“We try and base the seeds of every episode on something that’s either happened to us, or friends of ours, or the writers that write the show with us or their friends.” — Abbi Jacobson

Just like many college students, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, creators and co-stars of Comedy Central’s Broad City, are still trying to figure themselves out.

For the past couple of years, Jacobson and Glazer have been performing stand-up and improv comedy in New York City. More recently, the 20-some-year-olds have been at work transitioning Broad City, the web series they started in 2009, into a TV sitcom. But despite their comedic experience, Jacobson and Glazer said they’re still finding themselves.

“We’re still fresh to having some identity that anybody knows,” Glazer said.

Describing their last year as “TV half-hour scripted college,” the girls found success in bringing Broad City to a wider audience, with an upcoming national comedy tour and a second season just announced by Comedy Central. Originally, the series followed the less-than-five-minute misadventures of two best friends living in New York City, but the TV show fills a full half hour of expanded mishaps.

Working with a cable TV network has been a new experience, they said, with restrictions that weren’t a concern when Broad City was only a web series. The women described one instance in which they had to work with Comedy Central’s legal department while trying to come up with creative names for parts of the female anatomy.

However, even with the additional constraints of television, Jacobson and Glazer still write for themselves, an accommodation Glazer described as “an honor and a privilege.”

“Comedy Central’s been really awesome throughout this whole process,” Jacobson said. “[The writers] are really collaborative, and we actually look forward to hearing what they think about the stories. It’s been a really positive experience.”

Throughout the process of transitioning to TV, Jacobson said, the pair has gotten the opportunity to meet and learn from some of their idols, including TV veteran Amy Poehler, the show’s executive producer

“Amy has been involved all the way,” Glazer said. “I feel like the thing that she does best is her big-picture, eagle-eye view of the show, of the product, of the brand. She’s so experienced in television and so brilliant and funny. Who wouldn’t want her opinion?”

Episodes usually feature references to college party culture — sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll are recurring themes. The show’s pilot found Jacobson and Glazer trying to make $200 to buy tickets to a Lil Wayne concert by stealing office supplies and cleaning a creepy Fred Armisen’s house in nothing but underwear. At the end of the episode, after failing to come up with the money, the girls resort to drinking their troubles away instead.

“We like to keep it grounded with the characters’ relationship and friendship,” Jacobson said. “Then we heighten it to a silly level of exaggerated realism.”

Counterbalancing some of the more out-there elements, the co-writers base Broad City on their own experiences, focusing on what Glazer called “post-college life, which feels a lot like college.”

“We try and base the seeds of every episode on something that’s either happened to us, or friends of ours, or the writers that write the show with us or their friends,” Jacobson said.

The women take care to sprinkle honor and respect into even the cruder jokes. They take care not to take jokes too far, avoiding put-downs and sticking to more endearing material, Glazer said.

“We’re definitely sincere, versus snappy or sarcastic, which has been the thing for a while,” Glazer said.

The co-stars’ national comedy tour, Broad City Live, was originally scheduled to begin this week, but with production for the second season already underway, it was postponed until November. There will be a stop in Washington on Nov. 6 at the 9:30 Club, and tickets are $25.