#602: Legendary Comedian Bill Burr — Fear{less} with Tim Ferriss

Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show http://tim.blog/podcast, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out the routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own life. You’ll get plenty of that in this special episode, which features my interview with Bill Burr from my 2017 TV Show Fear{less} https://youtu.be/RG0cjYbXxME. The “less” is in parentheses because the objective is to teach you to fear less, not to be fearless. Fear{less} 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. 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. You can find the video of this episode https://youtu.be/RG0cjYbXxME on YouTube.com/TimFerriss https://www.youtube.com/timferriss, and eventually you’ll be able to see all episodes for free at YouTube.com/TimFerriss https://www.youtube.com/timferriss. Spearheaded by actor/producer and past podcast guest Vince Vaughn https://tim.blog/2017/05/31/vince-vaughn/, Wild West Productions https://twitter.com/wildwest has produced a string of hit movies including The Internship https://www.amazon.com/Internship-Vince-Vaughn/dp/B00F55HNBY/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20, Couples Retreat https://www.amazon.com/Couples-Retreat-Vince-Vaughn/dp/B009CFYVJK/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20, Four Christmases https://www.amazon.com/Four-Christmases-Vince-Vaughn/dp/B0091X5IWM/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20, and The Break-Up https://www.amazon.com/Break-Up-Vince-Vaughn/dp/B009CFY4NS/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20. In 2020, Wild West produced the comedy The Opening Act https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Act-Jimmy-Yang/dp/B08K39LBD2/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20, starring Jimmy O. Yang and Cedric The Entertainer. In addition to Fear{less}, their television credits include Undeniable with Joe Buck https://audiencenetwork.att.com/audience/undeniable/season-5, ESPN’s 30 for 30 episode https://plus.espn.com/30-for-30 about the ’85 Bears, and the Netflix animated show F is for Family https://www.netflix.com/title/80028732. Please enjoy! * This episode is brought to you by “5-Bullet Friday https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-1/?utm_source=timblog&utm_medium=timblog&utm_campaign=podcast-sponsorship,” my very own email newsletter that every Friday features five bullet points highlighting cool things I’ve found that week, including apps, books, documentaries, gadgets, albums, articles, TV shows, new hacks or tricks, and—of course—all sorts of weird stuff I’ve dug up from around the world. It’s free, it’s always going to be free, and you can subscribe now at tim.blog/friday https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-1/?utm_source=timblog&utm_medium=timblog&utm_campaign=podcast-sponsorship. * [05:39] 12 magic minutes in Philadelphia [11:39] Bill grew up in Massachusetts, but he lived a Wild West lifestyle. [13:04] How comedy entered the picture and who Bill admired most [15:24] As a kid, what did Bill think he’d be when he grew up? [21:43] Bill’s first time getting on stage [24:49] As a comedian, you never forget the first time you bomb [28:23] Clean Bill Burr vs. Post-Clean Bill Burr [33:39] The comedian’s comedian [35:44] Are Bill’s podcast ads reads — or roasts? [40:10] How Netflix’s F Is for Family came about [47:03] Bill’s idea generation process [50:14] Spotting when young comic talent has “it” [51:37] Dealing with the humorless or otherwise unbearable [54:14] Madison Square Garden [57:33] Bill’s board and parting thoughts * For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast https://tim.blog/podcast/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=podcast-description. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show http://tim.blog/podcast, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors http://tim.blog/podcast-sponsors. Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-1/. