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SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 OF BROAD CITY 

Broad City is a really funny show. You probably already know that. As an aspiring comedy writer, what stands out to me about the show is the way it uses visual punchlines. Two early jokes in the very first episode have two of the best visual punch lines I’ve ever seen.

Almost all jokes contain some sort of set up and punchline. The set up can be funny, but the punchline is what will get the real laughs, and good punch lines will contain the element of surprise. A common type of punch line is the expository punch line; the set up gives us information, and the punchline gives us more detail. Visual punchlines are usually expository in nature, like when the camera zooms out to show us more details, and the details contain the punchline. (I’m speaking generally, there are no hard rules in comedy)

In the first scene Abbi and Ilana are video chatting. Ilana is listening to Lil Wayne and swaying in front of the camera. Abbi (who was just holding a sex toy) is sitting alone in her room. The two are discussing their plans for the day. This set up is humorous. Ilana is bouncing around strangely in front of her lap top, and Abbi was holding a sex toy (dildos are almost always funny). The punchline comes when camera angle changes in Ilana’s room, and it’s revealed that she is having sex with her boyfriend Lincoln with the laptop placed on his chest (Lincoln is played by Hannible Buress, who always adds humor to a scene). This scene has a lot of characterization for both Abbi and Ilana, and a lesser show might be content to just show us the information in a lazy way, but Broad City uses the visual punchline to make the scene very funny.

In the next scene we see a spin class, and we hear Abbi urging the riders forward. We’re shown Abbi leaning forward with a strained look on her face. This is a quick set up, and it leads us to believe that Abbi is teaching a spin class. The camera angle changes and we see that Abbi is leaning over a trash can. This visual punchline is brilliant for two reasons: it expands Abbi’s character by showing her desire to teach a spin class, and the physical humor of her leaning over a trash can like it’s a bike is funny on it’s own. Again, a crappier show might just present us this information without the clever cinematography, and it would lose the visual punchline.