It’s hard to imagine a time when Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer wouldn’t have been best friends since the Broad City co-creators seem to practically share a brain. But the pair’s collaborative friendship only goes back a decade or so, to when they first met at an improv group in New York City shortly after graduating college. It didn’t take the two long to bond when they first met, but as Jacobson revealed in a New York Times profile published today, she initially thought she was getting to know Alia Shawkat, the actress who is best known as “Maeby” from Arrested Development.
When Ilana and I were coming up in the comedy scene, we were on an improv practice team, and I thought that she was Maeby from “Arrested Development.” After the first night of practice, we go to a bar and we’re talking about where we’re from, and it turns out she knew two of my best friends from college. And in that moment, I was just like … this is not Maeby anymore. I would know if my friends were friends with Maeby. We really hit it off immediately; I was just like trying to become friends with Maeby, and then I thought, I’ll just stay friends with this girl.
That wasn’t her only clue, however. Back in 2011, Jacobson told The Gothamist, “I was like, It’s weird that this girl that’s on Arrested Development is really bad at improv.” To be fair, the resemblance is pretty uncanny, which is why they eventually scored Shawkat herself for a cameo one episode, playing Ilana’s doppelganger who she naturally becomes infatuated with (until she realizes why).
Take a look for yourself, if you’ve never seen the episode:
(Via New York Times)
