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1:48Can I ask you a personal question?
1:51Now would you see my perfect time? What if I do the eyes?
1:54I'm a cybernetic organism living tissue over a metal [music] endoskeleton.
2:07Hello boys and girls. This is Tim Ferris. Welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferrris show where it is my job to deconstruct worldclass performers to tease out the routines, habits, etc. that you can apply to your own life. You will get plenty of all of that in this special episode which features an interview from my 2017 TV show Fearless.
2:25The less is in parenthesis because the objective is to teach you to fear less not to be fearless. Fearless features in-depth long- form conversations with top performers focusing on how they've overcome fears and made hard decisions, embracing discomfort and thinking big along the way. It was produced by Wild West Productions and I worked with them to make both the video and audio available to you for free, my dear listeners. So, thank you Wild West. You can find the video of this episode, which is gorgeous. I think they did an
2:55incredible job on youtube.com/timferris. Remember, two Rs, two S's, youtube.com/timferris. And eventually, you'll be able to see all of the episodes for free at youtube.com/timferris.
3:07So, you can swing over there and see what is currently up. Before we get started, just a little bit more on Wild West. Spearheaded by actor, producer, and past podcast guest Vince Vaughn, Wild West has produced a string of hit movies, including The Internship, Couples Retreat, Four Christmases, and The Breakup. In 2020, Wild West produced the comedy The Opening Act, starring Jimmy O Yang and Cedric the Entertainer.
3:29In addition to Fearless, their television credits include Undeniable with Joe Buck, ESPN's 30 for30 episode about the 85 Bears, and the Netflix animated show F is for Family. Wild West has also produced the documentaries Give Us This Day, Game Changers, subtitle Dreams of Blizzcon, and Wild West comedy show. And now, without further ado, please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation from Fearless.
3:56I'm Tim Ferrris, author, entrepreneur, angel investor, and now TV host. I've spent my entire adult life asking questions, then scouring the globe to find the answers. On this show, I'll share the secrets of pioneers who have faced their [music] own fears. We'll dig into the hard times, big mistakes, tough decisions, and how they got through it all. The goal isn't to be fearless. The goal is to learn to fear less.
4:23[music] [applause] Welcome to Fearless. I'm your host, Tim Ferrris. And on this stage, [music] we'll be deconstructing worldclass performers to uncover the specific tactics that they've used to overcome doubt, tackle hard decisions, and [music] ultimately succeed. So, imagine yourself all alone on stage in front of 14,000 [music] people staring directly at you. For many of us, probably most of us, that'd be a [music] complete nightmare.
4:46But for my guest tonight, it's just another day at the office. The man you're about to meet is one of the [music] most prolific and respected comedians in the world. He's done five-hourong comedy specials, hosts one of the most popular [music] podcasts of all time, and is the co-creator and star of the animated series F is for Family.
5:01Please welcome to [music] the stage Bill Burr. [applause] Hey, how are you? [music and applause] What's going on, Sam? How you doing, buddy? Good. [applause] Good.
5:17[music] [applause] This uh this looks like a TED talk.
5:24Like we're going to be out here talking about artificial intelligence or something.
5:28This is really creeping me out.
5:30This is very sterile.
5:32I have wanted to sit down chat with you for so long.
5:34Yeah. We've been texting trying to get it going. And uh well, here we go.
5:39Welcome to my home. Yeah.
5:40And I thought a fun place to start might be with Philadelphia. So, we have a video to show and as context and feel free to correct me and we can add more afterwards, but at least some or all of the comedians have been booed off stage up to that point.
5:56No, that's the uh that's the urban myth. The first guy got booed.
6:00And um the lineup was killer and we were just playing these outdoor like amphitheaters. So, it was like, you know, kind of made for music. And uh and we got down to Philly and um I don't know, they were all wearing like eagle jerseys and tailgating and throwing the football and it just seemed like they were ready for a playoff game and it was still light out and there's something about jokes. They don't work when there's lights on like it has to be seedy and that. So not only was it was like daylight, it was sunlight and uh
6:28half the people were still out in the parking lot and there was like just like maybe like 2,000 people just milling around, walking around. So he basically got thrown to the dogs, but what happened is they booed him off stage and it kind of set the tone. But then, you know, everybody was kind of doing their thing. I mean, it was crazy. I was like Patrice O'Neal, Tracy Morgan, Ralphie May, Bob Saget, I mean, uh, Bobby Kelly, Jim Norton, Domera. I mean, it was just murderers row. So, but you could just feel like there was something um, people
6:58were surviving. And I saw a few people who always went long went short that night. I'm not going to say who, but one who always burned the light. And it wasn't Patrice. It was somebody else. I remember he was literally mid joke and just stopped and said it was you guys were great. Good night. God bless. And walked up. And that's when I started thinking like, uh-oh. It's like if that dude who always goes long just pulled up. He was supposed to do 20 minutes. I don't think he did I don't think he did 14. And at that point, I didn't want to do the show. [laughter] And I wasn't nervous at all. I just kept
7:28thinking like I could have just been in a funny bone in front of 40 people who gave a [ __ ] and wanted to come to the show. And so then I wasn't nervous at all. And then I knew I was probably looking back I probably knew I was in trouble cuz I wasn't nervous. And I went out there and I was like, "Oh shit." And I did my first joke, which I didn't realize they were playing in the advertising on the radio, so everyone already heard it and nobody [laughter] nobody laughed.
7:52And I was like literally I was like already neck deep. And it was so long ago. And then I just remember I went to another joke and I just bailed halfway through. I was like, "You guys aren't going to laugh at that." And then they booed. And um let's maybe we should roll the tape.
8:04I don't want to see this. [laughter] I think you guys want to see it.
8:08Bunch of [ __ ] losers.
8:10The [ __ ] Rocky is your hero. The whole pride of your city's built around a [ __ ] guy who doesn't even exist. [ __ ] Joe Asia is from there, but he's black so you can't [ __ ] deal with him. 11 minutes left.
8:2411 minutes. I hope somebody takes a [ __ ] beerstein and just slaps you on THE BACK OF YOUR ZITINFESTED [ __ ] shoulders and your awful MAN TANK TOP. 7 MINUTES LEFT. Seven [ __ ] minutes left and I'll do it all [ __ ] seven.
8:45[cheering] [ __ ] standing backstage for 3 hours to get boo by this g [ __ ] stupid ass PIECE OF [ __ ] 6 MINUTES LEFT and I will be selling my CD after this [ __ ] you [ __ ] One minute left in the period. [cheering] All right, listen.
