Abbi Jacobson is an American
comedian, writer, actress, illustrator and producer. She co-created and co-starred in the
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
series ''
Broad City
''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web series ...
'' (2014–2019) with
Ilana Glazer
Ilana Glazer (born April 12, 1987) is an American comedian, director, producer, writer, and actress. She co-created and co-starred, with Abbi Jacobson, in the Comedy Central series ''Broad City'', which is based on the web series of the same nam ...
, based on the
web series
A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...
of the same name. Her other roles include voicing Katie Mitchell in ''
The Mitchells vs. the Machines'' (2021), Nya in ''
The Lego Ninjago Movie
''The Lego Ninjago Movie'' is a 2017 computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group, RatPac Entertainment, Lego System A/S, Lin Pictures, Lord Miller Productions, and Vertigo Entertainment, and distributed by Warn ...
'' (2017), and
Princess Bean
Tiabeanie Mariabeanie de la Rochambeau Grunkwitz, also known as Princess Bean, is the main character of the adult animated fantasy television series ''Disenchantment'', voiced by Abbi Jacobson. Bean is the daughter of King Zøg and Queen Dagmar o ...
in the series ''
Disenchantment
In social science, disenchantment (german: Entzauberung) is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modern ...
'' (2018–present), in addition to appearing in the live-action films ''
Person to Person
''Person to Person'' is a popular television program in the United States that originally ran from 1953 to 1961, with two episodes of an attempted revival airing in 2012. Edward R. Murrow hosted the original series from its inception in 1953 unti ...
'' (2017) and ''
6 Balloons'' (2018). She is a writer and co-creator of the
Amazon Prime series ''
A League of Their Own
''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena ...
'' (2022), in which she also stars as Carson Shaw, an aspiring baseball player in the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Early life
Abbi Jacobson is the daughter of Susan Komm, an artist, and Alan Jacobson, a graphic designer. She is Jewish. She was raised in
Wayne, Pennsylvania
Wayne is an unincorporated community centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on the Main Line, a series of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs located along the railroad tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the wealthiest areas ...
, where she attended Valley Forge Middle School and
Conestoga High School
Conestoga High School, located in Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania, is the only upper secondary school in the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District. It has a Berwyn post office address, though it is not in the Berwyn census-designated place.
Co ...
.
She studied fine arts and video production at the
Maryland Institute College of Art
The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of t ...
(MICA), graduating in 2006 with a B.F.A. in General Fine Arts. While at MICA, she studied stand-up comedy for one year with poet Jeremy Sigler, having transferred for a term to study acting at
Emerson College.
Jacobson moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
after graduating from
MICA. She began taking classes with the
Atlantic Theater Company
Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their act ...
and the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Prior t ...
, where she met
Ilana Glazer
Ilana Glazer (born April 12, 1987) is an American comedian, director, producer, writer, and actress. She co-created and co-starred, with Abbi Jacobson, in the Comedy Central series ''Broad City'', which is based on the web series of the same nam ...
.
Career
''Broad City''
From 2009 to 2011, Jacobson and Glazer wrote and performed in a
web series
A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...
titled ''Broad City'', which focused on their lives in New York. The series was nominated for an
ECNY Award
The ECNY Awards (formerly the Emerging Comics of New York Awards) were created by Derrick Gordon to honor rising stars in the New York Comedy world in various genres, including sketch, stand up, improv, musical comedy acts, and video. The awar ...
for Best Web Series.
It was well received by critics and developed a cult following.
At the Upright Citizens Brigade, Jacobson and Glazer adapted the series into a live show that they performed in, called ''Broad City Live''.
In 2011,
cable network
Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, op ...
FX, working with
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...
as the producer, purchased a script commitment for the series from Glazer and Jacobson. However, the network did not approve the script and decided not to proceed with development. Glazer and Jacobson then approached
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
, who agreed to purchase the script from FX and order a pilot.
''Broad City'' made its broadcast television premiere in January 2014 and was received with positive reviews and strong ratings, becoming Comedy Central's highest-rated first season since 2012 among the younger demographics, including adults 18–34, with an average of 1.2 million viewers.
The show has received critical acclaim from fans and critics alike. Review aggregation website
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
noted season 1 received "generally favorable reviews", giving it a score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics. Karen Valby from ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' described the show as a "deeply weird, weirdly sweet, and completely hilarious comedy".
''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' referred to the show as "Sneak Attack Feminism". Critic
Megan Angelo
Megan Angelo (born ca. 1985) is a journalist and the author of the 2020 novel ''Followers''.
Early life and education
Angelo grew up in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and has two younger brothers. She attended St. Isidore Elementary School and Quake ...
quotes Abbi Jacobson: "If you watch one of our episodes, there's not a big message, but if you watch all of them, I think, they're empowering to women."
''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' critic
Caroline Framke wrote that ''Broad City'' was "worth watching" despite its "well-trod premise", and that the series is "remarkably self-possessed, even in its first episode".
Jacobson was a fan of bands like Phish growing up and would often spoof her jamband fandom on ''Broad City''.
Season one of the show received a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating from
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on reviews from 23 critics, with the site's consensus stating, "From its talented producers to its clever writing and superb leads, ''Broad City'' boasts an uncommonly fine pedigree." ''The A.V. Club'' named ''Broad City'' the second best TV show of 2014 for its first season.
