Julie Klausner is dreaming up a stage adaptation of Difficult People

In a sense, the series—which starred Klausner and Billy Eichner as snarky, dream-chasing New Yorkers with a supporting cast that included Cole Escola, Andrea Martin, and Urbanek—is already getting a stage version with next week’s reading. The whole cast is returning for that event, save for Escola, who will be replaced by soap opera legend Susan Lucci. “Cole really tried to make it happen. There’s a lot of love there. It was just a matter of scheduling,” says Klausner. 

There’s also been plenty of pop culture for Julie and Billy to mock in the years since the show went off the air. As Difficult People fans will know, the series was full of repeated, pre-#MeToo jabs at figures like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. “[O]nce the show went off the air, immediately #MeToo happened, which was crazy because we’d spent the last three years calling out sex pests and trying to speak truth to power there,” says Klausner.  “Right now we’re calling this Difficult People: The Movie. But when we first wrote it, it was called Difficult People: Ahead Of Their Time.” Though Klausner realizes this can be a backhanded compliment, she adds: “The nice thing about being ahead of your time is when you go back, there’s fewer things that make you cringe. Except for in my case watching myself on camera.”