The Breakfast Club - Best Of Full Interview: Bill Burr On Comedy Beginnings, White Privilege, Marrying A Black Woman, Chappelle's Show + More
Episode Date: December 30, 2024Best of 2024 - Recorded March 2024 - Bill Burr On Comedy Beginnings, White Privilege, Marrying A Black Woman, Chappelle's Show. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
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Morning everybody it's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy, we are the Breakfast
Club, we got a special guest in the building.
The fucking legend man.
Phil Byrne welcome!
Hey hello how are you?
How you feeling?
I'm alright.
You alright?
Yeah.
When you hear the word legend do you just feel old or you feel like I'm accomplished? Ah, I don't know what I feel. I never feel like I, you know, this, you know how this business is,
you feel like, you know, any moment, like whatever you got is going to go away. So I just,
I don't pay attention to that stuff. I obviously like it. Um, no, legend doesn't make me feel old,
makes me feel good. But when somebody's like, ah ah man, I grew up on your comedy. I started listening to you when I was eight.
I'm like, oh my god, you see them, they're like, you know, divorced.
You're like, oh god, how old am I?
So, yeah, I would say that's the type of stuff that makes me feel old.
I want to go back a little bit if you don't mind.
I want to know, you know, what got Bill Burr into comedy?
Dramatic childhood? I mean, the usual stuff. Sorry, nobody happy gets into this stuff.
Then the delusions of fame get into your head and then you somehow get into it.
No, I mean, I definitely liked it when I was growing up, but I got into it by chance where,
you know, I'm old, man, so like I was watching it in the 70s and 80s, but
like show business was like, it was a million miles away.
It was impossible.
It was not something that you could do.
Like you know, just take out a camera and start filming yourself.
So I grew up Massachusetts.
Okay, okay.
Suburb.
So I thought like, you know, you had to be in Hollywood to get into it.
Like I had no idea there was this huge stand-up scene in Massachusetts.
So I was working in a warehouse and I was working with this guy and he was in the stand-up
the way I was and he was funny as hell.
And one night we used to go over to his house, have a couple of beers before we went out,
you know, save some money.
And we were watching stand-up and he was going, Bill, we're funnier than these guys.
Like, and you know, he goes, one night I'm gonna take
a shot at Jack Daniels and go up on stage
and that's when it stopped being on TV
and it was next to me and I started thinking like,
oh wait a minute, if he can try it, I can try it.
And still took me another five years to figure it out.
I started, I started kind of late.
Did you ever feel like you had to wear a dress
and suck a cock to get on in Hollywood?
Jesus Christ. No, and that whole theory is ridiculous
Yeah, that's what's going on out there that there's more pedophiles in Hollywood than there are in plumbing
Just like regular jobs are acting like they're acting like every pedophile in jail
created a freaking...
Star Wars franchise or something.
Yeah, it's like, no.
They're like, that's what's going on.
What's funny is what's going on in Hollywood
is going on in most businesses
where it's like there's a lot of people working overtime,
not getting paid, not getting credit,
and getting
pushed down and people at the top taking more and more.
But the problem with Hollywood is, is those idiots stay in Hollywood and they look at
most of the country like flyover states and then they go on these stupid, you know, award
shows and they talk down to them.
And then that makes them hate them and then they love to see somebody going down.
The whole thing is, it's like traveling is depressing.
Because what you find is everybody really is the same.
Like all of this stuff, like, you know,
these people are evil doers and they're this and that.
And you go over there and it's just, everybody's the same.
You know, everybody, you know, wants to have money
to have a sandwich, you want to find love,
you want to be, feel you want to feel safe.
Everybody is like that, but then they just,
the sociopaths get the dumb people wound up.
I feel like New York and LA have no idea
what the rest of the country is actually like.
If you grew up in New York and you grew up in LA,
you don't know what the real world is like.
Dude, New Yorkers are some of the worst traveled people
you're ever gonna meet.
They're hilarious, everywhere they go. They, New Yorkers are some of the worst traveled people you're ever gonna meet. They're hilarious.
Everywhere they go, they would go to Guam and be like, oh, I go to Guam.
I try to get a bacon, egg, and cheese.
And the lady's looking at me like, what are you talking about?
This place sucks.
We're in the skyscrapers.
That's what cracks you about New Yorkers.
It's like the point of traveling is to get something different.
Like they go to LA and they try to get a bacon,
egg, and cheese, it's like get a taco.
What are you doing?
When in Rome, right?
Yeah, I wouldn't come here and try to get a burrito.
I've seen Mexican foods here, I just start laughing.
It's like, no, I'm not doing that.
Close to music at us Taco Bell.
That's usually what New York has.
I love that you said that,
because Mexicans all think that white people
think Taco Bell is authentic Mexican food.
It's like, we're not that dumb.
That is crazy, no that is so dumb.
I know Olive Garden is not Italian food.
Italian, correct.
I understand that they have hoarded out.
What did Bill Burr wanna be before he became a comedian?
You just always wanted to do comedy.
I was just failing at everything.
I did horrible in school. I did horrible in school.
I did good in school until it mattered.
It was weird. I did really good right up till 8th grade,
and then once college started paying attention.
I don't know. I just, that's, you know,
I'm not gonna get into it, but that's when all the ass
hit the fan with a lot of stuff. So then,
yeah, I don't know what, I tried construction,
I wasn't good at that,
landscaping, I worked in warehouses.
I knew I didn't want a boss.
And I also knew that I didn't want to go
into the same building for more than a year.
Because a few times I had jobs for over a year
and there was just something so depressing.
Because you were working for somebody else's dream
and it was like a year earlier,
I was standing right here, I have not not moved anywhere and I'm another year older so yeah and you know I was depressed
now I was I've been here for 15 years yeah but I wasn't sitting in a throne
okay I was unloading trucks guys drinking from a chalice, like, I feel good about this.
My scented candle.
No, I wasn't.
We were, like, unloading trucks and getting hammered
and driving drunk, stuff you did in the 80s.
I mean, that was basically what it was.
So, and I was going part-time to college
because I didn't have money to go to college,
so I was paying my own way through it,
and I had already stayed back in first grade,
so I just felt, like, hopelessly behind
until I started hanging out, you know,
with people that were into comedy,
and then somehow I found it.
And, uh, yeah, and I remember doing that,
and then I was just like, all right,
this is what I'm supposed to do,
because everything else I was doing,
I just never felt like, this is not it.
I don't feel like these people
aren't the same kind of weird
than I am, you know?
Why do you think you're weird, though?
I mean, like, I think we're all, like, messed up a little bit.
Mm-hmm.
Why do I think I'm weird? I don't know.
If I knew why I was weird, I wouldn't be weird, I think.
I think you got a lot of common sense.
Yeah, I do.
Whenever I hear you speak, I'm like,
this guy is just a common sense human being.
Well, I've learned from a lot of failures. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Your own or others?
Oh, my own.
Okay, okay.
Oh, and also others.
Well, you know, I had a great education when I got in to stand up the big 80s.
I don't know how old you guys are, but the big 80s.
I'm 45.
I went in 1978.
Okay, so the big 80s boom where stand up comedy clubs exploded and all that.
And then it just got to the point,
you could just put like a microphone anywhere
and people would show up for comedy.
