Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Couric and welcome to next question.
Speaker 1: That's right, I'm back with a whole new season, and
Speaker 1: there is truly no one better or more fun to
Speaker 1: start with than Billy Eichner. Everyone's like, are you having fun?
Speaker 1: Having funny? I'm trying. Billy is probably best known for
Speaker 1: creating and hosting the hilarious, random, and sometimes aggressively a
Speaker 1: cerbic show Billy on the Street. It's a Name a Woman,
Speaker 1: Name a woman? Yeah, um, who name a woman? If
Speaker 1: you haven't seen it, it was a cult hit from
Speaker 1: back in the twenty tents, where Billy quizzes unsuspecting strangers
Speaker 1: and sometimes his famous friends around New York City a woman.
Speaker 1: Billy has also appeared in a slew of comedies on
Speaker 1: the small and big screen, including most recently the mere
Speaker 1: cat character Timne in Disney's remake of The Lion King.
Speaker 1: I've got it. What if he's on our side? Hear
Speaker 1: me out, Having a ferocious line around might not be
Speaker 1: such a bad idea. Well, then can we keep him? Yes,
Speaker 1: of course we can keep it. God who is the
Speaker 1: brains of this operation? And now Billy has written and
Speaker 1: stars in the first gay romcomp from a major movie studio.
Speaker 1: This historic boy meets boys story is called Bros. And
Speaker 1: Billy plays the professionally driven but emotionally unavailable Bobby. I
Speaker 1: don't think that his type, because I know he told
Speaker 1: me he likes country music and his favorite singer is
Speaker 1: Garth Brooks. What kind of gamemance is his favorite singer
Speaker 1: is Garth Brooks? That scares me. Plus I see the
Speaker 1: guys he likes, they'll look exactly like him. They're all
Speaker 1: these like big, hot, straight acting dudes. It's just not me.
Speaker 1: Was the top or bottom? What does that have to
Speaker 1: do with anything? Maybe you're both bottoms and that's a problem.
Speaker 1: I'm not always the bottom, Edgar, Oh my god, sex
Speaker 1: was more fun when straight people were uncomfortable with it. Well,
Speaker 1: I am super proud of you, Billy. It is a
Speaker 1: big deal. I know you're feeling the pressure of it too.
Speaker 1: But you know, there have been storylines about gay couples
Speaker 1: and gay dating before I'm thinking about looking right was
Speaker 1: on HBO, and even more in the mainstream. You have
Speaker 1: Modern Family, and there's a whole panoply of shows that
Speaker 1: is kind of that have tackled this. But this is
Speaker 1: a really big deal. This movie, and I want you
Speaker 1: to explain why it is and why it's different than
Speaker 1: the things that have been done before. Well, all of
Speaker 1: those things are All of those shows you mentioned are classics,
Speaker 1: and there are many others too, And there's there's also
Speaker 1: a whole I mean, decades of indie films, UM that
Speaker 1: I grew up watching because that was often the only
Speaker 1: places you would find gay love stories and and really
Speaker 1: the only places you would find gay love stories written
Speaker 1: and directed by other LGBTQ people. UM. And I went
Speaker 1: to see all those movies and movie theaters, and I
Speaker 1: was lucky. I grew up in New York, so I
Speaker 1: had access to them, UM And and Bros. Would not
Speaker 1: be here without all of those happening for for decades.
Speaker 1: You know. That's where like the ground was laid, you know,
Speaker 1: to to lead up to something UM like Bros. Where
Speaker 1: you have a major studio and Universal, you know, the
Speaker 1: same studio that makes these huge franchise films like Jurassic
Speaker 1: Park and Fast and The Theories and Minions and all
Speaker 1: these global phenomenons who are putting their support UM behind
Speaker 1: an R rated romantic comedy about a gay mail couple. Right,
Speaker 1: and not only that, but the entire cast of the movie,
Speaker 1: save for a couple of quick celebrity cameos, everyone is
Speaker 1: an openly l g B t Q actor or actress,
Speaker 1: even in the straight roles, which you really never see.
Speaker 1: Um And I also think that although there are many
Speaker 1: many wonderful l g B t Q centric films and
Speaker 1: TV shows obviously that we've all been watching on streaming
Speaker 1: services for for years, for me, you know, there is
Speaker 1: something that is special about going to the movie theater.
Speaker 1: Um And, I think people have forgotten how much fun
Speaker 1: it is and how magical it is, and how uplifting
Speaker 1: it is to go watch a great romantic comedy in
Speaker 1: a movie theater and straight or gay. We just don't
Speaker 1: get many movies like that anymore. And I grew up
Speaker 1: in the eighties nineties, we had so many great romantic
Speaker 1: comedies and I loved them so much. And those were
Speaker 1: movies that made me fall in love with movies. They
Speaker 1: made me want to be in Hollywood, you know. I
Speaker 1: I Pretty Woman and Moonstruck and When Harry Met Sally
Speaker 1: and Annie Hall and Working Girl and Broadcast News and
Speaker 1: all Nora Ephron movies. I mean, I went to see
Speaker 1: all of them with my parents. I can tell you
Speaker 1: exactly what movie theater I was in for many of them.