In February 2014, Comedy Central renewed the show for a second season. Season two received positive reviews, with Metacritic giving it a score of 89 out of 100, based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Rotten Tomatoes gave the second season a rating of 100%, based on reviews from 11 critics, with the site's consensus: "Led by two of the funniest women on TV, ''Broad City'' uses its stars' vibrant chemistry to lend an element of authenticity to the show's chaotic yet enlightening brand of comedy."
In January 2015, the series was then renewed for a third season, which premiered on February 17, 2016. In January 2016, the series was renewed for a fourth and a final, fifth season.
Other work
In 2011, Jacobson wrote and performed in a solo show called ''Welcome to Camp'', which ran in New York and Los Angeles.
In December 2015, Jacobson was cast in the film ''
Person to Person
''Person to Person'' is a popular television program in the United States that originally ran from 1953 to 1961, with two episodes of an attempted revival airing in 2012. Edward R. Murrow hosted the original series from its inception in 1953 unti ...
'', opposite
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...
and
Phillip Baker Hall
Philip Baker Hall (September 10, 1931 – June 12, 2022) was an American character actor.
Hall is known for his collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson, including '' Hard Eight'' (1996), '' Boogie Nights'' (1997) and ''Magnolia'' (1999). He a ...
, written and directed by Dustin Guy Defa. Jacobson also starred in ''
The Lego Ninjago Movie
''The Lego Ninjago Movie'' is a 2017 computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group, RatPac Entertainment, Lego System A/S, Lin Pictures, Lord Miller Productions, and Vertigo Entertainment, and distributed by Warn ...
'', released on September 22, 2017.
Her first appearance in ''
BoJack Horseman'' was in the 2016 episode "The Bojack Horseman Show", in which she voiced Emily.
In 2017, Jacobson hosted a 10-episode podcast about modern and contemporary art called ''A Piece of Work'' co-produced by
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of th ...
and
WNYC Studios
WNYC Studios is a producer and distributor of podcasts and on-demand and broadcast audio. WNYC Studios is a subsidiary of New York Public Radio and is headquartered in New York City.
History
In May 2015, WNYC began distributing its shows ''R ...
. She plans to do a second season.
Since 2018, she has voiced
Princess Bean
Tiabeanie Mariabeanie de la Rochambeau Grunkwitz, also known as Princess Bean, is the main character of the adult animated fantasy television series ''Disenchantment'', voiced by Abbi Jacobson. Bean is the daughter of King Zøg and Queen Dagmar o ...
in
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
's ''
Disenchantment
In social science, disenchantment (german: Entzauberung) is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modern ...
''.
Jacobson appeared in a March 2020 episode of ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm''.
In 2021, Jacobson voiced Katie Mitchell in the
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...
film ''
The Mitchells vs. the Machines''.
In 2022 she served as a writer producer and star of the Amazon series ''
A League of Their Own
''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena ...
'', based on the 1992
film of the same name, where she plays catcher Carson Shaw.
Books
In 2013, Jacobson published two
coloring book
A coloring book (British English: colouring-in book, colouring book, or colouring page) is a type of book containing line art to which people are intended to add color using crayons, colored pencils, marker pens, paint or other artistic media ...
s with
Chronicle Books: ''Color This Book: New York City'' and ''Color This Book: San Francisco''.
Jacobson also illustrated a book titled ''Carry This Book,'' published October 2016 by
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...
. It features colorful, humorous illustrations of the imagined contents of various celebrities' bags. "I have always been intrigued by what people carry around with them. It can tell you everything" says Jacobson in the book's introduction. Well received by critics, ''Carry This Book'' was a ''New York Times'' bestseller.
Jacobson published another book, ''I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff.'' The book was published on October 30, 2018, with
Grand Central Publishing
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hache ...
. With drawings throughout, the book of personal essays is centered around Jacobson's solo three week cross-country road trip. The 320 pages of personal essays and various short stories, although some are comical in nature, largely focus on Jacobson getting over her first love, first relationship with a woman, and general issues of identity. According to Jacobson, the book is centered around self-reflection: "It's about how I've felt like an internal outsider for my entire life because I just never understood what love was, that I would never get to experience it, and being a public figure only heightened that anxiety."
Personal life
In an April 2018 interview, Jacobson stated that she
dates men and women but "they have to be funny, doing something they love".
She has been in a relationship with
Jodi Balfour
Jodi Balfour (born October 29, 1986) is a South African film and television actress, known for her role as Gladys Witham in the Canadian television drama series ''Bomb Girls'' and Ellen Waverly Wilson in the Apple TV+ space drama series '' For Al ...
since October 2020. As of August 2022, Jacobson and Balfour are engaged.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
A Piece of Work podcastWNYC Studios
A Piece of Work podcastThe Museum of Modern Art
Broad Cityon Comedy Central
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Abbi
Living people
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Philadelphia
American stand-up comedians
American women comedians
Annie Award winners
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American writers
Jewish American female comedians
Maryland Institute College of Art alumni
People from Radnor Township, Pennsylvania
American women television writers
Writers from Philadelphia
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers
American film actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American women podcasters
American podcasters
Comedians from Pennsylvania
Bisexual actresses
Bisexual writers
Emerson College alumni
American LGBT writers
LGBT producers
LGBT Jews
Bisexual comedians
LGBT people from Pennsylvania
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century American women writers
21st-century American Jews
21st-century LGBT people
American bisexual actors
Year of birth missing (living people)