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  • -Our next guest is the Enemy--

  • Sorry. Oh, my God. -God

  • -Our next guest is the Emmy-nominated creator

  • and star of "Billy on the Street"

  • and one of our favorite guests here.

  • Billy Eichner, how are you, my friend?

  • -Hi.

  • -It's so lovely to see you.

  • How is your quarantine thus far?

  • -It's great. I have a song for you.

  • Are you ready? -Yeah.

  • -Here we go.

  • Fly me to the Zoom and let me play among the stars

  • ♪ I don't remember them making Leno do this during SARS

  • In other words, don't hold my hand

  • In other wordsDon't ever touch me!

  • -Wo-- That was wonderful.

  • -Thank you. That's my song for you.

  • -That's just --

  • You know, it's very interesting to live in a time

  • where people are not allowed to have close contact,

  • because of course you made a career

  • of invading people's personal space.

  • -I did. In New York City, yeah.

  • -In New York City, of all places.

  • And "Billy on the Street," which is a show I've been lucky enough

  • to do a few times -- -Yeah.

  • -This is having a resurgence, because of --

  • Safe to say, because of Netflix?

  • -Yeah, so, we did five seasons of half-hour episodes.

  • And prior to that, I had done years of YouTube videos.

  • And then we did five half-hour seasons of the show.

  • And four of those seasons went on Netflix in November.

  • So even though I'm now back

  • to just doing occasional web "Billy on the Street" videos,

  • we don't do the half-hour episodes anymore

  • because my career took off like a rocket.

  • -[ Laughs ]

  • -But people are now discovering those episodes on Netflix

  • for the first time.

  • So like many things that go on Netflix,

  • the show's having this resurgence

  • right at a time when I cannot go and film new videos

  • or new anything. -Do you think there's --

  • I mean, obviously, I think, one, they're hilarious.

  • Two, I do think they probably age incredibly well.

  • But do you think that people are watching it with some nostalgia

  • of a time where people were just in the streets,

  • bumping into people in New York City?

  • -Yeah, it's funny. I never pictured that as a show

  • that would ever be associated with nostalgia or sweetness.

  • Although, I mean, I grew up in New York City.

  • You know, a lot of people ask me how --

  • They're always like, "How can you do that?"

  • or they're always like, "Oh, you're fearless,"

  • and all these things which always makes me laugh.

  • I'm so not fearless.

  • But the reason I'm not scared to do that

  • is because New York is my hometown.

  • Those streets are where I grew up.

  • That's the place I'm most comfortable, weirdly.

  • And so for me, it always did have

  • I guess a little sweetness underneath it.

  • But I never expected it to feel nostalgic so soon.

  • And I think people are watching it

  • because it's a little nostalgic

  • for the New York that we're all used to

  • and also because I think it's just very silly,

  • and it really is the definition of, you know,

  • we dipped our toes into social commentary here and there,

  • but on the surface, it's so absurd and so silly,

  • and it's a real escape from the news every day,

  • which is pretty grim.

  • I also see a lot of families watching it with their children,

  • which is not something I ever expected.

  • But I'll take it. I don't care.

  • You want to ruin your kid, I'll gladly reap the benefits.

  • -Yeah, I was surprised to hear

  • that people were watching with their kids, too.

  • And then the minute I thought about it a little bit,

  • I realized that my children would delight in watching it.

  • You are so much fun,

  • and I think they would immediately understand

  • the comedy of people being interrupted by a stranger.

  • -Yeah, and I think, you know, I was very influenced as a kid

  • by Pee-wee Herman.

  • He was like my favorite thing to watch as a kid.

  • And, you know, Pee-wee did this thing where on one level,

  • he literally had a Saturday morning show for kids like me,

  • but it was also appreciated by adults.

  • Like, his show worked on two different levels.

  • And in some ways, he was also this human cartoon, you know?

  • And I think that's how children see my show.

  • I'm the next Pee-wee Herman, which is what I'm trying to say,

  • with the exception of masturbating in porno theaters,

  • not that I wouldn't,

  • but you can't go to the porno theaters right now, Seth.

  • Look at my chandelier.

  • It's like the gay "Phantom of the Opera" in here.

  • -[ Laughs ] -It's crazy.

  • -I've talked to you about this before,

  • but doing one of those episodes with you,

  • especially when we did one together for the Emmys.

  • -Yes. -Like, it's amazing

  • how much time you have to put into it.

  • Like, the yield is lower than people would think,

  • that you have to do it all day

  • to get, like, those 8 to 10 great moments.

  • And the thing that I especially liked,

  • which I would not have known, is you had no --

  • You never had any interest

  • in talking to people who were excited to see you coming.

  • -No.

  • Well, yeah, it's --

  • Once in a while, if someone recognizes me,

  • and, you know, now people recognize me

  • more often than they did.

  • The nice thing about New York is that

  • those streets are constantly replenishing themselves.

  • There are so many people.

  • So we can walk up and down the same street,

  • and every time we turn around, there are new people.

  • And a lot of them come from different parts of the world,

  • you know, or different parts of the country,

  • although I think I tend to talk to more New Yorkers

  • than tourists. -Yeah.

  • -But once in a while,

  • I can turn someone knowing me into something worth using.

  • But I'd much rather talk to someone who doesn't know me

  • or doesn't know me that well, because that's part of the fun,

  • is them experiencing it in real time, you know?

-Our next guest is the Enemy--

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