Speaker 1: I still remember, you know. And I also went to
Speaker 1: see action movies and superhero movies and all that stuff too,
Speaker 1: I was a kid. But those are the movies that
Speaker 1: really stay with many of us for years, and we
Speaker 1: don't get many of them anymore. We've never gotten many
Speaker 1: of them about a gay couple. And so you know,
Speaker 1: these are the reasons why Bros. Is special, and you know,
Speaker 1: more than your average comedy. You know, it is it
Speaker 1: is an event. It's we haven't gotten something like this.
Speaker 1: And and also on top of it, the main thing
Speaker 1: is that I hope I think it's really funny. You know,
Speaker 1: we we Nick Stoler and Jadapa Tow and I. We
Speaker 1: never sat down and said, let's make a history movie
Speaker 1: or you know, right right break some barriers here. No,
Speaker 1: we didn't even know we were doing that. We didn't
Speaker 1: know who would buy the movie or sell the movie
Speaker 1: or distribute the movie, you know, at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the process, and we just said, let's make a hilarious movie.
Speaker 1: Judd and Nick have a long history of making some
Speaker 1: of the funniest movies of the past twenty Years Bridesmaids
Speaker 1: and four year Old Virgin and Knocked Up and Forgetting
Speaker 1: Sarah Marshall and all these amazing movies that we all love.
Speaker 1: But this one happens to be like that, but about
Speaker 1: a gate couple and with lgbt Q actors, and that's
Speaker 1: really exciting. And so there's a lot about it that
Speaker 1: I think is going to feel new to people while
Speaker 1: also giving them that classic rom com experience that we
Speaker 1: all love. There's so much I want to cover with you, Billy,
Speaker 1: and one of those is why aren't there more rom coms?
Speaker 1: I mean, I know that the movie industry is really
Speaker 1: obsessed with these global blockbusters that can be trained flayed
Speaker 1: it into a lot of languages. My nephews a director,
Speaker 1: and he explained to me a few years ago that's
Speaker 1: why action films are so desirable, because you don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of dialogue and you don't have to translate it,
Speaker 1: and it's not like it's not like, you know, culturally,
Speaker 1: you have to really help people understand sort of the
Speaker 1: nuances of relationships, etcetera. Is that why we just don't
Speaker 1: see that many romcoms now being produced by these big
Speaker 1: movie studios. I think there's probably a few different reasons
Speaker 1: for it. Judd Apataw recently put it best when he said,
Speaker 1: years ago, you had romantic comedies that were big hits,
Speaker 1: you know, including many of his movies, and they would
Speaker 1: make a profit. They would make money when they worked. However,
Speaker 1: somewhere along the way, studios realized on a big franchise film,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't just make a profit. They wouldn't just make
Speaker 1: a hundred million dollars. They could make a billion dollars.
Speaker 1: And then they could make another billion on the sequel,
Speaker 1: and and even more, and the toys into this and that,
Speaker 1: and merchandise, and and like you say, those movies play
Speaker 1: well internationally, like that material is a you know, translates
Speaker 1: more easily maybe, whereas you know, a romantic comedy might
Speaker 1: be culturally specific as as they say. But but I
Speaker 1: maintain that there's nothing wrong with superhero movies. I love
Speaker 1: those two, nothing wrong with big franchise movies, and they're
Speaker 1: keeping the movie going business alive, so we have to
Speaker 1: give them credit for that. However, people have forgotten how
Speaker 1: much fun it is to go to a movie theater
Speaker 1: with your friends or on a date, or even by yourself,
Speaker 1: and just laugh out loud for two hours. And we
Speaker 1: live in such a bleak world. It's such a cynical world.
Speaker 1: And look, I'm a New Yorker, I'm an atom New Yorker.
Speaker 1: I'm cynical. But we need movies that make us laugh
Speaker 1: and then make us feel good. You know, Bros. Is
Speaker 1: laugh out loud, funny, and it's really hopeful and it's uplifting.
Speaker 1: It is on It's not like everything so hunky dorry.
Speaker 1: You know, we wanted it to be real, but it
Speaker 1: really leaves you feeling good. It's an emotional experience. And again,
Speaker 1: to see it in a movie theater, there's a unique
Speaker 1: sort of power to that because you really escaped the world.
Speaker 1: It's a communal experience. You get swept away, it's all.
Speaker 1: You're not watching it on two screens, you're not distracted.
Speaker 1: There's that communal aspect that is so fun. When you're
Speaker 1: watching something and with people with complete strangers, you have
Speaker 1: this sense of community and and oneness that is so
Speaker 1: missing in our culture. So I agree with you. I mean,
Speaker 1: I haven't gone too many movie theaters since COVID Billy
Speaker 1: and I miss it. Yeah, And I'm telling you, and
Speaker 1: this is just the truth and it's weird to say
Speaker 1: about my own movie, but you know, we've had a
Speaker 1: ton of test screenings of Bros. Because that's part of
Speaker 1: the process when you're making a major studio film. And
Speaker 1: those test screenings happen in real movie theaters, big multiplexes
Speaker 1: all over the country in New York, l A, Chicago,
Speaker 1: and I went to all of them because I wanted
Speaker 1: to see what the reaction was, and especially for the
Speaker 1: first few, because I hadn't gone back to the movies
Speaker 1: a lot at that point. This was earlier this year.
