- Hello, I'm Bill Burr
and this is the "WIRED Autocomplete Interview."
[upbeat music]
You know, oh, my favorite thing is when they say,
you know, "He has offbeat good looks."
That means if you weren't famous you'd be ugly.
[Bill laughing]
[upbeat music]
All right, let's see what we got here.
Oh, what is Bill Burr's best special?
This is like saying which child do you like the most?
Sophie's Choice.
I loved "Paper Tiger" 'cause I was in England
and I loved the challenge of that,
and I loved "Red Rocks" because, it wasn't even what I did,
it was the crowd, and what I loved was
how it was miked, you could hear the crowd
and if you can get through my jokes on the special,
just listen to the audience.
Every once in a while I would say
something really random and stupid
and people would laugh at the ridiculousness of it.
But you always hear, like, one guy just go like, "Yeah!"
It wasn't a joke, 'cause it's like,
"Yeah, I think that too! That makes sense to me."
What episodes Bill Burr "Breaking Bad."
I did the car wash one first,
then I did the one with Lavell Crawford,
where the guy drops the oranges and bangs his head,
and I got to be in Saul Goodman's office, which was crazy
'cause I was such an insane fan of that show.
I probably got in I think two, three seasons in
and I remember going in to Saul Goodman's office
where he had the injustice for all, whatever he had,
we the people of the Constitution thing above his desk,
and I felt like I got sucked into my TV.
It was incredible.
And then I did the train robbery
and I got to drive that big dump truck.
And I remember the stunt guy was, like, nervous
going like, "Well you don't know what you're doing."
I go, "Well I'm only going half a mile an hour.
I just let the clutch out and give it gas."
I was young, I didn't know what I was doing.
I don't know if I answered your question.
I mean, I'm sure it's on IMDB.
Like, am I your secretary?
What made Bill Burr famous?
[Bill chuckling] What made Bill Burr famous?
What made me famous?
30 years on the road. Seven specials.
I mean, I was definitely a ham and egger.
I was not, so you can see, blessed in the looks department.
You know what's funny?
I did a movie one time and we were shooting outside
and on, like, three different occasions on that shoot,
someone would drive by and be like,
"Hey Bill Burr, go fuck yourself!"
And I'd be like, "Hey, how you doin'?"
What helicopter does Bill Burr fly?
Like most people who learn to fly helicopters,
I started off with Robinson's and then I wanted to move up
and I was just like, these things are expensive as hell.
And fortunately there's this company
called Cabri that makes the Guimbal.
Cabri G2 for all you non-helicopter pilots.
It's a three-bladed system.
It's a baby A-Star,
which is what the police and news people fly.
I've flown a bunch of, I've rented 'em
and stuff like that, the bigger ones.
And I just fly, like, a little two-seater.
So it's funny, whenever I fly a bigger one,
I'm always paranoid that the door's open
'cause I'm used to, like, the door touching me
as I sit there flying. [Bill chuckling]
What is Bill Burr like in real life?
I am an inquisitive person.
I try to stay just ahead of my depression
and if I'm learning something new,
it's exciting, it's challenging,
it's embarrassing 'cause I'm making mistakes
but I don't have to listen to the demons.
It shuts them up. Okay.
They start talking around 11:15, 11:16 every night.
[board thumping]
[Bill's hands scraping]
And that's when the booze used to come. Not anymore though.
Next one. There we go.
Did you get paid as, like, a hand model?
Like, back in the day?
When is Bill Burr gonna shut up? No.
When is Bill Burr going on tour? Great question.
I just started up my umpteen-thousandth tour this year
and this is my favorite hour and a half
that I've been doing on stage.
I'm getting ready to do a special.
It's a unbelievable amount of fun to be on the road
right now because there's so much serious stuff going on,
people need to laugh and they need something silly.
Actually, if there's any comedians watching,
if you're feeling the gloom that most of us feel,
go on stage and just try to be a little silly.
It actually makes you lighter. I can't explain it.
When did Bill Burr move to LA?
I moved here with my lovely wife in September, 2007
and two weeks later I bought a Prius.
I just went all in.
When did Bill Burr start comedy?
I started comedy in March of 1992.
32 years ago I started Nick's Comedy Stop.
I started in Boston.
I've always believed that I have lived a charmed life
because what are the odds that I wanted
to be a standup comedian and I was living in Boston,
the greatest standup comedy scene in the country, I feel,
and it just had absolute murderers row
of headlining comics there that you could learn from.