So the quality of it went down.
And everybody was doing,
well, a lot of people were doing blow,
getting paid in cash,
and a blow and all of that type of stuff.
And then it all came crashing down.
And then the IRS showed up and everything.
And then I started,
like I walked in like, you in like the end of the party.
Balloons were on the ground, confetti, everybody passed out,
and I saw these headliners
that were getting their wages garnished,
and they had to talk to the IRS to go do some funny bone
in another state and everything.
So my generation kind of learned like,
all right, man, you can party this away
in about seven seven eight crucial years
So I you know I learned from that and then
You know any young comics watching this year 20s and 30s are difficult
Because you're struggling and then also you do that comparison thing like well you started
The same time I did and you're here and I'm here So I must be something wrong, and then I start hating you for some stupid reason,
and then, like, that takes up a lot of energy,
and then one day you just basically figure it out,
like, all right, I'm making the decisions here.
I, you know, I'm doing well or not doing well
by what I'm thinking rather than this other stuff.
Did you ever want to quit?
Once.
No, one time I thought I wasn't gonna make it.
It was the only time I ever thought it.
When was this? You bombed?
No. No, I wasn't gonna make it. It was the only time I ever thought it. When was this bond? No, no, I haven't all the time
It's just part of this stuff
I
Was doing the I'm not gonna say where I was because it's a sad story. We don't bum you out. Okay
So I was doing this this this club that I've just been going to for years and years and years and years and years
Every other year I'd just been going to for years and years and years and years and years. Every other year I'd go there, new hour,
gonna get them, I'm in with the morning radio guys.
And the same 30 people were showing up.
So it was after the late show,
and I was sitting there, reeking of smoke,
because you could smoke all three shows,
smelled like I'd fought a fire, my eyes were all burning.
And I was just looking at the wait staff,
and they were lifers, they had been there before,
and they were older, a little bit heavier staff and they were lifers, they had been there before and they were older, little bit heavier
and they were counting up their money
and they were smoking their cigarettes
and the same amount of people had showed up
and that was the first time this thought went in my head,
like wait a minute, am I the guy who doesn't make it?
Oh my God, the panic of that.
I went back to the comedy condo
and I was just laying in bed trying to turn it around.
And my brain was just, no, no,
you're the guy who's not gonna make it.
So that was, yeah.
Then I got back to New York and it was better.
After the gig I came back and just like the energy,
I had a couple of good sets.
Sunday night at the Boston Comedy Club
was a huge turning point for me in my career.
Probably how I ended up here right now.
And that would get me to think positive.
And you said you never bombed, right?
No, I didn't say that.
You said you have bombed.
I'm not bombed all the time.
You have, but I don't think you bombed though. I think that people don't know
if they should laugh at what you're saying.
You know what I mean?
Well, maybe now, but no, no.
Oh my God.
I remember bombing so bad one time.
There's this comedy club called Mix Nuts
that's now called the Comedy Union.
That was the black club, right?
So I went down there and it's funny,
I started doing those rooms
because I used to listen to
Richard Pryor so like his albums are so live that you could like picture the
crowd so I had this idea of what a crowd looked like it was weird I'm white as
hell and I like that was my idea of what a crowd was like you know ended up
doing those rooms along with the white rooms right so I was on stage bombing so
bad like like this right here, silence.
And I just remember hearing this woman's voice in the back.
She just goes, I ain't laughed yet.
About 10 minutes, bam.
And then that was the biggest laugh of the set.
Everybody laughed and then they just started
talking amongst themselves.
And I did not know how to turn it around.
It was, and there's something, it's bad enough
bombing in front of your own people,
but bombing in front of another race of people,
knowing that you're taking down
a bunch of other white comics with you.
Like,
because you represent for all white comics.
It's just like,
I'm white people, I ain't funny,
this corny ass mother, you know.
Oh man, it's just, it's not just me.
You know, there are others out there,
they're funny, yeah.
It was bad.
You liked Richard Pryor.
What's your favorite Richard Pryor album?
Maybe was it something I said,
the one I can't say the name of.
The one came out in 82, was Super What?
Half of them have the N-word in it.
You're gonna get me in trouble half the time.
That was a setup question at that.
I'm lucky I got a good night's sleep.
I would have been like, oh, I like that Emmer's crazy.
I will say I bought his albums because he just looked funny.
That was the first one I bought.
That Emmer's crazy when he was pointing like that.
He just looked funny.
And that's how I bought the first Eddie Murphy album.
I bought the first Eddie Murphy album because I was like, well, he's also black.
He must be funny. And that was the first one. We because I was like, well, he's also black. He must be funny.
And that was the first one we had the rose in his ear.
You see how that works?
So you did represent for all white comics because you see one funny black comic.
Yeah, yeah.
That's how it works.
So it's almost like I found a genre of music.
So I would listen to all of his stuff and I just, there was something about the way
he did it, which I didn't understand it as a kid,
but the way he did it, the way he trashed white people,
he got you to listen to him and laugh at yourself,
where I think when, by the time Def Jam came around,
crack 80s and all of that, where black comedy was,
it was like, all right, enough of this
sort of pussyfootin' around.
So then it was more like, it was like, all right, enough of this sort of pussyfooting around, you know? So then it was more like, it was like a different thing.
But what I loved about Richard was you rooted for him.
You felt like you knew him, it was really insane.
And I think he's the greatest of all time,
and I think it's even close.
During that time, during that era when it seems like
that crack time where Def Comedy Jam and the comedy shows,
was it hard for you to book in those black rooms?
Was it like, here comes the white comedian again?
No, that was the irony.
It was hard for them.
And you had to-
Book you?
Yeah, you had to like, vouch for them and everything.
And the club owners right in front of me,
yeah, you don't do that Def Jam stuff, do you?
You're not like MF and MF and talking about,
you know, I don't know what I can say on this show.
Pussy.
Pussy, yeah, you're not,
you're not saying, you're not,
oh wait, you said sucking dick earlier.
What am I thinking?
That's the start, I set the tone.
I think that was a personal combo, I don't know.
Yeah, so they would literally say that
and that was embarrassing when you'd be standing there
going like, ehh.
So, but what they're, you'd come on,
they didn't, they would just say,
yeah, go up, do your thing. And I felt like, ehh. But what they're, you'd come on, they didn't, they would just say, yeah, go up, do your thing.
And I felt like guys like,
all those guys that worked for Talent,
Drew Frazier, Rob Stapleton,
Gerald Kelly, Capone, all the New York Kings.
I used to do all of those rooms.
And, oh God, those are all the memories of that one.
I remember Gerald Kelly had a room.
Oh God, that was a brutal room.
It was somewhere in Newark in the 2000s.
And I remember this comedian,
was it Roz G or something?
Yeah, rest her soul.
She was on stage and she was super loud.
And she was super loud and they weren't laughing at anything.
And she ended the stage.
She was like, god damn.
She's like, I don't know who's coming up next,
but he better be funny.
Because you motherfuckers ain't laughing at shit.
And then she brought me up.
Damn.
Ladies and gentlemen, Bilbur.
Did that get a laugh at least?
No.
Don't we know what's weird?
I went up, had an OK set, and I felt like I bombed at anything.
And randomly, Chris Webber was there.
And he came up, and he told me I was funny.