9:08This doesn't change anything. This set, I still [ __ ] hate you people. You guys all going to go see ROCKY 19? OH, DUDE, I THINK YOU CAN WIN.
9:18LISTEN, I'm out of time. You guys, YOU GUYS WERE HERE, MAN. Thank you very much.
9:26[applause] I've never seen that. Are you serious?
9:32I've never seen that. No.
9:35So, did you decide to do the countdown before you went out? I mean, is that something you No. No. What happened was Luckily, I had been booed before. So, it wasn't a new thing. So, the first time you get booed is a, you know, it's a a hell of an experience because you have what you want, but it's the exact opposite emotion. you have the entire crowd's focus [laughter] except there's no love, it's just hate. So, the first time that happens, it's really uh I didn't know what to do. But I I also I remember just afterwards
10:04thinking about it going like why didn't I I let that fat guy boo me? I let that chick with the weird glasses like why didn't I say something? [laughter] I just remember thinking I was just mad at myself going like all right you you got booed you know they didn't think you were funny u but you sat there you know it was a variety show they had like a contortionist and somebody with a snake and then somebody saying like pour some sugar on me and these leather pants and then they'd bring a comedian out. It was just it was a complete [ __ ] show. So I just remember afterwards I just remember
10:33being like upset at myself that I that I I was like dude you could have at least thrown one punch. You should have done that. But I but but then I didn't think of it again. I didn't think of it again because uh you know you don't plan on something like that happening. So I don't know why I did that. I just started doing it and that they had the clock was there and I was just looking at it and I I just I don't know. I think in that moment I decided I wasn't going to leave. So I think the countdown was kind of for me like you're doing cardio, you know that [laughter] and you're like I'm not going to look for one song, you
11:02know, and then look, all right, another 3 minutes went off. So here's the funny thing. So we still had one more date on that tour. Something was telling me don't do the last one. And then I went to Cleveland and it was like as I walked out on stage everybody booed because they wanted me to trash their city. So then it became this thing was like I can't do this again or then this is my act. This is like Gallagher smashing the watermelons. I got to come out and read about all your sports teams and [ __ ] So that was the one I freaked out about because I thought it was like I thought
11:32my career was over. I was like everywhere I go I'm going to get booed and blah blah blah blah. I'm glad that people enjoyed it because I was definitely I was embarrassed that the whole thing happened.
11:40You grew up in Mass, correct?
11:42What was your childhood like growing up in Massachusetts?
11:45I was sort of like, you know, this shy kid. I had like orange hair. I mean, I was just like I was a mark. The second I walked in the room, everyone was on me.
11:52Like every one time, I think it was my birthday, my mother got me this, my parents got me like this little cowboy outfit. I was like four years old. You had like the hat. There was a little vest and then I had like like the belt with the guns and it was supposed to be like the mother of pearl handles but it was like plastic. So she sends me all I even had like the little bandana. She tied it around and she just sent me outside and I don't even think I made it to the end of my driveway and like these big kids came by and they just took the guns out of my holster and just smashed them on the ground [laughter] and I sat
12:22there looking. I just was like crying. They laughed and just walked away. And then I picked them up and I walked home and walked back into the house. My mother's like, "Who did that? Who did that?" I was like, "Big kids." And she's like, and I can't remember. She just like made me a sandwich and that was kind of it. [laughter] But it wasn't like a big deal back then.
12:43I remember you would just do [ __ ] in the neighborhoods and parents just watched.
12:47They just figured out what you did. I mean, we threw rocks in this kid's pool and before I even got home, my mother already knew what happened. And uh there was a lot of that stuff going like they were building new homes and you'd go down there and you would steal [ __ ] to make a tree for it or you just vandalize them for no reason. When did comedy enter the picture for you?
13:06I always made I always got kids to laugh and I moved around a little bit when I was a kid and just making kids laugh was a way to get people to stop beating the [ __ ] out of me. Um or bigger kids, you know, wailing on you or whatever. So that's how I I would make friends. I would just I would just make people laugh. And I remember making people laugh in the in the uh in the classroom, you know, I'd get that made you feel good, you know, made the pretty girls care about who you were hopefully, you know, it was just an attention thing, I guess.
13:35Which people influenced you when you were a kid? I mean, were there particular comedians that you gravitated towards or memorized or anything like that?
13:41I watched all the my all the stuff my dad used to watch, all the things that they now sell on TV, all the uh all those Dean Martin roast, Foster Brooks.
13:50I loved uh remember Bob Hope. My dad would always laugh and I never got the jokes. There was always some obscure references. And then as I started to get older uh Chich and Chong and I remember um buying Richard Prior's album, not even know who who he was. I just knew he looked funny. I'm not going to say the name of the album, but it's the one when he's like that. It's got the N-word in it. Um George Carlin. Yeah. And I just started buying him. I remember buying the Eddie Murphy record when he had the rose in his ear. I bought that just cuz
14:19he was a black guy and I knew that Richard Prior was funny and I was just a little white kid going like but this black guy was black guys are funny and I I just like [laughter] I just bought it and I had no idea who he was.
14:29Did you memorize any of their bits or how did you Yeah, this is how out of touch I was with what I wanted to do and I used to do my paper route and I would be uh doing the bits. I was doing Eddie Murphy's got hit by a car bit. I would be doing that out loud to myself as I was riding through the snow and pretending I was in front of the school doing it and everyone was laughing thinking I was great. But it still didn't dawn on me at that moment that maybe I wanted to be a comedian. I don't know why. It just it just seems I think
14:58for kids today that's hard to understand because they can just shoot something, Instagram it or whatever the f whatever the hell they do, YouTube it on the internet, whatever the hell it is. And um but back then it was it was a zillion miles away. It was a zillion miles away. Like it didn't like even like thinking about becoming a comedian. I thought you had to like move to Hollywood to do it.
15:20Like I had I had no idea. Um yeah, there was like three channels. You had no idea.
15:25In high school, what did you think you were going to be when you grew up? Do you have any idea?
15:30No. I was failing miserably. But like I did great in school. I did great in school and right until it counted. I did great right up to 8th grade. And when I in my freshman year, I I was going in. I was like, I'm going to go to Notre Dame and I'm going to become a lawyer. And by like sophomore year, I was like, I'm going to be a construction worker and go to Wentworth. I'll drive a truck. Um, yeah. I just I don't know. I think somewhere along the line, I just wanted to have a fun job. I wanted to have a fun job. I I did know that because uh
15:58you know, I I hated everything else. I didn't like carpeted areas. I didn't like wearing suits. Like I liked working in warehousing.