Kevin Knox, Frank Santorelli, Steve Sweeney,
Don Gavin, Tony V, Bob Seibel, Rich Ceisler,
all of these guys, all had their different own styles.
Kenny Rogerson, Mike Donovan.
One of the best things about starting off in Boston
was you knew what killing was.
Where I went down to this Tri-state area
and I saw some of those city comics and people like that.
Oh dude, I slayed, I killed.
And I remember thinking like, I mean, you had a good set.
I wouldn't say you killed.
You weren't Knoxy Tuesday Night
at Nick's Comedy Stop killing.
All right. Here we go.
How did Bill Burr end up on "The Mandalorian?"
I ended up up on "The Mandalorian" through Jon Favreau
who listened to my podcast, used to always hear me
making fun of Star Wars and thought it was funny.
Ended up meeting him at a mutual friend's birthday party.
He goes, "You know, there's a part in there
that we're writing right now
and we think you would be good for it."
And I was like, "You know, Jon, I gotta be honest with you,
I always kind of make fun of 'Star Wars.'"
Not in a malicious way, it's just
I just see people really enjoying something
and I just know, well that's an easy hit.
If I make fun of it, I can really just watch them get upset
and you know, it fills up my day for whatever reason.
He goes, "No, no."
He goes, "I know I've heard it. I think it's hilarious.
And think your fans would think it was funny
if you were on this show."
By then, you know, my better half,
Nia was kicking me under the table
and I was like, "All right, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it."
So I get down there and the first scene I'm doing,
I'm in a spaceship and I'm the only guy
that looks like a person.
Everybody else has all this crazy makeup on
and I'm sitting in there and I literally feel like
I'm in "The Muppets Take Manhattan."
So we're gonna rehearse the scene
and I'm trying not to laugh.
The actors were so amazing. Immediately that all went away.
I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm gonna get my ass kicked in this."
And I was totally locked in
and I ended up having a great time.
Jon showed me a trailer
of the first season of "The Mandalorian."
My jaw was on the ground
'cause it was like a spaghetti Western
and we looked like Clint Eastwood was doing "Star Wars"
and I was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe
I almost stuck my foot in my mouth and didn't get in this."
And it's one of my favorite things
I've ever done in my career.
And I will say "Star Wars" fans are cool as hell.
Okay, there we go.
Is!
I'm getting a little defensive.
Is Bill gonna wrap this up?
Was Bill ever gonna get a hair system?
Is Bill ever gonna admit that it's not us, it's him?
Is Bill Burr a Patriots fan?
Yes, absolutely.
All the way back to Jim Plunkett.
I love the Patriots, whether they're good or bad,
and I actually really enjoy
how much fans are giving me a rough time right now
'cause the Patriots aren't good.
'Cause all I hear is, "We're so relieved
that you're not kicking our ass anymore."
Is Bill Burr a drummer?
That's debatable. I play drums.
I always say I'm a guitar center drummer.
I'm a dad drummer. You know what I mean?
If you need, like, a cover, I can do a decent cover.
I could be in a wedding band but an actual drummer, like,
you know, somebody comes in with a riff,
you have to come up with a drum part that fits that
and not only compliments it, hopefully elevates it,
that's a musician.
Is Bill Burr in "Reservation Dogs?"
Yes I am. I play Coach Bobson.
They actually asked me to come back a second time,
but unfortunately I was editing a movie I did
called "Old Dads" so I didn't get to do it,
and it kills me because they wrapped up that show.
They were building something
and the people I worked with on that, you know.
Don't listen to these people that talk about Holly.
There's a lot of great people in this business.
All right. [paper ripping]
Is Bill Burr nice?
Am I nice? You would have to ask other people.
I try to be nice.
All right.
Is Bill Burr political?
I don't watch CNN. I don't watch Fox News.
I don't pay attention to elections.
However, I'm more interested on what corporations are doing
and what they're getting away with
and why people are allowing it
and why, if you're running for office,
if you start to say that that's what they're doing,
they just tar and feather you.
I like what's behind it. It's kind of what fascinates me.
Does Bill Burr go to therapy?
Yeah. I haven't in a while.
I will say that the biggest change for me
is I took mushrooms.
What I love about that drug
is it doesn't make you want to do more.