And it was little things like that.
Because I'm like, well, this guy's famous.
This guy's successful.
He thinks I'm funny, so I think I'll be all right.
Do you change your set when you're
doing black rooms versus white rooms?
I try not to.
Early on, I did.
I'd be on stage and all of a sudden I'd hear myself tagging
all my jokes with, you know what I'm saying?
And I'd be like, why am I doing that?
Why am I doing that?
Stop.
Stop doing that.
But you just would.
And then there's an easy way to get through those rooms.
You could just be like, I'm the white guy and I'm scared.
And that's sort of how you do it initially, just to get your to get through those rooms. You can just be like, I'm the white guy and I'm scared. And that's sort of how you do it initially,
just to get your feet wet in those rooms.
And then basically, then it becomes like,
now can I actually go up here
and talk about what I wanna talk about?
Wear a Bruins t-shirt, hockey t-shirt, whatever.
I started experimenting with that.
And I remember Patrice giving me a rest isle.
Patrice O'Neil.
Yeah, he going like,
Bill's trying to do his white shit in these black rooms.
Sometimes it worked.
Sometimes.
It all depended on the crowd.
It all depended on the crowd.
But I felt like it's a weird thing where I feel like it's harder to be a black comic
in a black room than it is to be a black comic in a white room and vice versa.
Because you can just play fish out of water.
Like, oh wow, this is all different.
Gee Louise, I'm all nervous up here.
Just literally play into the stereotype.
That's the easy laugh.
I guess a little hacky though, though.
100%.
But not early on.
I forgive any of it.
Because you're just trying to survive.
Because it's like, you know, that's like not something like,
white people don't experience being the only you a lot. You know, we just sort
of walk in, oh more white shit, you know, and you just live that. So to first experience that,
and that's what's funny when I first started doing those rooms, I didn't see black people as
individuals. I just saw black people and as I kept doing them and doing them, I started to see
individuals, oh this guy's like my buddy Mitch, this guy's like, you know, and I started to see,
oh, this guy's a good guy.
This guy's a piece of shit.
This guy steals jokes.
This guy's, you know, and it's like,
oh, this is just like white people.
I was gonna ask, you know, back in the day,
you named some of those comedians from Talent to Capone.
It seems like comedy had a brotherhood.
Like you all F with each other.
Now it doesn't seem like that,
especially with Cat Williams throwing missiles at everybody. Was it a brotherhood, like you all F with each other. Now it doesn't seem like that, especially with Cat Williams throwing missiles at everybody.
Was it a brotherhood back then or was it always competition and missile story?
No, it always was.
It's just you couldn't air your grievances on social media and that type of stuff.
No, there still is like a comrade, especially the people that you start out with.
When you go up and you're doing like open mics and stuff,
it's just one impossible situation after another.
And you just get thrown into these things
and you sort of bond with each other through just,
you know, I mean, I did gigs like,
we don't have a microphone, is that gonna be a problem?
We're just gonna have you stand here in this hall?
Oh my God, no.
It was just like, some of the stuff,
some of the places, and then you would just,
what kept you going was your friend in the crowd
laughing at you, watching you trying
to figure this situation out.
So there's definitely that, but you know,
people focus on the negative or whatever.
So I mean, generally speaking, we get along.
It's no more difference than other stuff.
Now when you see the black comedians going back and forth with each other,
what do you think about that?
Do you even look at it as black comedians or do you just look at it as comedians?
No, comedians, cuz white comedians are doing it too.
Really?
Yeah.
What's your club-shay-shay?
What's your club-all club-shation? What's y'all club-shation?
You know, I don't know because I'm old, but like there's definitely, you know,
I'm an old school guy where I look at all that stuff like that's locker room stuff,
and if you have a problem with somebody you should go to them and say it. That's how I came up.
And then also, like I, you know, this business is difficult. I don't need to make it any more
difficult. There's people I like, people maybe I don't like,. I don't need to make it any more difficult There's people I like people maybe I don't like but I don't need to walk around like what good does that do me to do
That's but that's me. Mm-hmm. So, you know other people do it differently
You ever heard that it's somebody didn't like you for a reason any any particular reason yeah people thought I was a dick
they thought I was like a loof because I and when I first, people thought I was a dick. They thought I was like aloof, because when I first started,
they thought I was like, you know,
if you're quiet and you're actually doing well,
people get in their head and they thought,
oh, he's not talking to me because he doesn't like me.
And it wasn't, I was like a mess.
I was questioning everything that I had done
in the previous five minutes,
but some people took it like he's not talking to me
because he doesn't think I'm funny.
So I definitely had a few of those.
And I was also an angry guy, so I probably, you know.
What were you angry about?
Oh, Jesus.
Just stuff I don't want to get into.
Okay.
Just stuff that makes you be a comedian.
The usual.
I have, I have the, you want to talk about hacky?
I have all of the hacky background you need
to get into this business.
So, you know, I could have had a much simpler life.
I think a lot of us, I mean, I deal with, you know,
anxiety on a high level, you know what I mean?
I think a lot of people do, but I think most people
who have a high level of self-awareness really do,
because we're just aware that we're dealing with something that we're willing to
acknowledge and other people aren't. Yeah I mean every time I think I'm getting
sane I don't know something else happens and like you know like having kids and
stuff really you know it really holds a mirror. My daughter said the cutest thing to me the other day.
She goes, Dad, can you stop being mad now?
And I just bursted out laughing.
I was like, yeah, all right, all right.
That's cool.
But the way I came up, I would never say that to my dad.
So I do feel like I've done,
what I do like about my kids
is that they're not afraid of me at all.
They treat me like a freaking bouncy house.
So yeah, I've tried to undo some things.
Yeah, they're not afraid of you because you're probably raising them with love.
At least my dad, he raised me with fear, I believe.
He was afraid that I would make the same mistakes he made.
Oh, everyone was afraid of that.
You were afraid of other people's dads when I was growing up because they could hit you.
Yeah. You know?
And they had big cars and they were always mad and they were coming home and you just
saw like, you know, like their wife scampering back into the house, you know, as they were
pulling into the driveway.
Yeah, they, men were scary when I was growing up.
So I probably overcorrected or whatever, but I'd rather have them coming up this way. Yeah my kids are loud you know.
We were not loud like we were loud when mom was home, when dad was home everybody just
shut the hell up and when he left it was like literally like a stack of bricks off your
chest.
Yeah waiting till your dad got home oh my god.
Those were some-
You know what's funny was he actually was a big softie was also it turns out that way
my mother was the one that beat us.
Damn. Yeah. We deserved it.
You said earlier you always feel like things will be taken away from you.
Like, is that something from childhood or is that cancel culture? What do you mean when you say that?
Ma, this is before cancel culture. Well, because you I would you would see guys like idiots would
Get a show on the air and then immediately go buy a big house in a car
But back in the day they would say you got to wait till the third season
So, you know that it's rolling and you would watch guys blow all their money
I watch people get deals up at Montreal and they put it all in the dot-com stock market
I knew that was I stayed away from that shit when I was at the comic strip and
I knew that was, I stayed away from that shit. When I was at the comic strip and comedians stopped talking about comedy and they were talking about stocks going like,
you know, it's going to split again. It's definitely going to split again.
I'm like, you are a dummy. You're a dummy. I'm a dummy.
