I love running gags and in-jokes, and I am often impressed when a piece of media manages to keep track of the little threads of them over time. One of my favorites is the Beetlejuice gag from Community, which took three seasons to pull off. Archer does a great job of not only tying them in over time, but making them circular within a single episode. It’s a great challenge as a writer, and one I try to fit into my own writing whenever I can.
Broad City has gone an extra mile in many regards, and here’s Vulture listing the top 40 running gags of the show’s five seasons.
If you go back and watch every episode of Broad City, you’ll quickly notice that Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer have left a trail of hilarious little Easter eggs across all five seasons of the Comedy Central series. While it’s not episodic in the typical sense of the word, Broad City’s running gags show just how well-written the show is, down to the jokes they thought were so nice they used them at least twice.
So before Broad City,which debuts its final season tonight, officially says good-bye, it’s worth taking a look back at 40 of the show’s best running jokes, from Ilana’s Beanie Baby obsession to Abbi’s most famous Soulstice client to everyone’s favorite North Brother Island mail keeper.
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