Bill Burr Interview | The Tim Ferriss Show (Podcast)

1. 0:00 – 7:28

   Cold open, sponsor messages, and show setup for Bill Burr

   1. SPSpeaker0:00

      Optimal minimal. At this altitude, I can run flat-out for a half-mile before my hands start to shake. Can I ask you a personal question? Now would just be an appropriate time. What if I give the order? I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton. The Tim Ferriss Show.

   2. TFTim Ferriss0:23

      This episode is brought to you by FreshBooks. Man, oh man, do a lot of listeners of this podcast and readers of mine love FreshBooks, to the extent that I ended up meeting with the CEO not very long ago. Why are they so popular? Well, they are the number one cloud accounting software designed exclusively for self-employed professionals, that's many of you, and used by more than 10 million people. You can send invoices, track your time, and get paid very, very quickly, which suits the needs of a lot of freelancers, a lot of entrepreneurs, and beyond. You can take pictures of receipts. You can link your credit card and debit card so all the things you buy automatically appear in your FreshBooks in the right category. So on and so forth. Makes taxes easy, makes invoices easy, makes your life easier. And also, in fact, I would recommend a PDF. Uh, they didn't ask me to read this part, by the way. They put together a PDF a while back, uh, called Breaking the Time Barrier, subtitle How to Unlock Your True Earning Potential. So you can search for Breaking the Time Barrier. A lot of people ask me, "How can I get a 4-hour work week with a service business?" And the story in that e-book, it's a PDF, is the short answer. It's really, really good. So I think you should also check that out. So Breaking the Time Barrier, check it out. But also, why not test out FreshBooks? Claim your 30-day unrestricted free trial at freshbooks.com/tim, and enter Tim Ferriss, two Rs and two Ss, in the how did you hear about us section. That sounds [laughs] like we're gonna get very little tracking. That's a lot of work. But just go to freshbooks.com/tim and try it out, because it is a very good product, and I think you will find it simplifies your life. Enjoy. [upbeat music] This episode is brought to you by Shopify. I have known and loved Shopify just about forever. Back in 2009 when they had something like 8 or 10 employees, now they have more than 2,000, I helped them as an advisor to create the Build a Business competition, which is now the world's largest entrepreneurship competition. And many readers of my blog, first-time business owners, have ended up making millions and millions of dollars each, many of them as side gigs to their full-time jobs. So the goal of the Build a Business competition is to get would-be entrepreneurs to get off the couch and make things happen. All you have to do is open a store on Shopify and start selling, and you can join in July or after July to be eligible to win. What does winning mean? You have to be one of the top performers, top sellers in a given category, and the prize, the reward, is an exclusive opportunity to learn from mentors and experts. And in the past, that has happened at places like the Gatsby castle where we had Tony Robbins and Daymond John and Seth Godin and so on, or on Necker Island, which is Sir Richard Branson's private island. It's nuts and super, super fun. I'm also involved. So there's a special offer for people listening to this show. Go to shopify.com/tim and sign up for a free 30-day trial. You will get all sorts of exclusive free video courses to help you along and to get started, including how to start a profitable drop shipping business with Corey Ferreira. You will also get some goodies from me. That's all free. It's all exclusive to people who are listening to this podcast. So check it out, shopify.com/tim, and remember to sign up for the free 30-day trial. [upbeat music] Why, hello there. This is Tim Ferriss, Tim Ferriss, 费 玉 清 , Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons. Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job always to deconstruct world-class performers of many, many different varieties, pulling out the lessons, strategies, habits, et cetera, that you can apply and test in your own life. My guest today is none other than the comedian's comedian, Bill Burr, @billburr on Twitter, B-I-L-L B-U-R-R. Please say hello. Many of you know him as a standup comedian, of course. His YouTube clips have followed me around the planet, as has his podcast. He is one of the funniest humans alive. I mean, he loses his audience sometimes on purpose because making them laugh is not enough of a challenge, and then he'll reel them back in and get them back on his side. And he has been requested for this podcast for many years. Rolling Stone has called him, quote, "The undisputed heavyweight champ of rage-fueled humor," [laughs] end quote. And when we finally got on the same stage to have a conversation and do this, he did not disappoint. So in this very wide-ranging conversation, Bill and I go all over the place. We talk about how he found his way into standup comedy, uh, why he enjoys going for an encore after he's been booed, how he started as a squeaky clean comedian and then ended up where he is now, which is quite, quite different, how learning can serve as therapy, the importance of enjoying success, and much more. This interview comes from my TV show Fearless, with fear less, less in parentheses, because the objective is to learn to fear less, not to be fearless, not possible, in which I interview world-class performers, that's probably my favorite combo word, [laughs] on stage about how they've overcome doubt, conquered fear, and made their toughest decisions. You can watch the entire first episode with illusionist David Blaine for free at att.net/fearless, no parentheses, so all one word. Att.net/fearless, the way you would usually spell it. Highly recommend you check that out. And to see all episodes, you can get it on DirecTV or you can go to DirecTV Now, uh, and I believe that's just directtvnow.com, but directtv.com, so D-I-R-E-C-T-V.com, uh, and then click on Direct Now. We recorded about three hours of material on stage, and only one hour was used for TV. That means this episode is almost entirely new content that did not appear on TV. So even if you saw that episode already, you're gonna get a lot more patented Bill Burr. So please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Mr. Bill Burr. [applause] Welcome to Fearless. I'm your host, Tim Ferriss, and on this stage we'll be deconstructing world-class performers to uncover the specific tactics that they've used to overcome doubt, tackle hard decisions, and ultimately succeed. So imagine yourself all alone on stage in front of 14,000 people staring directly at you. For many of us, probably most of us, that'd be a complete nightmare. But for my guest tonight, it's just another day at the office. The man you're about to meet is one of the most prolific and respected comedians in the world. He's done five hour-long comedy specials, hosts one of the most popular podcasts of all time, and is the co-creator and star of the animated series F Is For Family. Please welcome to the stage Bill Burr. [applause]

2. 7:28 – 8:47

   Burr’s “go back after you’ve been booed” story and dealing with mortification

   1. BBBill Burr7:28

      Hey, how are you? What's going on, Tim?

