- 4/22/2025
Billy Eichner & Luke MacFarlane discuss "Bros," the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio. We got to bro-out about Hallmark Movies, Richard Gere, and Billy On The Street.
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00:00i'm excited about uh this entire morning uh domikoski and crew were warming up and it sounded
00:07fantastic i can't wait for them to play a little bit later on and i can't wait to have these next
00:13guests here in our studio today yeah uh they're promoting a film called uh bros now read this
00:18description specifically universal pictures presents the first romantic comedy from a major
00:23studio about two gay men stumbling towards love and we're happy to have them here this morning
00:29the two leads billy eichner and luke mcfarland with us good morning good morning thanks for having us
00:37happy to have you here man welcome to philadelphia do you have uh much history in this town you ever
00:42spent much time in philly before no not at all well i love it though i love philly yeah i'm a new yorker
00:50so you know i grew up not too far from here yeah it's i have i am as well a new yorker and didn't
00:57get down here a lot when i was up in new york and now it's my everything so it should seem fairly
01:01familiar to you but uh saw the movie and uh really really enjoyed it and thought um and i mean this
01:09in the in the in a complimentary sense it is a gay rom-com like it is it is a real an obvious thing
01:16as i was watching i'm thinking i've never seen anything like this i've never seen anything like
01:22this that just and in a way i felt like i was finally getting a little peek behind a curtain
01:26exactly and i i enjoyed the authenticity of it are you getting that kind of reaction yeah from
01:32everyone you know we did make the movie with uh judd apatow and nick stoller who are two straight men
01:37two of the straightest men by the way nick preston did uh um uh forgetting sarah marshall
01:43nick stoller yeah he directed forgetting sarah marshall judd apatow produced bridesmaids and
01:49knocked up and 40 year old virgin and super bad so these guys really know how to make a great comedy
01:54that everyone can relate to right um but they've never done one about a gay couple uh and so they
02:00actually came to me with the idea and we collaborated on it nick and i wrote it together and
02:05yeah the two things we wanted it to be more than anything are hilarious because we don't get a lot
02:10of great comedies and movie theaters anymore great are already which i think is that you
02:16more of that yeah exactly and we wanted it to be honest you know and um we have we've done so many
02:23advanced screenings of the movie all over the country and sometimes it's more straight people
02:28sometimes it's more lgbtq folks and everyone just laughs out loud and i think for straight folks what's
02:34exciting is exactly what you said it has all the elements of a judd apatow movie that you love but
02:40it's also unlike anything you've ever seen in a movie theater and honestly i grew up watching
02:44straight romantic comedies you were my favorite movie i'm you've been in many of them yes many of
02:50them as well and i took a lot from them i really understood the laughs and the jokes and the tears
02:54and i think that straight people are gonna have the exact same reaction to a gay romantic by the
02:58way you're both you're both revered in my book because uh luke you are a veteran of the hallmark uh
03:04movies universe yeah much like the marvel universe
03:06very similar to the marvel universe yes yes you were there thanos
03:15i think i'm a captain america honestly that's more where i fit in
03:20america's ass that's right i'm canadian well and also from brothers and sisters and i don't remember
03:29do you guys remember why it became a thing like with with me i loved the show i used to say that
03:35like i wanted to be part of that family um and they started like making fun of me and when they
03:39canceled it i was so upset and i guess that's where it stemmed from so like we still talk about
03:44brothers and sisters oh wow i love that yeah i think we told our story that family had a lot of
03:51family drama we just ran out of things you know you know but it didn't end it just right well i
03:56think i think some of the some of the people that were involved in the show were like i think i'm
03:59done yeah yeah um so i want to know about the um uh getting this movie together was this was this
04:06a hard sell an easy sell uh to get this movie made yeah i never believed that a major studio like
04:13universal you know the same studio that makes jurassic world and fast and the furious would
04:17would get behind an r-rated gay rom-com judd apatow and nick stoller always believed that they would
04:23uh and to their credit universal did and they completely supported it being as honest and
04:29authentic as possible and you're getting a huge like a 3 000 theater release right yeah bros is
04:33going to get released in about 3 000 movie theaters all over north america and then roll out all over the
04:38world luke and i are going to do press in australia and and all over europe in october where it
