Billy Eichner

Billy Eichner is an American comedian, actor, singer, screenwriter, and television show host. He is widely known as the star, creator, and executive producer of the comedy game show Billy on the Street, created within Funny or Die. The show initially aired on Fuse before moving to truTV, eventually finishing with short-form digital episodes in association with Lyft. On the series, Eichner roams the streets of New York City asking trivia questions to pedestrians, often accompanied by celebrity guests.

Eichner was born on September 18, 1978, and raised in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, New York. He grew up in a Jewish family with his mother Debbie, who worked for a phone company, his father Jay Eichner, a rent tax auditor, and an older half-brother. He had a Madonna-themed bar mitzvah during his youth. Eichner graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1996 and went on to attend Northwestern University, where he shared a college room with actor Robin Lord Taylor and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 2000.

Eichner first gained attention in New York as the host and writer of the stage show Creation Nation: A Live Talk Show. He subsequently landed a Bravo web series titled My Life on the Z-List: Jen's Vlog and co-hosted the Bravo television pilot Joan Rivers' Straight Talk. Additionally, he worked as a special correspondent appearing in original video shorts for Conan. In 2011, he launched Billy on the Street, which significantly raised his public profile.

Expanding into narrative television, Eichner joined the comedy series Parks and Recreation in 2013 as Craig Middlebrooks, becoming a series regular in its seventh season. He also appeared alongside Seth Meyers in a New York street segment during the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2014. Beginning in 2015, Eichner starred opposite Julie Klausner in the Hulu series Difficult People, executive produced by Amy Poehler. His subsequent television and film credits include Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, recurring roles in the seventh and eighth seasons of American Horror Story, and a recurring role on Friends from College.

In 2019, Eichner voiced the character Timon in Jon Favreau's live-action remake of Disney's The Lion King, a role he reprised in the 2024 film Mufasa: The Lion King. He co-wrote and starred in the feature film Bros, which was critically well-received. Among his other film projects, Eichner announced the development of the Paul Lynde biopic Man in the Box and partnered with Amazon Studios to co-write and star in Ex-Husbands alongside Paul Rudnick.

Eichner is gay, Jewish, and resides in Los Angeles. A member of the Democratic Party, he launched the voting initiative Glam Up the Midterms in 2018 to boost voter turnout among young people. In 2019, he became a senior advisor for the progressive political organization Swing Left, and he later endorsed Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.