16:06I liked I liked having a job where I could walk walk away from an area. Like I always just remember seeing people who had to sit in cubicles like they just had to be there and if you're not there and immediately they know that you're you're screwing around like you know like where is he? He's supposed to be right here. He's not getting what he's supposed to be done. So if you work in warehousing you could be on like a forklift or unloading a truck or cutting up boxes or just doing something. You as long as you were in this giant area they were all right with it. And um like warehousing is great. It's all class
16:35clowns, musicians, like addicts, alcoholics, and [ __ ] I remember this dude. Yeah. I remember this dude coming into work. He came in like 3 hours late.
16:45It was like 90° out. And his hair was soaking wet from a shower, like dripping down. He's like, "Oh, yeah. The traffic the traffic was was brutal." Just like, "Dude, your hair's still wet from the shower." And I remember um [laughter] yeah, he had a major coke problem. And uh yeah, he'd be wired. I remember my boss had a coke problem. I remember getting that job and the first day I saw him. He was this guy was like probably 6'4 and couldn't have weighed more than a buck 60. He was just just wired and they had this pallet jack that was like
17:15electronic. And they're like, "Yeah, let me take you over to meet the boss." And he saw me and he was just so just geeked out. He was just like driving it towards the dock back and forth going, "I'm going to drive IT OFF THE DOCK." AND [laughter] JUST COMING back like his licking his lips and [ __ ] And I was just like, "All right, this is going to be my boss. And I and I I worked the third shift and it was all people like me working our way through college like if you know if you didn't get student loans or whatever. I got laid off from that [ __ ] because there was this this
17:44fat [ __ ] used to come out from the uh he was fat and he was a [ __ ] [laughter] [applause] So he would come walking out. [applause] He come walking. I remember we used to wear short sleeve dress shirts and you know those guys so fat you had to really swing the arms to get out and he'd just come walking out and he'd look around and all these badass dudes all of a sudden would be grabbing boxes and pretending to work and I just had that thing maybe it's a standup comic thing
18:13where that that that thing you just like I was like you know [ __ ] this guy [ __ ] this guy and I just look at him like hey what's going on like I'm not I'm not doing this little [ __ ] I'm working out here I don't have to [ __ ] extra work when you come out here [ __ ] you [laughter] why don't pick this up, you tub of [ __ ] That's what I was thinking. So then I ended up uh right after that moment like an idiot. I then asked the other the coked up guy for a raise and [laughter]
18:41and then I think the fatty was just like to hell with this guy. So then I got laid off from that and um then I was collecting unemployment which I had never done and I felt I felt like a piece of [ __ ] doing it cuz my parents worked so hard and uh it was a bad economic time and I I couldn't get a job and I just decided that I wanted to be a comedian because working in the warehouse I was working with this guy who was hilarious and he wanted to be a comedian and he was the first guy that said it. He said, "You know, one of
19:09these nights I'm going to uh take a shot of Jack Daniels and just go on stage."
19:15And then and all of a sudden, it wasn't on TV once again. You know, we didn't have YouTube, so it was sitting next to me. I was thinking, well, if he can do it, I can do it. So, um I knew that I was a baby step kind of guy, so I had to rather than just doing it, I transferred to Emerson, which was more of a performance school. So, and then I just went there and I just every class I could get up in front of the class, I would do it no matter how nervous I was.
19:39And I was a really shy, withdrawn, really withdrawn kid. And um I just forced myself to do that. And every time I did it, even if it didn't go well, I felt good that I did it. Then I started to like it. And um I started doing radio cuz radio was a good baby step between performing and being funny to like a live crowd because it was like I was on a microphone. There was an audience but I couldn't see them. I couldn't hear them. And I remember I I did this shift
20:062 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. on 6:40 a.m. WCB and all it did was broadcast to the dorms. Nobody was up. Nobody was listening. And if they were, they were listening to a better radio station. And I just remember and I'd always be I'd always be on like the thing going like you know whatever the some that was Dinosaur Jr.
20:22If you have any requests give me a call and no one would ever call. And finally I just said Jesus I go somebody just call in. Tell me you hate me. I don't care. And then the phone lit up.
20:32[laughter] And I picked it up and this guy goes I hate you. And then hung up and I just remember just being like in a total panic. I was I was mortified. And then he called back and he apologized. Said hey he goes my girlfriend's working the next shift. I just happened to be listening. She told me to call back and apologize. But like I felt like such a nerd and um which I was. I was a nerd. I commuted to school. I didn't know anybody. I just walked in with my stupid book bag and I would do the the things whatever and then I would just go home
21:01and I would go to work. Like I kind of had a job once I had my paper route in third grade. I I had a job ever since.
21:07I've been working. So did you have any particular at that time? I don't know if you remember, but when you were shy, how did you Was there any particular milestone or point that you remember when that changed or when you became more comfortable?
21:19Um, no, it just slowly got better. But I I still in certain situations I am sort of It's weird cuz what I do, but I am also a very like little I'm one of those guys like the second the show is over if nobody knew who I was that would be that is that is the ultimate that would be perfect. Like before the show, I need you to know who I am so you buy tickets, you know, or else I would be screwed.
21:40But the second it's over, like I don't need it to keep going.
21:43Do you remember your first open mic gig getting on stage?
21:48What was it? Can you walk us through that?
21:49Yes. I signed up for a a talent contest at Emerson cuz I made a New Year's resolution in 1992. This is how scared and shy I was about doing this. I was like, I made a New Year's resolution that at some point in the calendar year of 1992, I was going to go on stage. I gave myself a year to do it and I was going to do it and and then that was it.
22:10My baby step way into it. Um cuz I knew if I said I'm doing it next week, I'd go into a panic and I might not ever do it.
