Billy Eichner has earned a bit of fame for his “Billy on the Street” videos, in which he hysterically questions/insults/yells at random people before rushing on to the next victim. The videos air on Fuse TV and stream on Funny or Die.
On Monday, Eichner stepped to a whole new level when he video-bombed the Godforsaken Emmys on NBC with the show’s single funniest segment — a special edition of his “For a Dollar” bit, where he quizzes strangers in his usual aggressive manner.
It was a big-time, network-size reckoning for Eichner, who’s been on the cusp for close to 10 years now — and there was even a time when he sang (as opposed to just getting in people’s faces).
A lucky few remember Eichner’s live show, “Creation Nation,” which he performed in pretty much every room that would have him in the mid- to late ’00s.
He scored a MAC Award (from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) back in 2006, accepting with a jolly ditty about the sad, pathetic horror of being single.
Around the same time, Eichner scored one of his first (modest) viral sensations with “Jen’s Vlog”. And some are still traumatized by his Yiddish-language cover of Rihanna’s “Disturbia” at the very first installment of the cult live music series “Our Hit Parade” in 2008.
Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be video evidence, though you can still enjoy Eichner’s later tribute to New Kids on the Block’s “You Got It (The Right Stuff)”.
Eichner’s been doing the man-on-the-street shtick for so long now that he’s gotten really, really good at it — and others have noticed, like Conan O’Brien. The Madonna Super Bowl video is still priceless: “I’m on the field, Conan . . . gonna talk to the players . . . Madonna, Kelly Clarkson . . . oh my Goooood! Oh my Gooood! Vogue, motherf–kers, vogue!!!”
Lately Eichner’s been getting celebrities to tag along on his street cruises. They tend to be stunned into semisilence, though few have looked more hilariously frazzled as Debra Messing in the classic “It’s Debra Messing, You Gay?” segment.
Yet Eichner is at his best facing off with regular people, just because he clearly doesn’t dare push his special brand of campy hostility into his celeb pals’ faces.
In that respect the clear winner remains the heated argument (“You are so wrong, honey! He doesn’t do musicals! My head is going to explode!”) with a random woman about whether or not Denzel Washington starred in “The Phantom of the Opera”.
By the end, you’re questioning your own sanity.