04:42opens uh later in october and so yeah it's the first of its kind in many ways um but you know
04:48mostly we just wanted to make a really funny movie i you know which it is and and i think people have
04:53forgotten you know most of the movies that get released in theaters now are big action movies
04:58and horror movies you know and those are all great but what happened to going and laughing with
05:03hundreds of people in a movie theater which i grew up doing all the time that's what made me want
05:08to do movies you know yeah it's a collective it's a communal thing it is and it's and you escape the
05:12world and you escape your anxiety and you just like have a great time and laugh with your friends
05:17so i'm excited for people to see bros because i think that's what it does i was uh the the first i
05:22saw of it the the trailer came on television okay so i'm sitting there watching it and i'm seeing the
05:26setup and i'm like okay it's a rom-com i see this i'm like oh this is about a gay couple yeah and i was
05:32delighted uh my youngest son is gay and so i love seeing that this was this is not packaged in any
05:40special way it was just packaged like a regular movie trailer and i'm like yay you know i was
05:46really happy to see that yeah it's about time and you know what's really cool like it's really
05:51bringing people together in terms of straight gay whatever you are we just had uh the the american
05:57premiere of the movie at the castro theater in san francisco which is like the center of gay
06:02lives in america right and you know who showed up lars ulrich from metallica with his whole family
06:09and i was like oh my god and you know i i did some comedy bits with lars a few years ago and he's i was
06:14like wow how are you here he was and he said i love judd apatow movies you know what i mean and he
06:19loved it and he posted about it on instagram about how funny it was and how outrageous it was and so
06:25funny is funny at the end of the day do you know what what works also in that you get you get a unique
06:31perspective on things but the tropes that you want in a an effective funny romantic comedy are there
06:37yeah uh all of those things and yet it also is um it's sweet it's legitimately and billy your
06:43character has always been very sort of um you know uh um abrasive or cynical yeah and this is a
06:50complete refutation of that yeah yeah it starts out a little bit like billy on the street that
06:55people know but then it you know it definitely is much more than that that is what love will do to us
07:00yeah exactly and that's what the movie's about really by the way what would there are you talk
07:05about laugh out loud moments there were both of the laugh out loud moments for me involved um
07:11quasi orgy situations yeah i don't want to give too much away but there there is an unwanted fourth
07:18billy the look on your face is so goddamn hilarious when you're looking at back at this guy like
07:25what are you doing here yeah and it's just it's just hilarious i haven't had many orgies but but
07:31for those who have there's always one person you don't want who's there who's always the most
07:36enthusiastic and the most like raring to go and no one you don't want to be rude to the person but you
07:43also don't want to engage with the person yeah and that's always very funny and we have a scene like
07:48i don't i don't even want to mention what but but that's i i defy you not to to laugh out loud and
07:52there were a couple of revelations i seeing um harvey firestein in the film and then is that an
07:57actual young picture of harvey fire yes it is he looks like harvey or bardem i know he's beautiful
08:03what really yeah when he was he had there's a picture of him in the movie that we used that
08:07harvey gave us from when he was in his 20s in new york um and yeah he was really really handsome
08:13that's the first question i have to ask but again i think people might when these things work as with
08:19the apatow-esque films or apatow films uh there there is that emotional thing in there and you do
08:25get that in this and so um you know for you luke you've done a fair amount of this kind of acting
08:31but for billy would did that present a series of um difficulties or because it was your baby did it
08:36seem easier to do that um it's both scary and exciting because you know the whole point of doing
08:42the movie was to show people a different side of yourself right you know you always want to evolve and
08:46you know keep i i want to do new things you know i love billy on the street and all that stuff but
08:52you know it's also like i don't want to do it forever i went to northwestern years ago i was a
08:56theater major i did tons of acting before people got to know me in this very specific way on parks and
09:01rec and billy on the street and all that stuff which i love but i think you're always looking for
09:05opportunities to show more of yourself yeah we don't get many multi-dimensional gay characters
09:11we do get a lot of gay characters now on tv and streaming and stuff but they're often kind of
09:15sitcom-y and well one-dimensional two-dimensional but you know we're complicated people like everyone
