The sound bite dominating the TikTok For You Page has become a viral clip that pop stars like Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, and Troye Sivan are adding to their posts.
“In da clurb, we all fam” has spawned thousands of TikTok videos—but it wasn’t clear where it came from.
So we did sort of etymology-style research for find the origin of the sound bite.
Here’s what we figured out.
The Post That Started It All
Comedian Maggie Winters appears to be the epicenter of the recent surge after isolating the sound bite from a long-running comedy series Broad City.
Winters’s video has garnered more than 13 million views 584.6 thousand likes since it was first posted on October 13.
In her video, Winters plays out a dialogue saying “In da clurb, we all fam” twice before breaking character to clarify what’s being said: In the club, we are all family.
But the simple, lighthearted, and inclusive conversation can easily apply to other situations in hilarious ways.
Sabrina Carpenter used the bit brilliantly in a TikTok captioned, “my 30-year-old fans trying to talk to my 12-year-olds fans.”
The October 8 post already has nearly 18 million views and over three million likes.
Where Did the Sound Come From?
The “In a clurb, we all fam” sound bite comes from the critically acclaimed comedy series Broad City.
Broad City was a popular scripted TV show that aired from 2014–2019, starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. The show followed their real-life friendship while navigating young adulthood in New York City.
It was wildly popular and critically acclaimed. It’s one of Rotten Tomatoes highest-ranking shows of all time, with an impressive 99% rating.
The clip and quip in question came from season 3, episode 7 of the show, where Ilana and Abbi and at a club. Ilana gives a playful greeting to other girls at the club that feels like she’s greeting old friends, prompting Abbi to ask her, “do you know them?” Ilana says she doesn’t but that “In da clurb, we all fam.” The episode aired on March 30, 2016.
The iconic show is enjoying a revival right now with a new generation discovering the delightfully absurd humor thanks to the viral TikTok sound.
The Show Has Gone Viral Before
“In da clurb, we all fam” isn’t the first viral sound to come from Broad City.
Remember “Yas, queen”? Every Millennial’s favorite phrase for nearly half a decade?
Though “Yas, queen” is believed to have originated in the 1980s and 1990s ballroom culture of the LGBT+ and drag queen community, Broad City gave the phrase a platform and a visual aid that helped spread across the culture.
Both Glazer and Jacobson have addressed the power of the phrase on their careers. The Emmys have even used the phrase to summarize the oral history of Broad City.
Talk about a legacy.
And who knows how many more catch phrases will be mined from Broad City in the years to come?
