“I’m a very serious person,” Billy Eichner tells me, barely getting the words out before erupting into laughter. We’re talking about the new season of his TruTV game show Billy on the Street, which begins with him running around the streets of New York asking strangers, “Would you like to have a threesome with Billy Eichner and Jon Hamm?”—Mad Men actor actually in tow.
The saucy one-dollar question—literally worth a dollar—sets off another season of viral-ready, pop-culture comedy. But its Eichner’s tongue-in-cheek pronouncement when we meet one afternoon in Beverly Hills this past summer that explains how the show, not to mention Eichner himself, has become so popular: There’s an earnest message underwriting its utter silliness.
We’re meeting at an interesting time for Eichner. He tells me he’s in the process of giving up his apartment in New York City, where he shot his first pop-culture ambush video in Washington Square Park almost seven years ago. The undisguisable New Yorker will still be flying back and forth often, but keeping two apartments at the same time just feels a little silly.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I’m not Angelina Jolie,” he says. “I don’t know if you knew that.”
But maybe the Angelina Jolie of… “Of TruTV? I’m not even sure about that.”
Still, Billy on the Street has become an Emmy-nominated success. It’s drawn the likes of Julianne Moore, Tina Fey, and even Michelle Obama to join in on the absurdist fun (a Shonda Rhimes-themed obstacle course, for example), though never stealing the spotlight away from blindsided New Yorkers startled by the tall man screaming at them that “Blake Lively is available for features.”
It’s humor that’s born out of a bleeding love for all things pop culture—and an awareness of how silly such a true love can be—which culminates in a biting satire of celebrity, fame, and the pretension with which we discuss race, sexuality, and politics. (Hamm also plays a round of “Immigrant, or Real American?”)
As more and more Billy on the Street clips have gone viral, so has Eichner himself. A recurring stint on Parks and Recreation led to a partnership with Amy Poehler, who produced his Hulu comedy series Difficult People, about Billy and his best friend Julie (Julie Klausner), aspiring creatives in New York who would be like Will and Grace, if Will and Grace weren’t particularly likable. Its recent second season was one of the best-reviewed comedies of 2016.
Eichner’s own growing fame has become part of the comedy, too, whether he’s trying to sell himself to a stranger in the Jon Hamm/threesome bit—“They wrote about me in The New Yorker… not too shabby!”—or running the streets with Chris Pratt at the height of his banner Hollywood year, quipping, “What a big year it’s been! For me.”
“It’s been a big couple of years!” Eichner laughs. “But it’s also the same with him as many guests I have on the show. No one could say his name. A lot of people didn’t recognize him. He had been in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World and Parks and Rec for seven years and still there were plenty of people on the street who were like, ‘Who the hell are you?’ Or like, ‘I kind of know who you are. Are you Chris Evans?’”
It’s a brilliant juxtaposition, and one Eichner might not get enough credit for: He’s fully owning that he, and people like him, are responsible for inflating the worth of celebrity culture. But with this show, he’s also the one taking the air right out of it.
“Do you think Beyoncé has ever said the words Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt out loud?” he asks in the Season 5 premiere. Then: “Miss, the Coen Brothers are up to their old tricks!” “Miss, it’s a year-round pilot season at Amazon.” “Sir, is New Girl having a quiet renaissance?”
Or perhaps the best embodiment of the show’s thesis: “Miss, did you hear that Reese Witherspoon is in style?” The woman’s response, as she tries to run away: “That has nothing to do with me.”
In another medium, these aren’t jokes. They’re headlines for real gossip news stories and entertainment think pieces that feed an entire industry. So sure, the idea of pop-culture savants mocking the self-serious world of pop culture certainly isn’t something that Eichner started. But it is a phenomenon he helped bring out of the shadows, literally running and shouting along the way.
With Season 5 premiering, we chatted with Eichner about how his growing visibility and fame affect his show, his Hollywood makeover, and not getting the credit he deserves. And it’s a testament to Eichner’s intelligence and abundant self-awareness that none of this sounds insufferable, but instead remarkably astute.
I ask you this every season, but how does shooting feel different now that you are more famous and recognized more often?
I could sense the difference this year. More than before. There are more people recognizing me. I’m pretty savvy with how to deal with those people.
Which is how?
Which is they don’t get on the show. But it’s for the most part a good mix of people. There’s certainly enough people that don’t know me to do the show. I mean think of how many people there are in New York or visiting New York. The show’s popular, but it’s not The Big Bang Theory.
It must still be nice for the ego to be recognized.
It’s a good balance of enough people who recognize me where I think, “Wow! I make something that people watch and like. That makes me feel good.” I mean at this point if no one was recognizing me, I would be pissed. It’s like, I work so hard! It’s five seasons. No one knows that it’s on? So I’m glad people recognize me. And for the sake of the show, I’m glad there are people that don’t.
