Every now and then, there is a show that comes along and really wins me over (despite the fact that I no longer love TV like I used to). And Difficult People (2015-2017), created by the delightful comedian, actress, writer Julie Klausner is definitely one of them.
Buy Difficult People from MovieZyngKlausner and frequent collaborator/comedian/actor Billy Eichner play fictionalized versions of themselves as Julie and Billy, very best friends and struggling comedians just trying to make it big in New York while dealing the rest of the world. Julie is a TV blogger while Billy is a waiter. They hate everyone, except each other. Their friendship helps them through some very awkward situations, many of them involving the people that surround them on a daily basis, including Julie’s overbearing mom Marilyn (veteran comedy icon Andrea Martin), Julie’s put-upon boyfriend Arthur (James Urbaniak), Billy’s boss Denise (Gabourey Sidibe), and Billy’s annoying co-worker Matthew (Cole Escola), as well as past friends and exes.
Through three seasons, we see Julie and Billy, who are very unlikable, being very clueless and oblivious to everyone’s feelings, except each other’s. They are truly difficult people, and they are actually relatable, because we can all be very difficult people, depending on our own lives and situations. Sometimes we don’t consider other people’s feelings, until it affects us. And that’s how brilliant the show is. The moments and events that happen feel very real somehow. The jokes in it are so ahead of their time and also of their time, but never behind the times. It’s also a show where New York itself plays a pivotal character that brings out the reality where the show operates.
One reason why the show works so well is that it has array of many famous celebrities as guest stars, such as Amy Poehler (who also is executive producer), Debbie Harry, Amy Sedaris, Susan Lucci, Seth Meyers, David Krumholtz, Fred Armisen, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Lucy Liu, Kate McKinnon, Method Man, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ken Burns, Victor Garber, Jessica Walter, Chris Elliott, and many more.
The most important reason I enjoy the show is its diversity, where people of color and LGBTQIA+ people have roles as well. That makes me love the show even more. Equality and representation is very much needed, especially in today’s most troubling times.
Difficult People will always be a series close to my heart, not just for the difficult idiot in me, but also as a person who thinks that art and laughter truly matters.
Buy Difficult People: The Complete Series from AmazonSpecial features include Vulture Festival Panel where Poehler, Klausner, and Eichner discuss the show during the 2015 Vulture Festival, and three episode commentaries with Klausner and Eichner on “Library Water” (pilot), “Italian Pinata,” and ‘Strike Rat.” There is also a great new essay by critic Matt Zoller Seitz entitled “An Ode to a Beautiful Friendship.”