09:21else and so i wanted to represent that in rom-com canon it's usually the friend who's advising the
09:28uh jennifer lopez right exactly right exactly yeah uh but uh so uh an interesting thing i have to
09:35mention for you kathy is that correct me if i'm wrong billy but your rom-com fantasy
09:40man is richard gear correct well someone asked me like who i thought like the hottest person
09:47was in a movie and i thought about it and i said oh it's richard gear and pretty woman or anything
09:53yeah i tried to get him for bros
09:56he was here in the studio and i took a picture with him look and it looks like we're dating so
10:03wow yeah he still looks good that looks like a cardboard cutout
10:08looks are through it billy i'm watching a show uh called uh the bear it's on fx it's a really great
10:16show and and then one of the chefs on that show and then a guy that works they're they're gay and
10:20you find out in episodes four or five but it's it becomes it's not even really a plot thanks for
10:25ruining it yeah i actually hadn't gotten that far again now i'm wondering who it is
10:30all right well um i won't say that part it's called the bear yeah well and that has nothing
10:36to do with but it's it's interesting um to me that they don't even make mention of it it's not it's
10:41not a plot line it's just who these characters are yeah and i think we're working towards the
10:45point i hope we are where uh a gay rom-com is just a rom-com that you don't have to define it
10:50as a gay rom-com anymore does that make sense totally yeah um and sorry about spoiling the show
10:55yeah uh and it's it's weird you know like it's weird that it took so long bros is the first gay
11:00rom-com from a major studio the whole cast is openly lgbtq even playing the straight roles
11:05which which never happens and i think makes the movie exciting and fresh and new and hopefully
11:11people will go support it it opens in theaters all over not just big cities big cities small
11:16towns suburbs all the multiplexes playing spider-man and batman are playing bros which is pretty cool
11:22and if people support it and get out there and see it they're gonna have a great time and hopefully
11:26we'll get more movies like that now steve has seen the film i have not yet i've caught you know
11:30obviously the trailer to it but you definitely get that you you've got that apatow uh you you can feel
11:34it it's an art comedy from the dialogue and and that it's i can't stand punches pulled in a comedy
11:41yeah and this does not yeah well and what i'm curious about is is in delivering all that that dialogue
11:47uh and he's known for it and i'm not sure you know what all he had uh input wise he's a producer
11:53correct yeah uh but um riffing and and just uh playing off of each other and ad-libbing uh happened
12:00like crazy on this apatow flicks did you guys have that in bros oh yeah we improvised a lot we have so
12:05many funny comic actors you know and a lot of fresh faces that you haven't seen you know what judd and
12:11nick are known for is to introduce fresh comedic voices to the world like people didn't really know seth
12:17rogan before knocked up melissa mccarthy before bridesmaids steve carell before 40 year old virgin
12:23you know that's what those guys do so here you're getting that but it happens to be lgbtq actors and
12:29they're hilarious and you're gonna fall in love with them who's the actress and from glee uh that played
12:33the the gym teacher yes dot marie oh my god she's hilarious she's so funny in this movie and somebody
12:40that has been around for like 30 years like works constantly but is always playing like you know the
12:45biker lesbian that lives next door yeah like that's like the extent of the yeah yeah and we we have
12:50all generations represented we have someone like bowen yang who's like the funniest person on snl right
12:56now and then we also have uh amanda beerce who you might remember from married with children
13:01she was marcy darcy she was the first the first actress to ever come out on prime time tv before
13:08rosie o'donnell before ellen yeah and she plays luke's mom in the movie and she's an accomplished director
13:13yeah and a director also yeah and she hasn't been in a movie i think in decades she's great yeah
13:18she's fantastic it's it's a it's a great right for anybody who has any sort of reservations about it
13:22this is a straight up rom-com comedy uh and and you it's it's funny because um you don't take
13:29yourselves too seriously everybody's grist for some sort of uh jab or barb and it's all done in a good
13:37spirit there's nothing kind of worse than people that can't laugh at themselves right like it really is
13:41and we have to and i think we also get that uh privilege because it is an lgbt cast we can kind
13:46of make fun of each other right where it'd be a lot harder for a straight person to make fun of an
13:50lgbt person that point is made and i love i love the factions of the lesbians and the gay men and
13:55and there's contention there sometimes and everyone's complaining how much they how much
14:01they're getting in the way of like a pride month and so on and so forth uh but uh so so working on the