22:17So I said that January 1st and literally 3 weeks later, the Emersonian newspaper, they said, uh Nick's Comedy Stop was having a uh a talent contest. find Boston's funniest college student, which was just this total scam to pack it with college kids watching their drunk friend go up there and bomb and then they make all this money. I remember it was a contest and I didn't on any level try to win it. My whole goal was just having the balls of when they called my name to walk up there and start talking. That's
22:47all it was. I remember sitting down trying to write material and it's just like and I'd been funny my whole life, but then all of a sudden to sit down and like sort of artificially create the moment where it's like if you and I are hanging out socially and you say something, it's like you don't even think and then you just sort of and then I say that and blah blah blah. But now it's like with the standup, I have to create that moment, bring the crowd in to the world, create that moment and then say it. And I had no idea how to do it. So I remember I can't even remember what I wrote. I basically I had some
23:16sort of ideas and I went up there and I remember taking the mic and it was the only time I've ever felt having an auto body experience where I thought I was watching myself. It was probably this panic thing where you know the emotional me just left me like we don't want to be I don't want to go on this ride. Let's see what happens. So I remember taking the mic out of I still remember what the mic looked like and this guy Billy Martin was hosting who's now like this big shot on Bill Maher's show. I just went I completely forgot what I was going to do and I just started talking
23:44and I I went into the middle of what I was going to do. Then I went to the beginning and then to the end. It was like a Tarantino movie, you know, like with Travolta walking by in the background in the diner scene. It was kind of like that. But I sort of was able to do all right. And I think I only did like three minutes. I was supposed to do five and I got off stage and I didn't I didn't care about anything. And I remember that was it. I was like, "This is what I'm doing." And I tried construction. I was in warehousing. I tried sales. I I I remember I got a
24:14health insurance license. I even passed the test. I got certified to take X-rays. I was working in a dental office. I did all of this [ __ ] And none of it like none of it like I didn't care about any of it. And this was the thing.
24:25I just did it. I was just like, that's it. This is what I'm doing with the rest of my life. But that night after I did it, even though somebody else won, I didn't care. I just remember driving home in my truck listening to Mly Crew kickstart my heart.
24:39Yep. And uh just literally screaming. I was so psyched that I did it. I And I was only like I was middle of the pack.
24:46I was nowhere near even remotely the funniest person. What was it about that experience that made it click for you?
24:54One of it's one of those things in life that you don't have to think about. It's it just it was what it was. It was awesome. And it was just like why wouldn't I want to do this? Like my first thought was like I'm doing that for the rest of my life. Then I did my next show was at this comedy club Stitches and that one went okay. And then my third show that was my first what's called a hell room which Yeah.
25:15It's not a Doesn't sound good.
25:16Yeah. It's not a comedy club. It was a bar.
25:19The people there were eating. They had no idea there was going to be a show.
25:23They turned off the Bruins game and then they bring you up. And uh that was my first time experiencing a crowd watching a show that didn't want to see a show. [laughter] And uh I just remember I I remember doing my first joke. My first joke that really just got nothing and feeling that that punch in the chest of something bombing and then having to regroup and I had nothing to regroup with. And I
25:51remember I bombed so bad I got halfway through my time and this guy Jack Lynch was the host and I said on the microphone I said, "Jack, I'm bailing.
26:00I'm bailing." And I got off and I was so embarrassed. I didn't want to walk past the crowd or the comedians and I sat down in the first empty chair and I just sat there like this scolded child for like two hours waiting for the show to go and and I wanted to leave but I I was so embarrassed. I just sat there. It was horrible. But I just remember and then what sucked back then was there was so much time between your shows.
26:24You know, there was like weeks between shows. So if you had a good show, you could ride the high of that. But if you bombed that was one of those things like I got this thing like when I when I embarrass myself for some reason it comes out to me like when I'm in the shower and I have to like shout the memory out, you know? Like I'll be in the shower and I just think about it. I JUST BE LIKE AH I'LL just like make these noises just these noises of like humiliation like ah god I did that or I said that. I still do that in the my car like I'll I'll think a [ __ ] that I just
26:53did or something I did 10 years ago and it's this thing of just like cuz I don't want to think it. And you know there's a self-loathing about it that you know that I never I kind of never got past those teenage years that oh god I'm such an idiot. Like I never I kind of never got past that. I mean I knew I was going to bomb. It's inevitable. It's like if you fight if you fight long enough, somebody's going to come along a little faster than you're gonna get caught. And it's like play it's telling telling jokes. It's it's it's inevitable. It's
27:20going to happen. And um then it's just something you have to get good at. You have to get good at bombing.
27:27And um I had enough experience of doing it, you know, that you eventually you get good at it and then it doesn't it doesn't hurt you anymore.
27:35And is it just exposure? Is it like getting a flu shot every season? It's just about the number of repetitions. You got to sensitize yourself to it.
27:42Yeah. You just keep doing it. And and um you know, bombing is there's something hilarious about it. There's something like if you but what what the turning point for me with bombing was was seeing how funny was being able I remember one time just being on stage and I was bombing and I just pictured all my friends watching me laughing at me in in the in the back and then that got me to laugh at myself and then I just started thinking how much can I get these people to hate me and I just left my act and I
28:09just started trying to annoy them [laughter] and I didn't get them back they still hated me but I had such a good time that was like wow Well, what was that? That was that was this new area of standup that, you know, I I didn't know existed.
28:23The the clean and not so clean kind of before and after Bill Burr, I find really fascinating. So, we actually have a video that this shows the contrast a little bit.
28:33I love my dad, man. He's hilarious. He's such an emotional guy, you know? I know my dad was his funniest though, was whenever you like broke something cuz my dad my dad would totally flip out, right? But the words he used, you would have actually thought it was a good thing. You know what I mean? Like he'd break a window, he'd be like, "Nice.
28:52OH, THAT'S BEAUTIFUL. [laughter] THAT IS JUST BEAUTY. HEY, WHY DON'T YOU BREAK THEM ALL? DUDE, there is an epidemic of gold digging [ __ ] in this country. AND EVERY NIGHT I PUT ON THE NEWS AND I'M WAITING FOR someone to address it.
29:11Every night, never see it, you know. And every night I bring up gold digging [ __ ] and the whole crowd pulls back like I'm up here talking about Bigfoot, right? Like I'm saying the moon's made out of cheese or something. Talking about [ __ ] people. They're everywhere.
29:27How many more great men are going to get chopped in half before we do something?
29:35[laughter] WHY IS IT SO QUIET IN HERE?
29:41God damn. I don't get it. [laughter] [applause] So, when did you go to opening up to more of I'm not going to say profanity, just being yourself, maybe failing by Yeah. just failing, just trying to do what they that I thought they wanted, whatever they were responding to. And um then that just morphed into well if I'm going to fail
30:09I'll fail doing what I want to do in this business. And then that led to me starting to succeed. And once I started to succeed doing what I wanted to do um my view of the business changed where I then looked at it rather than like it's this thing I'm running towards it was like no I'm in it. So this I just look at the the the business like it's a giant mall and I have a little store, right? Probably like those ones that are in the middle that you walk by. Not that
30:39shore. Yeah. A little kiosk. [laughter] And I just I have what I do. This is what I do. You come in, right? This is what I do. Okay. If you want to buy something, great. If you don't, you know, you you keep going. But this this is what I do. And rather than I used to view it like, oh, they're selling shirt.