Speaker 1: I even for me, I had forgotten how much fun
Speaker 1: it is, you know, to to see a movie like
Speaker 1: this and laugh with other people. You know, we're so
Speaker 1: used to watching things alone in our house, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of great things to watch alone in your house,
Speaker 1: but it is it's not the same experience. One doesn't
Speaker 1: negate the other. But this, it is a magical thing
Speaker 1: to go and sit in the dark and be swept
Speaker 1: away by a movie like this and people leave and
Speaker 1: they just feel good. You know, It's it's just it's
Speaker 1: a different type of experience. It's it's unique, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's why people go to the theater even you know,
Speaker 1: it's there's something bigger than life about it and what
Speaker 1: And this is gonna sound a little cheesy, but it
Speaker 1: really has been my experience watching Bros. When you're watching
Speaker 1: a movie at home and even on the biggest flat
Speaker 1: screen TV, you kind of lose that childlike sense of
Speaker 1: wonder that you have when you can get lost in
Speaker 1: the movies in the movie theater, you know, and stare
Speaker 1: up at the big screen. And that's the experience that
Speaker 1: we really wanted to give people in addition to making
Speaker 1: them laugh a lot. And I have to believe that
Speaker 1: people still want that experience. You know, Before we get
Speaker 1: too far into Billy's current successes, I couldn't help but
Speaker 1: dig into his past more with Billy Eichner right after this,
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, I know your parents are
Speaker 1: no longer with us, but even reading about you, Billy,
Speaker 1: I fell in love with your mom and dad, because
Speaker 1: it sounds as if you grew up in such a
Speaker 1: happy household. It sounds as if your parents were so
Speaker 1: much fun. They took you to all these movies. They
Speaker 1: took you to see Barbra streisand they took you to Broadway.
Speaker 1: I guess somebody gave them a hard time about your
Speaker 1: dad about taking you to a Madonna concert. And somebody
Speaker 1: basically he said, it just very matter of factly, she's
Speaker 1: a she's a great performer. Right. And and this was
Speaker 1: in Forest Hills, New York. You were you were born
Speaker 1: in ninety eight, And they sound as if they were
Speaker 1: just completely and utterly supportive of you in every way. Um.
Speaker 1: And and it made me wonder did they know sort
Speaker 1: of immediately or did they get the sense that because
Speaker 1: everything I've read about you, Billy, there hasn't been like
Speaker 1: a moment where you said mom and dad, I'm gay
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Was that just something that they
Speaker 1: sensed and accepted from the get go, or how did
Speaker 1: that enter the whole sort of dynamic of your family. Well,
Speaker 1: I did have to come out to them as everyone,
Speaker 1: you know, as as you usually do, even though I
Speaker 1: I had a feeling he knew I was gay from
Speaker 1: a young age. Um, but you still have to come out,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I guess you don't have to,
Speaker 1: But well, you know, I didn't know. They seemed so cool.
Speaker 1: They might have even said, hey, are you know, Billy,
Speaker 1: we we have this you know idea that you might
Speaker 1: be gay and that's cool with us, do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's funny that you say that, Katie,
Speaker 1: because the way I came out to my parents, it
Speaker 1: was they were so supportive, and look, it was I
Speaker 1: had a very happy childhood. Of course, they were human
Speaker 1: beings and they were flawed, and it wasn't perfect by
Speaker 1: any means, but um, when it came to me, they
Speaker 1: really loved me so unconditionally and especially knowing. And this
Speaker 1: is back in the eighties. It wasn't necessarily the norm
Speaker 1: for the parents of a child who seemed like he
Speaker 1: was most likely a gay kid to just have that
Speaker 1: unconditional love without hesitation, you know. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think people remember how different it was back then. You know,
Speaker 1: it's almost shocking when you think about it. But you know,
Speaker 1: certainly for me growing up Billy, and then even for
Speaker 1: you in the eighties and nineties, it was a very
Speaker 1: different culture. It was. And I remember I was a
Speaker 1: child in New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic,
Speaker 1: so which as a child, of course, I only could
Speaker 1: understand to a certain degree. And this was long before
Speaker 1: I was saying I was gay. But my parents certainly
Speaker 1: understood it, um, And you know, I'm sure they had
Speaker 1: fears around that in terms of my gainness at that time,
Speaker 1: but even so, they they never put a stigma on it,
Speaker 1: you know. Um, of course they wanted me to be happy,
Speaker 1: and they were worried for any number of reasons, you know,
Speaker 1: about my well being. But um, they were so great,
Speaker 1: and I really think that they're the reason why a
Speaker 1: movie like Rose can happen for me personally, and why
Speaker 1: maybe not specifically this movie, but there why I was
Speaker 1: able to stick with it for so long, you know,
Speaker 1: especially in the lean years. You know. My mom died
Speaker 1: when I was twenty, about six months after I came
Speaker 1: out to her. Um, she was just fifty four and
Speaker 1: she had a heart attack. And that was so young.
Speaker 1: I was. I was, I was really young. And getting
Speaker 1: back to your story though about coming out, which happened
Speaker 1: for me, Like I said, I think it was, yeah,
Speaker 1: about six months before she died, Um, she they came
Speaker 1: out to I went to Northwestern. I was a theater major, UM,
Speaker 1: and I did a lot of musicals and they came
Speaker 1: to see me. I was playing Mr Mushnik in a
Speaker 1: Little Shop of Horrors, which is not even the lead
Speaker 1: and they still flew from New York to see me
Speaker 1: in it. Um. And we went to dinner the next
Speaker 1: night in Evanston, Illinois, where Northwestern is, and out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: my mom, out of nowhere said, so are you dating
Speaker 1: anyone boy? Girl? Whatever? And that was and I said,
Speaker 1: I remember looking down being like, oh god, here we go.