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts http://tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books http://tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss https://twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss https://instagram.com/timferriss/ Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/ YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss https://www.youtube.com/timferriss Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show http://tim.blog/podcast include Jerry Seinfeld https://tim.blog/2020/12/08/jerry-seinfeld/, Hugh Jackman https://tim.blog/2020/06/26/hugh-jackman/, Dr. Jane Goodall https://tim.blog/2020/04/16/jane-goodall/, LeBron James https://tim.blog/2018/11/27/lebron-james-mike-mancias/, Kevin Hart https://tim.blog/2020/05/20/kevin-hart/, Doris Kearns Goodwin https://tim.blog/2018/09/07/doris-kearns-goodwin-leadership/, Jamie Foxx https://tim.blog/2015/12/06/jamie-foxx/, Matthew McConaughey https://tim.blog/2020/10/19/matthew-mcconaughey/, Esther Perel https://tim.blog/2017/05/21/esther-perel/, Elizabeth Gilbert https://tim.blog/2020/05/08/elizabeth-gilbert/, Terry Crews https://tim.blog/2017/12/20/terry-crews-how-to-have-do-and-be-all-you-want/, Sia https://tim.blog/2020/08/12/sia/, Yuval Noah Harari https://tim.blog/2020/10/27/yuval-noah-harari/, Malcolm Gladwell https://tim.blog/2016/06/21/malcolm-gladwell/, Madeleine Albright https://tim.blog/2020/05/27/secretary-madeleine-albright/, Cheryl Strayed https://tim.blog/2017/03/30/cheryl-strayed/, Jim Collins https://tim.blog/2019/02/18/jim-collins/, Mary Karr, https://tim.blog/2020/11/11/mary-karr/ Maria Popova https://tim.blog/2014/10/21/brain-pickings/, Sam Harris https://tim.blog/2020/05/15/sam-harris-2/, Michael Phelps https://tim.blog/2021/01/21/michael-phelps-grant-hackett/, Bob Iger https://tim.blog/2020/01/16/bob-iger/, Edward Norton https://tim.blog/2019/10/31/edward-norton-motherless-brooklyn/, Arnold Schwarzenegger https://tim.blog/2015/02/02/arnold-schwarzenegger/, Neil Strauss https://tim.blog/2014/06/24/neil-strauss/, Ken Burns https://tim.blog/2019/09/12/ken-burns/, Maria Sharapova https://tim.blog/2017/08/26/maria-sharapova/, Marc Andreessen https://tim.blog/2016/05/29/marc-andreessen/, Neil Gaiman https://tim.blog/2019/03/28/neil-gaiman/, Neil de Grasse Tyson https://tim.blog/2019/10/03/neil-degrasse-tyson/, Jocko Willink https://tim.blog/2016/09/21/jocko-willink-on-discipline-leadership-and-overcoming-doubt/, Daniel Ek https://tim.blog/2020/12/03/daniel-ek/, Kelly Slater https://tim.blog/2020/09/08/kelly-slater/, Dr. Peter Attia https://tim.blog/2019/11/27/peter-attia-fasting-metformin-longevity/, Seth Godin https://tim.blog/2016/02/10/seth-godin/, Howard Marks https://tim.blog/2018/09/25/howard-marks/, Dr. Brené Brown https://tim.blog/2020/02/06/brene-brown-striving-self-acceptance-saving-marriages/, Eric Schmidt https://tim.blog/2019/04/09/eric-schmidt/, Michael Lewis https://tim.blog/2020/05/01/michael-lewis/, Joe Gebbia https://tim.blog/2018/03/08/joe-gebbia-co-founder-of-airbnb/, Michael Pollan https://tim.blog/2018/05/06/michael-pollan-how-to-change-your-mind/, Dr. Jordan Peterson https://tim.blog/2021/03/01/jordan-peterson/, Vince Vaughn https://tim.blog/2017/05/31/vince-vaughn/, Brian Koppelman https://tim.blog/2020/04/23/brian-koppelman/, Ramit Sethi https://tim.blog/2019/05/07/ramit-sethi/, Dax Shepard https://tim.blog/2020/11/18/dax-shepard/, Tony Robbins https://tim.blog/2014/10/15/money-master-the-game/, Jim Dethmer https://tim.blog/2020/05/18/jim-dethmer/, Dan Harris https://tim.blog/2020/11/19/dan-harris/, Ray Dalio https://tim.blog/2017/09/13/ray-dalio/, Naval Ravikant https://tim.blog/2015/08/18/the-evolutionary-angel-naval-ravikant/, Vitalik Buterin https://tim.blog/2021/03/08/vitalik-buterin-naval-ravikant/, Elizabeth Lesser https://tim.blog/2021/03/16/elizabeth-lesser/, Amanda Palmer https://tim.blog/2019/04/18/amanda-palmer-2/, Katie Haun https://tim.blog/2021/02/18/katie-haun/, Sir Richard Branson https://tim.blog/2017/10/09/richard-branson/, Chuck Palahniuk https://tim.blog/2020/09/02/chuck-palahniuk/, Arianna Huffington https://tim.blog/2017/10/18/arianna-huffington/, Reid Hoffman https://tim.blog/2015/08/31/the-oracle-of-silicon-valley-reid-hoffman-plus-michael-mccullough/, Bill Burr https://tim.blog/2017/09/17/bill-burr/, Whitney Cummings https://tim.blog/2015/06/26/whitney-cummings/, Rick Rubin https://tim.blog/2015/05/15/rick-rubin/, Dr. Vivek Murthy https://tim.blog/2020/03/26/vivek-murthy/, Darren Aronofsky https://tim.blog/2017/09/09/darren-aronofsky/, and many more. 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Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by Five Bullet Friday, my very own email newsletter. It's become one of the most popular email newsletters in the world with millions of subscribers, and it's super, super simple. It does not clog up your inbox. Every Friday, I send out five bullet points, super short, of the coolest things I've found that week, which sometimes includes apps, books, documentaries, supplements, gadgets, new self experiments, hacks, tricks, and all sorts of weird stuff that I dig up from around the world. You guys, podcast listeners and book readers, have asked me for something short and action-packed for a very long time, because after all, the podcasts, the books, they can be quite long. And that's why I created Five Bullet Friday. It's become one of my favorite things I do every week.