30:55I should sell shirts and I got to sell candles and I got to, you know, do nails and have like this one-stop Walmart thing. And it's just like that just didn't work for me. I just I do a podcast. I tell jokes. I act when they let me, you know, cuz I have to audition basic, you know. But then I also just found with um you know, the people I grew up didn't talk like that. The stories I had to tell, people weren't like that. Very volatile and they used colorful language as they say. And um
31:24there is this thing with comedy purists where they act like, "Okay, if you work clean, um, you know, then then that's pure comedy. That's that's real comedy because you didn't say any bad words."
31:35But, you know, which I do understand cuz you can definitely use uh curse words to to, you know, sort of steroid up your stuff. But, I've also find, you know, when people say they want somebody to work clean, it doesn't just mean don't say any bad words. It also means don't have any opinions that will make people uncomfortable. because I could I could easily work totally clean and there's groups of people that you could completely piss off and wouldn't want to pay you just by your opinions on things.
32:03So, um I just felt like it was a limited thing. And I've always liked the rawness of um with everything with music, with film, with comedy of just going off more. um the realness of that rather than this totally polished thing, which I completely have an appreciation for.
32:27But the amount of times I've heard comedians go like say something so funny in the green room and be like, "Yeah, but that's I'll be like, "Dude, you got to do that on stage. You got to do it on stage." Like, "No, man. That's not me. That's not me." It's like, "It is you. You just [ __ ] said it. Whatever you're doing up there, that's not you.
32:41That's you on stage." And that's what happens with comedy is like there's this big like mystery thing about you got to find your voice and is this who I am? Is that who I am? And I have this theory that you walk in with it as an open micer and then you go on stage and the weirdness of looking at people and talking you become this is me on stage. Oh, I'm holding a microphone.
33:04And it just becomes weird. It becomes weird. And then you spend I don't know 8 10 12 15 years trying to get back to who you were when you walked in. Who was this guy who was making people laugh in the bars? Cuz like you just walked into a bar and something happened and then you just riffing on it, but you you were you were comfortable. Then you go on stage and it's just like, "Oh [ __ ] everybody's looking at me and I have to handle all of this. Uh what am I doing with my hand? How do I get this out of the stand?" And it just becomes this
33:31whole, you know, just looking at yourself and then then that who you are goes right out the [ __ ] window. [laughter] A lot of folks consider you the comedian's comedian, right? I mean, a lot of comedians look up to you and they're like, "Oh, Bill Bur can not not only talk about anything. He's willing to talk about anything, but he'll self-employed.
33:53You can't get you can't get too into this business."
33:56If you get too into this business, then you're [ __ ] And then you become that guy. You mean just having contracts and relationships with people? You No, you get in business with people, but that's not your only thing. Like I I'll never stop doing standup and I have my podcast so I can and I don't live a lifestyle beyond those. I live way behind those.
34:12So no matter whatever happens, whatever [ __ ] slap on the wrist I'm ever going to get from the the social media, I'm still going to be fine. It's when you um you know, it's when you just go into this business. If you're just an actor on a show or you just host something or or or whatever it is that like all of a sudden like if you just did this, you didn't have your podcast or any other way to make money. If all of a sudden, you know, there's some [ __ ] rumblings, if the people above you go,
34:41you have to go out there and apologize, you you're in a situation of like or else I can become homeless.
34:46So then you have to go out there and even if you're not sorry, you have to say you're sorry. And I think that that's uh that doesn't look like a fun thing cuz I've seen people going out there squirming. Yeah.
34:56Trying to like how do I apologize without apologizing to the 40 drunk soccer moms who all tweeted at the exact same moment. So this became a thing for 8 seconds yesterday that I now have to address. So having said that if I'm an [ __ ] I will say sorry, but I'll say it to the person.
35:13Yeah. You know, [applause] like I don't get I don't get this whole thing where somebody secretly videotapes you at a comedy club and then they upload it on the internet and then you have to now apologize to people who weren't at the show. Yeah. It's like you weren't at the show and you decided it was. So why don't you get mad at the kid who [ __ ] filmed it? Like that's it. I am guilty of being a comedian in a comedy club that tried out a joke that didn't work.
35:39I don't know. It makes sense to me in my head. Everything makes sense.
35:43[laughter] So, the podcast, uh, so your podcast was a very early influence for me. I I love your podcast and, uh, I see you've gone past me.
35:52Well, [laughter] that's a cute little idea you got there, freckles. Now, look at you.
35:59Well, I think there's there's one thing that arguably you do better than anybody else, and I'm sure it's one of many, but I want to listen to some of your ad spots. So, we're gonna pull up some audio of a couple of your sponsor reads. And I think uh I think we'll pull up Sherry's Berries first.
36:15This might be my favorite name of anything I've ever advertised here. Uh other than one White Charlies. Uh Sher's Berries for my listeners. Double the berries for just $10 more. Here's the only way to get this special 1999 Sher's Berries offer. [laughter] Call 866 fruit.
36:43[laughter] What the [ __ ] am I selling?
36:48Did I approve this? This is [ __ ] ridiculous. Who the [ __ ] is going to buy this [ __ ] This is the funniest [ __ ] [laughter] I've ever seen in my [ __ ] life. Call 866 fruit, everybody.
36:59[laughter] Oh, punch. Oh, please spell out the words. Oh, by all means, berries. B E R R I E S. Berries. Click on the microphone in the top right corner and type in Burr. Hey, you [ __ ] better buy some Sherry's berries because I'm going to get in trouble for that [ __ ] read and I'm not changing it cuz that was hilarious. [laughter] When did did you do that from the very beginning with the with the host reads?
37:26Uh did you start kind of taking the piss out of sponsors from the very get-go with the podcast? Because you really I mean early early pioneer. This is 2007 or so. I mean, it was early. This is way back in the day. So, you were one of the first kind of long form guys.
37:40Did you have standard sponsored reads for a while? And then, well, I did it for years without doing sponsorships. So, when I started doing reads, it felt weird to be this guy just saying whatever I was thinking and being funny and all that to all of a sudden be like, you know, the Chrysler Cordova blah blah blah blah blah. It just felt weird. And I was just like, and people are going to have the ability to just fast forward through this and skip it.
38:02So, I didn't feel like the comedy should stop. And um so I always, you know, I'll just throw in a Boston accent. I'll just do something to get them to listen. And with the Sherry's Berries thing that I did, um I I hadn't read the copy. And it was so like homophobic yet homoerotic.
38:20The whole thing, it just was so ridiculous to me. Like I couldn't believe it was true. So I legitimately started laughing. And I remember they were calling us saying, "Take it down. Take it down." And I was just like, "Yeah, tell them you didn't get to me. Like, I'm I'm I'm not taking it down.