Speaker 1: Here we go at the Davis Street Fish Market, which
Speaker 1: is the restaurant we reading and um, and I said, no, Mom,
Speaker 1: I'm on dating anyone. And then we were going home
Speaker 1: from that dinner and I my dad was driving me
Speaker 1: back to my apartment and I said, okay, pull over,
Speaker 1: and I see he did, and I said, as it
Speaker 1: turns out I'm gay and um, and they say, knocked
Speaker 1: me over with a feather. No, you know, they said,
Speaker 1: it was an emotional moment even when you all know,
Speaker 1: it's still like there's such a weight being lifted off
Speaker 1: of my shoulders that has probably been carried around for years,
Speaker 1: you know. And at one point I did say to them,
Speaker 1: I was like, guys, like you know you knew right,
Speaker 1: you know. I was like, you took me to Barber
Speaker 1: Streisang concerts and you need a bet mid a radio
Speaker 1: city music all and it took me to every Madonna
Speaker 1: concert and my father, classic Jaikener said, we discussed the possibility.
Speaker 1: Um um. But they were great. And then he I
Speaker 1: do have a half brother who I didn't really grow
Speaker 1: up with, but my dad's first child from his first marriage,
Speaker 1: and and you know, we are in each other's lives,
Speaker 1: but he was older than me, so we didn't grow
Speaker 1: up together. And my dad's next question was, is your
Speaker 1: brother gay? And I said, no, he's not gay at all.
Speaker 1: But my brother had It was the late nineties, and
Speaker 1: he was he was a photographer and he had dyed
Speaker 1: his hair peroxye blonde just to be like hip, you know,
Speaker 1: and my dad and my dad said, as your brother
Speaker 1: gay And I said, no, Dad, Steve is not gay.
Speaker 1: And he said he died as hip blonde. And I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, that's not that's not a reason he
Speaker 1: might be gay. Um. And and they were and then
Speaker 1: from then on they were great and um and then yeah,
Speaker 1: my mom died six months after that, and but my dad.
Speaker 1: I did have an older dad's so he died about
Speaker 1: ten years ago, but he was eighty already. He had
Speaker 1: me later in life. He was older than my mom. Um,
Speaker 1: but even my dad, you know, because I was in
Speaker 1: my early thirties at that point, and I kept having
Speaker 1: brushes with success, like I kept you know, I would
Speaker 1: get a pilot, but I wouldn't get picked up, or
Speaker 1: you know, it was I was getting close but no cigar,
Speaker 1: and everyone was telling me, I'm so talented and this
Speaker 1: and that, and it's going to happen. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's cute in your twenties, and in your thirties
Speaker 1: you start to worry, right, And my dad did start
Speaker 1: to worry more too. But even when he was worried,
Speaker 1: he always he always, at the end of the day said,
Speaker 1: you have to keep going, you have to stick with it.
Speaker 1: He just really believed in me. And it must be
Speaker 1: pretty bitter sweet too. You know, here you've got this
Speaker 1: major movie release happening, and um, you know, you must
Speaker 1: wish that they could be here to celebrate with you.
Speaker 1: I wish they were here. I'd love to meet them
Speaker 1: they were, Yes, of course I do. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just you know it it's comforting to know, though,
Speaker 1: I mean, you can dwell on the sad part of it, um,
Speaker 1: but but honestly, whenever I think about them, I you know,
Speaker 1: not that I'm not sad, because of course I am,
Speaker 1: and I wish they were here to to see all
Speaker 1: of this, but I'm just feel so lucky, you know,
Speaker 1: like as as an adult, I have even more of
Speaker 1: an a you know, I was like a kid, and
Speaker 1: you know, didn't always appreciate it all and I was
Speaker 1: just like moms their away from me and all that,
Speaker 1: you know, as a teenager and all that. But looking back,
Speaker 1: like I always think, God, I'm so lucky, and and
Speaker 1: the reason for all of my success, fundamentally it is
Speaker 1: how supportive they were, um and how much they encouraged me.
