Stop Shouting At People, Billy Eichner!

The most difficult challenge for any comedian is to find their voice. Most spend years trying out various guises in an attempt to identify the qualities within themselves that make them stand out and, hopefully, appeal to audiences. The overwhelming majority of them never quite find it, but for the few whose voices do end up resonating in the culture, they become beloved figures, showered with fame and fortune.

In this regard, there’s no arguing that Billy Eichner found his voice. Quite literally, in fact; Eichner makes a living by CONTINUALLY RAISING THE VOLUME OF HIS VOICE. Like Sam Kinison and Bobcat Goldthwait before him, Eichner built himself a career thanks largely to his ability to scream at people. More specifically, his willingness to scream and complete and total strangers — unwilling AND uncompensated strangers, we might add — on the street. This was funny for awhile, but the time has come for Billy Eichner to STOP! SHOUTING! AT! PEOPLE!

Don’t believe me? Here he is yelling at Conan O’Brien:

…at Joel McHale:

…at Rachel Dratch:

…at First Lady Michelle Obama (and Big Bird!?!):

…and even at the late Joan Rivers!

He’s yelled at people during the Emmys, during the Late Show with David Letterman, throughout the course of three seasons of his own show Billy On The Street, and even as a recurring character on Parks and Recreation. He’s been yelling at people professionally for nearly five years now, which seems to this observer like a pretty good run for a bit.

I don’t begrudge Billy Eichner a bit of the success that he has experienced, mainly because I myself have experienced more than my share of cathartic joy from his show. The genius to his comedy is that he has managed to wrestle a bit of control from a city — of course we’re speaking of New York City — that seems to have been designed specifically to exert its control on its inhabitants. People who have lived in New York City are keenly familiar with the way that the city’s relentlessness wears on you over time; the loss of personal space and the way that your ears are constantly being assaulted by the wails of sirens and pounding of jackhammers is enough to drive any sane person crazy. By raising his voice, literally and figuratively, Billy Eichner is able to make himself be heard, temporarily triumphing over the noisiest city in the United States.

However, Newton’s Third Law of Physical Comedy states that for every action, there is also an equal and opposite reaction. In the case of Eichner, every time he asserts his dominance over the oppressiveness of the city (yay!), that means that some poor schmuck ended up on the receiving end of his tantrum (boo!). Imagine how you would feel if you were just walking down the street, minding your own proverbial beeswax, when some towering Shouty McShouterson got all up in your grill, throwing wadded up dollar bills at you if your brain wasn’t totally attuned to pop culture ephemera. Chances are you probably just emerged from a subway that was late and packed to the gills with jerks, or maybe you left the office to take a brisk walk around the block and escape your co-workers for a few precious moments to yourself. The last thing you’d want in a moment like this is someone to scream at you! (Which, to be fair, happens to New Yorkers even when Billy Eichner himself is not present.)

Eichner now finds himself in a spot where he’s starting to become a parody of himself, though. The first major dent in his armor came when he got into an online flame war with Burger King in October, accusing the fast food titan of ripping off his act in a series of commercials. I understand the urge to throw down when someone comes gunning for your corner, but this outburst smacked of righteous indignation. Additionally, he’s taken his Rhythm Beration act on the road, leaving the cramped confines of New York City to yell at people in empty gymnasiums (see: Michelle Obama) and the aisles of the Tonight Show. Sometimes in comedy, setting is everything; removing Billy from the frenetic streets doesn’t do anything but amp up his mania, taking him past the point of relatability.

I have high hopes for Billy Eichner. He’s got a new show called Difficult People that will premiere on Hulu later this year, and I am hopeful that it will give him a chance to start rounding out his comedic personality. From the few interviews of his that I’ve watched, he seems to be a genuinely sweet guy when the his voice doesn’t exceed 100dBs. I just hope, for all of our sakes, that he soon begins to realize that he doesn’t need to shout in order for us to appreciate his voice.

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