Billy Eichner

I just worship Madonna. As, like, a young gay kid growing up in the '80s and '90s... I was at the Blond Ambition tour with my parents vogue-ing up in the mezzanine at the Nassau Coliseum.

It's been a very strange trajectory because I struggled for so many years. I mean, I was doing these videos, I was doing these live shows, I had a lot of fans in New York, the press would write about me, but I couldn't get a paying job, and so my father and I were really like a team.

I learned early on that 'Billy on the Street' is a great lesson in 'Don't judge a book by its cover.'

Things pop out of people's mouths that you wouldn't expect them to say, so I've stopped trying to guess ahead of time who might be interesting to talk to.

I don't mean to sound like a Pollyanna, but for me, New York is the ideal because of the diversity here. 'Billy on the Street' is really informed by that.

I'm a very outside-the-box kind of guy.

No one puts higher expectations on themselves than I do.

I did start out as an actor. I went to Northwestern; I did musicals. I did plays.

'Billy on the Street' is the hardest thing that I will ever do.

Usually, you'll have a show like the 'King of Queens,' and there'll be one really fat guy, but at least he has a beautiful wife - they balance it out.

It's always really funny to watch someone who really wants something who isn't getting it but who's desperate for it.

When I came out to my parents, I knew that they knew. My father was like, 'Are you sure?' I literally said, 'You took me to see Barbra Streisand at Madison Square Garden.'

I loved 'Solid Gold!'

I came out to my parents when I was a junior in college. And it was pretty fine. They were more concerned with why I wasn't dating anyone. But now I'm 36, and I still don't date anyone.

I have a vivid memory of loving Keith Hernandez, the first baseman for the '86 Mets. I grew up in Queens, so when the Mets won the World Series that year, it was a big deal.

You grow older, you evolve.

Society would be a lot better if people watched Hulu's original programming and not just 'Mozart in the Jungle,' which everyone is watching, apparently.

Society would be better off if Billy Eichner started getting more dramatic work.

I'm smart enough to know I shouldn't be behind the wheel.

My favorite Tyler Perry movie? Ugh, how can you decide? For me, it's basically like: Kurosawa, Tyler Perry, Martin Scorsese, in that order.

I did see one Tyler Perry movie in the theater. My friends and I went to see, I believe it was, 'Why Did I Get Married?'

I have this ongoing obsession with Meryl Streep.

I would never be a contestant on my own show. I would never speak to me, and I'd never sign the release.

I do not like not having Wi-Fi in general, but certainly not on a plane. I fall apart.

I've actually enjoyed my time in L.A. more than a New Yorker is supposed to.

If you're pretty, you want to be ugly. If you're loud, you want to play quiet. You always want to challenge people's expectations.

I just love Stephen Colbert. He's a genius.

'Billy on the Street' is a very exhausting show to do, as you can imagine, but it's worth it.

I think 'Billy on the Street' is a big show, but why do a show if you won't make it original and unique and powerful?

I always want to lead with comedy but hopefully be able to sneak my message through at the same time.

You have to have a sense of humor about all of it - the Emmys and politics and everything.

To me, what the 'Billy on the Street' persona is, is me as a 12-year-old.

I like good movies, and I love theater, and things that I grew up loving, I still love.

I only scream if screaming is deserved.

If I'm screaming at someone, it's because I think they're an idiot.

We need to take a breath and find big ways and small ways to get active.

I like being in my New York bubble. It's the best bubble!

There are people who have huge YouTube followings - whose every post gets hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of hits. But I don't think that's having the same impact as someone who has a regular presence on television, or both.

I was obsessed with award shows and made charts and graphs and stuff when I was 7 years old. I found the entertainment business hilarious, ridiculous, and alluring - and my parents supported it, for better or worse.

My father would read me Page Six instead of, like, kids' stories.

Jim Carrey and Steve Carell did dramatic roles. I look up to them. You want a career like that.

You can't be a great comedian without having self-awareness about others or your own faults. You need a strong sense of self and view on the world. That's what great actors have, too.

I do take for granted, probably, the fact that I grew up in New York City, one of the most liberal places on earth, with bleeding-heart, liberal parents who took me to see 'Rent' and Terrence McNally plays from a very young age.

We have to remain vigilant and loud and stay consistently engaged with our representatives and the political process every single day, on both a macro and micro level.

Our new vice president, Mike Pence, is one of the most blatantly anti-LGBT politicians in the country, and most, if not all, of Trump's cabinet is anti LGBT equality as well.

Probably the most common question I get is, 'Who's your dream guest?' That's kind of annoying because there isn't one.

When I was child, I was intoxicated by celebrities, showbiz and theatre, but from a child's perspective, where they seem far away.

'Billy on the Street' is a persona. It's crafted; it has writers. It's a mixture of performance art and comedy.

I had about five years as a gay guy in New York after college before the whole Grindr explosion happened, where people were still going out to meet each other.

I think there's a fear once things start to blow up - as the people say - that if you stop for a second, it will all go away.