• 0:43Tim Ferriss?

  It's free, it's always gonna be free, and you can learn more at tim.blog/friday. That's tim.blog/friday. I get asked a lot how I meet guests for the podcast, some of the most amazing people I've ever interacted with, and little known fact, I've met probably 25% of them because they first subscribed to Five Bullet Friday. So you'll be in good company. It's a lot of fun. Five Bullet Friday is only available if you subscribe via email. I do not publish the content on the blog or anywhere else. Also, if I'm doing small in-person meetups, offering early access to startups, beta testing, special deals, or anything else that's very limited, I share it first with Five Bullet Friday subscribers. So, check it out, tim.blog/friday.

• 1:26Tim Ferriss?

  If you listen to this podcast, it's very likely that you'd dig it a lot, and you can, of course, easily subscribe anytime. So, easy peasy. Again, that's tim.blog/friday, and thanks for checking it out, if the spirit moves you.

• 1:42Speaker 01

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

• 1:48Speaker 02

  Can I ask you a personal question?

• 1:50Tim Ferriss?

  No, it would seem inappropriate to me.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  What if I did the opposite?

• 1:54Speaker 02

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

• 2:07Tim Ferriss?

  Hello, boys and girls. This is Tim Ferriss. Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class 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. The "less" is in parentheses 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

• 2:49Tim Ferriss?

  you, Wild West. You can find the video of this episode, which is gorgeous, I think they did an incredible job, on youtube.com/TimFerriss. Remember, two Rs, two S's, youtube.com/TimFerriss. And eventually, you'll be able to see all of the episodes for free at youtube.com/TimFerriss. So, 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 for Christmases, and The Breakup. In 2020, Wild West produced the comedy The Opening Act, starring Jimmy Oh Yang and Cedric the Entertainer. In addition to Fearless, their television credits include Undeniable with

• 3:33Tim Ferriss?

  Joe Buck, ESPN's 30 for 30 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. I'm Tim Ferriss, 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 own fears. We'll dig into the hard times, big mistakes, tough decisions, and how they got through it all.

• 4:18Tim Ferriss?

  The goal isn't to be fearless. The goal is to learn to fear less.

• 4:25Tim Ferriss?

  Welcome to Fearless. I'm your host, Tim Ferriss. And on this stage, we'll be deconstructing world-class performers to uncover the specific tactics that they've used to overcome doubt, tackle hard decisions, and ultimately succeed. So imagine yourself all alone onstage in front of 14,000 people staring directly at you. For many of us, probably most of us, that'd be a complete nightmare. But for my guest tonight, it's just another day at the office. The man you're about to meet is one of the most prolific and respected comedians in the world. He's done five hour-long comedy specials, hosts one of the most popular podcasts of all time, and is the co-creator and star of the animated series "F is for Family." Please welcome to the stage, Bill Burr.

• 5:09Speaker 03

  Hey, how are you?

• 5:12Speaker 03

  What's going on, Tim? How you doing, buddy?

• 5:15Tim Ferriss?

  Good, I'm good.

• 5:21Speaker 03

  This, uh, this looks like a TED Talk. Like, we're gonna be out here talking about artificial intelligence or something?

• 5:27Tim Ferriss?

  We might, we might.

• 5:28Speaker 03

  This is really creeping me up.

• 5:29Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, yeah?

• 5:30Speaker 03

  This is very sterile. All right.

• 5:32Tim Ferriss?

  I've wanted to sit down, chat with you for so long.

• 5:34Speaker 03

  Yeah, we've been texting, trying to get it going. Well, here we go.

• 5:37Tim Ferriss?

  And here we are. Welcome to my home.

• 5:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:40Tim Ferriss?

  And 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 offstage up to that point?

• 5:56Speaker 03

  No, that's the, uh, that's the urban myth.

• 5:58Tim Ferriss?

  That's the urban myth.

• 5:58Speaker 03

  The first guy got booed.

• 5:59Tim Ferriss?

  Okay.

• 6:00Speaker 03

  And, um, the lineup was killer, and we were just playing these outdoor, like, amphitheaters, so it was like, you know, kinda 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. 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, half the people were still out in the parking lot. And it was like, it 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 offstage and it kinda set the tone. But then, you know, everybody was kinda doing their thing. I mean, it was crazy.

• 6:45Speaker 03

  It was like Patrice O'Neal, Tracy Morgan, Ralphie May, Bob Saget. I mean, Bobby Kelly, Jim Norton, Dom Irrera. I mean, it was just murderers row. So, but you could just feel like there was something, um, people were surviving. And I saw a few people who always went long, went short that night. I'm not gonna 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. Goodnight, God bless," and walked off. And that's when I started thinking like, uh-oh. It was 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 wanna do the show.

