NEW SERIES! Since our eyes always flash and a smile spreads when a movie is referenced on a tv show we're watching, we've decided to make it a habit to share these cross-platform romances with you. Whenever we see one worth discussing, we'll share it. Here's Glenn discussing Difficult People.
Have you been watching Hulu's Difficult People? You should be watching Difficult People! Admittedly, it could be a very hard show to fall in love with if you’re not a fan of watching terrible New Yorkers act like exclusionary, entitled gits while spouting cruel insults about celebrities – but hey, that’s one of my favourite genres! What it does mean is references galore, like an audition for a remake of the 1988 body swap comedy Vice Versa in episode two, or a PBS roast in episode three that finds time for jokes about Shining Time Station (“If there’s one thing children love, it’s having Ringo Starr yell at them about trains”) and Maggie Smith’s genitals being named after Mr. Bean.
Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner star as Julie and Billy. They are less successful, but very pseudo-autobiographical versions of themselves - a mildly successful recapper of reality television and a waiter trying to be an actor respectively. They are trying to build a career in comedy while he works for Gabby Sidibe and she deals with her psychiatrist mother (Andrea Martin). Their love of pop culture knows no meta-bounds and they show has already landed in hot water over a joke in episode one about Beyonce that was the target of people who apparently know nothing of irony, criticising the show, the network, Klausner, and executive producer Amy Poehler as “disgusting”.
Sigh, right? [More...]
As a show about people active in the Twitter-centric world of NYC pop culture entertainment, some of its gags are remarkably niche. Episode four from last week was a veritable field of missiles aimed squarely at HBO (and Ricky Gervais) that one hopes the network has a sense of humour about. Like when Billy finally gets signed by an agent - a non-Jewish one (gasp!) - who tells him he has “a John C. Reilley quality” but who has an in with HBO, and the two joke about The Leftovers, Looking (twice, actually, one of which ought to be remarkably offensive, and yet…), and the network's stupidity over not accepting Breaking Bad or Mad Men. Not just confined to jokes about TV, they find time for references to Broadway (“You want to see On the Town again?"), gay nightlife (Flaming Saddles gets a shout-out), award shows and movies. No doubt we all at The Film Experience feel a bit of relatability in Billy’s comments to his brother, Garry (Fred Armison), and his very Jewish family during Yom Kippur.
“Here’s the thing. You know what the holiest day of the year is for me? The Golden Globes. I don’t care about the blessings, I care about the SAG Awards. And no one cares about those. Show business, Garry. That’s what I care about.”
“That’s the most Jewish thing I’ve ever heard.”
Remember Billy Eichner’s “Billy on the Street” segment for last year’s Emmy Awards?
And this year she’s not. What are the odds?!
But the best bit comes later as Billy’s leaving, foil-wrapped leftovers in hand, as he and Garry reminisce about their childhoods.
“Remember when we were kids, how much fun we had at movie nights? You had your tapes – you had Mannequin and Big Business. You loved Mannequin! Yeah, and I had Shoah and Fiddler.”
“You always had a soft spot for Topol.”
“And you know what else? Born on the Fourth of July. Remember that? ‘We’re never, ever gonna let the people of the United States forget that war!’”
Perhaps it’s because I am in that same world where references to Shoah and Mannequin and the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards and Laura Linney and Getting On (“I hope Laurie Metcalf is okay!”) can fly off the tongue with remarkable ease, but I find Difficult People extremely funny. It’s as if Seinfeld and Will & Grace had a Hulu sitcom baby and raised it on a steady diet of pop culture, Wendy Williams and Parks & Recreation reruns. It can be very difficult to make a work of entertainment about awful people; you either have to be using their awfulness for a greater purpose, or you’ve got to be damn funny. It's the issue I had with Fort Tilden, a film I coincidentally watched immediately after this episode, which is about awful people, but which does not work because there's no great purpose and no laughs. This one works. And how!
And just because its rather biting critique of the modern pop culture landscape couldn’t be more distressing…
“In other show business news, HBO is developing a heart-breaking true story about an agent who committed suicide just days after he was diagnosed a brain haemorrhage that caused him to sign random people. Ricky Gervais is slated to star.”
Ouch.