Comedian, voice actor and podcaster Bill Burr is a busy guy. His Monday Morning Podcast is high on the charts. His new special, Walk Your Way Out, dropped on Netflix earlier this year. The second season of his hit animated comedy F is for Family was also released this year on Netflix. He’s a new dad, a helicopter pilot, and one of the ringleaders of the All Things Comedy Network… when he’s not banging away at the drums. CL recently spoke with Burr about his upcoming show(s) this Friday, Oct. 6th at St. Pete's Mahaffey Theater. Here’s how it went.
So are you currently on tour with your stand-up work or just doing spots here and there?
Well, you know, I still go out every other weekend and do spots around town here in L.A. If you wanna call stand-up work, and it really isn’t, it’s easy. You just get out on stage and do your thing. It’s fun. I’m doing the road. Touring’s what a band does. It’s like we’re leaving on the 5th and we’re not coming back for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 months. I go out to Toronto this weekend then I’m home for 10 days. I do Vegas, I come back, and then I’m there in Tampa Bay.
So with keeping that kind of schedule you have enough time to spend with your family, that’s a nice perk.
Oh yeah, you can never have enough time with them but I have more than the average person, I think.
How in the hell do you manage to keep everything in line without making yourself crazy? You stay pretty busy with the road, the specials, your comedy network, and the show.
Delegate! I delegate as much as I can. My wife’s been telling me forever that I need an assistant. I think I’m finally going to give in to that. I didn’t want to get one because then it’s just another person I now have to talk to. So we’ll see how it works.
You travel with the same pack of comedians when you’re on the road. Who will be opening the shows here this Friday?
Paul Virzi and Joe Bartnick are coming down with me. We just filmed a special for Paul through the All Things Comedy network so we’re editing that down. It should be released sometime soon.
You’re currently working on the third season of F is for Family. How’s that going? Are you finding that it’s easier or harder to work on as each season comes along?
It’s going really good. It’s been easier than the first two seasons. I didn’t know what I was doing on season one and for season two we went from 6 episodes to 10. You know how players are a little out of shape at the beginning of the season? By mid-season they play themselves to death. That’s how I feel. I feel I’ve written myself into writer’s room shape. Coming home with the excitement of seeing my daughter refreshes me for the next day. Also, I’ve been laying off the booze and eating well so that keeps my energy up too.
Listeners of your podcast are aware that you’ve been on the wagon for a little over a month now. Any idea when the wheels are falling off the wagon?
I debate that. I’ve got an acting gig coming up and then there’s the holidays. I might try to beat my old record of 367 days. I don’t know. I definitely wanna slow it down. I’m gonna be 50 years old next year and I have a little kid so I need to live a little less selfishly.
What’s your drink of choice?
Anything brown. Bourbons, Whiskeys, Scotches. I like liquor because you get right to it. Beer is a young man’s game. It’s too much work to catch a buzz. As far as beer goes, I like maybe one really good, ice-cold beer. I just don't want to drink a thousand of the things sitting there getting all bloated and shit. I’m trying to get more into tequila. I hear it has less sugar in it, I don’t know. The thing with tequila is that you have to get a good one. Obviously I’ve never drank anti-freeze but I would imagine a bad tequila tastes a lot like that. Like a shitty Scotch tasting like an ashtray. You get yourself a good tequila in an ice-cold glass and a squeeze of fresh lime… forget it!
Do you plan on catching any games while you’re here?
The last NFL team I need to see a home game at is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s interesting how that worked out because the last major league baseball team I needed to see was the Florida Marlins. So I somehow always end up in Florida. I’m gonna be there for the Patriots/Bucs game the day before my show. I’ll only have 8 teams left to see in all four major sports. After that I’ll move onto college football, Formula One, Moto GT… and I still need to see Wimbledon. There’s always gonna be something.
Being in the business for over 25 years, is there anyone coming up you’ve been paying attention to?
Oh yeah, I actually just saw someone the other night. This kid Fahim Anwar I really like. He’s a great joke writer and his onstage personality is really cool to watch.
One last question and it’s for the fans of your podcast. You reference “the family back East” a lot and have said it’s a line from a movie. Can you tell readers what movie?
No. You gotta find it. I gave all the hints!
HAHA! Fair enough. Well thank you so much for your time. Looking forward to the show here Oct. 6th at the Mahaffey.
Thanks for helping me promote the show! Good talk.
This article appears in Sep 28 – Oct 6, 2017.