   2. TFTim Ferriss7:33

      I'm good.

   3. BBBill Burr7:33

      How you doing, buddy?

   4. TFTim Ferriss7:33

      I'm good. I'm good.

   5. BBBill Burr7:38

      If you ever get booed, you gotta come back. If there's an encore, you gotta go back.

   6. TFTim Ferriss7:42

      [laughs]

   7. BBBill Burr7:42

      I think you gotta go back. So I waved, and I remember there was this kid came running up, 'cause I trashed all of the teams, 'cause the Phillies hadn't won a World Series yet. They lived like two years away from it at that point. And I just remember this kid was like, was, was yelling at me. He was just going, he's going, "Hey." He's going, "Fuck you. Fuck you."

   8. TFTim Ferriss7:59

      [laughs]

   9. BBBill Burr8:00

      Giving me the finger, yelling, "Fuck you," and I was standing there. He's like 30 yards away. I just kept going, I kept going, "What? What?"

   10. TFTim Ferriss8:05

       [laughs]

   11. BBBill Burr8:05

       And he started going, "Fuck you. Fuck you."

   12. TFTim Ferriss8:07

       [laughs]

   13. BBBill Burr8:08

       I literally just... He's like giving me the finger. Like, I don't know what it is.

   14. TFTim Ferriss8:10

       [laughs]

   15. BBBill Burr8:10

       I just kept going, "What?" I literally got the... He was like hopping mad.

   16. TFTim Ferriss8:13

       [laughs]

   17. BBBill Burr8:13

       By the end he was, he was jumping up, "Fuck you. Fuck you." I was like, "I, I, I can't, I can't," like-

   18. TFTim Ferriss8:20

       [laughs]

   19. BBBill Burr8:21

       [laughs] I remember I was standing next to Opie and we were just laughing, going like, "How, how dumb is this kid?" So.

   20. TFTim Ferriss8:26

       [laughs]

   21. BBBill Burr8:27

       Um, but then I, I was, I was mortified afterwards 'cause I thought, um, you know, 'cause I knew like a lot, a lot of stuff was coming up on, you know, people who were having phones, they had cameras, and I was just going, "You know, everyone's gonna see me get booed. This is gonna be embarrassing." I didn't know how it was gonna play. I just thought, um, that people weren't gonna understand it.

3. 8:47 – 10:32

   Why Burr started drumming late and how the physicality fit him

   1. TFTim Ferriss8:47

      Now, we first connected and started texting because we know Dave Elitch, who's an amazing professional drummer.

   2. BBBill Burr8:53

      Yeah, and teacher. Yes, he is.

   3. TFTim Ferriss8:54

      And teacher.

   4. BBBill Burr8:55

      Yes, he is.

   5. TFTim Ferriss8:55

      He's just incredible. He has a great T-shirt, for you guys who want, are looking for T-shirts to buy.

   6. BBBill Burr8:59

      [laughs]

   7. TFTim Ferriss9:00

      And it says, uh, what does it say? "More slowly once again," something like that. And he-

   8. BBBill Burr9:04

      It says, "Slow down."

   9. TFTim Ferriss9:05

      It says, "Slow down."

   10. BBBill Burr9:06

       And I think it says, "Repeat or do it again."

   11. TFTim Ferriss9:08

       Yeah. "Repeat or do it again," on the back.

   12. BBBill Burr9:09

       Right.

   13. TFTim Ferriss9:09

       And so he'll just... He got sick of saying the same thing, so he'd just point to one side of his shirt. How did you get into drumming? Why, why drumming?

   14. BBBill Burr9:17

       Uh, how did I get into drum... I guess everyone was into music, you know, where I grew up and everything. And, um, I loved music and, and... But I didn't start playing drums till I was almost like 20 years old. Like I, I started really late, but, uh, and the reason for that was I was working in a warehouse, and I came from a jock town, so everybody played sports, you know, pond hockey and all that. So I, I did a lot of that stuff and, like, I liked music, but there was only a couple of kids that played guitar and I wasn't around it. Like, I didn't think it was possible. I thought what I, I was watching people doing on TV, I just didn't think you could do it. And then I started working in this warehouse and there was kids my age, and they were from, uh, a different town that was more like kids put together bands and stuff. And they were coming in and, like, the songs I liked, they could play it. And I was like, "Wow, it's amazing." So I started playing guitar, and I just didn't have the patience for it. And I think the thing about drumming was the s- the sport background where it was like a real physical thing that, that it kinda came into play and I just started, I just started playing. And, um, I played for like six, seven years. Um, and during, somewhere during that time I started playing, uh, I started doing standup and I moved to New York. And your neighbors don't mind if you're strumming a guitar. You can't, like, play drums in a one-bedroom apartment without pissing everybody off.

   15. TFTim Ferriss10:29

       [laughs]

   16. BBBill Burr10:29

       So I, I kinda stopped for like five years before I got back into it. Yeah.

4. 10:32 – 12:36

   Growing up rough, turning to standup, and the cost of tunnel-vision on comedy

   1. TFTim Ferriss10:32

      I grew up on Long Island. I feel like we have the, we don't have a, a tough accent. It's just a bad accent.

   2. BBBill Burr10:37

      Yeah. I think it was, uh... It's a lot like the show we do.

   3. TFTim Ferriss10:41

      Yeah.

   4. BBBill Burr10:41

      F Is For Family, where it was just like the parents just sent you outside, and some days you had good days, sometimes you had bad days. Sometimes you just ran into bigger kids and they would just beat the shit out of you-

   5. TFTim Ferriss10:51

      [laughs]

   6. BBBill Burr10:52

      ... for no reason. I just distinctly remember them putting in a pool one time, and they would just, they, they were like, you know, whatever the hell it is when they're smoothing out the concrete, and this older kid dared me to throw a rock into it. [laughs] So I, I, I wanted his approval and I just took this big rock, and this guy was just smoothing it out and I just threw it. [laughs]

   7. TFTim Ferriss11:09

      [laughs]

   8. BBBill Burr11:10

      And then this guy almost killed me.

