This past Monday night, Manhattan Digest was live on the red carpet for the season 2 premiere of Hulu’s hit series “Difficult People”. The event took place deep in the Lower East Side at The Metrograph on Ludlow Street, where its stars Julie Klausner, Billy Eichner, Gabourey Sidibe were all on hand as well as executive producer Amy Poehler and some super special guests!
Difficult people revolves around two best friends Julie and Billy (Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner, respectively), who are aspiring comics living in New York City who struggle to find real relationships and jobs while their friends seem to find them effortlessly, leading to hilarity in their frustrations.
Julie, who looked absolutely stunning in a Christian Siriano dress, not only stars but writes the show as well as produces it. When I asked her how she manages it all, she simply said “It is incredibly challenging doing it. I look at someone like Lena Dunham who does all of that and direct, and I have no idea how she has the energy to eat or breathe or sleep or do any normal human functions.” Yet with work comes reward, as season one had a ton of amazing moments that easily made this show get a season 2 renewal. When asked her favorite, she said “What we manage to get away with, with the celebs that we work with, like that scene where we are yelling at Nathan Lane in the toilet, in what world is that something would really be able to happen? There were a lot of moments like that.”
Billy Eichner, who is also known for his hilarious show “Billy on the Street” on TRU TV, is actually a lot more reserved in real life, compared to his “larger than life” personality on the show. When asked what his one word was to describe the whole “Difficult People” experience, he simply stated “Thrilled”, and gave a ton of praise to his costar, Julie Klausner. “Um, do I have one word to describe this whole experience? One word is hard… thrilled! I’m thrilled about it. Julie is a massive talent, and I was so excited. She created the show, Amy came on board, they invited me to be part of it, and I love being able to trust the creators of the show. I get to throw in bits and pieces but Julie writes 90 to 95 percent of it, and I really just love her brain. I think she is so smart and I am thrilled to be part of the show and am just as happy that she has a big hit on her hand. I think she really deserves it as she has worked for me and with me on Billy on the Street, with the show finding its voice and I want everything from her.”
On top of the series regulars from the show, they are also getting a ton of guest stars for season two, many of whom come from the reality world. One in particular is the very dashing Nyle DiMarco, who not only won the last season of “America’s Next Top Model” but also won the most recent season of “Dancing With The Stars”. The formidable talent actually had a much different career path planned for him before ANTM began, and is happy to be in the world that he is in right now.
When asked to describe his career over the past year in one word, he said this- “One word to describe this past year? Random, that’s the easiest answer because I never expected the journey with both shows and it has just been an amazing experience and has given me a lot of my platform. A year ago I was getting ready to teach math and now I’m celebrity status, it is totally different.”
My favorite person to interview that night is acclaimed actress Andrea Martin, who starred in one of my personal favorite movies, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. She said the funniest line of the night when I asked what her favorite episode was, to which she said “I haven’t seen it! Honestly, I don’t know how to find Hulu! I don’t have a Roku or Apple TV!”. Love it.
Overall, it was a great red carpet and it looks like season 2 is going to be off the chain! For more information on Difficult People, check out their official site.