Speaker 1: And that's really the reason I was. I was able
Speaker 1: to hold on for so long and get to this moment.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about your early career because,
Speaker 1: as you said, it took you a to get your mojo,
Speaker 1: and you weren't really bullied. I know that you've said
Speaker 1: it's because you were tall and kind of an imposing guy,
Speaker 1: and you know, you didn't face a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of I don't think it sounds like it people
Speaker 1: being mean. Yes, there was the occasional comment here and there,
Speaker 1: but but as you started to go into show business
Speaker 1: and after you graduated from Northwestern you found there were
Speaker 1: some pretty significant obstacles for a young gay man trying
Speaker 1: to make it in the entertainment business. What what were
Speaker 1: those exactly, Billy, Yeah, it's interesting. Um, Again, I was
Speaker 1: lucky as a kid. There were comments, and there were
Speaker 1: bullies and things, but it never got too extreme, and
Speaker 1: for some reason I was always able to shake it off. Again,
Speaker 1: probably had a lot to do with my parents, I
Speaker 1: was going to say, yeah, and also the culture I
Speaker 1: was exposed to at the time, and the fact that
Speaker 1: I grew up in New York City. So even though
Speaker 1: forest Tails not exactly excuse me, Queens is a borrow
Speaker 1: New York City, all right, Um, but my but my
Speaker 1: parents would take me into the city as we called
Speaker 1: it all the time, and we would go into Manhattan
Speaker 1: and and you know, I think that that exposed me
Speaker 1: to so much that I could shake off, you know,
Speaker 1: the bully at my local school, because I knew there
Speaker 1: was a much bigger world out there for me. Um. However,
Speaker 1: interestingly enough, it's when I got into that bigger world,
Speaker 1: specifically Hollywood and the entertainment industry in my twenties, as
Speaker 1: I started to develop a fan base and TV execs
Speaker 1: were coming to see my live comedy show in New York,
Speaker 1: and that's where the Billy on the Street videos started
Speaker 1: as part of that show, and and I was getting
Speaker 1: a lot of attention. But that's also the place where
Speaker 1: I really experienced homophobia for the first time in my life.
Speaker 1: It was professionally, you know, it wasn't physical, you know,
Speaker 1: one was beating me up physically, But there were the
Speaker 1: things that people said, overt things, more subtle things. There
Speaker 1: was a TV executive when we first sold Billy on
Speaker 1: the Street at the first cable network it was on,
Speaker 1: which was a very obscure network. But um, I wrote
Speaker 1: this silly little Billy on the Street jingle for it,
Speaker 1: and to this day, like the fans sing the song
Speaker 1: and it's like, you know, it's a silly little thing,
Speaker 1: but it started with a whistle that I guess kind
Speaker 1: of sounded a little disco ee. And the executive said
Speaker 1: to me, you know that can't be your theme song.
Speaker 1: This isn't logo and logo being the gay network, and
Speaker 1: and and but I mean little things like that. It
Speaker 1: was just so annoying to have to fight those battles.
Speaker 1: But then bigger things where I had a manager in
Speaker 1: two thousand six, very successful manager, UM, a straight woman
Speaker 1: in New York City who had a lot of Broadway clients,
Speaker 1: you know, a very which is obviously as a you know,
Speaker 1: as a ton of LGBT p Q folks in that community.
Speaker 1: And and she said to me, and I'm she considered
Speaker 1: herself a very gay friendly person and an ally and
Speaker 1: an advocate, but she wanted me to be able to
Speaker 1: really break through in a mainstream way. And she said
Speaker 1: to me, can you make your show a little less
Speaker 1: gay this month, because I'm bringing agents from William Morris,
Speaker 1: you know. And I had there was an executive at
Speaker 1: Comedy Central back then. Back then there were two huge
Speaker 1: platforms to try to break through as a comedian on
Speaker 1: tv SNL obviously and Comedy Central. Right these are the
Speaker 1: days of The Daily Show with John Steward and on
Speaker 1: The Colbert Show. And you know, if you got a
Speaker 1: show on Comedy Central, you could really go to the
Speaker 1: next level. And I went in and pitched a show
Speaker 1: to Comedy Central where I was going to be playing
Speaker 1: a gay man. And um, the head of Comedy Central
Speaker 1: at that time, who always claimed to be a big
Speaker 1: fan of mine, said, well, I think you're hilarious. I
Speaker 1: think you're brilliant in his words. We obviously can't do
Speaker 1: that here, but I think you should go to Bravo
Speaker 1: and you'll have a home run, right, because Bravo being
Speaker 1: at that time the net was one of the only
Speaker 1: networks that you know, regularly had gayman on. But but
Speaker 1: they didn't do comedy, and they didn't do scripted comedy,
Speaker 1: and they didn't do anything is subversive that I you know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't trying to do a reality show. Literally, Oh
Speaker 1: you're gay, go to the gay ghetto on Bravo and
Speaker 1: maybe they'll have you because I'm not going to right.
Speaker 1: And it was stuff like that all the time. You
Speaker 1: were able to break through, really, Billy, I mean you obviously,
Speaker 1: as you said, you had some chances and some opportunities,
Speaker 1: but nothing that kind of catapulted you into the public
Speaker 1: eye like Billy on the Street. Really, and and I
Speaker 1: think I was thinking about this. I wonder if the
Speaker 1: media landscape hadn't changed and you weren't able to do this. Um,
Speaker 1: I guess you did it on YouTube originally, right, and
Speaker 1: then it was picked up by a streamer. But you know,
Speaker 1: do you ever wonder gosh, if there hadn't been this
Speaker 1: revolution in media, if disintermediation, going direct to consumers, without
Speaker 1: all these gate keepers and without the people you just
Speaker 1: described kind of saying, go to Bravo. If if you
Speaker 1: would have been given an opportunity, it's almost like the
Speaker 1: market gave you the opportunity. Those executives be damned. That's
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. I I mean, look, the Internet, social
Speaker 1: media are greatest double edged sword, right so you know
Speaker 1: it'll make you, it'll break you, um, sometimes within the
Speaker 1: same week. But for me, ultimately, I would not have
Speaker 1: a career without YouTube and originally Facebook, you know which,
Speaker 1: before Instagram and Twitter and TikTok, there was Facebook, and
Speaker 1: that's where you were posting your videos and people would
Speaker 1: share your videos. Um. Because that allowed for the democratization
Speaker 1: of entertainment. And for so many years, even fans of mine,
Speaker 1: like agents and executives who I knew, loved me and
Speaker 1: thought I was so funny, and they would come to
Speaker 1: my shows voluntarily just as fans, but they would never
Speaker 1: give me a job. And I had in their minds
Speaker 1: I was to this. I was too that, I was
Speaker 1: too gay. I was to New York. I was too smart,
Speaker 1: I was too loud, I was too edgy, all of
Speaker 1: these I'm to this and too that, you know. And
Speaker 1: they were scared because I was new, because I was different,
Speaker 1: and I was bold and I was unapologetic. Um. And
Speaker 1: what it took was me putting my own work online.