We should not be talking about this shit. So I didn't put it in.
But I saw guys lose all their money that way.
There was guys I used to be, you know, looking up like, oh my God, how do you get to that level?
And then their stuff starts to go like that.
Like this business is, it's not for the weak
and you gotta save your money.
I don't know, I'm trying to come
with something positive here.
It's a fun job though, it's a fun job.
This is a callback, but when you saw those white comics
on that level, did you say to theyself, he sucked a dick to get there? Or did he wear a dress to get there? Like where does that
What is that? What is that theory? Where does that stigma come from? I'm asking you. You brought that up
twice. Oh yeah, because that's the stigma. Like you know, the stigma is for black comics, you gotta
wear a dress to get to a certain level. Who did that? Shit. According to Cat Williams, about 20 years ago.
Milton Burrell made a whole career. That comes from Vaudeville.
Yeah, he played Mrs. Doubtfire. Tom Hanks was on Boos and Buddies.
I mean, it was just like, it was kind of the, you know, we don't have a good idea, let's put a guy in a dress. That's kind of what it was, but I understand, you know, that's just one of those white things
where I don't have to look at it like, oh, they're doing this because they're trying
to belittle me because they don't see me as human.
I don't have to deal with all the stuff you guys got to deal with.
So like, I don't know if it's, how much of that's true, how much of it's paranoia.
I mean, I can't speak on that,
I have no idea, but like, you know, I don't.
You never wore a dress.
Yeah, and that whole sucking a dick thing,
like it's like.
Or being gay in Hollywood.
You just sort of, no you didn't.
I said you never wore a dress, he said,
nah, not that or that whole sucking a dick thing.
That's just not my, it's not my.
No, it's more like you create a show,
you go in, you pitch it to these people,
they somehow take control of it, you lose the creative by credit, they make all the money,
you don't. That's the way it usually works. It's not like, you want a TV show, huh? All right.
Crawl under my desk. And you better do it good, because I got another 40 guys waiting to suck this dick.
I think a lot of people want it to be that way, because it just makes them feel better
about their lives and where the fuck they're at.
But it's just like, yeah, most of Hollywood is overworked, underpaid people not getting
credit for some shit that they created.
And it happens to everybody,
it happens at different levels and you have to learn
how to protect yourself and nobody teaches you.
You just go in there taking punches and then you go,
oh, you know, and that's usually how you learn
unless there's a comic that kind of takes you
under his wing or something and teaches you,
like, well, go for this, they're gonna try to do that. Damon Wayans was great at that.
Oh word, I've heard that before.
He was great at that, like he barely knew me.
And he, you know, and he's, hey I saw you on TV, you were funny man, we stand out in front of the
cellar, he goes, what do you got going on? And he just stood there, Damon Wayans, I couldn't believe
it, he just stood there for like 20 minutes.
And he's going, huh, huh, all right, all right.
This is what they're gonna try to do.
And he just brought it out, I was cool.
I'm like, oh my God.
I know I just did this business, it was so ruthless,
but I never forgot that.
And that was something that I learned.
It's like, all right, so if I get somewhere,
like my job's to tell the younger kids,
you know, how they're gonna try to come in.
That's how they fuck you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They don't care about it.
They can get a hooker any time they want or whatever the hell they want.
They're trying to take your ideas and get the money.
They got all kinds of stuff.
They have like, you remember back in the day there was like points on a show, how many
points you had.
And they literally invented points that didn't mean shit.
So you would be, you got 40 points.
I only got 30, but mine means something. that didn't mean shit. So you got 40 points, I only got 30,
but mine means something, yours don't mean anything.
The whole thing is, yeah, here's one for you.
It's way harder to prove somebody stole from you
than defamation of character.
Figure that one out.
So that basically protects the thief.
So when somebody steals from you,
I can't then go around town and say,
this guy stole from me, stay away from him, blah, blah.
That gets back to him, he can sue me,
and he can just come up with a phony cost report,
well, this mouse was $30,000 and this was 15,
and whittle down what he stole and they get away with it.
Had that experience.
Will it ever be fair?
Will there ever be?
No, because human beings are completely flawed
and it's God's fault, because that's how he makes us.
So you need to stop going on Sunday praising him.
You need constructive criticism.
Jesus Christ.
No, I just don't let people freak out when you start making fun of God.
Alright, Bill Barts, thank you for joining us.
I'm down to hear you.
I'm down to hear it out.
Alright, no, it's just an astoundingly, not even dumb, just not having to be a Christian.
I'm down to hear you.
I'm down to hear it out.
Alright, no, it's just an astoundingly, not even dumb, just not having to be a Christian.
I'm down to hear you.
I'm down to hear it out.
Alright, no, it's just an astoundingly, not even dumb, just not having to be a Christian.
I'm down to hear you.
I'm down to hear you.
I'm down to hear it out.
Alright, no, it's just an astoundingly, not even dumb, just not having to be a Christian. I'm down to hear you. I'm down to hear you. I'm down to hear you. I'm down to hear it out. All right, no, it's just an astoundingly,
like not even dumb, just not having empathy,
which is the first level of intelligence.
If you can't take yourself out of yourself
and look at somebody else, see the situation and hear it,
that there's just a level of life and living life,
you're not gonna get past.
You're just not gonna get past.
And also they gotta stop naming stuff deliberately confusing. Like white privilege. Every white
person I knew was like, I didn't grow up rich! That's how we took that shit. I don't know
why, I don't know who names this shit, but like I didn't know what it meant. I was like,
what are you talking about? I grew up in a duplex with fucking squirrels in the world.
So.
What would you call it?
What would I call white privilege?
No, I would, ah, well, that's a good question.
I don't know, being white?
I don't know, I don't know.
Being white.
I'm not good at this, like coming up with band names
and shit like that, but like, I didn't like,
like, it meant how you like move through the earth,
through the world, right?
So one of the things I've been kind of having fun with in the red states is talking about
the Klan and how there's all this stuff you can't do anymore but you can still join that
group.
But I go, that's a great example of white privilege.
You can still join a terrorist organization as a white person and it's protected under
this freedom of speech.
And they start saying, well, you know, I know I don't do the whole bit because I want to I want to flesh this
thing out for first but that's but they sit there and then that's one of the
most fun things about doing stand-up is going to a place like that and doing
some stuff like that and getting them to hear it,
and then going to LA and kind of doing like the same thing
because they think, the people in Hollywood think
that you just put a BLM sign in the window
and that means you're like a saint,
and it's like you haven't done anything.
What you basically did was appeased
your sense of responsibility.
What are you talking about?
I put a sign in the window, I'm on the right side of responsibility. What are you talking about? I put a sign in the window,
I'm on the right side of history.
Or my favorite one was,
it was white people marching in BLM,
marches filming themselves.
Or Instagram, like, look what a great person I am.
So it was just like, I don't know.
I don't know, human beings are interesting.
Is there comedy to be found in this year's election? I mean, the joke I've't know, human beings are interesting. Is there comedy to be found in this year's election?
I mean, the joke I've been doing,
like this election is like,
you know when Hollywood makes a shitty movie,
you're like, man, that movie sucked,
and then two years later there's like a sequel,
and you're like, they're making another one of these?
That's how I look at this.
