“Everyone’s life experience is different.”
― Billy Eichner
“I do take for granted, probably, the fact that I grew up in New York City, one of the most liberal places on earth, with bleeding-heart, liberal parents who took me to see ‘Rent’ and Terrence McNally plays from a very young age.”
― Billy Eichner
“If you’re faking it, people will know, and it’s going to turn a lot of people off.”
― Billy Eichner
“I like good movies, and I love theater, and things that I grew up loving, I still love.”
― Billy Eichner
“Our new vice president, Mike Pence, is one of the most blatantly anti-LGBT politicians in the country, and most, if not all, of Trump’s cabinet is anti LGBT equality as well.”
― Billy Eichner
“I always turn to Wendy Williams when there’s any type of ethical or moral crisis in our country.”
― Billy Eichner
“I grew up watching ‘Saturday Night Live.’”
― Billy Eichner
“If you really think you have something good, you can’t take no for an answer. You’ve got to get in there and ignore the people who say no.”
― Billy Eichner
“I was very much an only child who was raised by the television and movies, and I grew up in New York. We weren’t, like, rich people, but we were middle-class people and my parents supported this love I had for entertainment.”
― Billy Eichner
“I thought I was going to be like Kevin Spacey in college.”
― Billy Eichner
“I came back to New York after college like any number of struggling performers, and you just find that niche where you can have some sort of impact. And for me that turned out to be comedy.”
― Billy Eichner
“I would not have a career without Facebook and Twitter. That’s the truth.”
― Billy Eichner
“Every actor-performer says this, and it sounds so irritating, but I’m not the most outgoing person.”
― Billy Eichner
“I thought it would be funny to go to my Korean dry cleaner and ask her about my head shot, as if it’s the most important thing in the world, and as if it’s something that everyone should weigh on because it’s important to me.”
― Billy Eichner
“For some reasons, I have WWE wrestlers tweeting me all the time. Like, my biggest fans. Why they can connect with my love for Meryl Streep, I don’t know.”
― Billy Eichner
“There have been man-on-the-street interviews for years, but insulting people is not that funny to me.”
― Billy Eichner
“A lot of comics aren’t their on-screen personas; Chris Rock isn’t always ranting and raving. What I do is make myself this over-the-top character that people either find endearing or they think is a joke. Then I can do anything I want.”
― Billy Eichner
“A lot of people in Hollywood, and everywhere pretty much, operate on fear. No one wants to get fired, so everyone’s scared to take a chance. There’s money involved, and there are careers and reputations on the line.”
― Billy Eichner
“Facebook is weird. They have all of these seemingly random rules that I’m sure make sense to them, but don’t make sense to me or any people.”
― Billy Eichner
“People come up to me all the time and say, ‘I just found out about you!’ Part of me is happy, and part of me is, like, Where the hell have you been?’”
― Billy Eichner
“I was a terrible waiter.”
― Billy Eichner
“I grew up worshipping Pee-wee Herman.”
― Billy Eichner
“No one was asking me to be on TV. So I made my own late-night TV talk show.”
― Billy Eichner
“There is no way I will survive Mike Pence doing Carpool Karaoke. What song’s he gonna sing? ‘I Deported Your Grandmother?’”
― Billy Eichner
“One thing that I love about ‘Difficult People’ is that Julie Klausner and our showrunner, Scott King, have written the lead character I play as a fully formed man.”
― Billy Eichner
“People saw ‘Moonlight’ because it was excellent.”
― Billy Eichner
“Saying gay people shouldn’t be the punchline is basically saying don’t make people the punch line, which I think is ridiculous. The whole point of comedy is, on some level, to make fun of ourselves and put everything into an absurdist context.”
― Billy Eichner
“It’s not enough for Hollywood to make a bunch of gay movies. That’s obviously a big part of the equation, but then gay people have to show up for those movies.”
― Billy Eichner
“I took the Oscars very seriously as a child.”
― Billy Eichner
“I loved all awards shows growing up, but of course, the Oscars was the biggest one.”
― Billy Eichner
“All I wanted to do as a kid was go to the post-Oscar parties I was seeing on ‘Entertainment Tonight.’”
― Billy Eichner
“I grew up in New York, so I had a lot of access to all kinds of movies, and I would handwrite reviews of them on loose-leaf paper.”
― Billy Eichner
“I’m on all the apps: Tinder, Grindr, Bumble, Scruff. I have no shame about that.”
― Billy Eichner
“I’m not a bro.”
― Billy Eichner
“People going off on politics on Grindr is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. That’s an immediate sign to run in the other direction.”
― Billy Eichner
“I haven’t done many commercials, and I’m very picky about it because it comes down to creative control.”
― Billy Eichner
“I don’t want to do something that’s watered down. I don’t want to take what I’m known for and dilute it.”
― Billy Eichner
“If a comedian has a strong following, and the branded segment feels different compared to what you typically do, people will know right away that it’s not authentic to who you are as a comedian or performer. Brands need to keep that in mind.”
― Billy Eichner
“One of the first big agencies that represented me, my point person there – this was over 10 years ago, so it’s no one who I work with now or have worked with recently – but he told me that I was too ambitious.”
