Abbi Jacobson Expresses Exactly How We All Feel About “The Great British Baking Show”

published Sep 28, 2017
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(Image credit: Courtesy of Mark Bourdillon, © Love Productions, worldwide, all media in perpetuity)

I’d like you to picture a series of alternate universes with me.

  • Mary Berry, after leaving the Great British Baking Show, sets up shop on Broad City where she uses her gentle voice and kitchen wisdom to grade Abbi and Ilana’s munchies. There are complex challenges with obtuse recipes, and the three of them are deeply glad and well-fed. They use all this positive energy to write a buddy comedy about their upcoming cross-country road trip.
  • Abbi and Ilana fill the very big shoes of Sue and Mel. The two pairs have everything in common: they’re hilarious, generous with compliments, and add zesty energy to even the most mellow jelly-roll competitions. Eventually Sue and Mel return, the show has four hosts, and no one complains.
  • There’s an after-show for each episode hosted by Abbi Jacobson, where she cooks with every GBBS baker in her Broad City Val persona, leading to a Val and Val episode. They wear fly suits and demolish a trifle.

Okay, so in our current reality, none of these things have happened (yet). But Broad City and GBBS fans rejoiced when Abbi Jacobson gave a shout-out to Val Stones and said what we’re all thinking: “This show makes me happy.”

Abbi’s post included a clip of Val describing the love she puts into her baking, paired with shots of her warmly hugging her castmates. “Whatever I make, I stir love into it, I knead love into it,” Val says. “So when I present it, it’s special.”

Stick with me: I think that sentiment is part of what makes Broad City so special, the obvious love and care put into the creation of the show. And like GBBS, it has a similar focus on positivity and kindness. Just look at Ilana’s shift towards giving her tables major compliments in the recent episode “Twaining Day.” Wasn’t her approach pretty Mary Berry-esque?

This is all well and good, but seriously, Abbi Jacobson, if you’re reading this, make that Val and Val show a reality. In the words of my favorite underground jazz singer, “Val about town, town about Val.”