As the mother of a toddler, actor-writer-director-producer Ilana Glazer no longer gets to watch a ton of TV — and when she does, there's typically children's programming on-screen. "I'm watching what she needs to watch, which ranges from Bluey to The Nightmare Before Christmas and Raya [and the Last Dragon]," she tells the Television Academy. "That's what we're about right now. And when I'm not watching TV with her, I'm pretty much getting as much sleep as I can."
Another reason sleep has no doubt been hard to come by: the year-long, 52-show, 48-city stand-up comedy tour that has resulted in Glazer's second comedy special. Human Magic — her unfiltered, hilarious take on awkward high school years and, more recently, pregnancy and parenthood — is set to premiere December 20 as the second original special in Hulu's new stand-up comedy brand, Hularious.
Asked what it is that calls her to stand-up comedy, given all her other artistic pursuits, it was actually another TV personality who — on the very same day as our sit down with Glazer — helped her come to an answer. "I just did Jonathan Van Ness's podcast today, and in looking at my toolkit for making art and making comedy, I realized that what stands out about stand-up is how ancient an art form it is," she says. "I feel that singularness when I'm doing it. There's nothing like it. The connection with people — different kinds of people — through laughing is just a special and spiritual thing for me, whether I'm the performer or in the audience. I just love it."
Her second comedy special following 2020's The Planet Is Burning for Prime Video, Glazer says crafting material for Human Magic wasn't "easier," though it was definitely "clearer." "I had much more of a framework and understood that I needed to create a plan," she says. "My first one, I found the material and put it together. Here, I was really approaching it as an hour. There are lots of bits that didn't make it into the hour, and it wasn't like I was always crafting the bigger picture, but to know my aim to tour this hour and film this hour — I claimed that framework this time."
Ultimately, the experience of a lengthy North American comedy tour was a rewarding one for Glazer. "Spiritually, I was affirmed in [the fact] that the majority of people share a common sense of reality in a time when our reality is being specifically designed to be fractured. So, I was validated in my faith in people, and in people's shared sense of right and wrong and what's funny," she says. "It was my privilege to laugh with all these beautiful different kinds of people across this country and a little bit of Canada. Really, really, I feel so blessed to have had that experience this past year."
We asked Ilana Glazer to share some of the TV projects that help define her.
The show that first caught my interest as a child: Seinfeld
Man, I'm really a '90s kid. I was born in 1987, but I was watching hours and hours of TV in the '90s, and I remember being 4 years old and watching Seinfeld with my family. I remember feeling like a grown up, like I was getting the comedy and like I was let in on a little secret. But it was really just that my parents wanted to watch it, and I wasn't asleep yet. But I also remember [the show's] Jewish vibe resonating with me so hard and learning a lot of adult themes as a young child this way.
The show that was formative for me as a teen: Daria
I got really depressed when I was 11. I went through puberty young, and I was not prepared for it. And Daria basically being a depressed young woman — too smart and talented for the world she felt stuck in — helped me feel like I was going to make it out the other side and get to be the person I wanted to be eventually.
The show I consider to be ahead of its time: The Golden Girls
I mean, it's just seemingly effortless. From the writing to the characters, these four people were destined to make this TV show at this time. I mean, stunning. Stunning. I watched it a lot with my grandparents and my parents growing up, but my brother — Eliot Glazer, who's also a writer and performer — has taken his Golden Girls obsession to a new level and has a tattoo of Bea Arthur. And I claim it a little bit, because I feel — I'm not getting her face tattooed on my arm, but I feel so deeply rooted in the comedy and the writing of Golden Girls. The fact that these four women are over 50 and expressing desire, seeking pleasure, having complex relationships, are mothers, but that is not the center of their identity. Their friendship is the center of the third act in their lives. And it's just so damn funny. Yeah, Golden Girls was ahead of its time. And you see all these derivatives — female ensemble shows that, listen, we need them at every new stage or whatever, but damn, she was the first.
The show I wish I could rewatch for the very first time: Arrested Development
I was in college when the show came out, and the writing was so sharp and the archetypes were so clear, I wanted to be in it. I wanted to be a part of it. It was so, so good and new in a way. And it was really as I was just about to start getting into comedy. It was really titillating to me to see something that was such a strong ensemble and such good writing.
The last show I watched: Breaking New Ground
It's this home renovation show hosted by this endlessly charismatic, light-filled person named Robert Hartwell. He bought a home in Western Massachusetts, and as a Black gay man, the deep meaning of this action is not lost on him. He renovated this house — rose it from the ashes into just a sanctuary for him and his family. The home renovation part I'm so into and love — and paired with the meaning he makes of this time in his life — it is just delicious. It was so inspiring and cozy, and I just watched that recently, actually.
The show I love that might surprise people: HSN and QVC programming
I really, really [laughs] enjoy watching HSN and QVC. Doing a second-screen situation, where my kid is down and I take one little toke and I'm doing emails ... having HSN or QVC on in the background is unhinged and also a deep psychological study. The hosts are just experiencing life and sharing it transparently, because there's this central focus of consumerism and the items.
I really like to hear the deep psychological processes of these people who've been in the home consumer network machine for many years. It's almost like you get a peek into a different planet. I still have cable, and this might be the only reason why.
Ilana Glazer's comedy special, Human Magic, premieres December 20 on Hulu.
