Television series

Difficult People

Name: Difficult People
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2015
Cast: Billy Eichner, Julie Klausner, James Urbaniak, Andrea Martin, Cole Escola

Comedy

Two acerbic comedians navigate friendship, New York ambition, and their own terrible impulses. Difficult People is a character comedy built on genuine affection beneath relentless, specific insults—bittersweet and often hilarious, for anyone who's ever sabotaged their own life through sheer personality.

TVMaze rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like sharp, cringe-happy comedy about two self-absorbed New Yorkers who say the unsayable and never learn, and you'd rather laugh at bad behavior than be lectured about it.

Skip it if you need warm, likable leads or a plot that builds, since episodes mostly reset and the cringe can feel relentless.

What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes, one after another, that ask you to stay with prickly, quick-talking people and enjoy the mess rather than wait for them to soften.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Broad City2014

Two best friends in New York, similarly unfiltered and chaotic. It has the same DNA of character-driven comedy where the humor lives in how these women think and speak, not plot mechanics.

But It leans heavier into surrealism and absurdist bits, where Difficult People stays grounded in social realism and cringe.

You're the Worst2014

Two fundamentally flawed people in a relationship, mining comedy from their inability to function. Sharp writing about damaged people trying and failing to be better, wrapped in genuine tenderness.

But Romance is the engine; if you want friendship dynamics instead, the show moves away from what drew you in.

Curb Your Enthusiasm2000

Larry David as a version of himself, creating awkwardness through his own awfulness. The same commitment to letting characters dig their own holes and stay there, comedy from consequence.

But Ten seasons deep and uneven; early episodes are essential, later ones repeat the formula. Also male-centered where Difficult People values women's voices.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Difficult People

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Fleabag2016

Both built on a protagonist's direct address to camera, breaking the fourth wall to confess what they're actually thinking. Both use confession as a way to make the audience complicit in loving someone terrible.

A woman narrating her own disaster in real-time, talking directly to you about the people she's hurting. Same fourth-wall breaking, same structure of affection under cruelty, same premise: watch someone you recognize in yourself.

But British tone and concerns; it's warmer and more forgiving where Difficult People is colder. Fleabag wants to be loved. Billy and Julie want to be understood.

30 Rock2006

New York comedy about people in entertainment, fast jokes layered with character work. The specificity and density of reference feels like the same comedic tradition, with warmth underneath the chaos.

But It's far broader and more mainstream—no cringe, less willing to let characters be genuinely difficult. Tonal opposite of what makes Difficult People uncomfortable.

Master of None2015

Aziz Ansari playing a version of himself navigating friendship, ambition, and New York. Balances comedy with real melancholy about growing up and disappointing people, including yourself.

But More cinematic and less joke-dense; it privileges mood and sentiment over laughs, which is the inverse of what you're looking for.

Search Party2016

Four damaged people tangled together in New York, comedy from character pathology rather than situations. Daphne's self-absorption drives everything, much like Billy and Julie's mutual enablement.

But It's darker and meaner—less friendship, more mutual destruction. The affection underneath is harder to see.

Sarah & Duck2013

Best friends, specific New York humor, comedy about having no money and no prospects. Similarly unvarnished about what it costs to be this kind of person in the city.

But Lower budget and smaller scope; it's scrappier and less polished, which some readers will find charming and others tedious.

PEN152019

Two comedians playing exaggerated versions of themselves and their relationship. The jokes come from knowing these people, their flaws and tics, the way friendship survives terrible behavior.

But Less grounded than Difficult People—it tips into performance where the show stays honest. Also significantly less successful at landing its emotional beats.

Corporate2018

Two comedy writers playing corporate idiots in a workplace. If you enjoyed the writing style and the sense that everyone here is both the victim and the villain of their own life.

But Workplace ensemble rather than intimate friendship study. Skews more absurdist and less character-focused; thinner emotional core.

The Larry Sanders Show1992

Both are about people in entertainment watching their own mediocrities and inadequacies in real-time. Both structure comedy around professional ambition and the friendships that survive it, even when they shouldn't.

Behind-the-scenes comedy about a talk-show host and his producer, built entirely on character and relationship. Made in the '90s but constructed like a play—nothing but people talking, their dynamics generating all the comedy.

But It's pre-streaming, so the pace feels slower. Also more sentimental about friendship; it wants you to care about whether they'll make up. Difficult People is meaner about whether they should.

Succession2018

Both understand that the funniest, most honest thing is watching smart people choose wrong. Both mine comedy from watching characters sabotage themselves, not out of stupidity but out of character.

Viciously smart people destroying each other, comedy in the specificity of how they fail. The dialogue is electric and specific—you believe these people, and they're all monsters, and you can't look away.

But It's HBO prestige television, not a comedy—bleak and expensive and about something other than friendship. If you want laughs, this trades too many for mood. And Billy and Julie are broke New Yorkers; this is about inherited wealth and inherited trauma.