38:34That's hilarious. And I don't give a [ __ ] because I got all this other stuff, you know, once again, one of those moments. I'm self-employed." So, you know, I don't need some chocolate covered strawberries people [laughter] to pay my rent. I didn't put myself in that position, which I very easily could have. I didn't. So, I said, "I'm not taking it down." But what they learned, because they're a cool company, um, what ended up happening was people ordered the stuff because I said I was going to get in trouble. And then it turned out evidently they were delicious and they sold a bunch more. So what ended up
39:03happening was was companies that were younger and kind of understood. It's like, oh this guy's he's making fun of us and he's singing songs and he's cursing and all this type of stuff, but people are listening and they're buying this stuff. So it kind of became one of those. But there's been others that haven't had this sense of humor. Like I remember nature box [laughter] came out and I for some reason was reading it as nature's box and [laughter] and and I was you know and I was like joking around. I'm like oh you're going to go down on mother nature right just just
39:32[ __ ] around. [laughter] But I also think it was just it was this weird sort of stupid thing where they were going to like bring you a banana at like 3:00 in the afternoon. It's like like I can't [ __ ] do this by myself.
39:43Like I need you to like if they are really stupid I I will say it. And um cuz I just look at the podcast, whatever money I make off it is just gravy anyways. Like I can live off my standup money, you know what I mean? Like I said, I I lived well within my means because I I've been in debt and I didn't like the way it felt. I just would be waking up at night going, I owe these people this [ __ ] money. How am I going to get out of this? My car is breaking down. That's going to be more.
40:07And um so I've I've avoided that stuff.
40:10I know a lot of comedians have trouble going to TV, developing TV shows. How did you find your way to efforts for family?
40:18I don't know. All my liveaction stuff that I wanted to do and all live action means is just this regular people.
40:24Everything that I wanted to do that I really wanted to do, they would just be like, "Oh, that's like, you know, that's sexist. That's homophobic. This is what's this going to say to kids? This is mean to dogs." And they just would deball the whole thing. And then it would suck. Yeah. I did a I did a pilot.
40:43They shot it down and then like two weeks later they're like, "Hey, you want to do another show with us?" And I said, "Yes." And it was with another comedian and then we did it and we we all got together and we were just like, "Hey, let's just give them exactly what they want. Let's just do exactly what they want." And we did that and they still shut it down. And then that was it. That was it. I just went off the reservation.
41:01I was just like, "Fuck trying to develop a TV show. I'm not doing it." All right. I'm just going to be a comedian that sells tickets hopefully. And if that's all I am, who gives a [ __ ] I'm telling jokes for a living. I'm killing it. Um, that was it. I didn't have any ideas.
41:14And then one day I opened for this comic, uh, Steve Burn, and he knew Vince Vaughn and the guys at Wild West, and Vince was in the crowd. He liked what I did. So, I took a general meeting with them. And they were like, "So, do you got you got any ideas for TV shows?" I was like, "No, no, I got none. I'm all out of them. No, they never [ __ ] work. Nobody ever picks them up. I'm just sick of it. There's always like I'm always pitching to a woman." They always say women don't run the business. I haven't got to that [ __ ] level. And this I'm always going in just pitching and there's always some woman there going like I don't think that that's
41:44gonna [ __ ] follow us. [laughter] Hey, what if the guy's a complete [ __ ] [ __ ] and doesn't know how to dress himself but his WIFE DOES. OH, THAT I like. That's a good one.
41:55Yeah. So, just cuz you have a vagina doesn't mean you can't be, you know, in the wrong sometimes. So, anyway, so then I just I was on my way out of the meeting. They were just like, you know what else?
42:07What? you don't have any ideas. I was like, "Look, I know you guys are doing movies with Vince. I'll play some a waiter in the background. I'd love to do something with you, but no, I got nothing." So, as I was walking out, I remember uh Peter Billings was sort of walking me out. I was like, "Well, you know, I do kind of have this idea, this cartoon idea or whatever." And he's like, "Oh, we want to do an animated show. Let's sit down." And and it basically stemmed from uh my childhood stories that I told on stage as a young comic and everybody got it. But as I became the older comic and this new generation came up that had playdates
42:37and helicopter parents and they wore helmets when they rode bicycles like they were in a [ __ ] race or something. Um, they didn't laugh at the jokes. They started become everything was labeled like, "Oh, that's bullying.
42:47That's, you know, that's mental abuse, physical abuse." And I would literally be standing on stage going, "GUYS, THIS IS FUNNY. This happened to me." My mother was right. I was telling all these stories like, "So anyways, I just stopped telling the stories on stage." And then one day I was walking my dog. I thought, "What if I just made animated shorts on my website? I could do that.
43:04That would be cool. And I could ramp it up and it'd be animated kids and no one would give a shit." And uh but of course, I never did it. But then when I ran into them and they're just this force of nature, then they ended up hooking me up with uh the great Mike Price from the Simpsons who's done like 300 plus episodes over there. So, and um we came up, we've just fleshed out those little I was just going to do little stories like, you know, we go to get a Christmas tree or somebody buys a new bike. They they turned it into this whole world. We helped develop this whole thing and then we pitched the
43:33cartoon and I think they were just like, "This is a weird choice for a comic in 2010." But they just saw that's Vince Vaughn. All right, WE'LL GIVE YOU SIX. BILL'S A LITTLE [ __ ] CHRIST, HE FALLS APART IF YOU JUST LOOK AT HIM. ALL RIGHT. HE'S GOT NO SPINE. YOU GOT TO RUB HIS BACK DURING WAR MOVIES. HE'S SCARED OF EVERYTHING. GEE, I WONDER WHERE HE GOT THAT FROM, SUSAN.
43:51WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE GETS IT FROM ME? AH, YOU CUDDLE HIM TOO MUCH AND YOU KNOW IT.
43:55I WORK HARD TO KEEP THIS FAMILY HAPPY. I KEEP EVERYONE [screaming] EVERYONE FROM KILLING EACH OTHER.
44:00WELL, TODAY I WOULD ACTUALLY WELCOME IT.
44:20Yeah. Let's do this.
44:24You going to take my socks off?
44:27I'll leave one on. I think we need one on.
44:37Oh, yeah. [screaming] Oh, here we go, baby.
44:42[screaming] AWESOME.
45:02FAMILY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. [applause] Very family oriented show.
45:09So, and I got a feeling you're you're going to ask me what everybody asked me, which is did that ever happen? [laughter] You know, I was just going to leave it open and just say any any comments.
