Abbi Jacobson
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Image by Getty Images
The Book Writing Broad of Broad City
This season, “Broad City” took comic aim at Birthright in the episode “Jews on a Plane.”
The show’s creators, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, starred in a two-episode arc that featured their characters going on a free trip called “Birthmark.”
“We’re going to Israel,” Jacobson, 32, herself a former Birthright participant, said in an interview prior to shooting. “The girls go on Birthright, but we’re going to call it Birthmark, where there’s all the sex and drinks.”
Glazer and Jacobson’s alter egos begin their journey with a chorus of kippah-wearing passengers chanting “Jews! Jews! Jews!”
From there, they are swiftly seated next to travelers who might be a “match potential.”
The trip, their guide (played by Seth Green) informs them, is as much about the “reproductive future” of the Jewish community as it is about Israeli history. The show brought Birthright to mainstream attention.
This isn’t the first time Judaism has played a starring role in the comedy.
From Yom Kippur sketches to Jacobson’s character dressing as Ruth Bader Ginsburg for Halloween, there have been a plethora of Jew-y moments — all thanks to Jacobson and Glazer’s connection to their own faith.
Jacobson also made headlines this year with her new picture book, “Carry This Book,” a fantastical look at what might be in famous people’s purses, pockets, bags and glove compartments.
Ever wonder how many bottles of self-tanner Donald Trump carries around with him? Want to know what type of snack Beyonce brings along for her daughter?
Jacobson has, for you, imagined the amusing answers.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
