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New York’s Town Hall venue is providing some alternative programming for Election Night — a revival of a cult streaming series.
“Difficult People,” the sharp sitcom that aired for three seasons on Hulu, from 2015 to
2017, is reuniting its cast on Nov. 3 for a staged reading of creator Julie Klausner’s script for a follow-up movie, which she co-wrote with Alex Scordelis. The movie, which was commissioned by Universal and never produced, sees Klausner’s protagonist, Julie, and her best friend, Billy (Billy Eichner), once more attempting to make their dreams of stardom come true even after retreating from the world of entertainment. Throughout, they’re forced to reckon with the ways the industry has changed since we last saw them, from the glut of cheap horror films to the continued rise of social-media influencers.
Klausner and Eichner will be joined on by “Difficult People” cast members Andrea Martin (playing Marilyn, Julie’s mother), James Urbaniak (Arthur, Julie’s boyfriend) and Gabourey Sidibe (Billy’s restaurant boss Denise) and guests including Christopher Meloni, Cecily Strong, Michael Urie and Paul Walter Hauser. (Though Cole Escola, who played Billy’s loathed co-worker Matthew, is unavailable, Klausner has found someone equally adept at high camp — Susan Lucci will be playing the role, as announced by Escola and Lucci on Instagram.) All will be working within the distinct “Difficult People” register: The show skewered both Hollywood and its own protagonists, who were at once clear-eyed about the shortfalls of the industry they hoped to join and delusional about their own prospects. Originally bought by USA, “Difficult People” became one of Hulu’s first original series.
For Klausner, whose recent credits include acting in “Long Story Short” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and writing on “Schmigadoon,” this return is both nostalgic and suffused with potential. As she tells Variety, she has hope that the evening might bear fruit and give rise to more “Difficult People” down the line. Either way, revisiting her character after about a decade gave her the opportunity to comment on years’ worth of stories about which Julie and Billy might see through their familiar caustic, perceptive lens.
When “Difficult People” left the air, were there stories you’d hoped to keep telling?
Well, I think that when you have the center of friendship, there are infinite stories, right? I often, probably to a fault, would start with a joke and back into it, because I get very attached to my jokes. But when you have something as as enduring as the love that comes along with a friendship, there’s no limit to what we could have done. And then to comment on the culture as it changed — it was very disappointing not to be on the air when #MeToo hit.
Oh, sure.
And the amount that show business and comedy have changed — the strikes and mergers and COVID and the rest of it — has been really frustrating. I wanted to see Billy and Julie during lockup. I wanted to see how Marilyn handled her Zoom sessions. I have to give credit to this season of “The Comeback,” which was more inspiring to me than almost anything this year: To be able to check in with those characters in this moment — and that [the story] started during the strike — I thought was so genius. That brought me, as the kids say, the feels.
At the start of your script, Billy and Julie are farther from show business success (and each other) than they’ve ever been. They’re singing about how wonderful their lives are, but they feel a kind of obvious terror. What was it like resituating us in their mindset?
I like opening on characters that assure you that they’re happy, and you know they’re lying, because they’re them. When have they ever been happy? It’s not in their vocabulary. That’s also why it’s a musical number — it should feel quintessentially dishonest.
It’s not just that they’re happy complaining, it’s that who they are is who they are when they’re striving. And they’re not really who they are unless they’re together. Stories about romantic love are not hitting me — maybe it’s the age I’m at, but stories about friendships enduring over time are hitting me a lot harder now. People doing things because they love it, not because of monetary success and fame.
It’s interesting that time hasn’t softened these characters at all — and that their friendship is still a sustaining force. You didn’t mess with that here.
We had a rule on the show: Billy and Julie never fight, and Billy and Julie always know what the other is up to. In a world that is so hostile, it is “us against the world,” and there was something comforting about that rule. There isn’t going to be any conflict that would stress people out.
Whenever Billy or Julie encounter an admirer, it’s seismic — so few people have heard of them that even a single fan encounter is akin to winning an Oscar. “Difficult People” wasn’t obscure by any means, but coming as early as it did in the streaming revolution, did you feel as if the show were an underdog?
They’re so excited that someone besides each other appreciates them! The idea that there’d be someone else that gets them is exhilarating. I still do feel that nice sense of “You’re buying what I’m selling” whenever people express love toward what I do. I grew up a fan of all things cult. I never watched “Friends.” I was watching “Mr. Show” and “Larry Sanders,” “Strangers With Candy” and “The Kids in the Hall.” It’s nice to have something that’s being seen, but I also appreciate the loyalty of audiences. Because, growing up, that was me.
The show was a magnet for high-profile guest stars — Julianne Moore, Nathan Lane, Ken Burns, among many others— and now the reading will feature Christopher Meloni. How can you tell which celebrities are “Difficult People” types?
Well, Chris is hilarious. The guest stars on the show, in terms of having the sensibility to be able to hang, all they really needed was a sense of humor and a willingness to poke fun of themselves. I keep going back to “Larry Sanders,” because that was sort of the first time I saw how much fun celebrities had playing bizarro versions of themselves. David Duchovny in that series finale is so iconic. That separated the the real ones from the — you know. It was it was such a cool way of extending a hand to show business while we were making fun of show business because also everyone — everyone cool at least — thinks of themselves as an outsider. A show about outsiders is appealing to the right person.
By the way, I just saw “The Debut.” Julianne Moore is giving me Valerie Cherish.
I know!
What’s about to happen? She’s already an icon. She’s barreling into legend territory. Batten down the hatches — what’s about to happen is Liza territory.
Speaking of anticipating huge success, “Difficult People” featured Cole Escola, who’s since blown up — winning a Tony for “Oh, Mary!” What was it like to work with them early on?
I was thrilled to see Cole succeed as a writer and performer, and not one or the other. Because Cole was not only onscreen, Cole was in the writers’ room. Cole was a writer for Season 2 and Season 3, and some of the best storylines that have nothing to do with their character are from Cole’s mind. Billy needed a nemesis and a work family, because I had my mom and my partner, and so we had to sort of flesh out Billy’s world a little. So we started with the nemesis, and we knew that we wanted, like, a theater queen. We knew that Cole would go for it in a way that nobody else would, and that we could keep pushing the character so that Matthew just gets stupider and stupider and crazier and crazier. “The Simpsons” writers always talk about asking “Is Homer too stupid?” We never stopped to ask that.
Do you hope that “Difficult People”’s next act can extend beyond the reading? What’s on your vision board?
I’m very well aware of the current climate of the entertainment business. I’m very well aware that it’s a very different business than it was when we came on the air 10 years ago or so. So I have my expectations, and then I have my hopes and dreams. What I hope is that something wonderful comes out of the night, and that very well could just be — a wonderful night! Seeing what happened to these characters since we left them last, that could just be an incredible experience that we will remember our whole lives.
That said, like I would love something wonderful to come out of it, and I keep going back to that season of “The Comeback” where they had an opportunity to comment on AI, and they had an opportunity to comment on the consolidation and the squeeze on writers’ rooms and everything else that we’re we’re so stressed out about. There are ways of revisiting “Difficult People” that go beyond a traditional 30-minute reboot. I saw the “Girls” reunion, five-episode thing — that’s completely brilliant. I love the idea of doing a limited thing. Actually, getting to make the movie would be a dream. Doing a stage adaptation, a la “Schmigadoon,” would be a dream. I think that there are multiple ways of approaching both the property of “Difficult People” and the screenplay that we were hired four years ago to write. It didn’t go forward. It’s become this lost thing that we’ve adapted for the moment, and are so happy to have the opportunity to share with people.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
