Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ilana Glazer: The Planet Is Burning’ On Amazon Prime, The Debut Stand-Up Special From The ‘Broad City’ Star

While Australia is grappling with massive wildfires and President Trump threatens to escalate a war with Iran, here comes Broad City star and co-creator Ilana Glazer with her first stand-up special, The Planet Is Burning. But Glazer’s special isn’t so much about 2020’s headlines, as much as it’s about introducing us to her real self. So who is she? And what does she stand for?

ILANA GLAZER: THE PLANET IS BURNING: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: You probably didn’t know that Ilana Glazer even did stand-up comedy.

That’s because for the past decade, Glazer devoted her time and energy to Broad City, from its 2009 origins as a web series with Abbi Jacobson up until its 2019 finale on Comedy Central. On Broad City, she portrayed a sassier, more sexually liberal version of herself named Ilana Wexler.

In real life, Glazer is now 32 and happily married. Online, meanwhile, her fans have noticed Glazer’s politically active streak, encouraging other young Americans to get out the vote as well as sharing their stories about how and why public policies matter.

Those two Ilanas become one at the very start of her special, which finds her initiating a dance party to the tune of Rihanna’s “Sex With Me” to a highly receptive audience that will deliver an applause break at any and every mention of Broad City. To them, and to us, Glazer says: “I love Ilana Wexler. But I am really excited to introduce you to Ilana Glazer the stand-up this evening.”

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: When Glazer began touring as a stand-up a few years ago, she did so with Phoebe Robinson from 2 Dope Queens. And as a comedian growing her career past a Comedy Central series, mixing intimate revelations with political activism, Glazer follows in the footsteps of comedians such as Amy Schumer.

Memorable Jokes: How is Ilana Glazer different from Ilana Wexler? For one thing, the real Ilana has her husband order their weed from a delivery service while she hides. Why does she hide? “New York weed delivery people make up 80 percent of my demo,” she jokes, “and the other 20 percent is here tonight.”

The real Ilana also went to a Hebrew school on Long Island that made sure the students never forgot the horrors of Nazism. “Yeah. As a kid, I LARP’d the Holocaust.” Glazer, in turn, reminds us how flamboyant Hitler’s Nazis were, from their Hugo Boss uniforms to their marching styles, and wonders what to make of today’s neo-Nazis.

She definitely has thoughts on Mel Gibson’s enduring career, however, as well as why classic actresses such as Grace Kelly all sounded the same. As to the latter, let’s just say Glazer’s theory amounts to a horrible case of the #MeToos.

For major set pieces, though, she devotes significant time to lighter fare when it comes to how society treats men and women differently, whether it’s acting out a fantasy in which she gets her legs shaved weekly by the most progressive Brooklyn barber, or by laying out in graphic detail the process by which she uses her diva cup, and why that matters.

Glazer also repurposed some of her jokes, plus a few non-sequiturs you won’t see in the special, into this promo video.

Our Take: About that title (The Planet Is Burning): Glazer means it literally, adding that “the mean dinosaurs in office just don’t seem to mind.” But she doesn’t go much further with it than that. This is not an hour about climate change or global warming or depressing politics.

Rather, Glazer looks to the future and sees hope in our youth, who don’t seem to buy into longstanding societal standards of gender existing as only two extremes of macho men and feminine ladies. “The whole thing’s a sham. A total lie.” We’re all somewhere in the middle. At least she is. And she argues that homophobes or rappers starting a song with “no homo” are just revealing to us that they’re in fact obsessed with homosexuality.

Glazer lived with a gay best friend for many years before moving in with her husband, and tries to see how the world works, or doesn’t work, for everyone.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Glazer closes her debut special with a moment of gratitude for the women who have come before her, both in comedy and in activism, to push the conversation and legislation forward. This hour is her attempt to keep the momentum moving in the right direction. If you’re up for that, then you’ll be down for this.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch Ilana Glazer: The Planet Is Burning on Amazon Prime Video