My interview with Billy Eichner

Billy Eichner is best known for essentially screaming at people on the comedy game show Billy on the Street as he runs around with celebrities like Paul Rudd, Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler.

He may be a scream on screen but in real life, the 37-year-old out actor is far more subdued.

‘It’s a character, it’s a persona that I slip into,’ he tells me. ‘It’s a very unusual thing to do and it’s actually not in my nature to be that way or anything close to it. But, somehow I created it and I do it. it works and I do it.’

Another character he plays is that of Billy Epstein on Hulu’s Difficult People which began premieres the first of its season two episodes today.

Eichner and real-life pal Julie Klausner play two struggling and jaded New York comedians who pretty much hate everyone but each other.

That Billy too is different from real-life Billy.

‘There are aspects of me in it but I would say the Billy character on Difficult People is much less self aware, probably not as confident and has been less proactive than I always was about work especially,’ Eichner says.

He’s happy with the growth his cynical character has in season two.

‘I really get to evolve,’ Eichner says. ‘We are kind of filling him out a little bit. His arc in season 2 is not so much about getting successful in show business as it is looking for a relationship. Something happens in the first episode of the new season which sends him into a panic about his personal life and we kind of go from there.

‘That’s really cool because I think we are showing dating in a real present, of the moment way in terms of the apps and this and that. being single now is very different than it used to be. There’s a lot of good comedy stuff in there and also some serious stuff.’

While his Difficult People alter-ego has yet to make it big in showbiz, Eichner is doing pretty well for himself.

In addition to two hit shows, he appeared in the recent big screen films Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and The Angry Birds Movie and played the role of Craig Middlebrooks on the late, great NBC comedy Parks & Recreation.