Speaker 1: And then you know, those early Billy on the Street videos,
Speaker 1: they would get hundreds of thousands of views than millions
Speaker 1: of views. And I could look at I could look
Speaker 1: at the executives and say, look, this is this is
Speaker 1: people people like me. They like me, like me, they
Speaker 1: really like me. And it's not just gay men in Manhattan, okay,
Speaker 1: Like these are people watching Billy on the Street clips
Speaker 1: all over the world, straight people, gay people, everyone. It's
Speaker 1: They're united not by being part of a particular demographic.
Speaker 1: They're just united by the fact that they think I'm funny.
Speaker 1: It's a shared comedic sensibility more than it is anything else.
Speaker 1: That's all that matters. Funny is funny, people want to laugh.
Speaker 1: Comedy is subjective. Of course, Billy on the Street was
Speaker 1: never for everyone, but boy, the people that love it
Speaker 1: really really love it. And mean now, even years later,
Speaker 1: the clips are more popular on TikTok ever been before.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are clips billion the street, clips on
Speaker 1: TikTok which have millions and millions of views. I don't
Speaker 1: even post them. It's fans posting them. And there are
Speaker 1: probably there are absolutely kids watching those clips on TikTok
Speaker 1: who were not born when I first did it. So
Speaker 1: it's just amazing that, you know, the executives, they put
Speaker 1: up so many obstacles, they were so scared of me
Speaker 1: for being different. And yet even all these years later,
Speaker 1: Billy on the Streets still and more popular than it's
Speaker 1: ever been, and still continues to be the thing that
Speaker 1: allows a movie like Bros. To happen. Did you have
Speaker 1: a favorite episode? I have a few favorites. I mean
Speaker 1: there are so many. UM. I love um singing Christmas
Speaker 1: carols with Amy Poehler and people on the streets. So
Speaker 1: do you want to send Christmas carols to me and
Speaker 1: Amy Poehler for a dollar? For a dollar? Yes, here
Speaker 1: we go. Check the holly fall? No no no, no, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: chance the season to your be jolly. Don we now
Speaker 1: orel Let's go ahead and let it go. Let's go
Speaker 1: don't know he didn't know. We once took Julianne Moore
Speaker 1: the Times Square and had her recreate some of her
Speaker 1: classic monologues to tourists as if she was like Spider Man,
Speaker 1: you know, like one of those guys roaming her mound
Speaker 1: Time Square. It was really funny. And then I'm not
Speaker 1: just saying this, Katie, because you're in it, but I
Speaker 1: promise you I say this to people all the time. Um.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a typical billy on the Street segment, but
Speaker 1: when we did my version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,
Speaker 1: but very billy on the street version of it, and
Speaker 1: you were so gracious to come and be my co
Speaker 1: host the way you co hosted on TV all those years,
Speaker 1: the real parade, Like all of the balloons she'll see
Speaker 1: in the parade today, the Rooney Mara balloon stands at
Speaker 1: a whoppi six ft tall. That's right, Katie. And you
Speaker 1: know Todd Haynes directed the film Carol. He also directed
Speaker 1: the first film I ever saw gay sex in, and
Speaker 1: that was called Poison Happy Turkey Day, Rooney Mara. It
Speaker 1: is perfect. It is so funny your delivery, and that
Speaker 1: really is I'm not just saying it really is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite ones. But I love doing it. And
Speaker 1: I also happened to look really cute that day, So
Speaker 1: I like watching the clips. What I had a little jaunty,
Speaker 1: little driving cap on. When we come back, Billy teaches
Speaker 1: me a thing or two about gay sex. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: right up to this. I want to get back to
Speaker 1: the film because it's such an important film. It's for
Speaker 1: so many reasons. It's such a big film for you,
Speaker 1: and it's a very real and in some ways, um,
Speaker 1: you know, very honest portrayal of gay relationships, including gay sex. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, sex is part of it. You know,
Speaker 1: it's part of dating. You know. I think straight people
Speaker 1: understand this too. And and look, it's also first and
Speaker 1: foremost all the historic stuff aside. You know, we wanted
Speaker 1: to make an explosively funny movie, the way that Judd
Speaker 1: Apatow has always made movies. You know, they have these
Speaker 1: big explosive scenes of great physical comedy, you know in
Speaker 1: Bridesmaids when they go to the wedding shop, No, no,
Speaker 1: look a way out, look away. I love those, like
Speaker 1: big loud, funny scenes, you know, and Apatow movies are
Speaker 1: known for that. The forty year Old Virgin when he's
Speaker 1: getting his chest wax and right, and forgetting Sarah Marshall
Speaker 1: that classic opening scene, UM where Jason Siegel is totally
