Difficult People just shot into high gear by taking the mickey (poking fun at) New Jersey, Goodfellas and big hair in the episode of “Italian Piñata.” Show creator and star of the series Julie Klausner rocked as “Italian Julie” whose face kept getting more Trump-like as the episode went on (More orange? Get it?). The other sight gag in the episode was that hair; it got exponentially bigger each time she and Billy went back to Hoboken.
Billy is mourning “Coming Out Day” as he says all the new gays will get the pick of the crop. Before that he and Julie give a truncated history lesson about the Stonewall. She reveals that the comedy tour rejected her. A heavy girl at Billy’s workplace comes out to tearful parents and Billy is thunderstruck that the couple really did not know their daughter was gay.
Both Billy and Julie want to head over to Hoboken for the Kevin Smith Jorts relaunch party at Hoboken. Julie’s mother treats her to a free student haircut . She claims the new “do” makes her look like Melanie Griffith in the first half hour of Working Girl.”
Klausner then does a hilariously spot on imitation of Griffith’s character in the film, “I’ve got a head for business and a bod for cinnabons. She tops by the flat and after stealing a big bit of cake learns that Arthur is the new PBS party boy.
Julie and Billy arrive a few hours early and bump into some Italian “Goodfellas” type women. Overweight, with big hair and bad skin, these three find Julie’s humor hysterical. Suddenly Kessler feels a few kindred souls. She changes from Jewish Julie to Italian Julie.
Kessler is not the only one to “live a lie” Billy decides to recreate himself as a new gay coming out. He is interested in Joni’s brother who finds it incredibly “hot” that Billy has been straight for 35 years.
Arthur blows the entire year’s budget on one party and the new Italian Julie helps out. She invites the next door neighbor to hold his kid’s birthday party at the PBS conference room. It is a “puppy” party but with kids.
Billy is coached by Joey (Mark Consuelos) on gay culture and he explains that Madonna is out and Demi Lovato is in. Joey wants to savor Billy’s first experience and after they talk about Judy Garland, and her daughters, who Billy claims to know nothing about, the two head out of the LGBT store.
Goodfellas Interlude:
Kessler does a voice over a’la Goodfellas while her new friends do each other’s nails and makeup. On top of the re-creation of Karen Hill’s voice over in the 1990 Scorsese film, Julie’s hair has gotten bigger and she is really starting to look like an Annie/Weird Al Yankovic clone.
Bring in the Clown:
Arthur introduces Gaby (Tracee Chimo) to her “puppy” party and all goes well till she sees the clown. Freaking out, she turns to run and the clown as well as the kids in the party chase the screaming woman through the halls of PBS. Arthur is fired as the party boy, but ranks well with the “cool kids” at work.
Meanwhile Back at the Plot:
Marilyn shows up and talks Arthur into rescuing Italian Julie from Hoboken. Meanwhile Julie and Billy are enjoying New Jersey hospitality until, as Billy goes to leave with Joey, Frank Sinatra starts singing “New York, New York” on the sound system. Joni says that this is her favorite Sinatra song. Both Billy and Julie say, in unison, that they always felt it was more of a Liza Minnelli song.
Billy is caught out, as is Julie. Just as things start to turn ugly, Marilyn and Arthur come in, put a bag over Julie’s head that drag her out of the room. Joni and her pals shriek that it must be an Italian Piñata party.
This episode of Difficult People hit almost all the right notes comically. The hair gag was brilliantly funny as was the ever increasing shades of orange that Julie sported in each new scene. (At one point Marilyn asks, “Are you tan or just dirty?”)
The purses literally falling off the back of a truck was a great sight gag, along with the others. The only unfunny point in the show was Billy’s co-wroker with the constant 9-11/Twin Towers one-liners. (Some may find those amusing, we however, do not. Just saying)
Difficult People is, as pointed out in an earlier review, miles funnier this season. Klausner and Eichner have developed into an excellent double act while Urbaniak is straight man extraordinaire.
The series airs Tuesdays on Hulu. Catch this one if you can as it is funny and clever; although not necessarily in that order. It is also a bit rough (“F**k those c***s” ) but this makes the show that little bit different.
CAST:
- Julie Klausner – Julie Kessler
- Billy Eichner – Billy Epstein
- James Urbaniak – Arthur Tack
- Andrea Martin – Marilyn Kessler
