no, return it. She says about everything. Yeah, I get it. Because they also have no choice in the matter. No, no, return it. She says about everything. Yeah, I get it. Cause they also have no choice in the matter. It appears out of nowhere.

So I understand them needing to come to both discover and choose a piece of clothing themselves. So four and two? Four and two basically. Yeah, wow. You dang did it, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. I love it so much. I hope, we're like in the, we don't know

if we're gonna have another one. To be honest, I'm hoping that we do. But if we do, it's gonna be such a big ass gap cause we were not like, ba-doom, boom. Like it would be. I mean, part of it is like I physically, it's pretty taxing. You talk about in your comedy special

how you thought you were gonna do a C-section. Because we, my baby was at 37 weeks, breached. You talk about in your comedy special how you thought you were going to do a C-section. Because we, my baby was at 37 weeks, breached. And or breach? Breach. E.D. Breached. I think.

It is breach, but it feels like it should be breached. And I had all these false alarms and my doctor told me the most frightening tale that is also a medical procedure. I was like, are you, is this like saw four or whatever the fuck or is this a real medical procedure where if your baby's breech, one option you have is for my doctor and her words, some other woman. Who, where, Who is this bitch?

Could be Hillary Clinton. That's right. Could be. Michelle Obama, Kamala, could be any person. My doctor and just some bitch will knock me out, fully anesthetize me and squeeze the baby upside down from outside of my body while I'm out on the table. And I was like, this is the medical procedure?

And she was like, yeah, that or a scheduled C-section. And I was upset. I go home and do like really, really hard research. I make one Google search of spinning babies. And I found a whole school of thought called spinning babies that this brilliant medical professional had no idea about. And I got in doggy style, face down ass up for,

thank you so much, face down ass up for 20 minutes. And the next time I went to the doctor, my baby had spun around. You had self spun. I had self spun. My MDOB had no clue about spinning babies, but it's possible. I love your new comedy special. Thank you so much.

That story is truly magic because your body did a magic thing. Your comedy special is called human magic. That's right. Thank you, Jesse. It's so good. Thank you so much. It means so much to me. Well, it's obviously, it's centered on your birth experience

and it's a great yarn. It's so relatable as well. Like the fear of going into it and just all the shit you don't think about and just the brutal honesty of how fucking exhausting it is. Yeah. When you're saying that you were gonna have a second and you're talking about how hard it would

could be on your body, are you thinking? No, I actually want it. Like my body wants one more, but like I just don't know that we'll be able to do it emotionally. Like we're so, I don't know. We'll kind of have to see what's right for both my husband and I.

I'm a very more and more and more and more person. And my husband David's like really thoughtful and present. And I'm like, all right, any plan? And I know that's normal. Like in our culture, it's normal to not think about it and just do it, but we were real thinkers. And the more you think about having a kid, the less it seems like a good idea to have one.

Yeah, I mean, the con list is long. And when Justin and I were doing this, we did the same thing, because we weren't sure if we wanted to do this. And there were all these cons, and like, it was just like, wow, this column is really long. And one of the pros was we wanted Becca to have a sibling and that for some reason outweighed so many of the little minutia on the other end.

I know, not too long ago I lost my mom. I'm so sorry. Thank you. But having siblings to, to, you know, go through that with was, you know, gosh, I mean, so important. So I do think about those things. Me too. But it's like, you can't also make decisions based on, who knows if like my sons will even be close. You don't know. You don't know.

You know, and like also my... Oh, they fucking love each other right now. My God, it's so adorable. Oh God, that's so fucking cute. But like, even my OB was like, just do it. Can you just kinda, and it's like, first of all, no. Are you talking about drugging him? You know what I mean?

Or do you mean, what do you even mean? But I said to her, again, a medical doctor, I was like, well, we really, I don't really wanna force my husband to create another child and parent another child. I really want it to be choiceful. We both have to kind of arrive at choice because it is either life, not life or death,

but life or not life. And she literally was like, yeah, I guess it is a big decision. I was like, girl. They deal with it on such a high level. That's what David said too. They're not even thinking about it that way. And David was like, every day, she just, you know,

every day and she has three kids and she's like, exactly, exactly. Now for a quick like, you know, every day. She has three kids and she's like, exactly, exactly. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Alana tells me about the crazy experience that is birthing a human and their grandfather's self-taped sketches that paved the way for their comedy career. Okay, be right back. This episode of Dinners on Me is brought to you by Nissan. These days it feels like the world and our lives are moving at hyper speed.