Speaker 1: naked and having that fight with his girlfriend. You know,
Speaker 1: it's human and it's real and it's funny, and so
Speaker 1: that's all we wanted to do, you know, And and
Speaker 1: sex gives you so much potential. It's awkward, it's sweet,
Speaker 1: it's funny, it's romantic, um, and it can be a
Speaker 1: little shocking, you know. And this is an R rated comedy,
Speaker 1: you know, this is um, this is for adults. And
Speaker 1: I think those scenes are just honestly, they just felt
Speaker 1: funny to us, Like our focus was always on what's
Speaker 1: funny and also what's romantic and what shouldn't Why shouldn't
Speaker 1: it be in there? I mean, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's part of relationships, it's part of life, and certainly
Speaker 1: is in straight comedies you know, and has been for decades,
Speaker 1: you know, like get gay people. We grow up from
Speaker 1: the second we're conscious. We're watching love stories and comedies
Speaker 1: and romantic comedies about men and women. You know, every
Speaker 1: story is about men and women meeting and dating and
Speaker 1: falling in love, falling out of love and you know, um,
Speaker 1: and I love those stories obviously. Again, I love all
Speaker 1: those romantic comedies, but I thought there was a bit
Speaker 1: of an homage to win Herring that Sally too, when
Speaker 1: you're walking around New York and uh, our Love is
Speaker 1: Here to Stay is playing in the background. I was like,
Speaker 1: that's a little when hearing that's Sally Ish. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we we've got our nods to those romantic comedies. I
Speaker 1: love in there when Harry met Sally and uh, there's
Speaker 1: a scene with You've Got Mail that wet. And also
Speaker 1: I should say Mark Shaman, who wrote the music for Bros.
Speaker 1: Who's the greatest he? I mean, how magical is that
Speaker 1: Mark wrote the score for When Harry Met Sally And
Speaker 1: he wrote the score for Bros. You know, and I
Speaker 1: love Mark. Yeah, Mark's amazing, And the music is so important.
Speaker 1: Every rom com needs a great score, are in a
Speaker 1: great theme song, and we were so lucky to have Mark,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, I mean Bros. Really is a really
Speaker 1: fun mix of things that are kind of more current
Speaker 1: and fun and shocking and things you've never seen before,
Speaker 1: mixed with those timeless classic rom com elements that we
Speaker 1: all love. You know. We were really going for that balance.
Speaker 1: I woke up laughing about you so rudely calling me
Speaker 1: out of my ship. Well you deserved it, bitch, Honestly
Speaker 1: I was impressed. You may be more emotionally unavailable than
Speaker 1: I am. Well, maybe we can be emotionally unavailable together.
Speaker 1: Maybe we can be emotionally unavailable together. Who's writing your texts?
Speaker 1: Maroon five? Funk off kidding? We can go out? Are
Speaker 1: you asking me out? I'm done for whatever? Yeah? Same? Cool?
Speaker 1: Sounds good? So tomorrow or we can do whenever? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can do whenever and I can do whatever. I
Speaker 1: don't care what we do. Yeah, me neither. We can
Speaker 1: do whatever and we can do it whenever. Does that
Speaker 1: work for you? Yeah, that definitely works great, whatever, whenever, cool, whatever, whenever.
Speaker 1: Gift of Michael Scott dancing. That's good office gift. This
Speaker 1: person isn't gay. How much pressure are you feeling and
Speaker 1: how are you managing it? Because you wanted to do well,
Speaker 1: This needs to attract a mainstream audience. You need to
Speaker 1: get what do you call it, butts in the seats?
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about how you're feeling about
Speaker 1: that and the importance of this being successful. Of course,
Speaker 1: I want people to see it. The truth is, we
Speaker 1: really need straight people to go see it. And that's
Speaker 1: very blunt, but that's the honest truth. And and if
Speaker 1: you go, you're gonna laugh your ass off. It is
Speaker 1: a hilarious movie. It's super relatable no matter who you are.
Speaker 1: And like I said, we wanted to make a great,
Speaker 1: laugh out loud, jutt apatile comedy like Bridesmaids, like fourty
Speaker 1: year Old Virgin, like Knocked Up, like train Wreck. It
Speaker 1: happens to be about a gay couple. It happens to
Speaker 1: have an l g b t Q cast, which is important,
Speaker 1: you know, because we should be able to tell our
Speaker 1: stories to you know, lgbt Q folks. We've been going
Speaker 1: to see movie romantic comedies about straight people forever, so
Speaker 1: why shouldn't it work in the reverse. It took us
Speaker 1: a really long time to get here, and I want
Speaker 1: everyone to go straight people, LGBTQ folks for a number
Speaker 1: of reasons. I want to entertain people and give them
Speaker 1: a feel good movie. I want to show the industry
Speaker 1: and the world that people, especially straight people, will go
Speaker 1: out and support a movie about two funny gay guys.