I think basically, it's not worth,
the job's not worth the headache.
And I think that the House and the Senate basically voting
that you can't prosecute us for insider trading
and they're all worth 20 to $40 million
and you watch CNN and Fox News,
who's supposed to be these journalists
just completely leave them alone.
It's like, why do I want that job?
I can just sit here, no one knows who I am
other than in my state.
I can make my 40 million move to another here, no one knows who I am other than in my state. I can make my 40 million, move to another state, no one knows who I am.
You know, get a boat and some coke and some whores and I'm good, right?
That's how they look at it.
Like CNN and Fox, if I was running shit, CNN and Fox News would be shut down.
They are anti-American.
All they do every day, their business is divide us and then who they go after.
They just go after.
The reason why comedians have been getting so much shit
is because we don't advertise on their network,
so we're just soft targets, right?
That's like at the beginning of the pandemic.
Remember that kid who, he hoarded all the hand sanitizer?
One of the greatest fucking gambles ever,
because they were always,
a SARS is coming and all of this shit.
This kid said, all right, I think this stuff is real.
And he had a whole garage full of hand sanitizer and he was upping the price by 100%.
And seeing, ah, they were just dragging this kid.
How could you do that?
And then meanwhile, like big pharmaceutical companies, it's like 460 bucks for a leukemia
pill.
And that's totally fine.
Why is that fine?
Because they're making money off them, so they're not going to like, you know, bite
the hand that feeds. So this is the shit that like you think about
when you're alone a lot on the road and it eventually makes you go crazy. So I just I
have decided what I just sort of like I don't pay attention to like anything. I try not
to but then when I do it's like heartbreaking. Like there's a documentary about the Ukraine
that came out, won an Oscar and I just saw the trailers.
It's the most heartbreaking thing you've ever seen.
It's almost like ignorance is bliss, right?
Like that's what you realize,
the less you know, the happier you are.
Yeah, or like, I don't know.
Yeah, it's weird, it's weird.
And then dumb people think they know everything. Let me show you how this works. Or like, I don't know. Yeah, it's weird. It's weird.
And then dumb people think they know everything.
Let me show you how this works.
Let me go.
I got it all figured out.
Yeah, so that's what I realized.
Yeah, I don't know shit.
Does cancel culture scare you at all?
Does it make you change your set?
You see a lot of comedians change their set,
change how they talk, change what they talk about.
Well, that was something that,
like most movements started with something good, you know, and
then was quickly co-opted by people with their own interests, and then it just completely
lost its way.
But is it good though?
Because medians were usually the ones that didn't care about it, like talk about everything,
make you laugh, you know?
But if there was people, no, the initial thing, that there's these people out there sexually
abusing people, like that was good to get rid of those people, That wasn't bad, but then all of a sudden it spun into...
What's up, y'all? This is Questlove,
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Courts are not supposed to decide elections.
Courts are not really supposed to play a big role in choosing our elected leaders.
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Follow The Big Take podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Hi, I'm Dani Shapiro,
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What are you talking about in your act?
You know, I worked with an actor, she got cancelled for an analogy.
Well, it was an analogy.
And it was all politics.
The girl on Star Wars.
I don't remember. analogy and it was all politics. The girl on Star Wars. Uh, it was, she didn't want to get the, um,
she didn't want to get the COVID shot and then she made some sort of Nazi
Germany analogy, right?
Oh, that'll do it.
Well, no, it'll do if it, if it goes against the politics, if it went across,
if she was coming the other way, if she was coming like the other way,
then I don't think it doesn't land that way
because I gotta be honest with you,
like Hitler and Nazi analogies in comedy are like,
are hacky.
It's forever been this guy's the next Hitler,
or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
or something like that.
So, you know, like,
I don't know, it's, it's, it's, it's,
I kinda like didn't really notice it was happening that I was kind of on stage going like, oh, I just said that, what if somebody just takes that clip
and does, I didn't realize I was doing that till I did, Dave Chappelle was doing COVID
shows.
And I went there and nobody had a phone.
And just the freedom of that, not like I was gonna go up and say something ignorant,
but just not having to worry about that
when they were really kind of common for people.
Cause I think it's like died down.
But it was a while, it just seemed like they had to throw
a log on the fire every month
and eat whether they had somebody or not.
The wrong Nazi Germany Hitler reference
will get you in any error
I look it's all it depends on your intent
It depends on your intent I did Nazi jokes when I was in Germany and they would die and laugh because it was just like
I'll give us one. Huh?
What was it I was just talking about all their accomplishments I go you know what's amazing about you guys you know all the
accomplishments you made you know with the automobile you know weaponry audio
tape I just was listing all their accomplishments I go and then you just
pick one wrong guy and it all goes to hell and I just started talking about
it's true yeah because and then they filmed it so they can't refute it oh
that was a joke I was doing yeah how Germany they actually have shame for
what they did it's not because they're better white people it's because they're
oppressed people one they have to they have to acknowledge it
denazification though that is that is, that's what that was.
It was them having shame for what they did and cleaning everything up.
I find neo-Nazis are fascinating to me because they're all like the support the troops people
and they're like neo-Nazis and it's like well you know the troops were fighting the Nazis
like just how all of that gets blurred after time
It's weird. Nah that one little piece. You just said neo-nazis are fascinating to me. Yeah clip that going on Twitter Oh, yeah, there it is. You'll have a field day. I find them intriguing
How big of a deal is it now for a comedian to have a special I
Yeah, I still think it's it's a
To have a good one. Yeah, you have a special? Yeah, I still think it's a... to have a good one. If you have a whatever one,
I don't know what it's gonna do for you,
but I'm old school.
I'm like one of those...
You know, guys now in your business,
they just make singles and stuff like that.
So it's starting to become that,
like have a special, chop it up.
That's what the younger kids are doing.
I'm still making albums. So I don't know if that's stupid or whatever, but that's, that's how I do it.
But I'm also the belief that like, as long as you're doing quality, people are going
to come and see you.
Yeah. And staying consistent.
It feels like a comedy Ted talk. These are very in depth questions.
I was just want to know.
I'm enjoying it.
And I was, I was performing at Fenway Park.
That was one of those things that was so big.
Like I don't think I even mentally dealt with it
until like two years after I did it.
35,000 people.
Yeah, something like that.
I felt like I was in Led Zeppelin.
They had a police escort.
We drove into the thing.
You know what's good is I was there for a week
because I got family up there.
So I always go back in the summer.
And...
You got a family up there?
I have family.
Oh, what's the same word?
Relatives, relatives.
Jesus. No, no, no.
I've lived a lot of lives.
I have a family.
As a waitress early on in my career.
We're in a good place now.
No, I was, and I was walking around town,
and people were like, hey man,
good luck on the show, blah, blah, so I kind of felt like the city was behind me, which was another thing
to have to think about. So yeah, I went up there and what I didn't realize is they've
so perfected the sound and the screens and everything. It was just like this giant comedy
club. And you're always killing me. People kept going like, just make sure you take it
all in. When you're out there, just make sure you take a moment for yourself. It going like, just make sure you take it all in. When you're out there, just make sure, you know, you take a moment for yourself.
It's like, this is comedy, I can't do that.
The second I take a moment for myself,
I'm immediately bombing.