45:18No, that's like that show is like loosely based on all of our childhoods. So, it's it's it's an amalgam.
45:26It's an amal Hey, he showed it. I didn't make this. It's an amalgam of like all our dads. Like, I wanted like my family to be able to watch this and not be like mortified. Like, I have a big respect for the fact that I decided to put myself out there and especially it gets weirder every year with technology and everything. So, like I didn't want them to watch it. Like, there's elements of the show, right, that my dad would be like, "All right, like I'll put you through that [ __ ] wall." He used to that was his catchphrase. How would you do that [ __ ] wall? He used to say that,
45:55right? He never did it. He just, you know, it's just a empty threat, you know. But um but you know, other stuff is like writer room stuff like that was just like, okay, what if what if, you know, they start having sex? And it just it seemed like they had this big huge fight and he says this mean stuff about his son and he doesn't know he's there.
46:11And it's just like, well, how do we get out of this comedically? How do we diffuse this? What if they have sex? So, it's that that aspect of it was like a like a writer room thing.
46:18Who drew the balls? They're very photorealistic. [laughter] I actually I actually met the woman who drew it. I was doing a gig in um Ottawa, Canada.
46:28Big Jump is the animator up there. And uh I I just happened when I had the gig to come over and and meet them. I just happened to be in town and they were animating that scene. And she literally had like sketched three different ball bags that she they looked like little speed bags that she was going to make.
46:44And just so you guys know, you know, you were mentioning bombing and then just turning it into an opportunity to vent, being like, well, I'm not sure what that was, but that was fun. I enjoyed that.
46:52So, I was talking to the team about whether to use this video or not, and I was like, at least I can say I had a pair of animated balls that I forced an audience to watch swinging around. So, you're welcome.
47:03So, I thought we could we have a lot of questions from the audience. So, I thought we would we would throw it over the audience.
47:09And we have some in studio. We also have some from the internet who have been uh kind enough to chime in as well. So the first one's from Facebook. This is Joseph Swam. So effectively, how do you generate ideas and what is your process?
47:22Do you still write stuff down? What are the sort of key components of of where you start when you're developing?
47:29Well, I used to write it all out and then I I don't write it now.
47:33I just I just treat it like how I used to treat like if something funny had happened at work, if I was going to go tell my friends, I wouldn't write it all out. memorize it, rehearse it in front of a mirror. I would just go up and and I would just tell them the story and I would act out all the characters and all that the way I did, but what happens is when you go on stage is like, you know, you know, it just is, you know, you can bomb, you can have a bad show, there's all that self-conscious stuff. So, um, I guess the process was trying to become as comfortable as I was in a bar
48:02shooting this [ __ ] with my friends, being that comfortable on stage, and that took a while, long time. What are the sort of key components of of where you start when you're developing when when you're starting?
48:14Uh meaning where you start with say if you were going to if you're starting right now to do a special.
48:19Well, usually it's just I'm walking around and I see something or I hear something that'll get me going. But if I'm in a writer's block, which is a big thing for a comic, how to get out of it, I find is I try something new or I'll just I'll be at an airport and I'll I'll grab a magazine that I would never read.
48:35I'll grab like Cosmo. I'm just going to get a different point of view because you your brain can get bored and when it gets bored it goes into autopilot and then you just stop seeing [ __ ] And um yeah, I'll just do stuff like that. And I also when I'm building a new hour, I take all rules of hack like this is hacky material. I'll do an OJ joke. I don't give a [ __ ] I'll just go on stage just anything just to be saying something new, something different and that'll eventually lead into something
49:03um that's worthy of of of of keeping.
49:06But I I definitely write on stage, but if something happens like I'll just usually I just make a mental note, but sometimes I'll just write down like a word. I'll just write down like iPad, you know, or or you know, whatever boots or something. I just But I know what that means. Like if something I know that means something like, you know, somebody stepped on my foot that day and blah blah blah blah blah. And that's the cue.
49:27Yeah. And so and then I just sort of write on stage. Writing on stage meaning you are taking notes as you go through your People say write on stage. What it really means is you just go up and just wing it. You just the same way you would come, like I said earlier, you come home if something funny if you saw a car accident, you you'd come home and just tell the person you're with. You wouldn't have to write it all down.
49:48So, um I've done stand up long enough where I'm comfortable enough to do it. And all all the great people that I see them, all the great men and women that I see doing standup today, most of them do it that way. But some people want to do a little bit of that, a little bit of writing. It's But I would say for that person, you got to find what works for you.
50:06Um, just got to be open to all of it and then as you through trial and error, just sort of streamline it into your your so-called process. So, if you met, let's say, a 25-year-old, 20-year-old, you can pick the age, who you seem you seem to think had some promise as as a comic, and they wanted to be a stand-up comic, and they they had the same commitment that you did at one point, which was at some point in the next year, I'm going to get up there on stage and do a set. I guess there two two
50:35questions. How would you assess if someone could stand a chance? And then, how would you train that person? I mean, or or or have them practice.
50:44Um, I don't know. You know what's weird?
50:45I can watch somebody young and and every once like you'll just see somebody be like, "That person if they do everything they need to do could be great at this." And it's like a uh it's a uniqueness.
50:57There's just something they'll say or something they do or something. The way they handle a situation, you just see it's like it's like being, you know, like an NFL scout. You just see them, you know, make a throw or something like that's an NFL arm right there. We'll see if uh if if he or she develops it or whatever. But um I I don't tell I I would never tell somebody what to do because like uh how my brain works, everybody's unique. So what I would do though is go out of my way to encourage that person. Like if I
51:26saw somebody young and they they were funny, I would go out of my way to make sure that I said that because they need that. I I realize, you know, you got to do that.
51:37So this is from Anna Clara Oton. Her question begins with some people just don't have a sense of humor and uh how do you relate to or deal with these types of people and I'll just leave it general like that. So whether it's you get trapped with them at a cocktail party or in general crowd whatever it might be.
51:53Oh cocktail party I would I would just walk away.
51:55Um if I'm doing standup Yeah.
51:58Oh man, I shouldn't This is another one that I I probably This is some inside [ __ ] All right. This is what I would do when there would be somebody like you're killing everybody and there was just that one person that's just sitting there and they're not laughing and they're not laughing and they used to always bug that like that bug's a comic.
52:13You're just like they couldn't [ __ ] get that one person. It would ruin their night. Like you'd let them and I started realizing how stupid that was. I was like if I was a president and this was my approval rating. I would be [ __ ] killing it.
52:23So I finally decided I'm going to have fun with this person. So what I would do is like you can't see the people who were doing it in the back but it was the people who were up front.
