Billy Eichner Is Getting The Rom-Com That He Has So Long Deserved
Let's go lesbians!
Billy Eichner is probably best known as being that dude who’s spent the last eight years chasing people down on the street and shoving a microphone in their faces.
After all, Billy On The Street, the show he created and stars in, is well suited for these viral, clickbait-y times. It’s essentially a series of hilarious vox pops, almost perfectly engineered for sharing around Twitter, and it’s won the comedian and actor a great deal of goodwill and exposure as of late.
HERE IT IS!!!! New BILLY ON THE STREET with @Lin_Manuel!!!! Watch Lin and I hit the street to find out if ANYBODY IS HAPPY. pic.twitter.com/QbmScrH1qo
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) December 13, 2018
But Eichner’s skills don’t just involve screaming “let’s go lesbians!” and getting into fights with sassy citizens — Eichner is also a charismatic and hilarious performer.
He’s nailed comedic guest spots on shows like Bob’s Burgers (he voices the charismatic librarian, Mr. Ambrose) and slightly more serious turns on American Horror Story: Cult and the droll Friends From College.
Now, Eichner is putting those acting chops and all that onscreen charisma to good use: he’s set to make a romantic comedy about two men with commitment issues, to be produced by comedy titan Judd Apatow.
who do I have to kill to play @billyeichner's boyfriend in his romcom?
— Matt Martin (@matt_mart) February 5, 2019
It’s exciting news not just for Eichner fans, but also for devotees of the romantic-comedy sub-genre, which is making a longoverdue come back as of late. Revived by viral hits like Netflix’s To All The Boys I Loved Before, rom-coms no longer pose risks for superhero-obsessed studios; now, they’re viable blockbusters.
After all, one need look only as far as 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians, which held its own in a market overstuffed with sequels and remakes, and managed to gross a highly respectable US$238 million at the American box office.
Needless to say, Eichner’s spin on the sub-genre is sure to be fresh and distinct. This is, lest we forget, the man who built himself a modest media empire by asking people if they want to have sex with Paul Rudd.