Today I chat with a very funny comic whose Funny-or-Die-based TV show, Billy on the Street, debuted late last year on Fuse. On the show, Eichner quizzes unsuspecting New Yorkers on pop culture ephemera, often giving them a dollar if they agree with his particular opinions. The charm of the show is Eichner's frazzled, frustrated interview style and the unpredictable responses he gets from his subjects. It made me laugh and then keep laughing when I thought about how silly the thing I was laughing about was--does that make sense?
New episodes of the show
start airing in the fall but you can catch reruns on Fuse Thursday
nights at 11/10CT. If you can't wait until then, you can catch Billy on
the Street online
at Funny or Die and follow its hero on Twitter.
Congratulations
on Billy on the Street being picked up for more episodes. Do
you think success would change the show much? How would a bigger budget
be reflected on the show?
I think success will only change
the show in that we'll be able to try some new things from time to time,
have more guests, etc. But ultimately I think what's fun about the show
is how raw and real it is, so I don't think its a good idea to try and
get too fancy. You won't be seeing me jump out of a plane...at least not
just yet...and only if I can use Meryl Streep as a parachute.
How
do you pick your subjects?
What you see on the show is
exactly how it happens when we film it. We literally leave the
production office, turn the cameras and microphones on, and I start
walking. I only decide a couple of seconds before I go up to someone
that I'm going to approach them. It really happens just as you see it
happen on the show. I have absolutely no idea how they're going to
react. There's no rehearsing or pre-planning that goes into it. It is a
pure pop culture ambush!
Have you ever found yourself
feeling unsafe during an interview? I've noticed that occasionally
you'll be quizzing someone and a person who doesn't look completely
mentally stable will wander up.
For some reason I never
really feel "unsafe," per se. Maybe its because I grew up in New York
and I'm a diehard New Yorker so I feel very comfortable walking those
streets. Although I'm probably in a bit of denial about all the
dangerous things that could happen while we're filming. Sometimes you
walk up to someone that looks completely normal and it turns out they
are completely insane. The opposite is also true, and therein lies the
beauty of New York City, and how unpredictable and hopefully funny the
show can be. And sometimes those crazy people in the background are my
favorite part!
If you did an elevator pitch of your
interviewing personality, fill in the blanks: "Billy Eichner on Billy
on the Street is a marriage of ___ and _____."
Cash
Cab and Adderall.
Have you ever contemplated taking
the show to another city? If so, where would you go?
Yes!
At some point I would love to do special episodes in other cities. I get
tweets from people all over the country asking us to come shoot in
their town. It would be great to go to Chicago, Vegas, Miami, maybe
Dallas? Maybe the Bible Belt? Maybe the set of Parenthood? I
want to go everywhere! I had a blast shooting in Indianapolis during the
Super Bowl for the Conan show so I'm dying to go to other cities ASAP!
I
loved the footage of you at the
Super Bowl--how did you come to shoot that for Conan?
That
was an insane experience. I had done the Conan show once before just as
a regular guest and the next day they called and asked if I'd go cover
the Super Bowl for them. It was very surreal - we were on the field
during the Super Bowl and the Madonna halftime show. I doubt I'll ever
be on the field at the Super Bowl again so that really blew my mind. And
Conan and all the folks who work there are incredibly nice as well as
insanely funny. As one of my grandparents would've said if they weren't
all totally dead, "it was quite something!"
Who are some
people who you'd love to see host the Oscars?
Hmmm...its a
really tough job. I think Tina Fey would be fantastic. Neil Patrick
Harris, Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers, Wanda Sykes. Also Barney Frank,
Carrie Underwood, the Braxtons, my ass and the Annoying Orange.
What's been the biggest pop culture-related argument
you've gotten into recently?
Well I'm becoming a little
obsessed with the show Smash and that show gets people pretty
riled up over how amazing and/or hideous it can be, so I find myself
talking about Smash a lot. I feel like Debra Messing may be going off
the deep end and I'm pretty excited by that possibility.
Who
are some artists/celebs/comics who you feel are completely underrated?
Kat Von D is a major talent.
Just
as a fan and not necessarily as a colleague, who are some of your
favorite standup comedians?
There are many of course...Chris
Rock, Wanda Sykes, Louis CK, Joan Rivers, Patton Oswalt are just a few
that come to mind. And there are many in the next generation of
superstars that I love. People like Paul
F. Tompkins, Rob Delaney, Julie
Klausner (not a traditional stand up per se but totally brilliant),
Kristen Schaal, Bridget
Everett, etc that I always love. And many more than that of course.
I
first became aware of you when
Julie Klausner interviewed you on How Was Your Week so I'm
going to ask you a question she asked you back then, to bring things
full-circle: who are you rooting for on Celebrity Apprentice?
I
think it will come down to Lisa Lampanelli vs. Debbie Gibson and I
think Lisa will win by stabbing Debbie Gibson in the makeup.
How
does it feel to be the 308th person interviewed for Zulkey.com/WBEZ?
Well
I'm answering these questions while on a long flight, so it feels pretty
nauseating and claustrophobic.