William John Eichner (born September 18, 1978) is an American actor, writer, and comedian.
Eichner perhaps best known for hosting the satirical game show Billy on the Street, where he accosts strangers on the streets of New York City to participate in games for low sums of money and undesirable prizes, for which he received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Game Show Host in 2013.
He's also notable for his role as Craig Middlebrooks on NBC's Parks and Recreation and Billy Epstein on Hulu's Difficult People, as well as appearing in the films The Angry Birds Movie and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.
Selected filmography:
- Billy on the Street (2011 — 2017) as himself
- Bob's Burgers (2013 — 2018) as Mr. Ambrose (voice)
- Parks and Recreation (2013 — 2015) as Craig Middlebrooks
- Difficult People (2015 — 2017) as Billy Epstein
- The Angry Birds Movie (2016) as Chef Pig / Phillip (voice)
- Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016) as Oliver Studebaker
- Friends from College (2017 — present) as Felix Forzenheim
- American Horror Story (2017 — present) in various roles:
- American Horror Story: Cult (2017) as Harrison Wilton and Tex Watson
- American Horror Story: Apocalypse (2018) as Brock and Mutt
- Most Likely to Murder (2018) as Speigel
- The Lion King (2019) as Timon (voice)
- Green Eggs and Ham (2019) as Walter Bigman (voice)
- Noelle (2019) as Gabriel Kringle
- Impeachment: American Crime Story (2021) as Matt Drudge
- Bros (2022) as Bobby (also wrote/produced)
- Mufasa: The Lion King (2024): Timon (voice)
Billy Eichner's work provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adam Westing: Portrays a heightened version of himself in Billy on the Street. He's more restrained when not hosting the show.
- Camp Gay: Several of his characters, as well as his Billy on the Street persona, are flamboyant gay men with an interest in Hollywood gossip.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: On Billy on the Street, he often freaks out over very small matters, such as people not knowing celebrity trivia, not sharing his opinions on celebrities, or not knowing his work.
- Large Ham: His Billy on the Street persona, the popularity of which has resulted in many of the other characters he has played to be similarly hammy.
- No Indoor Voice: He's known for having having an incredibly loud voice.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Billy on the Street, he often suddenly abandons his conversations with people on the street because they said something that frustrated or bored him.
- Typecasting: Most likely due to the persona he adopts for Billy on the Street, he almost always plays comedically loud and abrasive Jerkasses.
