BILLY ON THE STREET
Street Fighting Man
Funny or Die's Billy on the Street is a ground-breaking music and pop culture game show that the New York Times called "loose, unpredictable and appealingly wrong". LooseWorld founder Dane Reiley talks about his time as Co-Executive Producer.
“We’re thinking some sort of Man on the Street Game Show…”
— Mike Farah, CEO Funny or Die
Founder, Dane C. Reiley:Back in 2010, Mike Farah over at Funny or Die sent me this message along with a clip of Billy Eichner doing his thing, and it had me laughing so hard, I was crying. The following week I was sitting down with Billy to hash out the show.
What resulted was a first of its kind series built around a one of a kind talent. And I’ve got to say, some of the most fun was when celebs came on the show. Directing Will Ferrell in a bit where he’s screaming at children is easily one of the highlights of my career. Sledgehammering junk cars in the Lower East Side with Lindsay Lohan was also pretty special.
Of course, we weren’t the only ones to notice that Billy is a singular talent. In one of our first development meetings Billy told me that for years he had met with producers and networks that would say "Billy is so great, we just don’t know what to do with him." I’m proud that we’re the ones that got to figure that out.
Unlike most unscripted tv, these were truly authentic moments without a safety net, so that meant we needed to create a production system that was as unique as the show itself.
Most shows prerelease guests for man on the street segments, but to get real reactions from real New Yorkers, we had to ask for releases afterward. For anyone who’s seen how Billy interacts with people on the show, you know that this was no small task.