   9. TFTim Ferriss11:13

      [laughs]

   10. BBBill Burr11:13

       He almost killed me. So that was back when you could almost kill a kid and it was, it wasn't a problem.

   11. TFTim Ferriss11:18

       [laughs]

   12. BBBill Burr11:19

       It was no cell phone video. It was all your word against theirs, so.

   13. TFTim Ferriss11:22

       [laughs]

   14. BBBill Burr11:26

       I think a lot of the reasons why I started doing standup was I just thought, "Okay, I'm gonna get on stage, show people that I'm a funny guy, and people will stop fucking with me."

   15. TFTim Ferriss11:34

       Yeah.

   16. BBBill Burr11:34

       Like, that was basically-

   17. TFTim Ferriss11:35

       [laughs]

   18. BBBill Burr11:36

       And then like, and, and then that was a b- and that was, I remember thinking then everything's gonna fall into place. I'll meet the girl of my dreams, I'll make my money, I'll get my, whatever the hell I want, a house. And so I only worked on getting better as a comedian. And then by the time I got to my mid-30s, like, being a comedian was like 600 miles down the road and everything else was at the starting blocks and, like, literally, like social interactions, I kept messing up relationships. I mean, I was 36, I was still sleep- sleeping on a futon. Um- And what they called was a one-bedroom apartment, which was bullshit, 'cause I met the woman who lived upstairs who had the exact same apartment, and hers was a studio. They just slammed a wall into mine.

   19. SPSpeaker12:12

       [laughs]

   20. TFTim Ferriss12:12

       [laughs]

   21. BBBill Burr12:12

       And, um, yeah, so I remembered, like, those, there was, like, a three-year period of, like, I was in a full-on depression, and I was so detached I didn't even, I wasn't even, I wasn't even aware of it.

   22. TFTim Ferriss12:24

       When, what, what was the age roughly on that period?

   23. BBBill Burr12:27

       Oh, I don't know. It was, like, the early 2000s, whatever the, m- late '90s, early 2000s. It might have been a five, six-year. I can't remember. [laughs]

   24. TFTim Ferriss12:34

       [laughs]

   25. SPSpeaker12:35

       [laughs]

5. 12:36 – 16:08

   Early standup logistics, open mics, and a wake-up call about money

   1. BBBill Burr12:36

      I didn't worry about making it, I didn't worry about how am I gonna make money. I didn't worry, I just like, "I'm doing this." And when Billy got offstage, I mean, it was the end of the night, I was, like, going, like, "Who do I call for open mics?" Like, "How do I do this?" And I remember he wrote down Rita, and, uh, Rita Choice, who was, uh, she used to book it. And, uh, she was, like, back then, like, one of the big characters, like, you used to always run into a comedy club. So I used to call in to do open mics. And, uh, I remember she used to, once she got to know me and she thought I was kind of funny, I'd call up and be like, "Hey, hey, Rita, it's, uh, Bill Burr. I'd like to try doing an open..." She'd go, "No, no, no, no, no, Bill. You call me and you say, 'Rita, this is open micer Bill Burr.'" I, she was always breaking balls, so I would always laugh and I would do it. And she was, it's kind of like a test, like if you had, like, a sense of humor about yourself, and I gradually, like, worked my way in, um, to doing standup. You know, I remember one time, I, I did a show, I've told this before, but I, I did this show. I was, I was, uh, seeing this woman when I was in New York and, and I remember she came over and I was making her dinner, whatever, and then I had a spot at the Comic Strip, which where I was living was right around the corner. So I said, "I gotta go run do a spot." And during the week, I mean, you know, she asked me, "What do, what do those spots pay?" And they would, like, the Comic Strip was hilarious. It was, like, $5, $8-

   2. TFTim Ferriss13:49

      [laughs]

   3. BBBill Burr13:50

      ... seven, and you just, basically you're just going up there trying out material. And I went up there and, um, I tried out new material and it worked, and I was psyched, and I came home, and I finished, like, cooking the dinner or whatever I think I was making. I can't remember what I was making. And, uh, I did this stupid dance in the kitchen, and she was laughing, and I was dancing 'cause I had this new material and I was excited. And then she got, like, this, uh, she got, like, this sad look on her face. And I was like, "God, did I dance that bad? Like, what, what's the matter," right? And she goes, "No." She goes, "I, I just wish I had a job where I got paid $8 [laughs] and I came home and danced in a kitchen."

   4. TFTim Ferriss14:24

      [laughs]

   5. SPSpeaker14:26

      [laughs]

   6. BBBill Burr14:27

      And I never forgot that.

   7. TFTim Ferriss14:28

      Yeah.

   8. BBBill Burr14:28

      I was like, "Oh, yeah. I didn't even, I didn't even think that." 'Cause I got this weird thing about money where I, I, I wanna have it so I'm not broke, but I don't give a shit about it. But I also don't wanna have debt, so I don't overextend myself. But I don't, uh, I don't give a shit about it. Like, um, I will p- I will pay extra to not go through the process.

   9. TFTim Ferriss14:46

      [laughs]

   10. BBBill Burr14:47

       Like, I can't even ex- like, I don't use, like, you know, frequent flyer miles.

   11. TFTim Ferriss14:51

       Yeah.

   12. BBBill Burr14:51

       Like, my wife signed me up for them, but I don't use them ever-

   13. TFTim Ferriss14:54

       Hm

   14. BBBill Burr14:54

       ... 'cause I don't wanna go through the fucking, you know, logging in, and all of a sudden I'm working for American Airlines. I'm like, "I don't work for these fucking people. Like, I'll, I'll buy my own ticket."

   15. TFTim Ferriss15:02

       [laughs]

   16. SPSpeaker15:03

       [laughs]

   17. BBBill Burr15:03

       "I don't, I don't wanna do this."