You’re friends with celebrities now. People recognize you. We’ve talked about how a lot of your comedy is from the point of the view of the outsider. But these things suggest that you’re now an “insider.” Does that change the comedy or the “Billy Eichner persona?”
The thing about the “Billy Eichner persona”: I may have been an outsider. Billy Eichner, the real person, I was an outsider. Billy on the Street, that persona, a lot of the comedy comes from an enormous sense of entitlement. He feels like he rules the world. That his opinions are central, which justifies storming off if someone doesn’t agree with him. I always felt shooting that show in that persona, even when I had Amy Poehler or Paul Rudd or someone who is more well-known than I am as my guest, even the first lady, I was pulling them into my world. I rule that 10 minutes. They are my subject, in a way. I’m not the court jester. I’m the king. So getting more famous, that just feels very organic to the persona, I think.
I’m going to read a tweet that a not-to-be-named friend of mine wrote. “I can never tell if Billy Eichner’s transition from that schlub who runs around the Flatiron to stone-cold fox is inspiring or a betrayal.”
Wow! Someone wrote that? Who is he? Can I see a pic? That was a joke. Probably a girl.
No, it was a dude.
Good.
A gay dude.
OK, great. I don’t think I’m a stone-cold fox.
Well, effort is being made. You have your hair blown out. You’ve lost weight. You are the most attractive I’ve ever seen you right now.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
I think his point goes back to the outsider/underdog thing.
I understand.
Like, this is a guy who we identify with, who we feel kind of the same as. The “inspiring or betrayal” question is the big one.
I think betrayal is a bit harsh. Honey, I’m working my ass off. Billy on the Street is the hardest show on television. And then throw in Difficult People. Like, I’m very grateful for all of it, but if you’re going to be in front of people that much you want to look your best. Also, I’m older than I was. I was a kid when I started doing Billy on the Street videos. Go back and watch the videos from 2005—I’m like 25, 26 years old. I’m 38 in September. That’s a big difference. So I guess that part of me evolved along with anything else. Also I challenge anyone to watch themselves on TV running around and sweating and crazy and not be like, “Ah, I think if I’m going to keep doing this maybe my hair should look a little better.”
That makes perfect sense.
I just remembered this quote. I think Tina Fey said it in Bossypants, or maybe it was just in an interview I read with her. She said Lorne Michaels told her—I hope this was Tina and not Amy—“the audience wants you to look your best, so that way they can focus on the work.” I’m not going to get on a soapbox and say, “That’s why I lost weight, for the audience.” No, I did that for myself. But yeah, I think it’s OK to look decent. I mean, it’s not like I’m fucking Chris Hemsworth. And by the way Chris Hemsworth gets to play the role of the nerdy receptionist in Ghostbusters and he’s fucking Chris Hemsworth. It’s like, can’t I blow dry my hair? Literally. But it’s flattering I guess.
There’s an interesting through line when I read pieces about Difficult People and Billy on the Street getting more popular and your rise in general, and it’s often expressed with the phrase, “It’s time to take Billy Eichner seriously.”
Interesting. It’s time to take me seriously? They’re right! And I have no qualms about saying that. I guess one frustration with Billy on the Street is that I really think we do some smart, subtle work, in its way. The persona itself might hit you on the head but I feel like there’s social commentary and cultural commentary happening, especially in the more recent seasons, that is sometimes overlooked. Not entirely. It’s not just about the people who say, “Oh he screams a lot.”
There’s is a lot of reductivism to that.
That whole thing. Those people are getting it on the most superficial level. And that’s fine. But don’t be completely blind to the commentary that is running through the show. That it’s not nonsense all the time. Sometimes it’s nonsense. But more often than not there’s a reason for everything that’s happening. And the whole persona itself sometimes is satire. The whole thing is a commentary on cultural critics and opinionated social media bloggers and overly opinionated people. I think that has sometimes, more often and not, been overlooked. I think that tide is changing a little bit.
It is!
And I’m grateful for that! It’s about time. I think it’s a very rich show, actually. If you really are listening. Some people don’t get that and that’s fine. But even media people who you think would get it, even if they’re friends of mine, they tend to focus on, “Boy he’s loud!” Like, yes, I’m loud. We get it. That’s part of the persona, but there’s other things going on. Talk about the writing. Eddie Murphy or Mark Twain? And the tailgating and the bro situation, and the things that we talked about in the Shondaland obstacle course. The list goes on and on. Those things are overlooked and if that’s what they mean by “Billy should be taken seriously” then yes, you’re right. (Laughs.) I’m a very serious person.
