Billy in My Brain: A review of Billy on the Street

By Sheryl Ramer

“For a dollar, Glenn Close or Meryl Streep?”

This is a question posed to a random man walking around on the sidewalks of New York in the show Billy On the Street. The show features Billy, an intense character who the viewer is supposed to believe is a real person.

In For a Dollar, Billy thinks his opinions are facts. The random people win a dollar if they choose the “right answer” — from Billy’s point of view. If the person on the street chooses the “wrong answer,” Billy goes nuts. For a dollar is just one of the little games Billy Eichner, the creator and actor of Billy, plays on the series, which is now available on Netflix.

In this skit, the random man chooses Glenn Close. Billy is frenzied even while he asks the question, but he works himself up into a fury at the man’s answer because the correct answer is Meryl Streep. His hands gesture widely, his voice raises, he sort of bends over, sticks his neck out. Billy and the random man argue. Billy runs away, yelling.

Before you stop reading this review, your mind made up the show is too silly, loud, or rude for you, Billy on the Street has some prestige. Celebrities have run next to Billy. (If you only watch one episode, watch Christmas. Carol Ambush with Amy Poehler.) Will Farrell, Paul Rudd, and Tina Fey have also run with Billy. Even Michelle Obama was on the show, hawking vegetables, hiding behind Big Bird, and pushing Billy in a shopping cart as he read Gweneth Paltrow’s Oscar acceptance speech out loud.

Michelle Obama was DELIGHTFUL.

I like seeing celebrities in weird situations, but that intensity — the all caps of Billy — is the real reason I enjoy the show. I say “this is DELIGHTFUL” to myself if I eat good food or see a good show. It’s funny how the word does not match the anger behind it. I call that voice Billy on the Brain. That’s just a fun little thing …

But he also helps in unexpected ways:

Billy Eichner does such a good job at making Billy’s frustration over-the-top and funny. In the same way, maybe my frustration is over-the-top and funny. Like, if I’m walking behind people walking slowly around New York City now, Billy in my brain will say, “this isn’t PLEASANT.” My frustration still feels real, but with a pinch of humor.

I won’t yell at you if you don’t like Billy on the Street, because, unlike Billy, my opinion is not fact. But maybe the show is more philosophical than it seems. The summary on Netflix calls Billy “unapologetic.” Billy doesn’t apologize for yelling, but he gets so upset — he’s so vulnerable when random people are wrong. Aren’t we all a little vulnerable when someone tells us we are wrong? Don’t we all sometimes think our opinion is correct? Maybe that’s too deep for what the show is, but if you view it through that lens, it does give you something to think about.