   18. TFTim Ferriss15:04

       Right. [laughs]

   19. BBBill Burr15:06

       Yeah, I won't cancel shit. Like, I got, like, gym memberships I've never canceled 'cause I'm not-

   20. SPSpeaker15:11

       [laughs]

   21. BBBill Burr15:12

       'Cause I'm not going through going on that stupid thing, and, "If you wanna do this, press one. If you wanna do that, press two." Like, I got, I don't know. Like, my free time, I, I, I cherish it, and I'm not, like, gonna fucking...

   22. SPSpeaker15:25

       [laughs]

   23. BBBill Burr15:27

       I'm not, I'm not gonna be laying on my deathbed one time just thinking about how many hours I spent-

   24. TFTim Ferriss15:32

       Yeah

   25. BBBill Burr15:32

       ... on the phone going, "Person, person, operator, person, fuck you." Like, I don't, I don't wanna do that. So, um, I would rather pay the [laughs] I'd rather pay the extra charge, yeah.

   26. TFTim Ferriss15:46

       So a little bit later I wanna pull up the not caring about money examples that I have found most personally amusing, which are actually from your podcast. Uh, so we'll get to those.

   27. BBBill Burr15:57

       Okay. [laughs]

   28. TFTim Ferriss15:58

       But, uh, at the time, so if you can just place us, when were you working in your dad's office? And maybe you could describe what your dad did.

6. 16:08 – 20:29

   Working in his father’s dental office and turning it into early material

   1. BBBill Burr16:08

      Early '90s to mid-'90s, I was working in, uh, um, my, working in a dental office, and I had been laid off from the warehouse with the guy all coked up, right? But my car was paid off, thank God, and I was living at home, so I was kinda living, like, this little existence for, like, three months. And my dad started, uh, working with this other guy, went into practice with him, and I nee- he needed some, you know... I think he was just sick of watching me being around the house, so nepotism kicked in. And next thing you know, I got a lab coat and I'm standing next to him handing him all the shit as he's taking teeth out and, and stuff. And I had to get past the, uh, gross factor of that. And, uh, then I learned how to pour up models and stuff and, uh, take X-rays, and I was actually, I was halfway decent at it, but I knew that, you know, for half a second I thought maybe, you know, I would do this. But what was funny was I had to call my father Dr. Burr. I couldn't call him Dad in front of a patient-

   2. TFTim Ferriss17:02

      [laughs]

   3. BBBill Burr17:02

      ... 'cause that would be weird, like, "Hey, Dad, do you, do you want, do you want this?"

   4. TFTim Ferriss17:05

      [laughs]

   5. SPSpeaker17:05

      [laughs]

   6. BBBill Burr17:05

      So I had to keep it professional. And, uh, when I worked there was around the time when I started doing standup, and what sucked, I was still living at home, so he knew, 'cause at the end of the night, he'd be like, "Where you working tonight?" And I would have, like, a g- I'd have, like, a gig in Maine, living in Massachusetts, and I would, for free, and I would drive up there-

   7. TFTim Ferriss17:22

      That's wild

   8. BBBill Burr17:22

      ... maybe, like, five, 10 bucks gas money, and I would drive all the way up. And my dad would have, like, 7:00 patients and shit. Like, he worked like a lunatic, like, from 7:00 to 7:00. He would side book root canals, like, on molars, which is three, you know, nerve involvements. We'd be, we'd, like, numb up a guy, and then we'd go in the other room and, like... And he didn't give a shit, too. Like, I remember one time some homeless guy came in, he was, like, I finally got a lunch, 'cause you'd never get a lunch with him. This guy came in, you know, he was, you know, substance abuse, and he was all, you know... And all these other guys, I, I noticed, would just give him medicine and they would leave. My dad would be like, "Yeah, just get him in there," and blah, blah, blah. And I was, like, pissed. And I'd be like, "Dr. Burr, what the fuck? Why can't we just get this guy, you know, j-" And he just goes, "Look," he goes, "I can't go home tonight knowing there's some guy in pain and I didn't do anything."

   9. TFTim Ferriss18:15

      Did you get material for, for your comedy from that experience?

   10. BBBill Burr18:18

       Oh, yeah. Big time.

   11. TFTim Ferriss18:19

       'Cause I read that you had dental comedy early, and I, I don't know what dental comedy is.

   12. BBBill Burr18:23

       Oh, yeah.

   13. TFTim Ferriss18:24

       So. [laughs]

   14. BBBill Burr18:24

       No, no, I had all of it. I had all of it.

   15. TFTim Ferriss18:26

       [laughs]

   16. BBBill Burr18:26

       My dad used to like... He, he used to set me up, 'cause he knew that, I swear to God, if I had like a, like a late show, then he would go extra fast. He'd just go extra, "Give me this. Give me that. Jesus Christ, Bill, you're out to lunch." He would start giving me shit in front of the patient.

   17. TFTim Ferriss18:39

       [laughs]

   18. BBBill Burr18:40

       I used to tell him, like, like, "Dad, you can't do that type of stuff." And like he, he wasn't like that. But I got a lot of it out of, like, patients. Like, I remember this guy came in, uh... I used to work totally squeaky clean, totally clean, 'cause I didn't wanna offend anybody, 'cause I didn't wanna get heckled, 'cause I was still this-

   19. TFTim Ferriss18:56

       Yeah

   20. BBBill Burr18:56

       ... really shy person, right? So I remember this guy came in one time, and like his teeth were all rotten out, and I just remember he said something like, uh, like, "Doc, you know, I don't understand what the problem is. You know, I, I, I brush my teeth almost every day."

   21. TFTim Ferriss19:08

       [laughs]

   22. SPSpeaker19:08

       [laughs]

   23. BBBill Burr19:08

       Right? That's what he said.

   24. TFTim Ferriss19:09

       [laughs]

   25. BBBill Burr19:10

       So my punchline to that was like, "Oh, yeah? D- well, do you wipe your ass almost every time you take a shit?"

   26. SPSpeaker19:17

       [laughs]

   27. TFTim Ferriss19:17

       [laughs]

   28. BBBill Burr19:18

       So for a while, I started closing on that joke, and I would work totally squeaky clean, going up there looking like Ron Howard, and everybody's like, "Oh, look at this wholesome guy."

