‘DIFFICULT PEOPLE’ GOES A-LIST
Difficult People is seeing stars in its return to Hulu.
In the acerbic comedy’s second season (which starts streaming weekly episodes Tuesday), creator/star Julie Klausner is unapologetic in her skewering of all things New York, pop culture and insufferable human behavior. Co-starring Billy on the Street’s Billy Eichner and with Amy Poehler among its executive producers, the show follows the cynical pals (also named Julie and Billy) in their flailing attempts to break into showbiz and hobnob with celebrities.
Klausner breaks down five of Season 2’s biggest cameos, and how they came to be.
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
In further proof of Hamilton’s pervasiveness, the hit Broadway musical’s Tony-winning creator (and former star) pops in for an episode in which Billy and Julie create their own version of the hip-hopera about former president Jimmy Carter. “We do it for spitefueled reasons, and in the process, put a fake quote from Lin-Manuel on our (flier) that says, ‘This show is better than mine,’ ” Klausner says. “He finds out and is very angry.” Miranda, who got his start in New York theater company Ars Nova with Eichner, is unsurprisingly a “super-sweet guy. We were impressed that he could manage any time to come on set and do it.”
TINA FEY
Fey, who appeared on Street last year, plays herself in the season premiere. She arrives at the door of Julie’s neurotic mother, Marilyn (Andrea Martin) and agrees to direct her videotaped will if Marilyn will allow her to film an episode of NBC’s The Blacklist outside her brownstone. “It’s exciting, as a comedy nerd, to watch Tina and Andrea go at it,” Klausner says. “Marilyn really likes Tina, even though she’s annoyed by her and doesn’t know who she is, and Tina (enjoys) being challenged by what Marilyn needs. At the end, they seem chummier than me and my mom.”
NATHAN LANE
In one of their many harebrained schemes to get famous, Billy and Julie recruit the Broadway veteran for their own version of the viral Ice Bucket Challenge, in which celebrities stick their right hands into toilets. “We corner him into doing it for his favorite charity and the consequences are more terrible than we ever could’ve imagined,” Klausner says. They approached Lane for the cameo because “he’s such an irreplaceable actor. He’s someone who, if he were gone, it would be devastating and he would be very missed.”
JULIANNE MOORE
Another Street alum, Moore appears in the season finale as a development executive at actor Josh Gad’s fictional production company. After reading one of Julie’s articles, “she works toward optioning it, and it’s a very big opportunity for my character to work on an autobiographical piece being adapted into a film,” Klausner says. “Her character is one of those Hollywood monsters that acts like a girl’s girl and your best friend, and then will stab you in the back while still smiling. She pulled off the BFF-ness of it so artfully.”