So what I kept doing was during Bigger Laughs,
was just looking out over a home plate
where it said Fenway Park.
And that was, that just, it was mind blowing.
And yeah, and then we got, they let us hang up in right field
smoking cigars and we might my family we used to always get tickets the blue
seats up in right field so it's kind of up there it was really yeah that was
something so that was that was a one-time only because he want to do it
again it's like no no I don't think there's any point to go back lot of
requests for tickets?
Oh, from people? Ah, you know, it wasn't that bad.
It wasn't that bad.
You know what was nerve wracking though,
was my high school reunion also was there.
No.
So they just decided to go to the show and that,
and it's just like, that's just like a weird thing
where like when I meet people from high school,
like, you know, I had a really cool class,
so like, I'm still the person I was and so are they.
It's just, I'm doing this weird thing.
So that was kind of, I had to block that out a little bit.
Where I had to be like, you know,
all those girls you were afraid to talk to.
You go back to being like, you know,
little Billy Redheaded kid in like ninth grade.
So I had to like, okay, I gotta block this shit out
and do my job.
You just stun on him a little bit?
Nah, my time to do that, I blew it and I just accepted.
I took the loss and I kept moving forward.
I don't do, I don't go back.
No, yeah.
No.
You married, right?
Yeah.
To a black woman if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah.
How does that happen?
How does that happen?
How does that happen?
I'm saying a white guy from Massachusetts. Well, I watched like, you know, I watched different mistaken. Yeah. How does that happen? How does that happen? How does that happen? I'm saying a white guy from Massachusetts.
Well I watched like, you know,
I watched different strokes growing up.
And I had a crush on Janet Jackson.
How does that happen?
Where'd you meet her?
First time I met her,
I was with her dad who was booking the Apollo.
So I was doing Showtime with the Apollo
and she was standing out back. Oh, she's black black. So I was doing Showtime at the Apollo and she was standing out back.
Oh, she's black black.
So I was like, she was standing out back?
They never had any light skinned black people at the Apollo?
It was, my wife is gorgeous. She's gorgeous. So that was one thing. But I didn't really,
I came and was coming up the back stairs and someone was getting booed.
And I just remember thinking like, why am I doing this?
I didn't need to do this.
This all started with like that Patrice shit
where he was always fucking with you.
So he was like, you have a good set.
And he would just, and then he started talking
about talent's room, talent Will's room around the corner,
saying like, there's a bunch of comics over there
that are 10 times funnier than all you white guys and da da da da da and you know so it kind of felt like all right
He was like I just won a championship and somebody saying oh, there's some guys across the way that could kick your ass
They're not allowed in the league so it's like all right. I gotta go play him
So I started doing those rooms and then that led and then I was thinking like well this be great
I'll do the black rooms
I'll also do the white rooms, and then I can get that, draw that crowd that I heard on those Richard Pryor albums.
Didn't happen.
But I ended up doing the Apollo,
and that's where I met her.
But I met her again on Tough Crowd.
She was doing Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn,
and we kinda hit it off.
And I remember I just kept asking her out,
and she just kept being a jerk. And right as I was, typical woman, right? The second I was like, hit it off and I remember I just kept asking around, she just kept being a jerk.
Right as I was, typical woman, right?
The second I was like, you know what,
the hell with her, the hell with her.
Ended up running into her and then all of a sudden
she was like really nice and we were hanging out.
Oh my God, this guy was cock blocking me so bad that night.
Such an epic level.
You don't blame him, obviously.
No, it's because no, if it be, no.
Why, what do you mean?
I mean, because she's so beautiful
that you understand why he would come.
No, that's not why he was doing, okay, okay.
Now you don't have all the information.
Okay, okay, give me the information.
Is, this guy's advocating cock-buckers.
It's like, how did you get that chair,
advocating that shit?
No, he was doing it because he was miserable
in his own relationship.
So he saw me, and it was like fireworks.
We just like, I mean, she.
Loved it first night, basically.
Yeah, I've only met two people that had a vibe like her
in my life, and the first one was a dude.
He was just, so that wasn't that.
Wasn't you tight?
No, he was like, no, just walked in the room,
you know, and he just knew the person was coming to the room.
She has that vibe, right?
So, uh...
Hold on, you gotta clear that up, that won't be clear,
but you didn't date the guy.
No.
I'm just gonna make sure.
Why are you guys gonna let,
why are black people gonna let go of this homophobia?
You always got a check
Like what are you doing for the story manicured eyebrows?
I'm fucking gonna sit here and act like you're all good over there like you don't swing a leg over the fence every once
Sandals on and white socks you look like you just came from a steam room
Yeah just came from a steam room. Yeah. No, I just mean like, like I always paid attention to
energy because my energy was terrible. I was like all introverted and blah, blah, blah,
blah. So I was fascinated with people that were just free. So that's what I meant. Okay.
We're going to go back to sucking dick for a show again. This guy's a one-trick pony over here. So we go to like
hang out, right? So we're like vibing and everything. And I literally had to say to the dude, he
was like a chick. I had to be like, hey man, sorry I'm not paying attention to you. That's
all the fuck he was. I was just like, you know, I'm hitting it off with him, man. I
think this is going all right, right? So the end of the night comes, the end of the stand-up
show and he just comes walking over and he goes, you guys want to go get something to
eat, right?
And he invites her and everybody.
Now I'm at this fucking table,
and there was like 10 other people there,
and he's all the way down the end,
and he's still like yelling down shit,
trying to interrupt any of my talking to her.
I think, I mean, so long ago,
I just remember one point the check came,
and I didn't have any money,
so I said, just give me the cash, I'll put it on my card.
He's like, oh, he we just try to get the miles.
Like that's how he was doing it, right?
So everybody goes to leave, and now it's just,
oh no, no, no, it was the middle of the dinner, right?
Or whatever the fuck we were doing.
The cock block dinner, right?
And I finally just look at her, I just give up, right?
Because he won't shut the fuck up.
And I finally just looked at her, and I go,
can I at least split a cab with you home?
So she does that female thing, why do you want to split a cab with you home? So she does that female thing,
why do you wanna split a cab with me?
And I just said fuck it, all right?
I was just thinking, I go,
because I wanna kiss you, right?
Oh, okay. Yeah.
So she put her head down and smiled,
and I was like, I gotta, fuck this guy.
So I let him do all his bullshit,
everybody leaves, except for him, me, and who's going to become my future
wife.
And he literally goes, he goes, Nia, he goes, where do you live?
Do you live uptown?
And she goes, yeah, I live uptown.
I go, I live in Tewi.
He goes, you want to split a cab?
He was trying to leave with her.
And she goes, no, I'm taking a ride home.
I'm riding home with Bill.
And he's going like, oh no, but I live uptown.
He was so in his shit.
He was so in his shit.
Like he didn't, he just said, I'm up, he was so in his shit. He was so in his shit, like he didn't,
she just said, I'm not gonna say his name,
she went so and so, I'm splitting a cab with Bill.
And I didn't have to say shit, I just stood there.
And then he, and he left, and it was funny.
I don't talk to him for four days,
and he calls me up, he's like, hey, what's going on?
Like nothing, what's up? He's like, hey, what's going on? Like nothing, what's up?
He's like, so like what, you're not gonna,
you didn't call me because you thought
I was cock blocking you the other night?
