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."