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I'm Alice Fraser, your guide to the galaxies, goblins, dungeons, and dystopias we'll be hurling ourselves into in a weekly hero's journey through realms unknown into the dark but sensual heart of all our favorite speculative fictions. We'll navigate the wild realms created by brilliant authors, filmmakers, game designers, and more. New episodes drop every week on your podcast app or on YouTube.

Do not resist the call to adventure, Chosen One. Join me for Realms Unknown. And we're back with more Dinners on Me. But you know, like I was talking in my special about filming a show, The After Party, for Apple TV+, with so many funny people, and that's the show I was pregnant while filming. Right.

And like my titties over the course of this film, this show were ruining continuity. Takes place over the course of the night. And my like tits are blowing up like I'm having an allergic reaction or something. It was like, it was so funny. And you were really sick, you were vomiting. Was this when you were vomiting foam?

Yes, yes. Was that another shoot? On set I was like puking foam. It was so scary that I called my mom and I told her I'm puking foam as though she would be really scared with me and she was like, oh my God, that is so funny. When I was pregnant with you, every day at 4.30, I puked foam, she said.

And she completely blacked it out. Just remembering it now. Completely blacked it out. I was like, this is women's fight club. What are we doing? What are we doing? We don't share these stories. We are so separated from knowing our own bodies. I got the crying tiger.

I got the white rice. I got the crying tiger. Mwah. I got the white rice. I got the celebrity chicken. Oh my god. There you go. Please enjoy any of this that I have. I will. Oh, I'm about to. Your Thai curry king crab leg.

Thank you. Oh my god, that's gorgeous. That's gorgeous. Truly gorgeous. Thank you. Wow. That's beautiful. Thank you guys.

Enjoy. That was so intense. Can daddy crack my crab legs for me? We cannot have you ruining your manicure. thank you. Wow. Thank you guys, enjoy. That was so intense. Can daddy grab my crab legs for me? We cannot have you ruining your manicure. Thank you. Something that struck me that you said, and it's so true, after you bought this baby into the world, it's that thing of like, and the world is horrible.

Yeah. Oh my God. We're going through so much, I'm so sorry. This was for me. That's right. It is for me. That's right. It is so true. That's right. This was for me.

This was not for you. I'm really sorry, but welcome to hell. It is so fugly out there. It is fugly. But I, I'm a naturally hopeful person. Me too. It took me a few weeks, you know, to get back to a hopeful place.

But I do have hope in people because of, the human spirit is just too fucking beautiful. I really do think humanity will prevail. I agree with you, I'm an optimist. Where'd you grow up? In Albuquerque, New Mexico. Oh right, I asked you this at David Chang. I loved it.

Well, New Mexico, wah. I did. And you were in Long Island, right? Yeah, we were David Chang. Aw. I loved it. Well, New Mexico, wah. I did. And you were in Long Island, right? Yeah, we were strong island. Yup. Did you, were you anywhere near Ina Garten? I just finished her memoir. Oh, LOL.

We were worlds away from Ina Garten. Yeah. We were more like, even The Sopranos takes place in Jersey. We were more in The Sopranos of Long Island. Yeah. Not even Jews. Like we were, there were not a lot of Jews where we grew up either.

Oh, was it not? Nutty. So you escaped, I mean, you would probably go into the city a lot, I imagine, as a kid. Oh my God. And also like my brother Elliot was my cultural guru, showing me the way to music and comedy. Four years older.

Music and comedy and queerness and yeah, I would just follow everything he did. What? Like what were you going to see and what were you experiencing? I mean, first of all, when we were kids, like we used to make sketch comedy videos hours and hours and hours.

That was like our focus. We had a network called KRAP TV we inherited from our grandpa, Grandpa Dave. He used to like, our grandpa was so funny, he used to film sketch videos like just for himself. There was no outlet at the time. He would throw a rag on his head. Remember Pavarotti? Yeah. Pavarottin. And he was like, Pavarottin. And he like, blah, blah, blah, blah, Pavarottan. And he would make us watch it

because that's what YouTube was, forcing your grandchildren to watch videos, he's film. And he was so funny and he called it KRAPTV and then we like took it over. We really like thought we were doing a business deal. And then- It was like succession. In a way, in a way.

And then we like rebranded into GBS, Glazer Broadcasting System. We took it so seriously. That was like our main focus when we were little kids. And then when we got older, then I went through puberty and abandoned me. It felt like he didn't. He was developing like a healthy teenage boy.