I'm like, you were.
He goes, no I wasn't.
I'm like, why did you bring it up?
That was the end of that friendship.
The whole thing.
The friendship.
And then you married her.
And you know, I just don't have time.
I don't have time for that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean?'t have time for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know what I mean?
And plus it was also kind of teetering anyways, you know?
It was obvious too, it was like, what?
Your woman failed the WNBA joke
is one of the greatest social commentaries of it.
Yeah, thank you.
I'd really-
I mean, I'm just, I'm saying yes, I appreciate that.
How'd you get, how did you get to that conclusion?
I was watching ESPN and they were blaming, they were talking about like female sports
not getting money and stuff like that and all of that.
And like, you're just being in entertainment.
It's like you have to put asses in the seats and that's what brings the money in.
So, there was a point where, you know, professional football wasn't doing as well as college football.
And these guys just kept working in and working until it became like what it was. There was a point where professional football wasn't doing as well as college football.
These guys just kept working it and working it until it became like what it was.
There's more women than there are men.
This is not on us that women's sports, at the very least, aren't being supported.
They're not being supported because you guys aren't showing up.
That was the seed of the bit.
I always forget my material.
I forget how it ended up going.
You pointed to what actually is successful,
that women support.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
Reality TV.
Yeah, which is a bunch of women yelling at each other.
Yes, yeah.
And fighting.
Yeah, yeah.
Throwing juice and drinks and water.
Yeah, my wife likes those shows.
Have you seen the Texas, the former Texas Fund
that plays for the Steelers now, Cameron Johnson?
And they, when the headline says,
Steelers signed Bill Burr look alike?
Oh yeah, I've seen that guy, that's scary.
Yeah.
That's scary.
Yeah, I concur.
That guy does definitely look like me.
Would have been cooler if he was a quarterback.
But that shows how popular you are.
Correct.
Oh yeah, I guess so.
I don't think any of that shit.
Really?
Yeah, no.
That's the end of you.
That's the end of you?
That's the end of you.
You start walking around, I don't know.
I actually, I kind of appreciate people
that feel that way about themselves,
and also I don't understand it.
But I mean when you're standing there, those people see that with their shirt blowing in
front of a fan, in front of their own audience, that shit is hilarious to me.
I don't think you can go that far, but when you think about your humble beginnings.
Why not?
You got the sandals on, I can see you doing that.
Blowing your hoodie around.
I'm just going to do it to you before you do it to me.
How many times have you washed that sweatshirt by the way?
This is new.
Is it? Yeah. It looks like a white guy
sweatshirt. Threw it in with the towels or something. Oh it's tie dye. Yeah. Well when you think about your humble
beginnings and then you think about Fenway Park. You gotta take that in a little bit. Like I came a long way at least.
I did. I did but like I get I'm too afraid to. That's basically what it is. I'm too afraid to look at what I'm doing
in situations like that because I need to perform.
So if I get all into the, you know,
start thinking of the magnitude of something,
I just literally saw Kevin Hart's picture on the door, man.
It's one of my favorite people in the business.
Yeah, Kevin bought, he used to buy us chairs,
so that's why we have him sitting in that chair,
because he bought, for the old studio,
he bought all the chairs.
He's one of my favorite people.
Great guy.
All I do.
Our whole relationship is just giving each other shit.
I don't think I've ever had actual conversation.
Anyway, yeah, I don't think of stuff like that.
So, I minimize, minimize, minimize, minimize.
So I minimize, minimize, minimize, minimize.
So because I had horrible anxiety when I started out.
Yeah, so I had to figure out how to get, the only way I could figure out how to get past it
was to look at the stuff that I was doing
and act like it wasn't a big deal.
Just a job, they come in here, they get sitters
and pay money to come here.
I come here, I make them laugh, they leave,
hopefully they come back and I just sort of reduce it
to that and then, I don't know, then I come on a show
like this and you start bringing stuff up
and I think that's when I first start thinking about it.
Look at me, I'm getting uncomfortable now.
Look at that.
You're ready to go, Bill's ready to go.
No, no, not ready, it's not just thinking, talking about that shit.
That all comes back, also comes back to like,
just like, I don't know, this weird like low self-esteem
and then also like not accepting compliments.
I haven't figured that part of me out.
Imposter syndrome?
Oh my God, 100%.
100%, 100%.
First time, yeah, I always like,
that's the thought that I, every time I get off stage,
my thought is, did I make them laugh enough
that they're gonna come back?
And I, Club Soda Kenny, I always, like,
he like reassures me.
Club Soda Candy?
Club Soda Kenny is my, Club Soda Candy?
What'd you say? Kenny.
Kenny, oh! Kenny! See, now I'm suspicious of you.
Now you're talking about sweets?
Crazy.
I'm just doing it back to you.
Club Soda Kenny, legendary.
Formal police officer, tour manager, and security guy.
This guy's like, I made a short film with him.
Okay.
I gotta put it up on your website.
So he's the guy when I get off stage,
he works with dice, he's worked with everybody.
And so he knows, and he's also,
he's a cop, Jersey guy, he talks like this,
like straight shooter, he's not gonna be like,
no, that was a good one, that was good, blah, blah, blah.
And then, you know, if I get the pat on the back,
I know I had a good one.
So yeah, that is my thought.
I don't walk off stage, you know,
oh God, I'm not gonna use that reference.
That'll start some shit.
I don't walk off stage thinking I'm the shit.
I walk off stage thinking I hope that was good enough
that they come back.
So.
Well, that was crazy, because I'm literally still starstruck just by, remember when I
just walked past the room and I was like oh shit Bill Burr, it's Bill Burr, how you doing?
And he was just looking like hey what's up, like not at all like oh yeah you know I am
that guy, you know it was just real real cool and the first time you made me laugh was racial
drafts, the Dave Chappelle skit time you made me laugh was racial drafts.
The Dave Chappelle skit that you did.
The comedy.
We were like three years old.
We were three.
When it came out, but I watched it
because I was a big fan of Chappelle's show.
And then every special.
That was one of the coolest things.
Yeah.
First really cool thing that I ever got on
where it was like, I got to experience,
it was like Beatlemania.
And I only did like, most of your listeners
were probably like, who the hell were you on that?
First of all, I had hair and I only did like,
you know, four or five.
But he was a compensator.
Yeah, so I remember I was at this thing, Bonnaroo.
You guys ever heard of Bonnaroo?
Yeah.
Oh you have, all right, okay.
So Bonnaroo is like this sort of, you know, this music festival in Nashville.
It was one of the early years of it.
It was a lot of jam bands.
It was some really like earthy, smelly white people sort of out in the field type of thing.
Not a city kid vibe.
So it was pretty white.
Not country white, but damn close.
And the lights went down and I was seeing like this, this white, but damn close. Right.
And the lights went down and I was seeing like this band, what the hell were they called?
Praxis, like Brain was on drums, Burning Well, sort of this offshoot band.
And the lights went down and there was like 10,000 people in this tent and the lights
went down and they were waiting for the band.
And I just heard this dude just go, what?
And then somebody else on the other side yelled, yeah.
And then somebody else yelled, OK.
I got like goosebumps.
And it was like right when it was,
I think it was right after Rick James' sketch had already
like blown up.
