Thursday, March 5, 7–11 p.m., SOLD OUT
The Pinhook, Durham
Ilana Glazer: Horny 4 Tha Polls
Friday, March 6, 7 p.m., $35+
Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham
Last year, stoner comedy Broad City came to an end after five pitch-perfect seasons, and fans said goodbye to Abbi and Ilana, the confident, freewheeling—and yeah, super horny—stars of the show. This week, Ilana Glazer is back with Horny 4 Tha Polls, a nine-city comedy show that will make its second stop in Durham.
Horny 4 Tha Polls is a two-parter. There’s the show at DPAC on March 6, where you can expect a more traditional comedy set, and where Glazer will be joined by the actor John David Washington, whose grandparents are from North Carolina. (This is the only stop on the tour where Glazer will be joined by a celebrity guest.) But first, there’s the more-unorthodox March 5 event, a dance party at the Pinhook called Genny Social, which will be hosted by Generator Collective, the voter-empowerment nonprofit that Glazer co-founded after the 2016 election.
Sure, the framing is undeniably millennial: Glazer says that her mission is to make voting “hot and fun and cool.” She encourages attendees to take a “hot photo that you’ve been waiting to post and make it swipe to a candidate on your upcoming ballot.” But beyond thirst traps, Glazer is serious about lowering the barrier of entry to political engagement and sending young people to the polls with an informed political toolbox, especially when it comes to legislative politics.
Ahead of her Durham stop, the INDY spoke with Glazer about her post-Broad City career, the loneliness of our electoral system, and why she’s voting for Bernie Sanders.
INDY: I’m curious about Genny Social. What the moment was when you were like, a dance party and voting—these two things can go together?
GLAZER: My collaborators on Generator, which are my cofounder Glennis Meagher and founding board member Doug Melville—we had a meeting in August to talk about where Generator had gone the past three years and where we wanted it to go, and I think I just threw it out there. We were talking about needing another part, or what we were missing—something lighter and more participatory, which the Genny Socials are. You know when you try something and it works and you’re like, oh my god?
We were shocked at how powerful it was to pair the right to vote with the joy of dancing. It’s so easy to get informed and share with people—when people are given a cheat sheet and trust someone with voting information, it’s pretty easy. It’s the loneliness that I think we feel and the bullying individuals feel from the system that makes it feel elusive and inaccessible.
The North Carolina primary is March 3, and you’re coming after that, so I’m curious—is the primary a focus at all?
We are more interested in amplifying the message and signal-boosting the legislators. What’s been hard with programming our Genny Socials is that we don’t know who’s gonna be on the ballot yet, but by March 3, we’re gonna know, and what we hope to do is point people to those candidates’ Instagrams. A big part of Genny Social is to online canvass to their Instagram followers. We want people to know that it can be hot and cool to be civically engaged. We’re going to be letting people know about the upcoming elections in their state—and the presidential election, of course. But with what we have available to us at Genny Social, with my platform as a comedian, we feel like we have a wider reach with state senators and congresspeople.
Are you endorsing a presidential candidate on this tour?
We’re talking about endorsing two candidates because me and my cofounder are torn. I am voting for Bernie in the primary. Elizabeth Warren is my hero; I wish there were ranked-choice voting. I have not been a Bernie head for a long time, but I feel that his messaging and delivery is most strategic for this primary.
But that’s not really what our focus is going to be. It’s more about state legislatures. This binary system in general, two parties, one candidate—it’s like this game. Politics aren’t a game. I think there’s a consciousness changing, at least with millennials and Gen Z. This binary thinking is not cool, not effective, not realistic.
What has Horny 4 Tha Polls allowed you to access that you didn’t tap into as much with Broad City?
With Broad City, I was really consumed with the show. It took Abbi and I about 10 or 11 months to make the show. I hadn’t been able to get out on the road and dedicate my time to stand-up—I did a tour and a special, it’s called The Planet is Burning, on Amazon Video—the power of stand-up has really washed over me. There is so much power in going on the road and talking to people face-to-face. I love laughing and being silly and free together, but I also have Generator—and I want to apply that freedom with the right to vote.
Contact deputy arts and culture editor Sarah Edwards at sedwards@indyweek.com.
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