"Difficult People": Gay and Straight Stand-Up Partners Insult Celebrities and Look for Love

 

I feel like I've reviewed Difficult People, on Hulu, before: an amoral straight woman- gay man couple (Julie Klausner, Billy Eichner) try various scams and manipulations.  It's probably just a common formula; American tv doesn't like gay men unless there's a woman on their arm to emulate heterosexual romance. But I feel an obligation to review it anyway.  I watched Season 1, Episode 3: "Pledge Week"

Scene 1: Billy has a gig as the bartender on a tv show, with Julie doing his makeup, but the star, Chelsea Handler, rejects him because he insulted her. 

Scene 2:  They go home.  Billy wonders if being mean is limiting their job prospects (apparently they're a comedy duo), but Julie says that being mean is their raison d'etre.  Meanwhile, Julie's boyfriend Arthur (James Urbaniak) is upset because it's pledge week at PBS, and his rival Chad Arrow (Robert Cuthill) is bringing in more money. I thought that the rivalry would be the B plot, but it's never mentioned again.

Scene 3:  Gay bar.  They tried to be nice in their comedy act, and bombed.  Of course, they were subbing for an insult comedian at Drag Queen Bingo Night, so perhaps the audience was expecting mean.  They meet a comedian whose act involves joking about her alcoholism while performing magic tricks.  Julie excuses herself so Billy can cruise Fred (John Benjamin Hickey), a patron at the bar.  

Fred: Can I buy you a beer?

Billy: I'm going to fuck you, yes.

Scene 4: The Cutting Room, on their date.  Fred is a dentist, so unfamiliar with Billy's world of celebrity trivia: "The greatest injustice in show business today is that Martin Short doesn't have an EGOT."  The performer asks everyone with a vagina to yell out "I love my pussy!"  To Billy's surprise, Fred yells it out.  Then she asks for a volunteer to come on stage, and Fred volunteers!

Scene 5: Over coffee the next day, Billy tells Julie that Fred is...ugh...a participator: "His hand shot up faster than Kevin Spacey's fly at the opening of Newsies!"  Who participates?  When they say "Everybody sing," who actually sings?  Nobody.  It's like voting.  Regulars Nate (Derrick Baskin) and Matthew (Cole Escola, left) chime in with their own stories of the horror of audience participation.

Billy plans to break up with him over this trivial flaw, but his friends suggest taking him somewhere other than a show, so participation won't be an issue.  

Scene 6: Julie's boyfriend Arthur is so stressed over the PBS drive that he hasn't done any of the cooking or cleaning.  They argue; Julie moves out, and goes to stay with her mother.

Scene 7:  Mom pressures Julie to quit show business, break up with Arthur, and find a nice Jewish boy.  Julie can't stand it.  

Scene 8: Billy and Fred at lunch.  The waiter brings cake to another table and sings "Happy birthday."  Fred joins in!  Billy confronts him on being a participator.  This is like an episode of Seinfeld.  She's a slow talker...a fast talker...she wears the same outfit every day...she talks to her food.  "I want to be ok with it, but I'm not."

Scene 9: B Plot: Julie goes to the PBS Station to mend her relationship with Arthur.  She tells the boss that they could increase pledges by being mean: "A PBS Roast!"  The boss is not impressed.  

Scene 10: Julie, Billy, and Julie's Mom watching The Big Bang Theory.  (Not a good idea to reveal the existence of tv series better than this one.)  They switch to the Pledge Drive, where Arthur is hosting a segment featuring a song from Hairspray, with composer Marc Shaiman on the piano.

"He's gonna get fired!" Julie exclaims.  They rush to the tv studio, where they run into Marc Shaiman, whom they insulted on their blog,   He leaves in a huff, so there is no act. Julie and Billy do their PBS Roast instead.  

Scene 11: They got fined by the FCC, but otherwise the Pledge Drive was a success.  Arthur took Julie back.  Billy tried to reconcile with Fred, but got no response to his emails.

Scene 12: Julie and Billy at a performance by  the magician from Scene 2.  Uh-oh, Fred comes in.  With a date (maybe Matt Talese?) When the magician asks for a volunteer, Billy raises his hand, hoping that Fred will see that he's ok with participating and take him back. His bit involves sitting in a red wagon and getting squirted on.

After the show, Fred approaches.  Seeing Billy up there embarrassing himself has turned him off to participation.  Moral: Never do the right thing.

Scene 13: They run into Martin Short at a party.  He insults them.

Beefcake: None.  The male cast is surprisingly unattractive, except for Fred's date at the magic show, who is not listed in the credits.

Heterosexism: None.  Julie has zero chemistry with her boyfriend.  He might as well be her housekeeper.

Meanness:  They don't strike me as mean -- their act just involves insulting celebrities, sort of like Kathy Griffith.  They're rather petty, though, like the Seinfeld gang. 

My Grade: C.