But then once I like became a teenager, which was like six months later, because I developed pretty early, as you know from the special. Yes, I did. Got big old titties when I was like nine. It was like scary. Tick old bitties.

Tick old freaking bitties. I'm cracking this for you, by the way. Thank you, diddy. I just don't want to get my fingers all over your crab meat. Oh God. Blah. Don't blah it. don't disrespect the vagina, even in euphemisms, babe.

But then, yeah, I don't know, then we would go into the city and there was such a new comedy scene emerging around UCB, around like literally Amy Poehler's theater and group. Like at first they started as the group from Chicago trying to make it in New York, and then they opened the theater. And it was so fun.

We would take the Long Island Railroad in and I would go to the shows that I could. I was like 15, 16. So you were, I mean, at a young age, I mean, seeing some pretty sophisticated world of comedy. And also like, you know, with Elliot being four years older than me, I just wanted to like, I wore his clothes. Wait, where did you two meet?

No, Elliot. Oh, Elliot. Oh, like my mom's pussy? What are you talking about? I think you're talking about your husband for a second. Your husband's name is Steve. Oh, David. David, okay.

Where'd you meet your brother? Just outside of my mother's pussy. Okay, that looks good. Yeah, but yeah, I just wanted to, you know, I always wanted to be him, so young, so. Yeah. My husband and I met in Washington Square Park, like a literal meet queue.

It's like a lyric from Hair, the musical. Literally, it's actually literally a lyric. It is? Tell me about that. I was sitting on a bench, like kind of old school cruising, like literally just like sniffing out what's going on here on this hot summer day. It was the last Friday in June 2012.

And like a flash of light, my husband walks by and his eyes are like truly searing. He's like a flash of light, my husband walks by and his eyes are like truly searing. He's like a very gentle. He's very handsome, I like to mock him. He's super handsome, biologically half Jewish, was raised Jewish and bar mitzvah, just saying. And I was just like instantly, it was like, we like had this like funny giggle.

And I really, it was crazy. And I was sitting on this bench and he kept walking and I was literally like, hoo-wee, like catching my breath. And he turned around and I was like looking at him and then he keeps walking and I was like, oh my God, hoo-wee. And then he turns around again and he's looking at me

and I'm just staring like, and he walks off again and I'm like, hoo, one last time, three times. Oh my God. And then walks off and I was like, oh my God, like that was so intense. It was the East Catwalk of Washington Square Park. I'm looking north at the arch and it was just so electric, I couldn't believe it.

And then I call my best friend Inty and I was like, holy fuck, I just had this like, just kinetic connection with this beautiful man, but a stranger. And then we were just chatting, and then David reenters my frame from east to west, and I was like, oh my god, I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go, and then-

Is he circling back? Yes, he was grabbing a phone charger that he needed desperately, slash testing fate, which I really appreciate because bitch it was destined, it was fated. And I got off the phone and I got up and I said hello, and he said hi, and I had just watched Beginners, you know that Ewan McGregor movie?

Yeah, totally. So beautiful, and he's so beautiful in it, and like he and David really look alike and I just didn't know what else to say and I was like, didn't anybody ever tell you you look like you in McGregor? And he was like, mm-hmm. Like just a dumb fucking thing to say.

Conversation cul-de-sac. Yeah, yeah. It was, I think he had heard it dozens of times that day because he really did look like him at that time. And then we talked for a while. And then I went to babysit and I was like, I don't want to rush this, I got to go babysit. But then we were texting while I was babysitting

and I was like, yeah, let's meet up. And we met up that night. I love it. Yeah, I love him. Did you, what was the early days of dating like? Was it like casual? Did you like go deep in with him? You know, I like was very independent.

I had just had my heart broken. I had been ghosted for the only time I was ever ghosted in my life by this, I guess you could call him a weak man. I had been dating this guy for like two or three months. And I was like, fuck this, dude. I'm over this. I'm never like falling in love again.

And then so when I met David, I was really trying to keep it cash for as long as it could be. But we were just like open and chill. But then that actually made us realize like that we had to like define our love for each other. So Justin and I had this similar situation. I tried to keep it really casual at the beginning.

And how old were you? Oh gosh, I was in my mid thirties. Yeah, probably 36 or 37. What was the proximity to Modern Family? Modern Family had just started. I had just done one season. Oh my god, that's so intense. So it was also the thing of like,

if there's a time to be single, first of all, I thought about it two ways. I don't want to be single during this process because I feel like it's gonna be harder to meet people that have the right intentions. Right, right. But also, what a time to maybe fuck around a little bit. Yeah, 100%, 100%.