― Billy Eichner
“You don’t want to really pick on someone that you genuinely like. In terms of ‘Billy on the Street,’ there are certain actors – I don’t care if they find out because I do feel that way. Though it’s almost never about appearance or something out of their control. I pick on choices they’ve made or roles they’ve taken.”
― Billy Eichner
“All that social media hyperbole is just so fake.”
― Billy Eichner
“Anytime you’re the creative force behind something and in front of the camera – we’re not complaining, but it is an avalanche of work.”
― Billy Eichner
“I did a live late-night talk show called ‘Creation Nation’ with friends of mine. I had a sidekick and a band, and I wrote the whole thing. And it had the form of a late-night talk show, but we did it on stage because no one was giving me a TV show at the time.”
― Billy Eichner
“The ‘Billy On The Street’ persona is truly inspired by who I was as a child – obviously not having an adult perspective on the world.”
― Billy Eichner
“I would watch the Oscars and every award show with my parents. I would make lists of who was going to win. I’d be doing Oscar predictions months ahead of time, and not only for the Oscars, for the Grammys. This is just what excited me as a kid.”
― Billy Eichner
“Award shows are fun but completely arbitrary and absurd. And yet, I will watch every single one of them.”
― Billy Eichner
“The streets of New York are diverse, but when you go into a Broadway show, unless Denzel Washington is in it, or Fantasia’s in it, it’s a lot of old white people and gay men.”
― Billy Eichner
“Our pop cultural likes and dislikes are still very segregated, and that is not true of ‘Billy on the Street.’”
― Billy Eichner
“There are certain people you’re allowed to pick apart and certain people you’re not.”
― Billy Eichner
“I’ve never even been invited to the GLAAD awards, to sit in the audience. I don’t necessarily care, and I’m sure they will one day, and it will be fine, but I’ve never been invited to anything like that.”
― Billy Eichner
“’Billy On The Street’ has no doubt always been about the people we talk to. That being said, it thrills me that the show really has a dedicated following in the comedy world.”
― Billy Eichner
“It’s one thing to hear that someone likes your show; it’s a completely different thing to have them come take their time and film something with you on a sidewalk.”
― Billy Eichner
“Even when I was struggling and had horrible day jobs and wanted to be successful but wasn’t finding my way in, I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to keep working at it and keep putting material out there, even if no one was paying me for it.”
― Billy Eichner
“If you’re on TV, you can’t complain, right? And I understand that, and it’s true to a certain degree.”
― Billy Eichner
“Entertainment, Hollywood, award shows – these are the things that really captivated me.”
― Billy Eichner
“We have a whole art department on ‘Billy on the Street.’ We give away dioramas that we’ve made.”
― Billy Eichner
“My mom had a heart attack, and it came out of nowhere – she was 54. My dad had leukemia for about 3 months. He was 80 when he passed. My dad had me later in life, and so he had leukemia and was alive for about 3 months between diagnosis and passing away.”
― Billy Eichner
“It’s been a very strange trajectory because I struggled for so many years. I mean, I was doing these videos, I was doing these live shows, I had a lot of fans in New York, the press would write about me, but I couldn’t get a paying job, and so my father and I were really like a team.”
― Billy Eichner
“I learned early on that ‘Billy on the Street’ is a great lesson in ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’”
― Billy Eichner
“Things pop out of people’s mouths that you wouldn’t expect them to say, so I’ve stopped trying to guess ahead of time who might be interesting to talk to.”
― Billy Eichner
“I grew up in Queens, which is the most diverse borough: the rich and the poor and homeless and people of every sexual orientation and gender and age group. Everyone is saying we live in this bubble, and there’s some truth to that. But I do not think it is healthy to all of a sudden invalidate the way we live in New York.”
― Billy Eichner
“I don’t mean to sound like a Pollyanna, but for me, New York is the ideal because of the diversity here. ‘Billy on the Street’ is really informed by that.”
― Billy Eichner
“I’m a very outside-the-box kind of guy.”
― Billy Eichner
“No one puts higher expectations on themselves than I do.”
― Billy Eichner
“I did start out as an actor. I went to Northwestern; I did musicals. I did plays.”
― Billy Eichner
“’Billy on the Street’ is the hardest thing that I will ever do.”
― Billy Eichner
“Usually, you’ll have a show like the ‘King of Queens,’ and there’ll be one really fat guy, but at least he has a beautiful wife – they balance it out.”
― Billy Eichner
“It’s always really funny to watch someone who really wants something who isn’t getting it but who’s desperate for it.”
― Billy Eichner
“When I came out to my parents, I knew that they knew. My father was like, ‘Are you sure?’ I literally said, ‘You took me to see Barbra Streisand at Madison Square Garden.’”
― Billy Eichner
“I loved ‘Solid Gold!’”
― Billy Eichner
“I came out to my parents when I was a junior in college. And it was pretty fine. They were more concerned with why I wasn’t dating anyone. But now I’m 36, and I still don’t date anyone.”