   29. TFTim Ferriss19:28

       [laughs]

   30. BBBill Burr19:28

       And then out of nowhere I would just end with, "Yeah, do you wipe your ass almost every time you take a shit?" And then be like, "Goodnight, everybody."
7. 20:29 – 23:01

   How Burr decides a joke is “done,” and why bombing didn’t stop him

   1. TFTim Ferriss20:29

      How do you know when something is close and when something is done? Like, uh, when you're working on a joke or a piece of writing, how do you know when something's done?

   2. BBBill Burr20:39

      Well, I think when I'm, when I'm touring, none of the jokes are done.

   3. TFTim Ferriss20:42

      Mm-hmm.

   4. BBBill Burr20:42

      Until I start getting sick of them. Then I'm like, "All right. I need to record these and document these, because they're gonna start becoming not funny."

   5. TFTim Ferriss20:50

      Hmm.

   6. BBBill Burr20:51

      Because they're starting to feel like a job to tell them.

   7. TFTim Ferriss20:53

      Mm-hmm.

   8. BBBill Burr20:53

      I'm sick of this joke, and oh, my God, I don't wanna do this joke, and this has went so long and-

   9. TFTim Ferriss20:57

      Yeah

   10. BBBill Burr20:57

       ... I might not think that anymore. And those things, sometimes those things just drop away, and you n- you never record them or anything. So I'd, I'd say it's like that.

   11. TFTim Ferriss21:05

       When you bombed that first time, was that at Kelly's? That third-

   12. BBBill Burr21:10

       Yeah

   13. TFTim Ferriss21:10

       ... that third gig.

   14. BBBill Burr21:12

       Jesus, you did your research.

   15. TFTim Ferriss21:13

       Uh, I just try.

   16. BBBill Burr21:14

       How the hell did you find that one out?

   17. TFTim Ferriss21:15

       [laughs]

   18. BBBill Burr21:15

       I must have told that on another podcast.

   19. TFTim Ferriss21:17

       So a good team helping me. Some magic elves in the back as well. The-

   20. BBBill Burr21:21

       That's why you gotta cover that camera up on your flat screen.

   21. TFTim Ferriss21:23

       [laughs]

   22. BBBill Burr21:23

       That, on your laptop.

   23. TFTim Ferriss21:25

       Oh, yeah. [laughs] That's actually really good.

   24. BBBill Burr21:27

       No, it's true.

   25. TFTim Ferriss21:28

       That's actually really, really good advice.

   26. BBBill Burr21:29

       They sit there and they watch you.

   27. TFTim Ferriss21:29

       [laughs]

   28. BBBill Burr21:29

       They try to see what you're watching and shit.

   29. TFTim Ferriss21:31

       [laughs]

   30. BBBill Burr21:32

       If you bang your wife, they're gonna keep watch.
8. 23:01 – 31:33

   Depression, anger, therapy, and the shift toward being himself on stage

   1. TFTim Ferriss23:01

      You talked about some dark periods earlier. I, I, I'm forgetting the exact timeline, but what precipitated that? I guess you said it was a couple of years. And for people who don't know, I mean, I almost offed myself-

   2. BBBill Burr23:11

      [laughs]

   3. TFTim Ferriss23:12

      ... uh, during a year off from college. So it's like I've had some, some battles myself.

   4. BBBill Burr23:16

      What motive were you, what, what, how were you gonna do it?

   5. TFTim Ferriss23:20

      You know what, so this is a good question.

   6. SPSpeaker23:22

      [laughs]

   7. TFTim Ferriss23:23

      And I'll tell you why I'm not gonna give an answer, because it was a really good plan. It was a plan-

   8. BBBill Burr23:26

      Oh

   9. TFTim Ferriss23:26

      ... that would minimize guilt or self-blaming on the part of my family. It was really well thought through. I had everything specced out. And so for the risk-

   10. BBBill Burr23:36

       Zip line in the woods into a, into a saw.

   11. SPSpeaker23:39

       [laughs]

   12. TFTim Ferriss23:39

       Mostly invol-

   13. BBBill Burr23:40

       [laughs]

   14. TFTim Ferriss23:40

       Yeah. Involved some porcupines.

   15. BBBill Burr23:42

       [laughs]

   16. TFTim Ferriss23:43

       A little bit of curare. Yeah. It was very complex. Hard to replicate. But, uh, yeah, I wouldn't want people to copycat it if I, if I put it out there. But how, what, what precipitated that period for you?

   17. BBBill Burr23:56

       Um, uh...

   18. TFTim Ferriss23:58

       What does that mean? What came before that?

   19. BBBill Burr24:00

       Uh, what triggered it? Like what led to-

   20. SPSpeaker24:01

       [laughs]

   21. TFTim Ferriss24:03

       [laughs]

   22. BBBill Burr24:03

       Sorry. Using weatherman language. My bad. Uh, I don't know why.

   23. SPSpeaker24:08

       [laughs]

   24. BBBill Burr24:09

       It just comes out of me sometimes. Uh, yeah, what led, what led to it? Like, what triggered going into that funk?

   25. TFTim Ferriss24:14

       Um, I don't... [laughs]

   26. SPSpeaker24:17

       [laughs]

   27. BBBill Burr24:18

       Half of you laughing didn't know what it meant either.

   28. SPSpeaker24:19

       [laughs]

   29. BBBill Burr24:24

       Thank you.

   30. TFTim Ferriss24:24

       [laughs]
9. 31:33 – 35:06

   Specials, censorship, and the pressure shift when audiences show up for you

   1. TFTim Ferriss31:33

      How did your goals change, if they did, from when you were trying to force fit yourself, like what was the kinda pinnacle that you had in mind for making it to after goal?