• 7:26Speaker 03

  And I wasn't nervous at all. I just kept thinking like, I could've just been in a Funny Bone in front of 40 people who gave a shit 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. Cause 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, nobody laughed. And 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 gonna laugh at that? And then they booed and, um... Let's, maybe we should roll the tape. I don't wanna see this.

• 8:06Speaker 03

  I think you guys wanna see it.

• 8:59Speaker 01

  One... One minute left in the period.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  Alright, listen.

• 9:08Speaker 01

  This doesn't change anything, this set, I still fucking hate you people. You guys all gonna go see Rocky 19? I do, I think you can win!

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Alright, listen, I'm outta time, you guys, you guys were here, man, thank you very much.

• 9:30Speaker 03

  I've never seen that.

• 9:32Tim Ferriss?

  Are you serious?

• 9:32Speaker 03

  I've never seen that, no.

• 9:34Tim Ferriss?

  Really?

• 9:34Speaker 03

  No.

• 9:35Tim Ferriss?

  So, did you decide to do the countdown before you went out? I mean, is that something you...

• 9:39Speaker 03

  No, 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 hell of an experience, cause you have what you want, but it's the exact opposite emotion. You have the entire crowd's focus, 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 also, I remember just afterwards, thinking 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?" I just remember thinking, I was just mad at myself, going like, "Alright, you got booed, you know, they didn't think you were funny." Uh, but you sat there, you know, it was a variety show, they had like a contortionist, and somebody with a snake,

• 10:23Speaker 03

  and then somebody saying, saying like, "Pour some sugar on me," in one of these leather pants, and then they'd bring a comedian out, it was just, it was a complete shit show. So, I just remember afterwards, I just remember being like upset at myself that I, that I, I, it's like, "Dude, you could at least throw him one punch, you should've 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 just, I don't know, I think in that moment I decided I wasn't gonna leave. So I think the countdown was kinda for me, like you're doing cardio. You know that? And you're like, "I'm not gonna look for one song," you know, and then look, "Alright, another three minutes went off." So here's the funny thing, so we still had one more date on that tour.

• 11:07Speaker 03

  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, cuz they wanted me to trash their city. So then it became this thing, it's like, "I can't do this again, or then this is my act." This is like Gallagher smashing the watermelons, I gotta come out and read about all your sports teams and shit, so... That was the one I freaked out about, cuz I thought it was like, I thought my career was over. I was like, "Everywhere I go, I'm gonna 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.

• 11:39Tim Ferriss?

  You grew up in Mass, correct? What was your childhood like, growing up in Massachusetts?

• 11:45Speaker 03

  I was sorta 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. Like, I remember 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. And I sat there looking, I just was like, crying. They laughed, and just walked away, and then I picked them up, and I walked home.

• 12:29Speaker 03

  I 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 kinda it.

• 12:40Speaker 03

  But it wasn't like, a big deal back then, I remember you would just do shit in the neighborhoods, and parents just watched. They 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 there was a lot of that stuff, going like they were building new homes. And you'd go down there and you would steal shit to make a tree fort, or you'd just vandalize them for no reason.

• 13:04Tim Ferriss?

  When did comedy enter the picture for you?

• 13:06Speaker 03

  I 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 shit out of me.

• 13:16Speaker 03

  Or bigger kids, you know, wailing on you or whatever, so that's how 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.

• 13:35Tim Ferriss?

  Which people influenced you when you were a kid? I mean, were there particular comedians that you gravitated towards or memorized or anything like that?

• 13:41Speaker 03

  I watched all this, 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 roasts, Foster Brooks, I loved, uh. I 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, Cheech and Chong, and I remember, um, buying Richard Pryor's album, not even though who he was, I just knew he looked funny. I'm not gonna say the name of the album, but it's the one when he's like that, it's got the N-word in it.

• 14:13Speaker 03

  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 because he was a black guy. And I knew that Richard Pryor was funny, and I was just a little white kid going like, well, this black guy was, black guys are funny. And I just like, I just bought it and I had no idea who he was.

• 14:29Tim Ferriss?

  Did you memorize any of their bits, or how did you?

• 14:32Speaker 03

  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 remember 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, 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 for kids today, that's hard to understand. Because they can just shoot something, Instagram it or whatever the, whatever the hell they do. YouTube it. On the internet, whatever the hell it is. And, um, but back then, it was a zillion miles away. It was a zillion miles away, like it didn't like,

• 15:14Speaker 03

  even like thinking about becoming a comedian, I thought you had to like move to Hollywood to do it. Like, I had, I had no idea, um, man, there was like three channels, you had no idea.

• 15:24Tim Ferriss?

  In high school, what did you think you were going to be when you grew up? Do you have any idea?

• 15:29Speaker 03

  No, 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 eighth grade. And when I, in my freshman year, I was going in, I was like, I'm gonna go to Notre Dame and I'm gonna become a lawyer. And by like sophomore years, it's like, I'm gonna 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, you know, I, I hated everything else. I didn't like carpeted areas. I didn't like wearing suits, like, I liked working in warehousing. I 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.

