Breaking Bad actor Bill Burr defends free speech ahead of Hong Kong comedy show
With free speech a hot topic, HK-bound stand-up Bill Burr tells David Major he won't change his routine
I'm just three minutes into interviewing Bill Burr and already he's starting to bristle. I should have expected this. The hint is in his website bio, a brusque entry which is about as long as Burr finds self-promotion a fun activity.
In the terse summary (since updated), he skims over a few of his recent efforts - the stand-up specials, his role in the television series . "I love my dog. I hate bankers. I have issues with women. In my head, I'm a great guy," Burr says before signing off: "That's it. Go f*** yourself."
On the phone, Burr - who is due to perform at Cyberport on February 7 - is nicer. We speak before he appears as a guest on , which turned out to be a provocative show. Discussing the film , Maher described Chris Kyle, whom the film was based on, as a "psychopath patriot". The right was predictably apoplectic.
Telling society what it doesn't want to hear can be risky. I ask Burr about the Sony movie, , which set off a diplomatic row between North Korea and the US, and the fatal attacks on the Paris office of satirical magazine . Is comedy getting caught up in foreign relations? It seemed as if punchlines suddenly have global consequences. This is something no stand-up likes hearing. "Because of one incident? I don't think so," Burr says, testily.
"No, I think that now everything is blown way out of proportion, and they make it seem like the sky is falling … It's one of those questions that keeps coming up and they have, like, one or two examples. I think bankers have way more of an effect on the world we live in than comedians. I make people laugh, what I say is silly, then I leave."
After low-profile parts on television shows beginning in the mid-1990s, Burr landed a role on Dave Chappelle's show, which recalibrated what sketch comedy could achieve, especially with issues such as race relations and black identity. Burr went on to voice a character in , the controversial video game series that sold 150 million copies at last count. His Monday Morning Podcast, in which he talks about whatever has been bugging him the past week, consistently ranks on top of the iTunes comedy podcasts.