Speaker 1: Um and and I also want to make sure that
Speaker 1: there are more l g b t Q films that
Speaker 1: follow this, and also that major studios straight or gay,
Speaker 1: don't stop making comedies and romantic comedies, because this is
Speaker 1: an important genre. It's a genre we all love, and
Speaker 1: if we don't go support them, we won't get more
Speaker 1: movies like this, And really all we will get our
Speaker 1: superhero movies and action movies and horror films, and those
Speaker 1: are all great, but these are equally great and equally necessary.
Speaker 1: And you know, brokeback Mountain, right, So many of the
Speaker 1: movies we have gotten out gay men and LGBTQ folks,
Speaker 1: their tragedies. They're sad and it's about tortured characters, and
Speaker 1: it's a period piece about how about our struggles and
Speaker 1: our challenges and how tortured and sad we are right?
Speaker 1: And yes, that is part of our history, that is
Speaker 1: part of our experience, and it's we need those movies too,
Speaker 1: But it's so for so long, all we've gotten right
Speaker 1: and all that the public has embraced, and why can't
Speaker 1: we also star in a great comedy, you know, like
Speaker 1: why why does it always have to be so tortured
Speaker 1: and tragic? Um? And so there are many reasons. I
Speaker 1: hope people get out and support this, and I really
Speaker 1: think they'll have a great time. And a movie like
Speaker 1: Brokeback Mountain, you know, it's a masterpiece. I've seen it once,
Speaker 1: Pretty woman, I've seen fifty times. So who's to say
Speaker 1: what's more important? You know, around coms are are important too.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious from a both from a professional and
Speaker 1: a personal standpoint. You know, how did this all imp
Speaker 1: have to this whole experience, no matter what happens at
Speaker 1: the box office. Yeah, I mean, in so many ways.
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of times in life are
Speaker 1: biggest learning experiences come from things that maybe fail creatively. Um,
Speaker 1: And this is a strange one where I mean, again,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens, um. But from early reactions and
Speaker 1: from my own reaction to it, I don't think we
Speaker 1: failed creatively. I'm really really proud of the movie. And
Speaker 1: also it has been a huge learning experience in a
Speaker 1: very practical way. I learned how to write a movie.
Speaker 1: I learned how to navigate a pretty high level major
Speaker 1: studio experience, you know, and which would always be challenging
Speaker 1: and and and I had to do it while making
Speaker 1: an R rated gay romcom when there have not been many. Um,
Speaker 1: and so I learned a lot just in terms of
Speaker 1: the on the business side of things. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: taking a bird's eye view look at it, regardless of
Speaker 1: what happens, it's I think I'd like to think of
Speaker 1: it in a way, me getting this experience and I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful that they trusted me with it. But maybe
Speaker 1: on some level it's a reward for always wanting success,
Speaker 1: but really wanting it and almost insisting upon having it
Speaker 1: on my own terms as an openly gay man in
Speaker 1: in comedy, um, which when I was starting out, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of barriers to that. As much as
Speaker 1: I believed in myself. You have those moments because people
Speaker 1: are telling you up there's gonna be a ceiling for
Speaker 1: what you can do, you know, and Bros. Is an
Speaker 1: example just just real tangible evidence that you know what
Speaker 1: they were wrong. They were wrong. And I say that
Speaker 1: in the movie. But um, anyone out there who you
Speaker 1: know it is having that self out. We all have it.
Speaker 1: But you've got to push through. And that's what you've
Speaker 1: always done. That's what you've always done that And and
Speaker 1: sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't, but I
Speaker 1: have always chosen, ultimately, even with all this self doubt,
Speaker 1: to believe in myself and that talent would be enough.
Speaker 1: That if you if you don't think I'm talented, that's
Speaker 1: one thing. If you don't think I'm funny enough, that's
Speaker 1: one thing, And I can deal with that. But don't
Speaker 1: tell me I can't have what I want or make
Speaker 1: what I want because of who I sleep with or
Speaker 1: who I'm attracted to. That's just nonsense. And you know,
Speaker 1: so I'm really proud of this movie. Well, I'm very
Speaker 1: excited for you and um and and not to sound
Speaker 1: too maternal, but I'm really proud of you, Billy, and
Speaker 1: I have been a fan of yours for a very
Speaker 1: long time, and I'm just so excited for you to
Speaker 1: get this new opportunity and for to continue to watch
Speaker 1: what you'll do next. So the oudious bros. It's terrific.
Speaker 1: You're hilarious. And the whole cast and crew, I want
Speaker 1: to congratulate them too, because you know, I think the
Speaker 1: only way you usher and change is to put your
Speaker 1: money where your mouth is, and you certainly did this
Speaker 1: when it came to to staffing this film, and you
Speaker 1: put a lot of thought into that too, so kudos
Speaker 1: to you for that as well. Thank you, and you've
Speaker 1: always been so supportive. You're a legend, so thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Roses in theater starting this weekend September thirty,
Speaker 1: So go get your bus in those theater seats everyone,
Speaker 1: for Billy's sake. Next Question with Katie Kurik is a
Speaker 1: production of My Heart Media and Katie Kurk Media. The
Speaker 1: executive producers Army, Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz. The supervising
Speaker 1: producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clements and Adriana Fasio.
Speaker 1: The show is edited and mixed by Eric Clements. For
Speaker 1: more information about today's episode, or to sign up for
Speaker 1: my morning newsletter wake Up Call, go to Katie correct
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find me at Katie Correct
Speaker 1: on Instagram and all my social media channels. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.