Billy Eichner reconsiders bringing Billy on the Street back

Billy Eichner says he’s talked about reviving Billy on the Street again, reflecting on why the viral street format still resonates—even though he says it doesn’t give him the creative fulfillment he once sought.

Billy Eichner has been living with a familiar problem for years: how do you draw a line around something you can’t quite let go of?

The 47-year-old actor and comedian first hosted Billy on the Street from 2011 to 2017. when the viral street interview-style series ran through Funny or Die and aired on Fuse and truTV. In the show. Billy would walk up to people in New York City and quiz them about pop culture—often with celebrities popping up as special guests.

During a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz. Billy looked back at what made the series stick. and admitted it’s hard to treat it like something you can simply shelve. “It’s crazy. It has sustained in a very unexpected way,” he said. “It’s one of those things that you cannot plan for.”.

He also pointed out that he already brought the format back briefly during Kamala Harris‘ 2024 presidential campaign, including Will Ferrell. But the bigger question now is whether the full show could return.

For a while, Billy said, he felt he had to stop—at least for his own sake. “For a while, I was like: ‘I can never do it!. I have to draw a line in the sand.’ But people love it,” he said. “And if you look on the internet. which can be so snarky. including about me. but under Billy on the Street videos. that’s like a different thing.”.

What he sees in the comments isn’t just casual approval. Billy described the audience as persistent, even pleading. “The people who get it, it’s like their favorite thing. And they’re always: ‘Please do more. Please bring the show back. The world is so awful. Please do this.’ And I am very touched by that, and I want to honor that,” he said.

Still, he didn’t pretend the experience was exactly what he wanted artistically anymore. Billy said he’s “proud” of the show. but added that the street interviews don’t provide the creative satisfaction they once did. “It does not give me. as an actor. the creative satisfaction anymore because I’ve been doing it for so long. ” he explained. “And it’s not aligned with who I really wanted to be as an artist because it’s not acting in the traditional sense.”.

Outside the legacy of Billy on the Street, Billy said he’s been trying to shape a more varied career. He recently released his audio-only memoir. Billy on Billy. and in the same conversation he talked through how he wants to balance different types of work. “For me, I want to have a more eclectic career,” he said. “But what I’m always trying to sort of figure out is. ‘Oh. OK. I can do both.’ My therapist would want me to say that. She was like: ‘You can do everything!’”.

That balance comes with limits. Billy said he’s “never going to do half-hour episodes of Billy on the Street again. ” but he’s still thinking about what the format could look like in a different shape. “And we’re always kind of talking about what it could look like,” he said. “I don’t know what the answer to that is, but never say never. I don’t know.”.

For now, the show remains a possibility—not a promise. But after years of viral street clips and a 2024 campaign cameo, it’s clear Billy still hears the same thing from fans: keep going, keep it coming. And he knows why it lands.

Billy Eichner Billy on the Street Fuse truTV Funny or Die Will Ferrell Kamala Harris Happy Sad Confused Josh Horowitz New York City pop culture street interviews