   2. BBBill Burr31:43

      Well, for me coming up it was all about having an HBO special, 'cause HBO specials, tho- those were the best comics. That's all the great guys that I saw coming up. You got on HBO, it was totally uncensored, and they were the home for that. And unfortunately, when I got into it, um, you know, right in the like early '90s, by the mid-'90s they just stopped doing it for like 10 years. And, um, so I don't, I, that was, that's when I kinda felt rudderless, 'cause when HBO stopped doing their specials I didn't know what to do. And then-

   3. SPSpeaker32:14

      [laughs]

   4. BBBill Burr32:14

      What, when Comedy Central started doing the half hours, they, you, you were, um, the fact that they had commercials, they basically, I think it's eight minutes each hour, so they were automatically gonna take 16 minutes out, or eight minutes out of a half-hour. And then they also, they would s- they would beep out the curses with like the worst, most archaic, like, "Beep, beep."

   5. TFTim Ferriss32:35

      [laughs]

   6. BBBill Burr32:36

      So really, and they wouldn't just fade it down and come back up. So, um, I remember watching specials and just thinking that was really distracting. So once again, I worked clean. So if you watch my first half-hour on Comedy Central, I worked totally clean. Um, and I gave them, I gave them the least amount of material that I could, because I just looked at, 'cause those guys doing like, "All right, here's a half, you know, w- it's a half-hour, they're only gonna use 22 minutes." They would, they, they would do is they'd do 40. So then you had this guy who you didn't know, you didn't approve of, is now gonna hack 40 minutes down to 22. What is he gonna do? Exactly. So I was like, immediately I was like, "Well, fuck that."

   7. SPSpeaker33:13

      [laughs]

   8. BBBill Burr33:15

      Like h- what's the least you, you can do? And they s- least you, amount of time you can do is like 25 or 26, and I did exactly that. So the worst you could do is butcher four of it out, but the rest of it was gonna look good. So I, I was happy with it. And, um, you know, it was just kinda doing stuff like that. But it, it still wasn't what I wanted because it wasn't me. That, that half-hour that I did, that was me like just kinda doing an extended Letterman spot where I was working totally clean. And but it wasn't until HBO came back and did the half-hours and I did those that, uh, I actually got to do... It was the first time people got to see me, you know, not in a club. They were at home and they got to see that this is what I do. And it, you know, and that was the same time I got on The Opie and Anthony Show, and they all kinda came out at the same time. It was the first time I went to a club and it was sold out and people were there to see me, which was a whole other level of pressure. It used, it used to be-

   9. SPSpeaker34:09

      [applause]

   10. BBBill Burr34:09

       Yes. It, um, up until then it was people were coming to the club 'cause that's what they did. They had nothing else to do. Like, "Oh, let's go down to the comedy club," and you had to prove to them that you were funny. And I used to remember thinking like, "Imagine if they came to see me how much easier this would be." I didn't realize the other pressure was like, "No, we saw that, so we're expecting at least that if not better." And then it's like, "Oh, man." Um, so that took me like a good three months of the, it was a new kinda nervousness experience to get over of, of people expecting like, "Yeah, we're here to see you. We like what you do. Don't ruin this." [laughs]

   11. TFTim Ferriss34:47

       [laughs] What was the first special?

   12. BBBill Burr34:50

       Um, the first half-hour?

   13. TFTim Ferriss34:52

       Yeah. Or not the Comedy Central, but the first time you could be yourself.

   14. BBBill Burr34:56

       Oh, that was the HBO half-hour-

   15. TFTim Ferriss34:58

       Yeah

   16. BBBill Burr34:58

       ... that I did. And, um, that was in 2005.

   17. TFTim Ferriss35:02

       2005.

   18. BBBill Burr35:03

       Still remember, April 2005, came out in September.

10. 35:06 – 40:33

    Enjoying success, leaving therapy, and how self-awareness changed his comedy and temper

    1. TFTim Ferriss35:06

       Has, is there anything since then, and I, I mean this is an assumption on my part, which is dangerous, but do you feel like you had summited the mountain at that point? Did you feel like you'd arrived?

    2. BBBill Burr35:16

       No. I felt that somewhere in like 2009, 2010. I, by then I'd done a couple a hours, I'd done my second hour for Netflix, which became the new HBO as far as just totally uncensored. And, um, I remem- I think I bought a house at that point. I bought a house, right? And still, you know, people didn't really, the, I had a niche following in that. And I said to my wife, I was just like, "I know you're not supposed to say this, but I made it." 'Cause there's this sickness in this business of like, "No, man, if you think you made it, you know, then you're gonna relax-

    3. TFTim Ferriss35:46

       Yeah

    4. BBBill Burr35:46

       ... and it's all gonna go away." So like, oh, so I'm never gonna be happy?

    5. TFTim Ferriss35:50

       Yeah. [laughs]

    6. SPSpeaker35:50

       [laughs]

    7. BBBill Burr35:50

       It's like I, I tell dick jokes and I just bought a house. I made it. [laughs]

    8. SPSpeaker35:54

       [laughs]

    9. TFTim Ferriss35:55

       [laughs]

    10. BBBill Burr35:56

        Yeah. So I didn't wanna, um, I didn't wanna be that guy that, that is doing well and it's like, "Oh, but what about the next thing?" Like, the, those-

    11. TFTim Ferriss36:06

        No

    12. BBBill Burr36:06

        ... those, that, that sickness.

    13. TFTim Ferriss36:08

        Just the gray-

    14. BBBill Burr36:09

        That performance-

    15. TFTim Ferriss36:09

        The gray hound chasing the r- the rabbit

    16. BBBill Burr36:11

        Yeah

    17. TFTim Ferriss36:11

        Yeah.

    18. BBBill Burr36:12

        Performance or driven people can have this sickness of like it's just, you know, it's just like you can't even enjoy. It's like what's the next thing? I mean, I know guys that like they have like, they, they accomplish something and as they're right, as they're getting right to the peak this depression hits them 'cause they're like, "Then what? And then what am I gonna do? And then, then this is over and then, then I got nothing," and blah, blah, blah. It's like, hey, can you just fucking- Have a beer up here?

    19. TFTim Ferriss36:36

        [laughs]

    20. BBBill Burr36:36

        We, we, we did this, you know?

