We Talked to Bill Burr about 'Breaking Bad' and Obscure Irish Athletes

Photo by Koury Angelo.

If you’re the type to hang around with comedians and the comedy nerds who love them, you’ve probably already heard that Bill Burr is one of the best comedians on the planet. If, like most of the population, you don’t spend your time around such individuals, then maybe you know Bill from his awesomely conniving role in Breaking Bad—remember when he pretended to be an environmental inspector to help the Whites buy their money-laundering car wash?

Bill Burr’s really fucking harsh style of comedy has earned him a reputation as the quintessential comic’s comic—a designation many comedians dread as much as they appreciate, because it probably means they won’t be landing any commercials anytime soon and will be relegated to a life of negative humour and low-paying road shows.

Luckily, Bill Burr has escaped that dim fate. For a while, it was unclear if Bill would ever make the leap from cult hero in sold out comedy clubs to the big—or even small—screen. But the tides are turning. Last year, Bill released You People Are All the Same, his fourth, and best, stand-u special on Netflix. One already revered bit sees Bill come to the defense of the previously indefensible Arnold Schwarzenegger, using an argument so tightly structured and (comedically) logically sound that it casts Bill as a barroom Johnnie Cochran.

Anyway, I gave Bill a call to chat about his long, winding road to success, his brief stint on Chappelle's Show, the moral ambiguity of rooting for Walter White (spoilers to follow if you’re not caught up), the similarities between drug-dealing and corporate America, and the nerdery that goes into trading card collecting. VICE: So it seems like it’s only been in the last few years that your career has started to really hit the mainstream. Did you always feel like this was around the corner for you, or did you ever have the fear about being one of those guys that was really respected by comedians but never got that mainstream success?
Well, you can’t do this job without believing that you’re going to get somewhere…but there were a couple of times. Not many. But there were a couple of scary times out there, on the road, when I was wondering if I was going to get anywhere. It’s all part of it, though. You have an awesome supporting role on Breaking Bad. How does it feel to be involved with such a massive series?
I don’t know how important I was, I was just happy to be there. In a lot of ways it was like being a small part of Chappelle’s Show. My IMDB page is a real quick read—but I’ve somehow paratrooped into some really awesome stuff.

To be honest with you, as far as whatever this next thing is, I’m totally fine just continuing to do the road as a comedian, then every once in a while getting to do some acting work. That sounds like a real nice career.

There’s been a big debate amongst critics about what it says about you if you still root for Walt. What do you think? Do you root for him?
I was rooting for Walt and I was rooting for Hank, too. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Hank. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Mike.  I got to be honest to you, when he threw Jesse to the dogs [that fucked me up]…

Even when he let Jesse’s girl choke to death…yeah, she was a nightmare.  She made the aggressive move first. I look at it like if you’re in that business then you know where an aggressive move is going to leave you. She tried to do smart fake-out move. But she didn’t fake anybody out. She left everybody alive. Yeah. There’s no half-stepping. The drug game is definitely life or death.
Yeah, well, so is the corporate game. They don’t whack you, but they’re doing other things. That’s one thing I’ve learned through the little reading that I do. The name of the game is to get on the legal side of stealing, ‘cause then you don’t have to hire all these thugs to do your dirty work.  You have the law on your side. And you can do just as much stealing. You don’t have to hide your money and buy a bunch of car washes. You can have offshore accounts, scams. They’re just on the legal side of it. And they have use of the cops. [Laughter]

Besides Breaking Bad, you were on an episode of New Girl, plus you’ve been in films with Tina Fey and Sandra Bullock… When are you putting in your Illuminati application?
[Laughter] I’m never doing that. I like being on the outside looking in. At this point you’ve met a bunch of celebrities that you’ve idolized and looked up to, like Pacino and Christopher Walken. Is there anyone left that you’d freak out if you met? Or that you’d really like to meet?
Oh yeah, oh my God, yeah. Anybody who played professional sports between 1970 and about…1986. There’s a zillion musicians…

Who’s at the top of your sports list?
I have an overall respect for Irish athletes—like most people should. You know something, obviously there’s bigger names like Walter Payton and guys like that. But I would be just as thrilled—and it’d almost be cooler—to meet Mark van Eeghen or Kenny King—I used to watch the Raiders a little bit. I used to collect football cards, back when kids were still doing it. And then I tried to start up again when I was in my 30s. When you had those cards as a kid, you knew all the stats and you knew everything about the players. It was really cool.