You know? 100%. And so I told Justin I really wanna keep it casual, and he was like, okay, that's fine. And then it got to the point where he's like, well, at some point I'm gonna have to define this. Like I'm gonna have to call this something. I'm not gonna wait around forever.

Like we can keep it casual for a little while and then it's gonna have to be something. And what point was that at? That was like a few months in and I was like, he's right. You know, it feels like it's time to call it something. And I like took a day and I was like, okay, we're boyfriends now. I mean, also Modern Family, it's like one of the biggest

shows like literally in TV history. Like the stakes are intense,, you know the stakes are intense I like didn't fully say back there that it was like so after I got like my heart broken I was like I'm open like I'm never doing that again. I'm never being monogamous again and David was like, okay I get that so I wanted to keep it casual but then When he acted on that openness, I was like wait. Oh, yeah. Yeah Yeah, but then it was actually like it's not exactly about the action for us when he acted on that openness, I was like, wait, what? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you mean? But then it was actually like,

it's not exactly about the action for us, it's just that I was like, I just need to let you know that I love you. Yeah. You know? And it was like fucking five weeks in, I never would have said that. I never would have said that without the openness as a factor.

Right, that makes a lot of sense. Which was like so beautiful too, you know, you think you're doing, or I thought it was for one thing, but it was actually was for the true commitment. Yeah. That it highlighted it for me. It was, it was really ironic. Yeah.

Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Alana tells me about how becoming a parent changed their feelings about their own gender identity and rewatching old webisodes of Broad City. Okay, be right back. There's so many things I want to do and see. Like redoing the basement without having to do it all myself. Or doing absolutely nothing.

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My family tried to find the killer. A psychic got involved. And asked, what if it was one of us? She did this. It's my hometown's greatest mystery. There's nothing people in the Delta like better than a good story. From Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment, this is Witnessed, Devil in the Ditch. And we're back with more Dinners on Me. Your first comedy special, The Planet, is Burning.

You talked about being queer, and in your second comedy special, you talk about being queer, and in your second comedy especially, you talked about being a parent. Yeah. And something that I was really struck by was that you discovered in yourself that you were non-binary through the process of having your child,

which I just find so interesting. Can you elaborate on that at all? Yeah, it's interesting. I sort of had a language for it by the time I had my kid. And you know what it was? It was language that was giving me, making me realize this.

Cause I was like, you know, kept using gender neutral language about like pregnant parent without like claiming something yet. And actually to the point of openness, we were in LA actually, I was filming after party. And we were talking about a woman, David and I, and I was comparing myself to her that I'm not feminine like her in the same way.

And I was feeling off about it and I was wrong. And to be honest, David and I was feeling like off about it and like I was wrong and like to be honest David and I had, you know like sex when you're pregnant is crazy, it's so crazy and amazing. So like I was feeling myself, it wasn't even that, it was like I was feeling my like femininity and my masculinity, I was just feeling my body and my spirit. But then when I found myself like comparing myself to this just woman we were talking about and feeling off, I was like, what is it that feels off? And it did sort of just arise within me where I was like,

they does feel right for me. They and she feels right for me. But it was kind of in this context of openness and opening up the possibilities beyond the binary within my relationship and being like, why do I feel wrong? Oh, the construct is why I feel wrong. If I open it up a little bit, I do feel like a fucking dude. You know, I fucking feel like Richard Simmons.

I look at him and I'm like, girl, I know. You know what I mean? And I feel like, I don't, I know. You know what I mean? Like, and I, and I like, I feel like, I don't know. Just like, like Jimmy Cricket. I feel like if Richard Simmons was still with us, he'd be using different pronouns. He'd be exploring that. Oh my God, can you imagine fucking Gen Z, Richard Simmons?

Yeah, oh, totally. They're incredible, by the way. Yeah, they are. They're incredible, they're unstoppable. They have a light that shines beyond the room they're in. Yeah, like I just, it just was like. They power the entire East Coast. Oh, they do.

Yeah, it was like, it was this sort of self discovery that had always been there and more about language. And the reason it like kind of came up somewhat publicly or whatever was during press for babes, this woman, I wish I had remembered her name, who was interviewing me, was like, you use gender neutral language in babes. And I didn't even intend to talk about it necessarily, but I was like, you know what?