    21. TFTim Ferriss36:37

        [laughs]

    22. BBBill Burr36:38

        Can we enjoy this for a second?

    23. TFTim Ferriss36:39

        Did you keep, did you continue doing therapy after those initial sessions that you mentioned?

    24. BBBill Burr36:44

        I, I did it for a few years, and then one day it just dawned on me that I just kinda am just talking in circles in here, and it's just like, bad shit's gonna always happen to me, and what am I just gonna keep coming in here and I'm moaning about it? Like, what, what point am I gonna grow up and kinda not need, not need this? And I'm not trying to say that you're weak if you go there, but I, I just hit this point where, uh, I was, I was like, all right, you know? I've, I've... All of that shit happened, you know, it happened, right?

    25. TFTim Ferriss37:13

        Yeah.

    26. BBBill Burr37:13

        And it definitely affected who I am, but now I'm not gonna be, like, lashing out at people, and I'll be like, "Oh, I do this because of that," a little, a little bit of that. But I, I, what I did, you know, at some point, it'd be like if somebody's teaching you how to fix a car, at some point you gotta try to fix it yourself.

    27. TFTim Ferriss37:28

        Right.

    28. BBBill Burr37:29

        You know what I mean? You can't keep going, "And then do I turn right here? How do I do this," right?

    29. TFTim Ferriss37:32

        Yeah.

    30. BBBill Burr37:32

        So I, it just became like that. So now I, I kind of, um, you know, I kinda self-therapy myself. It's cheaper.
11. 40:33 – 49:31

    Technology, privacy, podcasting, and the long road: radio, mentors, and acting breaks

    1. TFTim Ferriss40:33

       Yeah, I bet. [laughs]

    2. SPSpeaker40:34

       [laughs]

    3. BBBill Burr40:34

       I hate these, I hate these things.

    4. SPSpeaker40:35

       [laughs]

    5. BBBill Burr40:37

       I can't stand them. They don't make my life easier. They're a nightmare. They're intrusive.

    6. SPSpeaker40:40

       [laughs]

    7. BBBill Burr40:41

       You know?

    8. TFTim Ferriss40:43

       Am I, am, do I-

    9. BBBill Burr40:43

       I can't st- I can't stand them, so I, I flip out about them, and like, um, I saw a thing recently. This politically active comedian was sitting there talking, and was trying to get people to vote in, like, this oddly, like, bullying way, going like, "You know, there's gonna be an app out there that's gonna say, you know, whether you voted or not. And they're not gonna know whether you voted and who you voted for, but they're gonna know that you voted, so you can't basically bullshit people anymore." I just was watching it the whole time going, "And, like, that's a good thing?"

    10. TFTim Ferriss41:11

        Yeah.

    11. BBBill Burr41:12

        That that level of private information, because of this fucking app. I didn't say that you could say whether I voted or not. That's what I, I, that's what I f- I, I hate about all of this shit.

    12. SPSpeaker41:20

        [laughs]

    13. BBBill Burr41:20

        Like, I, I have a theory, like, like, somewhere around ’94-’95-

    14. TFTim Ferriss41:24

        Yeah

    15. BBBill Burr41:24

        ... we should, we should have stopped making new shit.

    16. TFTim Ferriss41:27

        Yeah. [laughs]

    17. SPSpeaker41:27

        [laughs]

    18. BBBill Burr41:27

        All right? They could, they cured enough diseases. Cars were fast enough. You could, you know, planes aren't any really faster than they were back then. It was good. But all of this shit now that like, you know...

    19. TFTim Ferriss41:42

        Tape your cameras.

    20. BBBill Burr41:42

        Yeah.

    21. SPSpeaker41:43

        [laughs]

    22. TFTim Ferriss41:43

        Tape your cameras.

    23. BBBill Burr41:43

        All of this stuff. Look at Billy Bush. Billy Bush got fired for some shit that happened in 2005.

    24. TFTim Ferriss41:49

        Yeah.

    25. BBBill Burr41:50

        It's fucking unbelievable, and all he was doing is what an interviewer does. He was keeping the interviewee happy, right?

    26. TFTim Ferriss41:56

        Yeah.

    27. BBBill Burr41:56

        The guy, "Hey, go ahead and just grab the pussy." He's like, "Yeah, yeah, grab some pussy. Whatever."

    28. SPSpeaker42:00

        [laughs]

    29. BBBill Burr42:00

        "We doing this?" And for all you know, at the end of the interview, when Trump left, he could have been like, "What was that? What was that guy like? That guy was out of his mind. He was talking about grabbing pussies. He's fucking crazy."

    30. SPSpeaker42:10

        [laughs]
12. 49:31 – 1:10:03

    Audience dynamics: political polarization, provoking to gain attention, diverse rooms, heckles, and apocalypse talk

    1. TFTim Ferriss49:31

       Speaking of Cosmo magazine, uh, this, uh, next question is from Marcus Harbough, I think is how you say it, also from Facebook. "My wife thinks he's hilarious, and she's generally not a fan of pro-male types of comedy. How did he learn to so expertly deliver that kind of humor without alienating his female audience?"

    2. BBBill Burr49:49

       I alienate a lot of females. [laughs]

    3. TFTim Ferriss49:51

       [laughs]

    4. SPSpeaker49:51

       [laughs]

    5. BBBill Burr49:52

       I do. I, uh, I a- I alienate issue people. I alienate politically correct people. Like, they'll, they, they got, like, that thing where, like, you know, "This is the issue. You're only allowed to have this thought on this issue. I have zero sense of humor about this issue. These are all the proper words. These are all the b- if you use these bad w- if you use these words, this, you're this. If you use that..." They're very, like, it's hilarious, 'cause they're progressive left using the exact same, like, Fox News extreme right. They're the exact same fucking lunatics.

    6. TFTim Ferriss50:21

       Yeah.

    7. BBBill Burr50:22

       I hate 'em, I hate progressive left people, and I, generally speaking, and, and the Fox News to the right, "They're taking our country." Those people-

    8. SPSpeaker50:28

       [laughs]

    9. TFTim Ferriss50:28

       [laughs]

    10. BBBill Burr50:29

        Those, I, I can't even listen to them. They're idiots.

