Dan Bucatinsky talks heart and humor in The Comeback

.In a television landscape driven by speed and constant reinvention, The Comeback stands apart. Over the course of 20 years, the show has delivered just three seasons and yet that long, unusual timeline has become one of its greatest creative strengths. In a recent conversation, Dan Bucatinsky opened up about returning to the role of Billy, the longtime confidant of Valerie Cherish, played by Lisa Kudrow.

What emerges in Season 3 is a character who feels both deeply familiar and strikingly changed.

One of the defining features of The Comeback is its ability to revisit characters after long stretches of real time. For Bucatinsky, that meant approaching Billy not just as a continuation, but as someone who has lived in the years between seasons.

Rather than reinventing him, the goal was continuity with evolution. Billy is still emotionally volatile, still hungry for validation, but those traits now manifest differently. The physical outbursts of earlier seasons have simmered into something more internal, more controlled, yet no less potent.

That passage of time allowed the creative team, led by Michael Patrick King and Kudrow, to ask a key question: not just who is Billy now, but what has all this time done to him?

If there’s a thesis for Billy this season, it’s simple: ‘What about me?’

After decades of supporting Valerie, Billy begins to shift his focus inward. When he lands an executive producer credit on her new project, it becomes less about doing the job and more about being seen doing it.

He wants the perks, the recognition, the status, the photo ops, even the parking spot. But as Bucatinsky points out, Billy is chasing the appearance of success rather than the work itself. The irony is sharp as he craves respect, but not necessarily for the responsibilities that earn it.

Watch the full conversation below:

Q&A on the series The Comeback with actor & executive producer Dan Bucatinsky. Moderated by Mara Webster.