• 16:14Speaker 03

  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. As long as you were in this giant area, they were alright with it. And, um, like warehousing is great. It's all class clowns, musicians, like addicts, alcoholics and shit. I remember this dude, yeah, I remember this dude coming into work. He came in like three hours late. It was like 90 degrees 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,

• 16:58Speaker 03

  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 sixty. He was just, just wired. And they had this pallet jack that was like electronic. And they're like, "Yeah, let me take you over to meet the boss." And he saw me and he was just so like, just geeked out. He was just like driving it towards the dock, back and forth, going, "I'm gonna drive it off the dock!" And just coming back, like licking his lips and shit. And I was just like, "Alright, this is gonna 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.

• 17:41Speaker 03

  I got laid off from that shit because there was this, this fat fuck used to come out. From the, uh, he was fat and he was a fuck.

• 17:51Speaker 03

  So, he would come walking out. He'd come walking, I remember he wore short-sleeved dress shirts. And you know those guys so fatty he 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 the stand-up comic thing where that, that, that thing, you're just like, I was like, "You know, fuck this guy." Fuck this guy. And I'd just look at him, like, "Hey, what's going on?" Like, "I'm not, I'm not doing this little fuck. I'm working out here. I don't want to fucking extra work." "When you come out here, fuck you."

• 18:27Speaker 03

  "Why don't you pick this up, you tub of shit?" 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, and 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 shit doing it 'cause my parents worked so hard. And it was a bad economic time and 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 these nights I'm gonna

• 19:11Speaker 03

  take a shot of Jack Daniels and just go on stage. And 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 could do it, I can do it. So, um, I knew that I was a baby step kinda guy, so I had, 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. And 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.

• 19:55Speaker 03

  Cause 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 him, I couldn't hear him. And I remember I, I did this shift 2am to 6am on 640am W E C B. And all it did was broadcast to the dorms. Nobody was up, nobody was listening. 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 Junior. If you have any requests, give me a call. And no one ever called. 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. And I picked it up and this guy goes, I hate you.

• 20:35Speaker 03

  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 bookbag and I would do the, the things, whatever. And then I would just go home and I would go to work. Like, I kinda had a job, once I had my paperwork in third grade. I had a job. Ever since, I've been working, so.

• 21:09Tim Ferriss?

  Did you have any particular, at that time, I don't have to 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?

• 21:19Speaker 03

  Um, no, it just slowly got better, but I, I still, in certain situations, I am sort of, it's weird because of what I do, but I am also a very like, 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, but the second it's over, like, I don't need it to keep going.

• 21:43Tim Ferriss?

  Do you remember your first open mic gig, getting on stage?

• 21:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:48Tim Ferriss?

  What was it? Can you walk us through that?

• 21:49Speaker 03

  I signed up for a, a talent contest at Emerson, because I had 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 gonna go on stage. I gave myself a year to do it, and I was gonna do it, and, and then that was it. My baby step way into it, um, because I knew if I said I'm doing it next week, I'd go into a panic, and I might not ever do it. So, I said that January 1st, and literally three weeks later, the Emersonian newspaper, they said, uh, Nick's Comedy Stop was having a, a talent contest, find Boston's funniest college student, which was just this total scam to

• 22:32Speaker 03

  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 all 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 stand-up, 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

• 23:15Speaker 03

  even remember what I wrote. I basically, I had some sort 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 out-of-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 wanna be, I don't wanna go on this ride, let's see what happens. So, I remember taking the mic out of the, I still remember what the mic looked like, and this guy, Billy Martin, was hosting, was now like this big shot on, uh, Bill Maher's show. I just went, I completely forgot what I was gonna do, and I just started talking, and I, I went into the middle. Of what I was gonna 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 kinda like that, but I sorta was able to do alright. And I think I only did like three minutes.

• 24:00Speaker 03

  I was supposed to do five and I got offstage. 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 health 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 shit and none of it, like, none of it, like, I didn't care about any of it. And this is the thing, I 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 Motley Crue kickstart my heart. Oh, great song. Yep, and uh, just literally screaming. I was so psyched that I did it.

• 24:44Speaker 03

  And I was only like, I was middle of the pack. I was nowhere near, even remotely, the funniest person. What was it about that experience that made it click for you? 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 I was just like, why wouldn't I wanna 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. Hell room? Which, yeah, it's not a- Doesn't sound good. Yeah, it's not a comedy club. It was a bar. The people there were eating, they had no idea there was gonna be a show. They turned off the Bruins game and then they bring you up.

• 25:26Speaker 03

  And uh, that was my first time experiencing a crowd watching a show that didn't wanna see a show. And uh, I just remember, 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 remember 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, I'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

• 26:10Speaker 03

  for like two hours, waiting for the show to go and I wanted to leave, but I was so embarrassed, I just sat there. It was horrible and I just remember, and then what sucked back then was there was so much time between your shows.

