Amy Poehler paused from Golden Globes preparations Friday to support Comedy Central's Broad City, the scripted comedy she executive produces with friends and web series creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer.
Broad City revolves around two friends (Jacobson and Glazer) as they navigate their way through life in New York City. The 10-episode scripted comedy, which will premiere Jan. 22, started as a sketch idea at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York before morphing into a web hit that counts Parks and Recreation's Poehler -- a UCB alum -- as a fan.
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"I knew Abbi and Ilana's work at UCB and they asked me to do one of their web episodes and I got to be on set and they were talking to make it into TV show and we started our relationship from there," Globes co-host and Parks and Recreation star Poehler told reporters at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour in Pasadena of the comedy that landed at Comedy Central after FX passed on the series. "Abbi and Ilana have really specific voices and if in any way I can help make that a bit louder, I want to."
The trio said guest stars, which include Poehler, were easy to come by. Broad City will feature a roster of UCB alums. Fun fact: new Saturday Night Live cast member Sasheer Zamata was a guest star in the web series that the Comedy Central show is based on.
"We're looking forward to mining all that talent," Poehler said. "Abbi and Ilana know this group of next generation people you'll be talking about a few years from now."
Poehler praised Comedy Central's talent roster -- which includes Key and Peele, Amy Schumer and Nick Kroll, among others -- and noted that the cabler has become a vital hub for up and coming talent.
"There's so much good female comedy out there and a lot of it is on Comedy Central," she said, noting that she doesn't see there as being a specific brand of "women's comedy." "It's all comedy," she added.
"We're really trying to reflect how we're living," Jacobson said of the series, which will focus on simple tasks the duo attempts to accomplish in New York and mine the comedy that comes from their obstacles in trying to get one small thing done in the city on an average day.
Meanwhile, Pohler -- who remained mum on what to expect at Sunday's Golden Globes, which she'll co-host with Tina Fey -- praised Saturday Night Live's addition of Zamata and new writers LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones.
"We know her work from UCB, she was part of our diversity program and she's an awesome performer," Pohler said of Zamata. "Congratulations to her. … It's awesome to see all these new faces at SNL."
