‘I Love Lucy’s’ Lucy and Ethel Were the Abbi and Ilana of the 1950s

Think of a sitcom starring two mismatched best friends played by two fiercely funny women, friends that run New York City like a gauntlet and come out the other end a bit worse for wear but tighter than ever. You’re thinking of Comedy Central’s 21st century classic Broad City, duh, but–and maybe this is a surprise–you’re also thinking of I Love Lucy, the literal definition of a classic sitcom. This is a connection that is rarely, perhaps never made, but I just had to make it what with today being Lucille Ball’s birthday and all.

The importance of Ball’s work can’t be overstated, and you can trace her influence through every single performer that pulled off a caper, got their head stuck where it didn’t belong, or fell on their ass over the past 68 years. Mary Tyler Moore’s comedic crying, Amy Poehler’s frenzied glee, Kaitlin Olson’s hilarious flailing–Lucille Ball lives on today, and you can even see the genesis of quintessential millennial hangout comedy Broad City in I Love Lucy. Hard to believe? Just watch Season 2’s “Ricky and Fred are TV Fans” and you’ll see what I mean.

Broad City was at its best when it took something small (Ilana getting locked out of her apartment, Abbi buying a tight AF dress, them trying to get out of the city for a wedding) and blew it out of proportion, forcing our scrappy BFFs to jump ridiculous hurdles to reach a happy ending. That’s what this I Love Lucy episode does, by turning a boring night stuck at home into a dust up with a couple of bumbling–but armed!���cops. Lucy and Ethel are Abbi and Ilana… except twice their age, married, and sober.

But the dynamic is still the same. Lucy’s the Ilana, the constant schemer with ambitions bigger than herself, ambitions that tend to prioritize adventure over safety. In this episode, Lucy is sick of being stuck at home once a week with Ethel, trapped in the kitchen while their husbands zone out and watch a fight (this week’s the big big match). Lucy’s not happy with her situation, and she’s gonna take action!

Ethel’s the Abbi, a mild-mannered tagalong that’s practical to a fault, but still goes along with whatever her buddy pitches. Ethel’s game to try Lucy’s idea to sneak out of the apartment and then give their husbands a call, pretending to be someone looking for their wives. When Ricky and Fred can’t find them, then they’ll finally take notice!

As the episode’s writers planned, the plan doesn’t go according to plan. Lucy and Ethel sneak down to the corner diner, call up, and ask for Lucy, but Ricky just absentmindedly shouts for his wife and leaves the phone off the hook. And that’s when the trouble starts!

Lucy tries to break a dollar so she can make another phone call and arrange for a babysitter, but the guy behind the counter is too wrapped up in the fight to care. So she reaches into the register to make change, and that’s when he takes notice.

This is when things go from Lucy & Ethel: Disgruntled Housewives to Lucy & Ethel: Fugitives.

There is nothing more Broad City to me than the sight of Lucy and Ethel, on the run from the cops, peeping out Lucy’s kitchen window to see if they were followed.

The episode just gets wilder from there, as an undaunted Lucy schemes to cut the power to her apartment so Ricky and Fred will be forced to do anything other than watch the fight. The episode journeys from a diner on the corner to the roof of their apartment building–and the cop follows them.

Lucy and Ethel get taken down to the station, unbeknownst to Ricky and Fred, who miss a handcuffed Lucy busting into the apartment and screaming for help for a hot sec. At the station, our lead ladies are mistakenly identified as Pickpocket Pearl and Sticky Fingers Sal, a pair of criminals that’ve been knocking over joints. This is when Lucy stands up to a cop, with a total Ilana-esque disregard for authority.

Things work themselves out, obviously. I Love Lucy doesn’t turn into a 1950s version of Orange Is the New Black after this. But what I love about this episode is that even though this is not one you’ll find on a best-of list or screened in color on CBS as part of a special presentation, it’s still crazy influential. The fact that you can just put on a random episode of I Love Lucy and see how it impacted a half century of comedy is testament not only to how good this show was, but to how good Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance were.

Their fearlessness punches through a desktop or iPhone screen just as forcefully as it did those heavy old CRT TVs. The show is as relevant and funny today as it was then, even more so when you find these unexpected connections between then and the comedies of now. It may be Lucille Ball’s birthday, but she just keeps giving us gifts.

Stream I Love Lucy "Ricky and Fred are TV Fans" on Hulu

Stream Broad City on Hulu