Thetime machine has taken many forms over the centuries: Dr. Who, Bill and Tedall ventured through the fourth dimension in a phone booth; Doc Brown used a Delorean; Homer Simpson a toaster; and anillegal Russian energy drinkwas all it took tosend a certain hot tubhopping through the spacetime continuum. WhenBroad CitystarsIlana Glazer and Paul W. Downs, and writer/director Lucia Aniello, decided to put astoner spin on the genre, they centeredtheir time travel pipe dream around the only logical choice: A bong.
Its not a coincidence that Time Traveling Bong, the teams three-part Comedy Central mini-series, premieres on the pothead equivalent of Christmas. Glazer and Downs play Sharee and Jeff, two New Jersey cousins-turned-roommates who happen upon the titular bong, which rips them between past and presentwith each puff. Initially, they land in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts where Sharee is condemned as a witch, Jeff is treated like a king and their bong is mistaken for a cauldron and smashed. After that, the poorly-repaired drug paraphernalia simply sends them bouncing around the space-time continuum at random.
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Its like Quantum Leap for stoners, Downs cracksto Rolling Stone. You see stoner shows and time travel shows all the time, Glazer adds, but there was something about the project and our perspective on history that made us want to do our version. And our version has this skew of, If youre a white dude, youre probably getting your dick sucked all through history. And if youre anything else, youre pretty fucked. Youre fucked now, but in the past youre really fucked.
Glazer, Downs and Aniello developedTime Traveling Bongas a 2012 sketch for College Humor inquintessential stoned-out improv geek form: While joking about how the the first thing any time traveler would notice about an old city was how terrible it smelled.
They created a similar vibe while fleshing out the miniseries, corrallingwriters and comedians in Los Angeles and New York to pitch and spin out their strangest historical scenarios. Amongst the discarded ideas: a straight Back to the Future homage where Jeff and Sharee accidentally break-up, then reunite, Bill and Hillary Clinton (Glazer did hint that the bit mightsee release at a later date).
But the 1985 time travel classic which was actually the basis for Aniellos college thesis doesinform Time Traveling Bongs second episode, in which Jeff and Sharee kidnap a young Michael Jackson. The duo convince themselves that if theycan preserve Jacksonschildhood, theyll prevent future alleged crimesfrom happening even if it means the King of Pops music will disappear forever.
Its such a good question, like would you save that kid? Glazer says of the scenario, which was pitched byBroad Cityco-creator Abbi Jacobson. Would you leave him alone because youre going to fuck shit up? His whole life already happened and the whole world didnt explode, but would it have been better? I could still talk about the consequences of that, its such a chewy pitch.
In this way, Time Traveling Bongis the 4/20 special of the future, one with a premise so absurd it doesnt need to draw its humor from beating the viewer over the head with a giant joint.Instead, its the ultimate dorm room What if? conversation, packed with the sharp, fantastical jokes, slapstick routines and highbrow existential quandaries that have also made Broad City a total stoner hit.
So much of what we do and write as a group is so stoner-y that its like almost becoming a background screen of smoke rather than a joke that were handing over, Glazer says.
Downs adds, Something you dont often see in popular culture is the fact that people who smoke marijuana are from all walks of life. We wanted to intentionally veer away from like Cheech and Chong, and not make it stereotypically stoner. Heads of state smoke weed, really successful Silicon Valley people smoke weed. We wanted Jeff and Sharee to be these basic suburbanites that have a real journey, but arent the overwrought, Hey man stoner characters that you would first think of.
Paul W. Downs Favorite 4/20 Things List:
Favorite Stoner Movie: Anything but Requiemfor a Dream.
Favorite Stoner TV: Strangers With Candy, Summer Heights High, Love It or List It.
Favorite Stoner Foods: Sparkling water, good pizza, any cheese.
Favorite Stoner Music: Fleetwood Mac and BBMak.
Favorite Stoner Activities: Organizing your medicine cabinet, hair removal, replacing spark plugs in my Camero, trying out soft rugs to sleep on and then sleeping on them.