Comedian Bill Burr is no stranger to success . . . or St. Louis.
“I’ve been having the best shows of my career lately,” he said. “I’ve been to St. Louis a number of times. The arch was terrifying. You are lying down and looking out. I felt like it was about to tip over. [I am] definitely not doing that again.”
Burr gained wide recognition after bringing his humor to a reoccurring role on “The Chapelle Show.” From there, Burr’s career took off, with TV appearances on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” his own HBO half-hour special and a recent hour-long Comedy Central special, “Why Do I Do This?”
The title of Burr’s special was inspired by the self-doubt many comedians go through while they’re paying their dues at the beginning of their careers.
“The first eight years [in stand up comedy] are one non-stop exercise in humiliation,” he said. “It’s like, ‘You want me to stand outside on a table without a microphone next to a carnival?’ Comedians all compare stories about horrific experiences, and later, it just becomes a story, something to laugh about. In the business, sometimes you get those drunk, awful crowds and they make you think, ‘Why didn’t I work at a hardware store? Why do I do this?’ That’s how I got the name of my comedy special,” said Burr.
A large portion of Burr’s humor involves controversial topics that he plows through in front of any audience without signs of remorse or hesitance. Topics such as race, gender and weight are the center of ridicule and, Burr hopes, the cause of a few laughs.
“I am just up there saying what I think is funny,” he said. “I’m not up there with a leather jacket smoking a cigarette. Whatever I am saying I believe. However, if I act like I advocate things like hitting a woman, I am obviously joking . . . I start with something I believe and follow it with jokes.”
According to Burr, the controversial subject matter in his performances is generally accepted well by audiences. He makes it a point to begin his act on a strong note, often with a particularly inappropriate joke to stir up the audience.
“Sometimes I stand backstage and think, ‘You’re coming on too strong, too mean. They’re going to hate you,'” said Burr. “I always find it funny. A lot of different groups can just laugh together, but you end up saying something that is a sensitive subject for them and all the sudden, you are not a comedian. You are a senator,” said Burr.
Sheltered dogs are, according to Burr, one topic he can’t mine laughter from. Burr believes that the commercials of sheltered dogs simply show the sweet dogs that the public eye loves to see, but not the true reality of the dogs in the kennels. Unfortunately for him, audiences rarely want to hear jokes about it.
“So I’ve made fun of obese people for the past thirty minutes, but everyone gets upset when I mention sheltered dogs,” he said. “People love dogs. I’ve got more complaints about my jokes on sheltered dogs than you’d believe. I do not read and nothing is researched so I have a license to be mean,” said Burr.
Despite his debatable views and merciless demeanor, Burr receives positive feedback from his performances, for the most part.
“I would say I’ve been blown away by the amount of people coming to my shows, especially in this current state of economy,” he said.
“I know that most people are cutting luxuries so it is very flattering to have such large audiences. And you know, if someone pays to see you, you really got to give them a show,” said Burr.
Burr works diligently to provide the best show possible for each performance. However, every performer in the industry is subject to ridicule at times.
“There is a clip on YouTube that has been viewed by 10,000 people of me getting booed off stage at a performance,” he said. “I sort of snapped. I wasn’t booed because I wasn’t doing a good job. I got booed because it was an asshole crowd. I refused to be booed off stage, however, and I received a lot of respect from fans and other comedians for not just walking out and leaving.”
A certain enviable courage forced Burr to remain on stage that night and that same I-don’t-care-what-people-think attitude is a prominent presence in each of his shows, as Burr stirs up laughter in his fans without a sign of censorship to be found.
“If anyone in St. Louis is on the fence about coming, I’ll definitely make it worth your while,” Burr said.
Bill Burr will perform at the St. Louis House of Comedy tonight at 8:30 p.m., Friday at 8:30 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
For more information about the show, including directions to the club, visit www.stlhouseofcomedy.com Tickets are also available at www.stlhouseofcomedy.tix.com.
For more information about Bill Burr, visit www.billburr.com.