By the time I came back to it, there were a bunch of adults doing it. And I was standing there at a store with a bunch of adults with these football cards, and they threw out all these cards they called “common cards.” And those were people who weren’t big stars and their cards weren’t going to be worth anything. And I just remember thinking, ‘those are the best guys!’ Everybody kept bringing up Tony Dorsett or Roger Staubach. How about John Fitzgerald? That’s what happens when you’re hanging out with your friends and you start bringing up the old teams. You don’t throw out the stars—you throw out the guys that blocked for them.

I don’t know. Football nerds like me really like that stuff.

Bill Burr riffing on Paul Hellyer—an alien believer who is also the former Canadian Defense Minister—who we interviewed in August.

Right, yeah, I don’t really know what you’re talking about but I can sense your enthusiasm! You’re going to Europe later this year—Ireland, Denmark, Finland. How does your brash American style work over there?
It seems to be doing pretty well. They’re up on things, as far as what’s going on. Just being a human being is enough of a connection there, even if some stuff doesn’t work. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through travel is that people are the same. People want to find love, they want to find shelter, they want to make sure they have enough money for their family—that’s pretty much it. There’s that foundation. People want to be respected. People don't like to be scared. People don’t like feeling stupid—it’s all the same thing.

Even if I’m talking about something where there’s a few references they don’t understand, they understand the situation. You know, you learn a couple of words from their language, you toss them out, they appreciate it—you’re good to go.

Do you feel like you have any regrets in your career?
You know, you always think, Where would I be? Should I have done this, should I have done that? But overall, no, I don’t. Because…you know, it’s like that “Monday Morning Quarterback” shit. ‘Oh, I should have done that, now that I have the answers.’ You know what I mean?  If I had just coasted to the top, I don’t know if there would be a feeling of satisfaction.

I’ve had so much fun in this business that I don’t really look back with any regrets. In fact, a lot of times people ask, ‘What’s the worst show you ever had?’ And at this point, you don’t even remember the bad ones after a while. You’re just working on that new hour [of stand-up comedy].

You kind of get used to taking your beatdowns. You get through it in the same way an athlete takes his hits. You’re like, ‘Well, you know, I’m playing football. Was I not going to get smashed in the head?’

So, I don’t have any regrets when it comes to this stuff. But I’ve definitely made a bunch of mistakes.

But I don’t have any regrets, because I like my life. Word. If you had a Hollywood producer’s magic wand and you could plot out your next five to ten years, what would you like to see happen?
I feel like I'd continue what I'm doing right now—making specials that I'm proud of and getting some acting work. You know, do really cool TV shows and movies.

I’d like to maintain a certain level of quality control. You never know how things are going to turn out when you sign on, there’s so many other hands involved. But I have to be honest with you, to be able to be on Chappelle’s Show and somehow get on a show as good as Breaking Bad—I’m pretty good. [Laughter]. I’m pretty good, man. To be able to do stand-up and have people come to my shows and making the rent…I’m good, man. I’m good.

About ten years ago, I was happy with where I was at. And I know you’re not supposed to do that.  People say, ‘Oh, you’re going to lose your drive and lose your fire.’ But I’m happy as hell, so I don’t care. I mean, obviously I had goals, but the goals they’re not…like, my goal is to top my next hour. Keep pushing myself. There are a few things that I’m trying to learn how to do on stage. Those are my goals. Rather than, I want to be fifth lead in an epic. Or something. I don’t know the terminology.

[Laughter]
I’m good, you know. With doing stand-up and my podcast and occasionally getting some acting work, I have more than enough to keep me busy. And anything more would affect the incredible amount of free time I have, which I feel like everyone is really working for.

I’m trying not to fuck that up.

Bill Burr is appearing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto as a part of JFL42, Saturday September 21st at 7:00 and 9:30PM.

Follow Jordan on Twitter: @jordanisjoso

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