• 26:23Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, yeah.

• 26:23Speaker 03

  You 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 embarrassed 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 just like make these noises, just these noises of like humiliation, like, "Oh, God, I did that or I said that." I still do that in my car, like I'll think of shit that I just did or something I did 10 years ago and it's this thing, I was just like, cause 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 of that, "Oh, God, I'm such an idiot." Like I never, I kind of never got past that.

• 27:07Speaker 03

  I mean, I knew I was gonna bomb, it's inevitable. It's like if you fight, if you fight long enough, somebody's gonna come along a little faster and you're gonna get caught. And it's like, it's telling jokes, it's inevitable, it's gonna happen and um, then it's just something you have to get good at, you have to get good at bombing.

• 27:26Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 27:27Speaker 03

  And 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.

• 27:35Tim Ferriss?

  And is it just exposure? Is it like getting a flu shot every season, it's just about the number of repetitions?

• 27:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:40Tim Ferriss?

  You kind of desensitize yourself to it?

• 27:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, you just keep doing it and, and um...

• 27:46Speaker 03

  You know, bombing is, there's something hilarious about it. There's something like, if you, but 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 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 just started trying to annoy them. And I didn't get them back, they still hated me, but I had such a good time. That was like, "Wow, what was that?" That was, that was this new area of stand-up that, you know, I didn't know existed.

• 28:23Tim Ferriss?

  The clean and not-so-clean, kind of before and after Bill Burr, I find really fascinating. So we actually have a video. This shows the contrast a little bit.

• 28:33Speaker 01

  I 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. Because my dad, my dad would totally flip out, right? But the words he used, you would actually thought it was a good thing. You know what I mean? Like you'd break a window, psh, he'd be like, "Nice!" "Real nice!"

• 28:52Speaker 01

  "Oh, that's beautiful!" "That is just beautiful!"

• 28:57Speaker 01

  "Hey, why don't you break them all?" Dude, there is an epidemic of gold-digging whores in this country.

• 29:05Speaker 01

  And every night I put on the news, and I'm waiting for someone to address it.

• 29:11Speaker 01

  Every night, never see it, you know? And every night I bring up gold-digging whores, 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 whores, people! They're everywhere!

• 29:27Speaker 01

  How many?

• 29:29Speaker 01

  How many more great men are gonna get chopped in half before we do something?

• 29:36Speaker 01

  Why is it so quiet in here?

• 29:40Speaker 01

  God damn, I don't get it.

• 29:49Tim Ferriss?

  So, when did you go to opening up to more of, I'm not gonna say profanity, just being yourself maybe?

• 29:57Speaker 03

  Failing by, yeah, just failing, just trying to do what they, that I thought they wanted, whatever they were responding to, and then that just morphed into, well, if I'm gonna fail, I'll fail doing what I wanna 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, 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 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 on that shore. Yeah, a little kiosk.

• 30:41Speaker 03

  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 wanna buy something, great, if you don't, you know, you keep going, but this is what I do. And rather than, I used to view it like, oh, they're selling shirts, I should sell shirts, and I gotta sell candles, and I gotta, 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, basically, you know? But then I also just found with, 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 use colorful language, as they say, and there is this thing with comedy purists,

• 31:26Speaker 03

  where they're act like, okay, if you work clean, you know, then that's pure comedy, that's, that's real comedy, cuz you didn't say any bad words, but, you know, which I do understand, cuz you can definitely use curse words 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, cuz I could, I could easily work totally clean, and there's groups of people that you could completely piss off and wouldn't wanna pay you, just by your opinions on things. So, I just felt like it was a limited thing, and I've always liked the rawness of...

• 32:12Speaker 03

  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. But 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 gotta do it on the stage, you gotta do it on the stage. Like, nah, man, that's not me, that's not me. It's like, it is you, you just fucking said it. Whatever you're doing up there, that's not you, that's you on stage. And that's what happens with comedy is like, there's this big like mystery thing about you gotta find your voice and ooh, is this who I am? Is that who I am? And I have this theory that you walk in with it

• 32:56Speaker 03

  as an open mic'er 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 and it just becomes weird. It becomes weird and then you spend, I don't, eight, 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. Cause like you just walked into a bar and something happened and then you're just riffing on it. But you were, you were comfortable. Then you go on stage and it's just like, oh shit, 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 whole, you know, just looking at yourself and then, then that who you are goes right out the fucking window.

• 33:39Tim Ferriss?

  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 Burr can not, not only talk about anything, he's willing to talk about anything, but he'll

• 33:50Speaker 03

  Cause I'm self-employed. You can't get, you can't get too into this business.

• 33:55Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 33:56Speaker 03

  If you get too into this business, then you're fucked and then you become that guy.