It makes you want to deal with your life.
Bill Burr, Bill Hader.
Oh, to choose between the two?
I mean, that's a no-brainer.
You gotta go Bill Hader all day.
Bill Hader is arguably the greatest
impressionist I've ever seen.
I fucking love Bill Hader,
and the fact that you would even have my name next to his,
and the directing and the writing that he did on "Barry."
Bill Hader is like, ridiculously underappreciated
by all those foofy award shows.
It's ridiculous. This guy's a monster talent.
And I think it's time he gets his goddamn hardware.
What do you think of that?
Does Bill Burr start on time?
Usually not because we have to have yonder bags
and that's your guys' fault because you fuckin' assholes
every five seconds you gotta sit there and film.
Oh my god, what's my life right now?
And then you edit it like CNN and Fox News
to make me look as bad as possible to try
to get me in trouble so you can get some more friends.
I was here on time, right?
I am on time. All right?
I don't know how that yonder shit works.
Did Bill Burr write "F Is for Family?"
I wrote on it.
I co-created the show with the great Mike Price.
Michael was the captain of the ship.
It was a big writer's room.
There was 10 people in the room including myself.
And that's another question people have,
you know, is my dad like Frank?
Frank was an amalgam of all of our dads
and I actually think towards the end
he was more me than anything.
Bill Burr, Adam Sandler.
This is about that movie "Leo."
I am blown away by, first of all,
how great the writing was on it,
how cool Adam was to work with.
I did get to get in the booth with him a couple of times.
He's widely regarded out here as just the nicest guy
and he literally is that guy.
Shows up, basketball shorts, big hoodie.
Ah, what's going on? You know, he's just awesome.
I made him laugh a couple times,
which was like the biggest thrill of my life.
But the big thing about that movie that I love
is the amount of kids of all ages
and parents that have come up to me
and said how much they related to it.
Which I really think is a testament to everyone that wrote.
The writing on it was just next level.
Bill Burr.
Next one.
Best standup.
I have ones that I like for a personal reason
and somebody brought this one up.
I did this bit on some benefit.
Steve Jobs just died and I did a bit making fun of him.
It was something about how they said he changed the world.
It was basically making fun of
how he took credit for everything.
And it's not on any of my specials,
it's not on any albums or CDs.
And I remember doing it
and knowing that it was only gonna be there.
Didn't save it for a special
and that it would be this cool thing.
And then I also loved it because it was a really rich crowd.
They were, like, auctioning off guitars
and people were paying, like, six figures for 'em.
So I felt like their reaction,
the way I was making fun of him
that's like, they actually knew the guy,
which made it even more enjoyable to do the bit.
[Bill chuckling]
Who is Bill Burr's opener?
When you go to see me live,
I don't bring cupcakes on the road.
I'm not looking for a career opener.
Everybody that's opened for me
has gone on to headline and crush it.
Paul Virzi, who just shot a special, he used to open for me.
He hasn't opened for me now in, like, six years.
We still work a couple of times a year together.
Joe Bartnick's another guy that moved on. Joey B.
And right now I've been working with Dean Delray,
Bianca Cristovao, and Nate Craig.
There's an energy you put out as a comedian
when you're doing new stuff.
There's an excitement.
You're present and all of that, and it's contagious.
And when I watch them trying out new stuff, you know,
I don't wanna be the dud, you know, on the show,
I wanna do something too.
So like, I think it's really important
to bring somebody that you believe can make it.
All right. Bill Burr, let's see here.
Bill Burr, Elvis.
He was the first, I feel, like, post-television superstar
and had to deal with a level of fame
where there was no roadmap.
He's the original behind the music.
And if you look, he made every fuckin' mistake.
Surrounded himself with yes men,
did drugs, married a 16-year-old.
I mean, he just did everything.
I don't wanna get into this too much,
but you know what I mean.
Died alone on a toilet.
Bill Burr.
[paper crinkling]
Fenway.
That was something that was so big.
I think I only recently thought about it.
I'll never forget just being on stage
and seeing Fenway Park, 'cause we were out in center field.
My family, we used to always sit out in right field.
It was a great time.
And to be able to come back all of those years later
to get that kind of love from my home city was incredible.
And it's not something that I will ever forget.
Those questions all seem like they were from fans.
I'm surprised it wasn't meaner.
[Bill chuckling]
[upbeat drums]