    11. TFTim Ferriss50:32

        Yeah, yeah.

    12. SPSpeaker50:33

        [clapping]

    13. BBBill Burr50:33

        They're f- like, both of them, and they both have-- both of them, like, like, their heart is in the right place.

    14. TFTim Ferriss50:41

        Mm-hmm.

    15. BBBill Burr50:41

        They just, they're not doing it, they, and they're doing it in this very Stalin-esque kind of way-

    16. TFTim Ferriss50:46

        Yeah

    17. BBBill Burr50:46

        ... of zero tolerance.

    18. TFTim Ferriss50:48

        Oh, yeah.

    19. BBBill Burr50:48

        Um, and it, what's funny to me is the right always gets that. The left just cannot see when they're doing it.

    20. TFTim Ferriss50:54

        Yeah.

    21. BBBill Burr50:54

        It's like, you've become what the fuck you're fighting.

    22. TFTim Ferriss50:56

        Yeah.

    23. BBBill Burr50:56

        And you're annoying.

    24. TFTim Ferriss50:58

        Yeah.

    25. BBBill Burr50:58

        You're annoying.

    26. SPSpeaker50:59

        [laughs]

    27. BBBill Burr50:59

        So, I mean, I think that explains, you know, a little bit of the Trump shit, like how that guy kinda came up with... It's like you guys were ramming this shit down, like, what the, this is, it's so fucked up. If you just look at politics, like, Obama was a response to eight years of the Bush people ramming it down your throat, and he was a response to eight years of Clinton people ramming it down their throats. And then 12 years before that, you had Reagan and Bush. Both sides just can't present their shit.

    28. SPSpeaker51:26

        [laughs]

    29. BBBill Burr51:27

        They gotta be like, "Fucking eat it, eat it."

    30. TFTim Ferriss51:29

        [laughs]
13. 1:10:03 – 1:14:57

    Closing remarks and Tim’s 5-Bullet Friday sign-off

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:10:03

       Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Burr.

    2. BBBill Burr1:10:05

       Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:10:08

       Thanks, man.

    4. BBBill Burr1:10:08

       Thanks for having me on, man.

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:10:09

       Yeah. Thanks very much.

    6. BBBill Burr1:10:10

       I had a great time. I had a great time. Thank you.

    7. SPSpeaker1:10:12

       [clapping and cheering]

    8. BBBill Burr1:10:13

       All right. Fantastic.

    9. TFTim Ferriss1:10:15

       [upbeat music] Hey, guys, this is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one, this is 5-Bullet Friday. Do you want to get a short email from me? Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little morsel of fun before the weekend? And 5-Bullet Friday is a very short email where I share the coolest things I've found or that I've been pondering over the week. That could include favorite new albums that I've discovered. It could include gizmos and gadgets and all sorts of weird shit that I've somehow dug up [laughs] in the, uh, the world of the esoteric as I do. It could include favorite articles that I've read and that I've shared with my close friends, for instance. And it's very short. It's just a little, tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend. So if you want to receive that, check it out. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com. That's fourhourworkweek.com all spelled out, and just drop in your email, and you will get the very next one. And if you sign up, I hope you enjoy it. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. I have known and loved Shopify just about forever. Back in 2009 when they had something like 8 or 10 employees, now they have more than 2,000, I helped them as an advisor to create the Build a Business competition, which is now the world's largest entrepreneurship competition. And many readers of my blog, first-time business owners, have ended up making millions and millions of dollars each, many of them as side gigs to their full-time jobs. So the goal of the Build a Business competition is to get would-be entrepreneurs to get off the couch and make things happen. All you have to do is open a store on Shopify and start selling. And you can join in July or after July to be eligible to win. What does winning mean? You have to be one of the top performers, top sellers in a given category. And the prize, the reward, is an exclusive opportunity to learn from mentors and experts. And in the past, that has happened at places like the Gatsby Castle, where we had Tony Robbins and Daymond John and Seth Godin and so on, or on Necker Island, which is Sir Richard Branson's private island. It's nuts and super, super fun. I'm also involved. So there's a special offer for people listening to this show. Go to shopify.com/tim and sign up for a free 30-day trial. You will get all sorts of exclusive free video courses to help you along and to get started, including how to start a profitable dropshipping business with Corey Ferreira. You will also get some goodies from me. It's all free. It's all exclusive for people who are listening to this podcast. So check it out, shopify.com/tim, and remember to sign up for the free 30-day trial. This episode is brought to you by FreshBooks. Man, oh, man, do a lot of listeners of this podcast and readers of mine love FreshBooks, to the extent that I ended up meeting with the CEO not very long ago. Why are they so popular? Well, they are the number one cloud accounting software designed exclusively for self-employed professionals, that's many of you, and used by more than 10 million people. You can send invoices, track your time, and get paid very, very quickly, which suits the needs of a lot of freelancers, a lot of entrepreneurs and beyond. You can take pictures of receipts. You can link your credit card and debit card, so all the things you buy automatically appear in your FreshBooks in the right category, so on and so forth. Makes taxes easy, makes invoices easy, makes your life easier. And also, in fact, I recommend a PDF. Uh, they didn't ask me to read this part, by the way. They put together a PDF a while back, uh, called Breaking the Time Barrier, subtitle, How to Unlock Your True Earning Potential. So you can search for Breaking the Time Barrier. A lot of people ask me, "How can I get a 4-hour workweek with a service business?" And the story in that e-book, it's a PDF, is the short answer. It's really, really good. So I think you should also check that out. So Breaking the Time Barrier, check it out. But also, why not test out FreshBooks? Claim your 30-day unrestricted free trial at freshbooks.com/tim, and enter Tim Ferriss, two Rs and two Ss, in the How Did You Hear About Us section. That sounds [laughs] like we're gonna get very little tracking. That's a lot of work. But just go to freshbooks.com/tim and try it out because it is a very good product, and I think you will find it simplifies your life. Enjoy. [upbeat music]

Episode duration: 1:14:57