Man on the Street

On a Friday night in February, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Billy Eichner, the thirty-seven-year-old star of the sui-generis pop-culture game show “Billy on the Street,” was sitting in a director’s chair on the set of the sitcom “Difficult People.” That show, about two struggling performers, a straight woman and a gay man, who are harsh about the world and affectionate with each other, was created and is written by the comedian Julie Klausner, with whom he co-stars. Eichner has excellent posture, even when looking at his phone. “I was a ‘Jeopardy!’ question this week,” he told me. He held up a screen shot of the clue: “GAMES OF THIS COMIC ‘ON THE STREET’ INCLUDED ‘WOULD DREW BARRYMORE LIKE THAT?’ & ‘IT’S SPOCK! DO YOU CARE?’ ”