MIDTOWN — It's like the writers of Comedy Central's "Broad City" imagined what would happen if the MTA's etiquette campaign exploded — bulky backpacks, toenail clipping, messy food and worse — all in a single subway ride.
The video, titled “Subway Encounters”, which aired during last week's second season premiere shows actresses Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer rushing to catch a train and then trying to make their way to the back of the train.
But the journey is not an easy one.
As soon as they step inside the subway car, the girls are blocked by two straphangers carrying gigantic backpacks, which completely block Abbi and Ilana as they try to pass by.
As the two stars, who play best friends getting into sticky situations as they try to make it in New York, walk through the cars they see a man clipping his toenails as he spreads his leg on the seats, a woman giving a haircut to a young boy and a whole family gorging themselves with an enormous sandwich (this specific scene comes with a pigs squealing soundtrack).
The women’s obstacle course also includes going under a man’s armpit and trying to make it to the end of a car in which subway dancers are doing acrobatic moves using the poles.
Just when they think they’ve arrived to a quieter car, a strong smell quickly leads them to understand the reason the wagon is empty — feces on the floor (which does not stop a woman from eating her bag of chips as she sits alone in the subway car).
The clip from the episode was published just as the MTA launched a new ad campaign featuring signs that read “Poles Are For Your Safety. Not Your Latest Routine” and “Clipping? Primping? Everyone wants to look their best, but it’s a subway car, not a restroom.”
