Joe Rogan Experience #1348 - Bill Burr
Joe Rogan (host), Bill Burr (guest), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Bill Burr, Joe Rogan Experience #1348 - Bill Burr explores bill Burr, Paper Tiger, and the Joy of Dangerous Comedy Today Joe Rogan and Bill Burr spend a long-form conversation bouncing between Burr’s new Netflix special “Paper Tiger,” stand-up craft, and the current outrage climate around comedy. They dig into how Burr conceived and shot the special at London’s Royal Albert Hall, why he cares so much about pacing, and how offense culture affects both comics and audiences. Around that, they swap war stories about brutal bombs, the grind of building new hours, and the evolution of the Comedy Store scene. The episode also detours into technology and privacy, parenting, martial arts, animals and nature, and the strange pressures of fame and getting older.
Bill Burr, Paper Tiger, and the Joy of Dangerous Comedy Today
Joe Rogan and Bill Burr spend a long-form conversation bouncing between Burr’s new Netflix special “Paper Tiger,” stand-up craft, and the current outrage climate around comedy. They dig into how Burr conceived and shot the special at London’s Royal Albert Hall, why he cares so much about pacing, and how offense culture affects both comics and audiences. Around that, they swap war stories about brutal bombs, the grind of building new hours, and the evolution of the Comedy Store scene. The episode also detours into technology and privacy, parenting, martial arts, animals and nature, and the strange pressures of fame and getting older.
Key Takeaways
Longer, calmer visual pacing can make comedy specials feel more immersive.
Burr deliberately asked director Mike Binder to shoot “Paper Tiger” like an old rock concert, with longer-held shots and less frantic cutting, so viewers feel the presence of being there instead of a hyper-edited channel-surfing experience.
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Comedians must keep writing and hitting clubs to stay sharp and relevant.
Both Rogan and Burr stress that continuing to do club sets—especially at places like The Comedy Store—keeps veterans current and prevents their act from getting stale, even when they could coast on theater crowds.
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Bombing is painful but crucial for growth in stand-up.
They recount brutal bombs (following Jim Breuer, misreading a college crowd, being demoted from headliner to middle) and note that those experiences changed how they structure acts, respect audiences, and choose when they’re truly ready to headline.
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Outrage culture online doesn’t match real-world audience reactions.
Burr points out that “everyone on the internet hates you, but on the street everyone loves you,” suggesting that the loudest online critics distort how controversial material actually plays in rooms full of paying fans.
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Teaching kids martial arts builds confidence and reduces victimization.
Rogan explains how grappling and striking training for his daughters makes physical conflict less alien, gives them tools to defend themselves, and signals to potential bullies that they’re not easy targets.
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Technology-driven surveillance trades safety for deep privacy risks.
They discuss Ring doorbells, home security cameras, and corporate/police partnerships, warning that any constant video stream can be abused—by voyeurs, corporations, or authorities—beyond its stated crime-fighting purpose.
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Staying great for decades requires constant reinvention, not resting on fame.
Citing figures like Joan Rivers, George Carlin, Dom Irrera, Stallone, and Tarantino, they argue that the people who keep improving are the ones who never stop working, experimenting, and taking creative risks despite age or success.
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Notable Quotes
“I’m not trying to hurt anybody. It’s not malicious. I’m doing my job. I’m talking about what’s in the news and I’m fucking around.”
— Bill Burr
“You wanna be the nice kid who knows how to fight.”
— Joe Rogan
“If you continue to tour and never go to the clubs, you pay a price for that.”
— Bill Burr
“One of the things I love about comedy is I think I’m better than I’ve ever been.”
— Dom Irrera, as quoted by Joe Rogan
“A comedian should never apologize for a joke. It just means you didn’t get the joke.”
— Joan Rivers, as quoted by Bill Burr
Questions Answered in This Episode
How did filming “Paper Tiger” in London, instead of the U.S., change the tone and content of Burr’s material?
Joe Rogan and Bill Burr spend a long-form conversation bouncing between Burr’s new Netflix special “Paper Tiger,” stand-up craft, and the current outrage climate around comedy. ...
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Where should comedians draw the line between challenging audiences and respecting that some people will walk out or be offended?
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Does the rise of constant surveillance (Ring, home cams, public cameras) fundamentally change how we behave in everyday life?
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How can parents balance teaching kids to be kind with making sure they’re not helpless in the face of bullying or violence?
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What can long-running artists like Carlin, Rivers, or Stallone teach younger creators about staying relevant and improving over decades?
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Transcript Preview
... two, one. Young Bill Burr, Paper Tiger coming out tonight-
(laughs)
... on Netflix. Woo, exciting.
Are you pumped?
Uh, yes I am. I'm very excited, uh... I think more just to see, you know, just so people see how good it looks, because Mike Binder directed it. And, uh, you know, I... I just... I don't know. I just had this idea for how a special... I wanted it to look. And none of it really had to do with other, like, m- necessarily, uh, comedy specials, more like rock concerts that I saw. I'm not saying it's all, like, super jumpy and stuff but just sort of like, uh... I don't know. That's weird how... The way they shot shit back in the day, where they held shots longer so it sucked you in so you kind of felt not necessarily that you were there but the presence of being there. And I really have this belief that if you fucking go at it really quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, it's like flipping through the channels and each time, like, your brain resets.
Yeah.
And like when you go to a show, you're just sitting there looking at the band or looking at the comedian like that. It's not like, "I'm here. Now I'm in the balcony. Now I'm behind you. Now I'm up here," and all that. So we tried to make sure, like, the pacing of it... I explained it to him and he was just like, "I get it. I get it."
Well, he's a comic, so-
Yeah.
... that certainly helps.
Yeah, so the way he did it, uh... I hope that people see that as opposed to the shit that they normally do, like, "Mm, mm, how can I get offended?"
(laughs) Well, they're definitely gonna get offended. It's a... It's a sport now to get offended by comedy. It seems like people get excited to be offended.
I know. A lot of the questions I've gotten on... from people, non-comedians, that have been about, you know... "Well, what... In light of Dave's special," it's just like-
(laughs)
... "Weren't you guys all mad at Sebastian, like, a week ago?"
(laughs)
"Now it's Dave?"
Were they mad at him for, uh, the m- the VH1 thing?
No, they weren't. One person got mad and wrote something, and then everybody, "Oh yeah, oh yeah." I di-
(laughs)
I didn't realize I didn't like that. I don't like that.
Well, what was it? I didn't... I didn't hear a peep out of that. Did you hear... What, what, what did they say?
Oh, I don't wanna start it back up for him. (laughs)
Oh. (laughs)
Stop trying to get him-
(laughs)
... get him all going again. It was just like, uh-
I don't know why he did that anyway. I was like, those things are never fun. You're, you're, you're basically, you know... You're the host of what's a commercial for a bunch of bands. It's just... He's a great comic. He sells out Madison Square Garden. Like he doesn't need to do that.
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