Turner’s truTV celebrated a key milestone in its evolution, receiving the comedy network’s first-ever Emmy Award nomination for the 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Pop culture powerhouse Billy on the Street, from creator and star Billy Eichner, received a nomination in the Outstanding Variety Sketch Series category.
“As someone who grew up, for better or worse, watching award shows religiously, I’d be lying to say this doesn’t feel insane and wonderful,” said Eichner. “I’m so grateful and proud of the whole Billy on the Street production team which has worked so incredibly hard on this wild show for five seasons.”
Produced by Funny Or Die, the critically-acclaimed series follows the unfiltered and unapologetic comedian as he hits the streets of New York City to test unsuspecting passersby. In the show’s fifth season, Billy was joined by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Aziz Ansari, Jon Hamm, Keegan-Michael Key, Lupita Nyong’o, John Oliver, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Jacob Tremblay. This marks the second Emmy nomination for Billy on the Street, which was previously nominated in 2015 for Outstanding Special Class Short Format Live Action Entertainment Program.
“On behalf of the truTV team, our congratulations and appreciation go to Billy and the entire team at Funny Or Die who work so tirelessly on the show,” said Chris Linn, president of truTV. “The tremendous buzz and excitement around Billy on the Street has played a key role in drawing attention to our network and evolution into comedy, and we couldn’t be more proud than we are today.”
The Primetime Emmy Awards salute excellence in national primetime programming, presenting top honors annually at both the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards and Engineering Emmy Awards ceremonies, as well as the Primetime Emmys telecast.
Billy on the Street is executive-produced by Mike Farah, CEO of Funny Or Die, along with Eichner, Anna Wenger and Doug Brady.
