Difficult People Makes Difficult Choices

Apparently God has been listening to my prayers, because the enigmatic, and completely manic, Billy Eichner has been graced with a scripted television show. While I have loved pushing “Billy on the Street” YouTube clips onto unsuspecting friends over the years, it warms my heart that the “Parks and Rec” alum can now branch out with his comedy. The show also features Upright Citizen’s Brigade alum Julie Klausner as his loud mouthed, narcissistic gal pal who is always cleaning up her own messes. Their intertwined narcissism and sarcastic bite make for a truly ridiculous pairing that yields some great one liners.

Hulu has decided to dole these episodes out one at a time, instead of in complete binge watching glory, like its competitor Netflix. Of the four episodes that have already aired, there have been some choice moments. Julie’s mother, played by the amazing Andrea Martin, steals the show on more than one occasion, as the psychologist mother with a penchant for negativity. Her boyfriend, a PBS employed WASP, played by James Urbaniak, is just the right amount of boorish academic to accompany his delusional girlfriend’s chattering. The cameos in this show are amazing, ranging from Kate McKinnon’s Abra Cadouglas, a sober magician to Andy Cohen as an enraged version of himself.

Already the show is facing criticism over the main plot of its pilot, which features a controversial joke from Klausner. Her character tweets a joke about how Blue Ivy needs to grow up so she can be peed on by R. Kelly. Between its link to pedophilia, and its offensive content, the tweet lands Klausner in a lot of trouble online, and in real life. It lends to her peeing herself, and a mean mom tweeting that she is a complete jerk. In the context of the show, it’s controversial enough to make you cringe, and would generally lends to outrage from any outsider.

And so, in a very Meta twist of fate, the joke has gone into the Twittersphere and landed Klausner, and the entire show, into a world of hurt. The most buzz this show has gotten so far has been about the joke, and not the sardonic Eichner or ham-fisted Klausner. It’s both painfully ironic, and obviously ridiculous. Many people have weighed in that this is a joke that just goes too far, while others find its roots are heavily influenced by white privilege. While I myself find the joke to be too far, and makes light of R. Kelly’s pedophilia by making the joke about urinating on someone instead, I find the situation to be unprecedented. The outrage around it both makes sense to me, and makes me revel in the irony.

Most of the Hulu branded show deals with mean eviscerations of today’s celebrities, including take-downs of HBO, Linda Hunt, Lena Dunham, and Katharine McPhee. Not only do they take down Hollywood, but things they hate in general like the names of millennials, the Green Party, hipsters, PBS, the Real Housewives, scientology, and Jewish stereotypes. This kind of bitchy, maudlin humor is nothing new, as comediennes such as Kathy Griffin, Jane Krakowski, and Joan Rivers have made careers out of it. What these two do best is encompass the struggling performers’ persona in the 21st century, where technology, media presence and social media have more weight than the roles you play.

While this is a show that only certain people will enjoy, nay, understand, it’s an important one. A show about completely difficult, and yet empathetic characters, needs to exist in our zeitgeist. We already have unlikable characters but none with the bravado and vulnerability of Eichner and Klausner’s performances. Though this isn’t my favorite show, I will follow it through its entire run, laugh at what I can understand, and gasp at what I don’t.