• 33:59Tim Ferriss?

  You mean just having contracts and relationships with people?

• 34:01Speaker 03

  No, you get in business with people, but that's not your only thing. Like, I'll, I'll never stop doing stand-up and I have my podcast, so I can, and I don't live a lifestyle beyond those. I live way behind those. So no matter whatever happens, whatever fucking slap on the wrist I'm ever gonna get from the, the social media, I'm still gonna 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 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 bullshit rumblings, if the people above you go, "You have to go out there and apologize", you're in a situation of like, "Or else I can become homeless."

• 34:46Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 34:46Speaker 03

  So 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, because I've seen people going out there squirming.

• 34:55Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 34:56Speaker 03

  Trying to like, "How do I apologize without apologizing to the forty drunk soccer moms who all tweeted at the exact same moment, "So this became a thing for eight seconds yesterday that I now have to address." So, having said that, if I'm an asshole, I will say sorry. But I'll say it to the person.

• 35:13Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 35:13Speaker 03

  You know?

• 35:14Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 35:14Speaker 03

  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 to what? So why don't you get mad at the kid who fucking 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." Right?

• 35:39Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 35:39Speaker 03

  I don't know. It makes sense to me. In my head, everything makes sense.

• 35:44Tim Ferriss?

  So the podcast, uh, so your podcast was a very early influence for me. I love your podcast, and, uh...

• 35:50Speaker 03

  I see you've gone past me.

• 35:52Tim Ferriss?

  Well...

• 35:54Speaker 03

  That's a cute little idea you got there, Freckles? Now look at you.

• 35:59Tim Ferriss?

  Well, 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

• 36:09Speaker 03

  Oh, God.

• 36:09Tim Ferriss?

  of a couple of your sponsor reads, and I think, uh, I think we'll pull up Sherry's Berries first.

• 36:15Speaker 03

  This might be the favorite name of anything I've ever advertised here, uh, other than one white Charlie's. Uh, Sherry's Berries. For my listeners, double the berries for just ten dollars more. Here's the only way to get this special nineteen ninety-nine Sherry's Berries offer. Call eight six six FROOT.

• 36:41Speaker 03

  Sorry.

• 36:44Speaker 03

  What the fuck am I selling? Did I approve this? This is fucking ridiculous. Who the fuck is gonna buy this shit? This is the funniest shit I've ever seen in my fucking life. Call 866-FRUIT, everybody.

• 37:01Speaker 03

  Oh, punch struck. 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 "bur". Hey, you cunts better buy some Sherry's berries because I'm gonna get in trouble with that fucking read and I'm not changing it because that was hilarious.

• 37:22Tim Ferriss?

  When did, did you do that from the very beginning with the, with the host reads? Did you start kinda taking the piss out of sponsors from the very get-go with the podcast? Because you were 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. Did you have standard sponsored reads for a while and then?

• 37:44Speaker 03

  Well, I did it for years without doing sponsorship. 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 Cordoba, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It just felt weird. And I was just like, and people are gonna have the ability to just fast forward through this and skip it. So I didn't feel like the comedy should stop. And 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, I hadn't read the copy and it was so like homophobic yet homoerotic, the 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,

• 38:29Speaker 03

  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. That's hilarious and I don't give a shit.

• 38:37Speaker 03

  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-strawberry people 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, what ended up happening was people ordered this stuff because I said I was gonna get in trouble. And then it turned out evidently they were delicious and they sold a bunch more. So what ended up happening 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.

• 39:18Speaker 03

  Like I remember a Nature Box came out and I, for some reason, was reading it as Nature's Box. And I was, you know, and I was like joking around. I'm like, "Oh, you're gonna go down on Mother Nature, right? Just fucking around."

• 39:35Speaker 03

  But I also think it was just, there was this weird sort of stupid thing where they were gonna like bring you a banana at like 3:00 in the afternoon. It's like, "I can't fucking do this by myself." Like, "I need you to..." Like, if they are really stupid, I will say it. And, uh, because I just look at the podcast, whatever money I make off it is just gravy anyways. Like, I can live off my stand-up money, you know what I mean? Like I said, I lived well within my means because 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 fucking money. How am I gonna get out of this? My car's breaking down, it's gonna be more." And, um, so I've avoided that stuff.

• 40:10Tim Ferriss?

  I know a lot of comedians have trouble going to TV, developing TV shows. How did you find your way to Effers for Family?

• 40:18Speaker 03

  I don't know. All my live-action stuff that I wanted to do, and all live-action means is just this, regular people, everything 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 gonna say to kids? This is mean to dogs." And they just would de-ball the whole thing. And then it would suck. Oh, yeah, I did a pilot, they shot it down. And then like two weeks later, they're like, "Hey, you wanna do another show with us?" And I said, "Yes." And it was with another comedian and then we did it and 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 shot it down. And then that was it, that was it. I just went off the reservation. I was just like, fuck trying to develop a TV show.

