Bill Burr

Bill Burr
Bill Burr
	Burr in 2018
Birth name	William Frederick Burr
Born	June 10, 1968 (age 56); Canton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	North Carolina State University; Emerson College (BA)
Years active	1992–present
Genres	Observational comedy; sketch comedy; black comedy; insult comedy; sarcasm; satire;
Spouse	Nia Hill (m. 2013)
Children	2
Website	billburr.com

William Frederick Burr (born June 10, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, writer and podcaster. He has released multiple stand-up comedy specials, including You People Are All the Same (2012), I'm Sorry You Feel That Way (2014), Walk Your Way Out (2017) and Paper Tiger (2019). He received a Grammy Award nomination for Paper Tiger, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the dark comedy series Immoral Compass (2021–present). In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him at No. 17 on their list of the "50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time".^[1]

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Burr has hosted the twice-weekly Monday Morning Podcast since 2007 and co-founded the All Things Comedy network in 2012. He also created, co-wrote, and voiced the lead character in the Netflix animated sitcom F Is for Family (2015–2021). His other notable roles include various characters in Chappelle's Show, Patrick Kuby in the AMC series Breaking Bad (2011–2013), Migs Mayfeld in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2019–present), and Ray Bishop in the film The King of Staten Island (2020). He made his feature-length directorial debut as the co-writer, director, and star of the comedy film Old Dads (2023).

Early life

William Frederick Burr^[2]^[3] was born in Canton, Massachusetts,^[4] on June 10, 1968,^[5] the son of nurse Linda Ann (née Wigent) and dentist Robert Burr. He is of German, Irish, and distant French descent,^[6] and has mentioned being distantly related to Aaron Burr (1756–1836), the third U.S. vice president.^[7] He graduated from high school in 1987.^[8] Afterward he briefly attended North Carolina State University for two semesters.^[9] Then in 1993, he obtained a bachelor's degree in radio from Emerson College in Boston,^[5] where one of his professors was the writer David Foster Wallace.^[10] He worked in warehouses before starting his comedy career, later stating that he enjoyed the freedom of the job: "If my boss gave me a rough time, I could just get on a forklift and just, like, drive away."^[11]

Career

1992–2009

Burr first performed stand-up comedy at the age of 23 on March 2, 1992.^[12]^[13] He moved to New York City in 1994.^[14] He started to appear in numerous shows performing standup such as Showtime at the Apollo in 2000, Comedy Central Presents in 2003, Just for Laughs in 2004, One Night Stand in 2005, and Live at Gotham in 2006. Also during this time, he co-starred in the TV series Townies in 1996, appeared in Two Guys and a Girl in 1998 and Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2002. He gained prominence as a regular on Dave Chappelle's popular sketch comedy series Chappelle's Show in 2004 on Comedy Central.

Since May 2007, Burr has recorded a weekly one-hour podcast, Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast, in which he speaks about his experiences, current events, going on tour, and sports, and offers advice to questions submitted by the listeners. The podcast is available on Burr's website, Spotify, YouTube, and on the All Things Comedy network he co-founded in 2012. He is sometimes joined by his wife Nia and has featured guests and interviews with other comedians.^[15] In the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV, Burr voiced Jason Michaels of the biker gang The Lost MC in the mission "No Love Lost". In 2009, he reprised his role in the game's expansion pack The Lost and Damned.

Burr also appears as a guest on radio shows and other comedians' podcasts, such as Opie and Anthony, You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, The Adam Carolla Show,^[16] The Joe Rogan Experience,^[17]^[18] WTF with Marc Maron,^[19] The Nerdist Podcast,^[20] The Adam Buxton Podcast, and Nobody Likes Onions.^[21]^[22] Burr was also the first guest on Tom Green's podcast. Burr's first hour-long special, Why Do I Do This? (2008), was filmed in New York.^[23]

2010–2017

Burr's special Let it Go was recorded at The Fillmore in San Francisco and premiered on Comedy Central on September 18, 2010. That same year Burr appeared in the comedy film Date Night as Detective Walsh. On April 18, 2011, he guest hosted the Hollywood Babble-On podcast alongside Ralph Garman.^[24] He also appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of AMC's Breaking Bad as Patrick Kuby from 2011 to 2013.^[25] A later special, You People Are All the Same, premiered in 2012 as a Netflix exclusive.^[26] Burr's stand-up special You People Are All the Same (2012) was the first to premiere exclusively on Netflix. He played Mark Mullins in the 2013 buddy cop film The Heat. In 2014, Burr filmed his fourth hour-long special I'm Sorry You Feel That Way at the Tabernacle Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. Unusual for modern comedy specials, the film was shot in black and white.