― Billy Eichner
“I have a vivid memory of loving Keith Hernandez, the first baseman for the ’86 Mets. I grew up in Queens, so when the Mets won the World Series that year, it was a big deal.”
― Billy Eichner
“I don’t think my voice has changed very much when it comes to things that I create. It’s just my perspective, my point of view, and I guess that really hasn’t changed very much. Luckily, it hasn’t had to change in order for me to work.”
― Billy Eichner
“You grow older, you evolve.”
― Billy Eichner
“Society would be a lot better if people watched Hulu’s original programming and not just ‘Mozart in the Jungle,’ which everyone is watching, apparently.”
― Billy Eichner
“Society would be better off if Billy Eichner started getting more dramatic work.”
― Billy Eichner
“I’m smart enough to know I shouldn’t be behind the wheel.”
― Billy Eichner
“My favorite Tyler Perry movie? Ugh, how can you decide? For me, it’s basically like: Kurosawa, Tyler Perry, Martin Scorsese, in that order.”
― Billy Eichner
“I did see one Tyler Perry movie in the theater. My friends and I went to see, I believe it was, ‘Why Did I Get Married?’”
― Billy Eichner
“I have this ongoing obsession with Meryl Streep.”
― Billy Eichner
“I would never be a contestant on my own show. I would never speak to me, and I’d never sign the release.”
― Billy Eichner
“I can be a bit of a nervous flyer.”
― Billy Eichner
“I do not like not having Wi-Fi in general, but certainly not on a plane. I fall apart.”
― Billy Eichner
“I am Jewish, but I love Christmas, as most Jews with any taste do, because Hanukkah is lame.”
― Billy Eichner
“I’ve actually enjoyed my time in L.A. more than a New Yorker is supposed to.”
― Billy Eichner
“If you’re pretty, you want to be ugly. If you’re loud, you want to play quiet. You always want to challenge people’s expectations.”
― Billy Eichner
“I just love Stephen Colbert. He’s a genius.”
― Billy Eichner
“’Billy on the Street’ is a very exhausting show to do, as you can imagine, but it’s worth it.”
― Billy Eichner
“I just worship Madonna. As, like, a young gay kid growing up in the ’80s and ’90s… I was at the Blond Ambition tour with my parents vogue-ing up in the mezzanine at the Nassau Coliseum.”
― Billy Eichner
“We have to remain vigilant and loud and stay consistently engaged with our representatives and the political process every single day, on both a macro and micro level.”
― Billy Eichner
“Probably the most common question I get is, ‘Who’s your dream guest?’ That’s kind of annoying because there isn’t one.”
― Billy Eichner
“When I was child, I was intoxicated by celebrities, showbiz and theatre, but from a child’s perspective, where they seem far away.”
― Billy Eichner
“’Billy on the Street’ is a persona. It’s crafted; it has writers. It’s a mixture of performance art and comedy.”
― Billy Eichner
“I had about five years as a gay guy in New York after college before the whole Grindr explosion happened, where people were still going out to meet each other.”
― Billy Eichner
“The mainstream needs Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O’Donnell. The mainstream needs RuPaul.”
― Billy Eichner
“I was like a fat, sweaty kid growing up in Queens who just was plopped down in front of ‘Entertainment Tonight’ by my parents.”
― Billy Eichner
“Amy Poehler and I once ambushed people and made them sing Christmas carols with us.”
― Billy Eichner
“I think there’s a fear once things start to blow up – as the people say – that if you stop for a second, it will all go away.”
― Billy Eichner
“I think that I am working to remind myself that it’s still my life… you have to enjoy yourself.”
― Billy Eichner
“I think ‘Billy on the Street’ is a big show, but why do a show if you won’t make it original and unique and powerful?”
― Billy Eichner
“You can’t be a great comedian without having self-awareness about others or your own faults. You need a strong sense of self and view on the world. That’s what great actors have, too.”
― Billy Eichner
“Jim Carrey and Steve Carell did dramatic roles. I look up to them. You want a career like that.”
― Billy Eichner
“My father would read me Page Six instead of, like, kids’ stories.”
― Billy Eichner
“I was obsessed with award shows and made charts and graphs and stuff when I was 7 years old. I found the entertainment business hilarious, ridiculous, and alluring – and my parents supported it, for better or worse.”
― Billy Eichner
“There are people who have huge YouTube followings – whose every post gets hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of hits. But I don’t think that’s having the same impact as someone who has a regular presence on television, or both.”
― Billy Eichner
“I like being in my New York bubble. It’s the best bubble!”
― Billy Eichner
“We need to take a breath and find big ways and small ways to get active.”
― Billy Eichner
“If I’m screaming at someone, it’s because I think they’re an idiot.”
― Billy Eichner
“I only scream if screaming is deserved.”
― Billy Eichner
“To me, what the ‘Billy on the Street’ persona is, is me as a 12-year-old.”
― Billy Eichner
“You have to have a sense of humor about all of it – the Emmys and politics and everything.”
― Billy Eichner
“I always want to lead with comedy but hopefully be able to sneak my message through at the same time.”
― Billy Eichner
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