14:06set uh the movie just looks really gorgeous i mean where's it where's it filmed uh new york
14:13new jersey and then we did go up to provincetown massachusetts for one sequence during the pandemic
14:18you were doing we shot it last fall okay during delta yeah between delta and omicron
14:25that beautiful period between delta and omicron by the way i'm so glad that i think the industry
14:32in general opted to not do a lot of with masks on stuff on screen because i think that would
14:37bring you back to a bad thing and so it's great to see you uh out and about and doing that i wanted
14:43to ask you luke just because i have to geek out on the uh the hallmark stuff um uh geek those those
14:50holiday sets are glorious glorious do you ever do you ever i mean to me that's like i swear to god
14:59and and no one can understand it my wife has mocks me yeah i love them your wife is mocking you
15:07you're the one watching i'm the one watching this is different than the regular yeah i know right
15:11preston's father-in-law my father-in-law who is the biggest good old boy you've ever seen
15:17love it and he just sits there on the couch and he's he's got it timed out 60 seconds before the
15:23end of the episode come over here they're going kiss right now and i'll tell you this
15:27here's my issue here's my issue you have one issue no this is actually a good thing and in in when
15:35you're on i say i'll say to my wife this guy isn't good looking enough not you you're always good
15:43like when i've seen you i'm like you know what i'm saying it's like yeah i'm sorry the woman and
15:48the guy have to be impeccable i appreciate that comment on so many levels because you were man
15:53enough to go like that's a good look i appreciate that but i mean it's you gotta you know we know
15:58how it's gonna play out we want it to play out and again like we talk about those tropes that do
16:01work that people do want they're present it's president bros with some interesting things that
16:06you haven't seen before billy i have to ask you a quick question yeah are you working on a film
16:10a bio of paul lynn i am developing a biopic about paul lynn really yeah that is awesome he's gonna
16:17bring it to hallmark actually yeah not a hallmark speaking of orgies paul lynn had quite a few
16:24back in the day yeah i'll bet i loved i mean he was he's center square man center square he's the
16:30best bye bye birdie yeah all that stuff yeah and he was as openly gay as you could be at that time
16:37without ever saying it without ever saying it yeah but also as happy as you could possibly be
16:42at that time which was not very yeah no he was a pretty tortured guy yeah it's a complicated story
16:47but uh yeah a really fascinating figure in hollywood yeah that's so cool to hear any time frame on that
16:54or no i'm very much a focus on one thing at a time person so we've been really focused on bros but
17:01when this adventure is over we'll get back to it earlier in the interview luke mentioned captain
17:06america and billy i have to ask you and i know you maybe not want to talk about billy on the street
17:10but running around in new york with chris evans must have been fun oh yeah i mean i've run around
17:15with a lot of people at this point um chris is awesome yeah he's so much fun and people were so
17:21excited to see him um it's funny though he was nervous ah yeah billy on the street you know it's a
17:27it's a unique thing you're improvising with strangers none of it is planned and um even
17:34like sometimes we have like very experienced incredible they are very famous actors who get
17:39a little nervous about it it's not what they're used to doing is it fear of being throttled by
17:43some stranger who doesn't pick up on what you're doing yeah i don't know like a lot of these famous
17:48people that run around with me you know they're not really dealing with the public in that direct
17:53fashion all the time anymore i can see that and you don't know what anyone's gonna say someone
17:58could come up to i mean part of the fun of billy on the street when i ran around with chris pratt
18:01you know i'd run up to people and say like which chris is this and they were like i don't know and i
18:05don't care you know and and they're used to being like like really like worshipped everywhere they go
18:11in hollywood but that doesn't happen on the streets he ran around with seth rogan and was like
18:16did you know that seth rogan is dead yeah and seth is standing right there i was like billy jeez
18:22yeah it's a wild show i love it seth rogan's mom was very mad at me about that well listen when we
18:29remind everybody the bros is in theaters uh september 30th just uh less than a couple weeks
18:33away so uh make sure that you do get out and see it but it's a wide theater release correct it'll be
18:37all over thousands of theaters take all your friends great date night movie or go by yourself and
18:42have a great time it's a fun it's a funny legitimately funny and it's an r-rated comedy
18:47we need more of those yeah for sure thank you guys good luck with everything thank you so much
18:51billy eigner and luke mcfarlane bros september 30th
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