And I saw like how big this show was on.
I couldn't believe it.
And there was comedians were telling me,
going, dude, that show you're on is fucking blowing up.
I just did a college gig.
And say it came on at 10 o'clock or something like that
on Comedy Central, and their show was at 9.30.
They would be doing a show, trying to do an hour.
At 10 o'clock, like five or 10,
half the crowd would just get up and leave. And he be like, you know, thinking, what did I say?
Well, we're going to go watch the Chappelle show.
I don't know if anything gets that big again with all of this media, but it was like, when
everybody brings up, you know, the Rick James one and all of that, I will tell you this,
the Law and Order sketch that I was in, the first cut of that,
I think Comedy Central thought was too dark.
Oh my God.
It was like a fucking Oscar winning movie,
because it was hilarious and then it was like,
when the white dude was in prison in the end,
the way they did it, and they cut to Dave
laughing on the golf course, it wasn't funny.
It was like, this is what you fuckers do to us.
It was like, wow.
Southern Economy Center was like,
oh, you know, we, thinking there's a different ending.
They like it, oh shit.
Bring it a little bit, but there was a,
that was another thing too.
I remember they used to edit it right up the street
from where I was living, and I remember Neil Brennan
going, you gotta come see this shit
and I got to see them, the Rick James sketch
before anybody else and I remember laughing my ass off
and that just became a point I stopped laughing
and I was just like, this is like,
I've never seen anything like this in my life.
Yeah, so I was probably the first, kind of still,
like one of the coolest things I got to be on.
I met Charlie Murphy.
Charlie Murphy, rest his peace.
Yeah, rest his soul.
He's up there too, we got him up there.
Up there in the corner.
Oh yeah.
Oh man, the stories that went with that guy.
He had, oh my God, his stories.
He had endless, he God, his stories. He had endless.
He told this story one time and it was all stuff from the 80s.
It would be so like, yo, I was at this party, it was me, Sugar Ray Leonard and Punky Brewster.
Right.
Punky Brewster.
Like what party is this?
It was just all these like 80s icons, right?
And he was talking about Sugar Ray Leonard being drunk,
talking about how quickly he could throw punches
at your ribs and not hit you.
And he said that these white guys were letting him do it,
and he was drunk and he kept hitting him,
and they would fold in half,
and he was crying, laughing, telling her.
And I was going, why the fuck would they do it?
I don't know.
That's the nicer one, I can tell.
So.
The funny thing about Chappelle,
when you look at Chappelle and you re-watch it,
you'll see you.
You'll see Joe Rogan.
You'll see Neil Brennan.
You'll see all of these people who have gone on to be
icons and known right now.
Dave gave me one of the greatest pep talks I ever got.
I ever got.
Like, it's funny because I'm older
than Dave, but Dave started so young. I always look at him like an older brother, right? And
I was doing some shit at the cellar, you know, and I got off stage and he was sitting on the
stairs. Fortunately, I didn't know he was there. I would have, at that point in my career, I would
have been like intimidated, somebody that big watching me. And I remember him telling me, he's
like, man, your point of view is so dope, man.
And he goes, but it's gonna take you a lot longer
to get there, but when you do, you're gonna hit hard.
And dude, I fucking held onto that
for like seven years on the road going,
Dave thinks I'm funny, Dave thinks I'm funny.
It was dope.
Yeah, he was right.
That's right.
Yeah, definitely is.
Bill fucking Bird, man. Thank you for joining us. All right, thank you for having me. You guys were nice, everybody got he was right. That's right. Yeah Bill fucking bird man. All right. All right. Thank you for having you guys were nice
Everybody got me all nervous like you guys
Let's not go why you know why
You know why I
Can be honest with you I listen I
Listen to one clip and I shut it off after eight seconds you what. What clip was it? Somebody said something like, well, you know, sometimes,
sometimes I, whatever the hell he was talking about,
and I just hear you go, why would you do that?
Just going like, oh shit, is it gonna be this?
No, because Larry King always says
the best question to ask is why.
Because people say that, and I really do be curious,
I'm like, well why?
Why is always the best question.
Isn't that just your why?
That's a better, yeah, it's a better why.
Your why wasn't, that wasn't the read. Go back and watch some of the best question. Isn't that just your why? That's a better, yeah, it's a better why. Your why wasn't, that wasn't the read.
Go back and watch some of the other shit.
It was like the subtext was why the fuck would you do that?
Well, it's the same thing.
Sounds like him.
Depends, depends what it is.
No it isn't.
I had a good time.
Thank you for joining us.
Hey, there's my insecurity, hope you have me back.
You'd love to know that.
There's a lot of people I know that hold you
in very, very high regard.
Young comedians, older comedians, like Pete Davidson always talks about you all the time.
Ricky Gervais.
Oh yeah, Pete, I remember.
Pete was another guy.
He had that vibe.
He was just memorable.
I met him, he was like 12, 13 years old, already as tall as me.
And I remember years later he started doing Stanley four years later.
He goes, I don't know if you remember, I just remember, I said Atlantic City, you were standing
there with your mom.
So, all right, how many times are we gonna wrap this up?
That's it, that's it.
All right, thank you so much.
I really appreciate what you said.
It's Bill Burr.
All right, thank you.
It's the Breakfast Club, good morning.
Wake that ass up.
Early in the morning.
The Breakfast Club.
Hey, y'all, Nymonee here.
I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records.
Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records
brings history to life through hip hop. Flash slam, another one gone. Bash bam, another one gone. The cracker, the bat, and another one gone.
A tip, but a cap, because another one gone.
Each episode is about a different inspiring figure
from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin,
a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up
her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks
did the same thing.
Check it.
And it began with me
Did you know, did you know
I wouldn't give up my seat
Nine months before Rosa
It was Claudette Goldman
Get the kids in your life excited about history
by tuning in to Historical Records
because in order to make history,
you have to make some noise.
Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Hey everyone, it's Jon, also known as Dr. Jon Paul,
and I'm Jordan or Joho.
And we are the BlackFatFilm Podcast,
a podcast where all the intersections
of identity are celebrated.
Ooh, chat, this year we have had some of our favorite people
on including Kid Fury, T.S. Madison,
Amber Ruffin from the Amber and Lacey Show,
Angela Carrasso and more.
Make sure you listen to the Black Fat Film Podcast
on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts, girl.
Ooh, I know that's right.
Hi, I'm Dani Shapiro, host of the hit podcast, Family Secrets. How would you feel if when you
met your biological father for the first time, he didn't even say hello? And what if your past
itself was a secret and the time had suddenly come to share that past with your child.
These are just a few of the powerful and profound questions we'll be asking on our 11th season
of Family Secrets.
Listen to Season 11 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Hey guys, I'm Kate Max.
You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show,
where I run with celebrities, athletes,
entrepreneurs, and more.
After those runs, the conversations keep going.
That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about.
It's a chance to sit down with my guests
and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys,
and the thoughts that arise
once we've hit the
pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts. Happy holidays from me, Michael Rappaport. And my gift to you is a free subscription
to the I Am Rappaport Stereo Podcast where I discuss entertainment, sports,
politics, and anything and everything that catches my attention. I am here to call it as I see it
and there's a whole lot of things catching my eyes these days. Listen to the I Am Rappaport
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