Dive Brief:
- One person definitely isn't laughing at Burger King's latest video spot, and that's comedian Billy Eichner.
- The ad stars a man who looks surprisingly similar to Eichner, and is filmed in a similar style to his comedy bit for his show "Billy on the Street"—which is stopping people on the street to ask them a question and then screaming at them.
- Eichner and his fellow comedian friends have been calling out the fast food chain for the copycat ad since Sunday night. The ad and an example of Eichner's act are below:
Hey @BurgerKing-thanks for stealing my act for ur new commercial!! Except its not as funny & everyone knows u stole it. GET YOUR OWN IDEAS.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 13, 2014
Yo @BurgerKing, stop stealing from the hilarious @billyeichner and stick to what you're good at: giving me diarrhea.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) October 13, 2014
“@billyeichner: Thank You @BuzzFeed!!! http://t.co/G9ibHKbeIi” they already ripped off McDonald's- what do you expect? Thieves!
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) October 13, 2014
Dive Insight:
"Billy on the Street" airs on Fuse TV, and has gained a fervent following that earned Eichner an Emmy nomination, recurring role on Parks and Recreation, and over 200k Twitter followers. On Monday, after Eichner tweeted he was going to take his business to McDonalds, the fast food brand tweeted that it couldn't wait to see him—a smart PR move. Burger King has not yet commented on the accusations.
