Day: July 23, 2025

• Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer say they set boundaries to maintain their friendship during “Broad City.”
• “We weren’t like hanging out as friends during ‘Broad City.’ We couldn’t,” Glazer said.
• Having friends at work is good for business — but bringing your whole self to work comes with risks.

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer spent five years working together as co-creators and costars on “Broad City.” But offscreen, keeping their friendship alive meant setting some boundaries.

During an interview on the “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” podcast published on Tuesday, Jacobson and Glazer spoke about working together on their hit show and how they’ve maintained their friendship through the years. “Broad City” aired on Comedy Central from 2014 to 2019.

“As incredible as it was to make ‘Broad City,’ we would always make sure to have a little time up top to connect and catch up, even if it was just from 12 hours ago,” Glazer told podcast host Amy Poehler.

Glazer likened it to an “after-school club,” where they spent 45 minutes talking before they focused on their work tasks.

But unlike during their years as colleagues, spending time with each other now feels more intentional and emotionally fulfilling, she said.

“But at the time it was very much slotted in to catch up, and things would always make their way into the comedy, which is cool, but it’s not the same as it being its own, just for the sake of its own beauty, you know?” Glazer said.

Moreover, staying in sync with each other’s lives was essential to their work at the time, Jacobson added.

“We knew that it’s so derived from us, so we had to kind of like catch up and be like, ‘OK, write that down for this thing,'” Jacobson told Poehler.

As a result of spending so much time together for work, the two of them made sure to give each other space whenever possible.

“Well, we didn’t, like, hang out. I think when we were doing it, we would be like ‘See you on Monday,'” Jacobson said.

“We weren’t like hanging out as friends during ‘Broad City.’ We couldn’t,” Glazer added.

But it wasn’t as if they weren’t speaking to each other on the weekends, Jacobson said: “It was just like, after 12, 14 hours of Monday through Friday, we were like, ‘Let’s not do dinner on Saturday.'”

Having friends at work is good for business. Studies have long shown that it can improve productivity, engagement, and employee retention.

However, the rise of remote work has threatened work friendships. With fewer in-person interactions, it has become harder for people to form stronger connections with their colleagues.

At the same time, maintaining boundaries at work can be tricky.

There are risks to bringing your whole selves to work and intertwining personal and professional relationships. In particular, saying no can feel personal when work and friendship overlap.

“Work is about getting certain things done by using your skills and your intelligence and your network, and so whatever you do there creates an aura,” Hakan Ozcelik, a professor of management at the College of Business Administration at Sacramento State University, told Business Insider previously.

“And then if you are connected to that environment, that’s great. You are not a lonely employee. But that doesn’t mean that there are people there who love you,” Ozcelik added.

Representatives for Jacobson and Glazer did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by BI outside regular hours.

Last year, I came across Professor Jin Noda’s research from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies: The Kazakh Khanates Between the Russian and Qing Empires: Central Eurasia International Relations during the 18th–19th Centuries. As it explores Kazakh history, particularly letters written by Khan Ablai and other sultans to the Qing emperor, I reached out to Professor Noda to ask a few questions.

TCA: What inspired you to write this book?

Noda: I thought there was a great divide between studies of Central Asia from the Russian side and those from the Qing Chinese side. To bridge this gap, I decided to research Kazakh history using both Russian and Chinese sources.

TCA: You published letters from 1779 related to Ablai Khan. What is their social significance?

Jin Noda: While the “social significance” isn’t entirely clear to me, the letters are important for Kazakhs as evidence of relations with the Qing Dynasty. They also reflect Ablai’s authority — sending letters to the Qing emperor signified his direct contact with the imperial court.

TCA: Were these letters originals? What challenges did you face studying them?

Jin Noda: I accessed microfilmed versions at the First Historical Archive in Beijing. The poor image quality made them difficult to read, and some texts were unreadable.

TCA: How much did you rely on Chinese sources, and how reliable are they?

Jin Noda: For my PhD and the book, I used many Manchu documents. While they have their biases, they also offer valuable new information on the Kazakhs. I cross-referenced them with Russian sources from the same era.

TCA: Are there many historical records about Kazakhs in Japan? How should they be studied?

Jin Noda: Some records exist, particularly from the Japanese military’s interest in Xinjiang after the Russo-Japanese War. For Kazakhs under Russian rule, one rare case is the Kazakh politician Marsekov contacting the Japanese government during the revolution. His letter’s translation is preserved in a Japanese archive and was recently studied by Prof. Uyama and Mr. Ono.

TCA: Apart from Sultan Gubaidolla’s well-known letter, did you find other sources related to him?

Jin Noda: I collected Russian archival documents on his activity around 1824 in Almay and Omsk. He is known for his role in protesting Russian colonisation.

TCA: As a foreign researcher, how do you assess Kazakh-Qing political relations?

Jin Noda: Traditionally, Chinese discourse portrayed the Kazakhs as distant vassals. However, Qing sources place them closer to the empire, like the Mongols or the Torghuts. I believe the Kazakh khans understood the strategic advantage in their relations with the Qing. These ties held unique importance for both sides.

TCA: You’ve also used Manchu archives. What did they reveal?

Jin Noda: Manchu documents are rich sources — essentially direct reports from Xinjiang officials to the emperor. While they reflect the officials’ own motivations, they offer a vivid picture of the Kazakhs’ contact with the Qing.

TCA: Have you received proposals to translate your book into Kazakh?

Jin Noda: I’ve recently received a proposal to translate it into Russian. If it resonates with readers in Kazakhstan, I hope it might eventually be translated into Kazakh as well.