I'm gonna share this with you because you made a very astute observation. And I appreciate it because I, I don't know, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's really interesting. David and I just refer to all kids as they. We just happen to. And I noticed it,'t know, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's really interesting. David and I just refer to all kids as they. Just, we just happen to. And I noticed it, you know, but it's like, we just do.

We call them kiddos. Yeah. Speaking of kids, I just remembered the other day. Oh my God. You're on Sesame Street. Yeah. Mrs. Noodle. Sesame Street, if you're out there listening,

please have me back. I switched agencies and my new agents don't know who to contact. I wanna go back and do it so bad. They were like, we don't know who to contact. Don't you have like Bill Irwin's number? He doesn't even wanna know where his wife is. Bill Irwin is.

Or daughter, I don't know what the relationship was. Bill Irwin is so funny as Mr. Noodle. He's nuts. Mr. Noodle is so funny. Watching. Noodle. He's nuts. Mr. Noodle is so funny. Watching my son's laugh at Bill Erwin gives me so much joy because he's from my world. Right, right. It was such an honor to be Ms. Noodle

and I hope I get to do it again. It was such an honor and it was so interesting because it was, as Brad City was ending, that I did, I think I did two batches of episodes and maybe it was like three and three or five and five or whatever it was so interesting to go from like with Broad City we're like what's the funniest what's the funniest what's the funniest and then to do Sesame Street the director she was like oh that's cute oh that's cute so to go for cute was such an interesting like a different feeling oh that's cute. So to go for cute was such an interesting, like a different feeling.

Oh, that's cute. Let's do that. That's really cute. Yeah. What a blast. And my little baby, she calls me mommy noodle. And when Elmo, when Elmo's like about to open the curtain, the other day she turned to me and went,

I think it's gonna be you. I was like, ah! Ah! That was so cute. It was so much fun. There's so much stuff. I protected my kids from seeing me on TV and weird things. But I did an episode of Sesame Street where I got to,

I worked with Cookie Monster. We talked about the word fragile. I break his cookie jar. Or he breaks my cookie jar, actually. And I show it to my kids all the time. And they ask for it. And I love it to my kids all the time. They ask for it and I love that. It's such a privilege and a blessing to have your parent in that world in your heart as a kid.

I feel so lucky. Yeah, yeah. Oh my God. I love the Trinit. I absolutely love it. Speaking of Broad City, before you came here, I was like, let me go back and look at the very first webisode of Broad City, before you came here, I was like, let me go back and look at the very first webisode of Broad City.

That was what my husband, my husband says like, cause he had no idea and we had just the web series out, but had sold it to FX and they had passed. But that first episode was what made him fall in love with me. Of the web series? Of the making change, right? Making change with the in-house person.

So you watched the webisode. So I watched the webisode. It's so astonishing that that experiment that you had turned into this incredible series that ran for five seasons. First of all, do you ever go back and look at those early? I actually watched, I watched the one, the very first episode,

and then I watched the second one where Abby decides she wants to get stoned again, and you're in an apartment, and you can tell there's like no boom, there's no mic. It is literally my apartment at the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the sound's like really funky. Horrible, yeah.

It's very muffled, but it's still so good. And the chemistry's so great. I'm sure that must be such a highlight of your life to have created that show. Oh, it's like totally defining. And not like in a, you know, of course, there's like a career defining thing, but like personally, privately defining.

Working fucking hard with this woman who was equally as hungry for something and we didn't even know what the fuck. You know, Elliot Page and Alia Shaka had a show at the time developing at HBO called Stitchin' Bitch with Harmar Superstar, a musician. And Lucia Agnello, one of the co-creators of Hacks, you know Paul Lucia? I'm a fan.

Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky, Lucia Aguilera. I'm staying at Paul Lucia's house here tonight. Oh my God, incredible. I'm about to go to their house. Lucia wrote, Abby and I, the first day that Making Change, the first webisode came out, and she was like, you have something. You should send this to the people who are making Stitchin' Bitch so that if Elliot and Alia get this show on, you're like a writing duo for their show. That was what we thought we were going for. We had, we did not even think that we were going to make the show version.

