The new comedy Babes was born in the shower. Stay with us here. Executive producer Susie Fox reportedly had a vision while showering. She saw Ilana Glazer, the genius behind Broad City, starring in an offbeat female-driven buddy comedy. The story would involve two best friends, both in the throes of motherhood. Glazer loved the idea so much that she and Fox brought it to co-writer Josh Rabinowitz (Ramy), with whom Glazer worked with on her hit series Broad City. All they needed was a director who understood how to make an irreverent comedy celebrating female friendships and motherhood.

Enter: Pamela Adlon. The award-winning Better Things creator, who also starred in Californication, was ready to take on a new project when the script landed in her hands. But not just any project. She wanted one that was fiercely funny and, most of all, emotionally messy.

Babes is all that and more. Glazer costars alongside Michelle Buteau (of TV’s Survival of the Thickest and First Wives Club) in a salacious romp that follows lifelong pals Eden (Glazer) and Dawn (Buteau) as they both move through different stages of motherhood – Dawn entering Round Two; Eden going at it alone after getting pregnant from a one-night stand. In this exclusive MovieWeb interview, Adlon tells us why Babes had all the winning ingredients for a great comedy and chats up her return to King of the Hill, voicing the character of Bobby. Read on or watch the interview above.

Babes Had Everything She Was Looking For
Babes (2024) 4/5 Release Date May 17, 2024 Director Pamela Adlon Runtime 1hr 49min

If you appreciate the raunchy humor in hit movies like Bridesmaids, Bad Moms, and Trainwreck, Babes will grab you. Adlon delivers a wildly entertaining in-your-face comedy about female friendships, motherhood, and, in turn, friending and mothering. And all the calamity that comes with it. When asked what made her say yes to Babes, Adlon said:

“It was perfect timing because I was in post on the final season of
Better Things
. I read the script, and I knew who Ilana was, obviously.
The script had all the elements of all the things I like to play with in comedy… like body dysmorphia, the women friendships, the dark, hairy, raw, gross stuff,
and the love, and the heart. And to put it all in New York City, and I get to infuse the way I see things into New York City as a character.”

The way Adlon sees things is unique, in fact. While working on Louie, the FX series she starred in and wrote for, she nabbed four Emmy Award nominations for the comedy and landed two Writers Guild of America Awards. Better Things, another FX outing, showed us a broader view of Adlon – this time as the independent woman, the mother, the fiercely creative voiceover talent (in the show), something which mirrored her own life.

Adlon, who has three daughters in real life, co-created that series and wrote, produced, and directed many of its episodes. Brilliantly funny, Better Things also ran deep. Adlon received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, and the show won the coveted Peabody Award. Long before that, Adlon had been voicing the character of Bobby on the animated series King of the Hill, a role for which she garnered an Emmy Award. (More on King of the Hill in a moment.) All that filtered into how Adlon wanted to shape Babes.

Ilana Glazer’s Script for Babes Was Real and Raw

Much like she did with Los Angeles in Better Things – spotlighting the city in such a way that it became a character within the show – Adlon says she was “able to shoot New York for New York.” She adds how she appreciated working “with these acrobatically talented comedy magicians” to “harness that energy and be there for them, do my thing, and bring them down to a place… to tell these kinds of stories that I didn’t have when I had my first kid or my second or my third.”

Related 15 Best Women-Led Comedies, Ranked In honor of Women’s History Month, here’s a list dedicated to the funniest women-led movies.

Another reason she took on the project was because of “how important it is when women tell the truth to each other, and to be able to guide everybody in this film. To do that was really an incredible opportunity for me.” Ilana Glazer’s script was also an opportunity to bravely open the box on subjects and candidly discuss women’s bodies, emotions, and distinctly original journeys as females. Adlon tells us:

“[Babes] opens the box – literally. I think about my career as an actor and then now, my career as a director, a producer, writer, and it really matters that it’s not just a ‘thing’ [when taking on projects] … that people forget what a show or a movie is about; that it has an impact.
I want it to be evergreen; things that people will revisit over and over again.
This is something you really hope [for]… that heart. Scary and
edgy kind of comedy
with teeth and grit that’s unafraid because it is so loving, and it earns all of that, so it can be the norm.”

On Returning to the King of the Hill Reboot

Calling all King of the Hill fans. The long-running animated comedy from creators Greg Daniels and Mike Judge ran from 1997 to 2009. Four additional episodes aired in syndication in 2010. The story revolved around Arlen (Judge), a strait-laced propane salesman in Texas who deals with the wild antics of his family and friends. He’s also trying to keep his son in line.

Related King of the Hill: The Funniest Episodes, Ranked Well, dag-gone, man, I’ll tell you what. King of the Hill has some of the funniest animated television episodes of all time.

That would be Bobby, who was voiced by Adlon for 258 episodes. After many years of speculation, Hulu announced last year that another iteration of King of the Hill is on the way, arriving some time in 2025. To which Adlon shared:

“We’re in the second season [creating] the reboot, and
Bobby is 21. He’s a chef in a fusion restaurant in Dallas. And it’s been incredible
. It’s just been really fun. I think it’s been freakier for Mike and Greg to think about Bobby going from 12 to being 21 and having a relationship and being a person. But don’t we all go through that with our kids and our friends’ kids? It is shocking when I see my friends’ kids and they’re all grown up. And I’m like, ‘Wait a second, what just happened?’ So, it’s just a little bit of a mess.”

But “messes” are good. Stay tuned for King of the Hill updates. Look for Babes in theaters May 17. Watch the trailer below.