All Things Comedy was officially launched on October 1, 2012, with a roster of 11 podcasts including Burr's own Monday Morning Podcast, The Long Shot Podcast by Eddie Pepitone, and Skeptic Tank by Ari Shaffir.^[27]^[28] By 2014, the network had six dozen members and over 50 podcasts.^[29]^[30] The network was started by comedians Al Madrigal and Bill Burr with The Daily Show on the All Things Comedy website.^[31] The network was established as an artist owned cooperative, which Madrigal and Burr emphasize as an important aspect of the collective.^[32] All Things Records was started in March 2014 and released three albums in the months following its creation including Believe in Yourself by Sam Tripoli, Live at the Comedy Castle by Brian Scolaro, and This Will Make an Excellent Horcrux by Jackie Kashian.^[30] Madrigal sees the network as a way of improving representation of Latin American people in media.^[33] For instance, the network hosts Spanish-language podcasts such as Leyendas Legendarias and El Dollop.^[34]^[35]^[36] All Things Comedy also partnered with Comedy Central to produce a documentary about Patrice O'Neal in addition to three comedy specials.^[37]^[38]

Burr voiced lead character Frank Murphy in F Is for Family, which premiered on Netflix on December 18, 2015. The show, an animated sitcom he created and co-wrote, drew on Burr's stand-up and the absurdity of political correctness. Season 4 of the series debuted on Netflix on June 12, 2020.^[39] Burr writes and executive produces the series along with Michael Price.^[40] Burr's fifth hour-long special, Bill Burr: Walk Your Way Out, debuted on Netflix on January 31, 2017. He appeared in the third episode (titled "Bill Burr") of the second season of the HBO series Crashing.^[41]

2018–present

Burr's sixth hour-long special, Paper Tiger, debuted on Netflix on September 10, 2019. He premiered a new podcast co-hosted with fellow comedian Bert Kreischer, called the Bill Bert Podcast, in October. In December, he played Migs Mayfeld in two episodes of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. In 2020, he appeared in Judd Apatow's comedy film The King of Staten Island, and promoted the film on October 10 by hosting NBC's Saturday Night Live for the first time.^[42]^[43]^[44] In March 2022, it was announced that Burr would co-write, direct, and star in the comedy film Old Dads, his feature-length directorial debut; it was released on Netflix in 2023 to mixed reviews.^[45] A few months later, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series nomination for the dark comedy series Immoral Compass (2021–present).^[46] His seventh stand-up special, Live at Red Rocks, was released on July 12.^[47]

On August 21, 2022, Burr became the first comedian to perform at Fenway Park, in front of a sold-out crowd of around 35,000 people.^[48] It was also the largest comedy show in the history of Boston.^[49] He has had sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 2015, and then again on November 11, 2023,^[50]^[51]^[52] the Royal Albert Hall on June 6, 2018,^[53] and consecutive shows on March 4 and 5, 2019.^[54]^[55] He holds the record for the most consecutive sold-out shows at Boston's Wilbur Theatre, where he performed 19 sold-out shows in a row, almost doubling the record of 10 set by Aziz Ansari.^[56] Burr sold out 20,000 seats at the Los Angeles Forum on September 28, 2018.^[57]^[58] In September 2021, he sold out Red Rocks Amphitheatre.^[59] In 2023, he performed at the 5,000-seat ancient Roman amphitheater, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece.^[60] In 2024, Bill performed in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 60,000 at Gillette Stadium where he followed Jay-Z for the Tom Brady 's Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony.^[61]^[62]

In 2023, Burr had a cameo role as the voice of pastor Nick Saint Angelo in the episode "the wizard" of HBO series Barry. It was announced that Burr would make his Broadway debut in 2025 the revival of the David Mamet play Glengarry Glen Ross acting opposite Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk.^[63]

Style

Burr has been referred to as a "comedian's comedian" by observers of the American stand-up comedy circuit.^[64]^[65]

Rolling Stone magazine called Burr "the undisputed heavyweight champ of rage-fueled humor".^[66] Burr often portrays himself as "that loud guy in the bar" with "uninformed logic".^[67] In an interview with The Boston Globe, Burr stated, "I'm the 'dude, bro' guy."^[4] According to the Montreal Gazette, Burr is "a cynic and a contrarian who has never paid any heed to political correctness".^[68] The New York Times in 2013 called Burr "one of the funniest, most distinctive voices in the country for years".^[69] His set typically spans an array of topics ranging from his childhood to sex robots to how much he loves his dog. When he does touch on a cringeworthy subject, his style lends him the ability to anticipate and even toy with the crowd's reaction. Burr will often stand still, casually leaning one arm on the mic stand, a mischievous grin on his face, acting like the loud guy at a bar.^[70]

Burr has cited Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Sam Kinison, and Patrice O'Neal as the five greatest stand-up comedians of all time.^[71]

Personal life

In 2013, Burr married actress and producer Nia Renee Hill,^[67]^[72] who sometimes appears as a guest on his podcast.^[5] They reside in Los Angeles^[6]^[69] and have a daughter (b. January 20, 2017)^[73] and a son (b. June 2020).^[74]

Burr is a licensed helicopter pilot^[75] and enjoys playing drums.^[76] His favourite drummers are John Bonham and Dave Lombardo. He enjoys rock and heavy metal music^[77]^[78] and is a fan of bands such as AC/DC, Gojira, Iron Maiden, Karnivool, Led Zeppelin, Meshuggah, Metallica, Ministry, Pantera, and Slayer.^[79]^[80] He loves smoking cigars.^[81]