And having been so obsessive about the web series, we had a microcosmic version. It was almost like student government and then entering politics and really fucking doing it and having this like, it was making the web series was almost like our own fable of when we got to the TV show, it was like we had trained, you know what I mean? Like really had trained and- Well, you knew those characters. I mean, they're obviously versions of you and Abby, but it must've been so weird, like on the first day

when you like got a call sheet for like Broad City. Like there was like a call sheet with like PAs and art directors. I can barely remember it. Like it was so huge inside of us that there was like almost no space to notice the details. Like so much of it is a blur because it's almost like a shooting star going across the sky

that I'm straddling and holding on to. You know what I mean? Like so wild. And it was really intense and really hard and we were so hard on ourselves. Like, we just kind of, like we would just be like at the office, sleeping at the office to write like butt jokes like what are we for what are we being so hard on ourselves about but like I'm being paid for it oh my god

yeah and we were young I was 24 when we first sold the script and I was 27 when we were started the show and like it so crazy. And with some distance and some, and you know that success, and I say this with all the context of the privilege that comes with it, of course, but there is trauma and success. It's very sharp and takes from you also. And with the space that we've had now

and the space to just be friends and one of each other's best friends for the rest of our lives to have that like, creamy, soft, sweet relationship now and that time since Broad City, it's like, we look back on it, it's like these like babies, you know, each season. We have like five babies.

It's like, I feel so blessed. You're so good at revealing different aspects of the female relationship. Like I feel like Broad City talks about these young people who are sort of discovering themselves and figuring out how to navigate being adults. And then with babes, which I also love so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Thank you. You're discovering being a parent and what it means to lose connection with a friend who you relied so heavily on and sort of learning how to be your own person. Are there other aspects of the female friendship, relationship stratosphere that you're excited about exploring? other aspects of the female friendship relationship stratosphere that you're excited about exploring?

Yeah, I am, when I started doing press for babes and talking about it, when I'm making something, I'm just fucking making it. I'm like, is this problematic to say? I'm a Central Park horse with the blinders on. And I'm just like, bad stick. But I'm just going and going and doing my thing. They do, I mean, it's like nuts,

but I'm just looking down and doing my thing. But then when I start to talk about it, like in this fashion, I'm like, damn, I got a theme. You know what I mean? And I do have a theme. And like, I really definitely am so inspired to offering the nuanced parts of my girlhood and womanhood and feminine spirit as I discover it, claim it, and then feel like, okay, I got it and release it.

But like friendship too. Writing a show right now, I'm doing a rewrite, actually, of this draft right now, that's like Sex and the City with two women and two gay guys. Because the woman and gay guy friendship is a big deal. My first best friend is my brother, gay guy. All my best friends growing up, gay boys. You know, and we were these little,

I wanted to be them, you know what I mean? And also, something I'm interested in is the friendship that is at the center of like real partnership with your romantic partner. I've just found that fascinating. I've been with my husband for 12 and a half years and I'm like, you know, it's only in recent years that people say their spouse is their best friend. Like really your best friend is like so, so fun. And like, I don't know.

I, I, women are fucking amazing. I'm obsessed. I love when women fucking bitch. I love when women are thrilled and powerful. I love when women are angry. I just love, you know, it's just like we, we at every class level across every, you across every race and culture, women get so fucked over. And when their human spirit either ekes out or blossoms fully, it just, again, it's like a shooting star. I'm just like, damn, we're amazing. I cannot wait for people to see this special.

God, I'm so lucky. I guess by the time this comes out, right, Angela, it would already have been, yeah. Ooh, so you can check out Human Magic on Hulu right now. You can check out Human Magic on Hulu right now because we recorded this in the very distant past. We recorded this last year, you guys. How did it age? Time travel. Time travel. Thank you for doing this. Thank you so much. I adore you. I am so honored to be your guest. Did I crack you enough crab?

Do you need more crab crapped? You... Do you want more crab cracked? You cracked me enough crab. This was so good. So delicious. So good. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded

at Jitlada in LA's Thai town. Next week on Dinners on Me was recorded at Jitlada in LA's Thai town. Next week on Dinners on Me, you know him as gay bestie Brian on the Apple TV Plus series, Shrinking, or Wilhelmina's right hand, Marc St. James on ABC's Ugly Betty, it's Michael Urie. We'll get into what it's like to work opposite legend Harrison Ford on Shrinking, and why he was nervous about working with one of the biggest TV directors in the business, Jimmy Burroughs. And if you don't want to wait until next week to listen, you can download that episode right now by subscribing to Dinners on Me Plus.

As a subscriber, not only do you get access to new episodes one week early, you'll also be able to listen completely ad-free. Just click Try Free at the top of the Dinners on Me show page on Apple Podcasts to search your free trial today. Dinners on Me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Angela Vang. Sam Baer engineered this episode.

Hans-Dyl She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balanz-Kalasny and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.