52:29So they would be like right there and they're just like you could feel their energy. So what I would start to do would I would overcommit to my jokes, act even sillier, and I would send all of them right out over their head. And the best thing would be if they were close in the front row, I would be standing right up on them. And my favorite thing to do would be make some sweeping gesture like over their head.
52:49Like I would literally be like, "AND MY DAD SAYS TO ME," AND I'm just totally just living my dream like right in their face right over them. And it would just drive them up the [ __ ] wall. And then I would keep throwing in like, "God, you guys are great. I am having such a great time up here. And it was all that was the show within the show for that one [ __ ] [ __ ] And like I learned all of these these those types of things through years of doing it through basically am I going to take this as a negative or a positive and realizing I I have the power to decide like I can let
53:18this guy ruin my night or let this woman ruin my night or I can I can have fun with this. Um it's the same thing like if you ever do like the late show and only like eight people showed up. I made the mistake of coming out with eight people energy and it sucked. And then one night I was just like, you know what? [ __ ] this. I'm gonna go out and just try to kill these eight people enough that they bring eight more. And then I I went out with this positive thing. And then I I that so got ingrained into my work ethic.
53:45Like the other day I had a buddy of mine who was on his way up going like he was going, "Oh, dude." He goes, "You know, the club owner just told me that we only got 34 people on the late show tonight."
53:54And I literally felt like this jolt going through me like just like [ __ ] destroy them. [ __ ] destroy them and make them bring 34 more cuz if you're not the guy, which I wasn't. I was never the the whatever the [ __ ] they were looking for. That's the only way to do it. You just [laughter] got to hack your way through. [applause]
54:14So we we we saw you battling Philly in the beginning and uh you ended up at one point at Madison Square Garden and I mean there only a handful of modern comics who can play that venue or have played that venue. What was that like?
54:30Can you walk us through what that experience is?
54:32It was unbelievable.
54:33Yeah, it was awesome. And uh what I ended up doing, look at that. That was And I [applause] I had um I enjoyed every single second of it.
54:45Every every single second I I made sure on that one. And I um because you got to rent that thing out. Okay. Which is not cheap. So most of the money you make that night goes right out the window. So I was like, "Well, I rented it for the day, right?" They're like, "Yeah." So I'm a big Led Zeppelin fan. And you know, they shot Song Remains the same there. And that's also where uh Robert Plant said, "Does anybody remember Laughter?" Which was the name of the show. So I rented a drum kit and some amps and all that. Had me and a bunch of
55:14my friends came down and in an empty Madison Square Garden, we just jammed and played all this [ __ ] rock from the 80s and some, you know, uh yeah, all that all that [ __ ] that we used to listen to, all the hair metal stuff. Um some Black Sabbath, Guns and Roses, Mly Crew. We just had the best time. And it kind of and like what was cool was the union guys setting up the chairs. I was like, "Is this going to bug them?" And they're like, "No, they're used to bands rehearsing and stuff." And they kind of I could say had an appreciation that we had an appreciation for what it was. And
55:43they ended up putting us up on the the the screen. They did the lights in the end.
55:47And uh no, I had everything. My agent played guitar and I got him up there and uh all these comments came down. Uh Josh Adamars, Ben Bailey, and all these guys.
55:55We just had the greatest time. But what was cool was it took away the scariness of doing that place and it it we just kind of came in there and got our stink on it for a little bit and then I remember I went home um went to the apartment and uh my wife was there and I was waiting for her to get ready and I was drinking a beer.
56:13She's going, "You're drinking a beer?
56:14You never drink a beer? You never knew." I said, "Don't worry about this one. Don't worry about I I just knew." It was awesome. [laughter] It was awesome.
56:21What did you think when you were on stage? When you were finally up on stage? Well, the best thing was Joe D.
56:26Roza ver Paul Versie and Joe Roza open for me and Joe wore like this old lady like looking knitted sweater [laughter] and sometimes one of your friends just dresses in such a certain way you're like willing the crowd to heckle them which you usually don't. You're usually rooting for the comic and nobody heckled him. So it like annoyed me. [laughter] So when I went on stage, I was like, "Hey, keep it going for Versy." And how about Joe De Roza in his [ __ ] Golden Girl sweatshirt and everybody started laughing and I just stood there [ __ ]
56:55on him for like 10 minutes and then I just felt like I was in a comedy club and um No, I just knew. I knew and I was like they I had 90 minutes and I did 90.
57:04I I did the whole I was like I'm doing the whole thing. I'm totally taking this in. I recorded and uh I'm only going to put it out on vinyl because there's too much overlap between that material and my next uh special. So, it's just it's just something who for total nerd of whatever I do. And uh it was like Yeah, it was awesome. I never talk [ __ ] about, you know, I killed, but I I [ __ ] killed that night. I definitely [laughter] that was that was a good one.
57:31Yep. [applause] Listen, if if you could have any billboard you wanted, non-advertisement, but just a message you want to get out to the world, what would you put on it?
57:43The first thing they painted was, "Go [ __ ] yourself."
57:46I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
57:47Um, [applause] [laughter] uh, maybe I would I just I just have uh, No, it isn't.
58:00No, it isn't. [laughter] I like it. No, so much people don't know what the [ __ ] they're talking about [laughter] and they're just so so much time [applause] getting you into this [ __ ] panic and then this is going to happen and that and just read that. No, not is it? Is [laughter] it? You got to be fine.
58:22And even if you're not going to be fine, isn't it better to just exist thinking you're going to be fine until it's not fine? And then when it's not fine, then you can just [ __ ] handle it then. But there's no sense to ruin right now, right? [applause] Ladies and gentlemen, Robert, thank you. [cheering] [applause] Hey guys, this is Tim again. Just one more thing before you take off, and [music] that is Five Bullet Friday.
58:46Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little fun before the weekend? Between 1 and a half and 2 million people subscribe to my free newsletter, my super short newsletter called Five Bullet Friday. Easy to sign up, easy to cancel. [music] It is basically a half page that I send out every Friday to share the coolest things I've found or discovered or have started exploring over that [music] week. It's kind of like my diary of cool things. It often includes articles I'm reading, books I'm reading, albums perhaps [music] gadgets,
59:16gizmos, all sorts of tech tricks and so on that get sent to me by my friends including a lot of podcast guests. and these [music] strange esoteric things end up in my field and then I test them and then I share them with [music] you. So, if that sounds fun, again, it's very short, a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend.
59:36Something [music] to think about. If you'd like to try it out, just go to tim.blog/fr. Type that into your browser, tim.blog/fr, drop in your email, and you'll get the very next one. Thanks for listening.