• 41:03Speaker 03

  I'm not doing it, alright? I'm just gonna be a comedian that sells tickets, hopefully. And if that's all I am, who gives a shit? I'm telling jokes for a living, I'm killing it. That was it, I didn't have any ideas. And then one day, I opened for this comic, Steve Byrne. 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, you got any ideas for TV shows?" I was like, "No." "No, I got none." "I'm all out of them." "They never fucking 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 fucking level. And this, I'm always going in, just pitching. And there's always some woman there going like, "Hmm, I don't think that that's gonna fucking bother us."

• 41:47Speaker 03

  Hey, what if the guy's a complete fucking moron, and doesn't know how to dress himself, but his wife does? "Oh, that I like? That's a good one?" Yeah. So...

• 41:59Speaker 03

  Just 'cause you have a vagina, doesn't mean you can't be, you know, in the wrong sometimes. So anyways, so then I just, I was on my way out of the meeting, and they were just like, you know, "What else, what are... 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, and as I was walking out, I remember Peter Billings, he was sort of walking me out. I was like, "Well, you know, I do kinda have this idea, this cartoon idea, or whatever." And he's like, "Oh, we wanna do an animated show, let's sit down." And it basically stemmed from my childhood stories that I told onstage as a young comic, and everybody got it. But as I became the older comic, and this new generation came up that had playdates, and helicopter parents, and they wore helmets when they rode bicycles, like they were in a fucking race or something. They didn't laugh at the jokes.

• 42:44Speaker 03

  It started to be, everything was labeled like, "Oh, that's bullying, that's, you know, that's mental abuse, physical abuse." And I would literally be standing onstage going, "Guys, this is funny, this happened to me." My mother was right, I was telling all these stories. 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, that 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 gonna do little stories, like, you know, we go to get a Christmas tree, or somebody buys a new bike.

• 43:28Speaker 03

  They, they turned it into this whole world. We helped develop this whole thing, and then we pitched the cartoon, 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. Alright, we'll give you six.

• 43:41Speaker 01

  Bill's a little pussy! Christ, he falls apart if you just look at him, alright? He's got no spine, you gotta rub his back during war movies! He's scared of everything! Gee, I wonder where we got that from, Susan? What do you mean, he gets it from me? Ah, you coddle him too much, and you know it! You know! I work hard to keep this family happy! I keep everyone, everyone, from killing each other! Well, today, I would actually welcome it!

• 44:06Speaker 01

  Do that again.

• 44:10Speaker 01

  I hate you.

• 44:17Speaker 01

  Oh, baby.

• 44:19Speaker 03

  Oh, Susan.

• 44:20Speaker 01

  Yeah?

• 44:21Speaker 03

  Yeah, let's do this.

• 44:23Speaker 03

  I wanna get that off.

• 44:24Speaker 01

  You gonna take my socks off?

• 44:27Speaker 03

  I'll leave the one on, I think we need to blot it out.

• 44:29Speaker 01

  Yeah?

• 44:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, I like that.

• 44:30Speaker 01

  Oh, Frank. Oh, yeah, touch it.

• 44:33Speaker 03

  Yeah. You like that?

• 44:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:35Speaker 03

  You like that?

• 44:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:37Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. Oh, here we go, baby!

• 44:39Speaker 01

  Frank!

• 44:40Speaker 03

  Yeah!

• 44:41Speaker 01

  Frank!

• 44:41Speaker 03

  Yeah!

• 44:48Speaker 03

  Ah, Susan! Ah, Susan! Ah, Susan!

• 45:01Speaker 03

  Ever since family, ladies and gentlemen.

• 45:07Speaker 03

  Very family oriented show. And I got a feeling you're gonna ask me what everybody asked me. Which is, did that ever happen?

• 45:15Tim Ferriss?

  You know, I was just gonna leave it open and just say, any comments?

• 45:18Speaker 03

  That's like, that show is like loosely based on all of our childhoods, so it's it's it's an amalgam. It's an amalgam. He showed it. I didn't make it. 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

• 45:48Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 45:48Speaker 03

  that my dad would be like, alright, I'll put you through that fucking wall. That was his catchphrase. I'll put you through that fucking wall. He used to say that, right? He never did it. He just, you know, it was just an 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. And 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's room thing.

• 46:18Tim Ferriss?

  Who drew the balls? They're very photorealistic.

• 46:21Speaker 03

  I actually, I actually met the woman who drew it. I was doing a gig in Ottawa, Canada. Big Jump is the animator up there, and I, I just happened, when I had the gig, to come over 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 gonna make.

• 46:44Tim Ferriss?

  And just so you guys know, you know, you were mentioning bombing, and then just turning it into an opportunity to vent, and being like, well, I'm not sure what that was, but that was fun. I enjoyed that. So 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.

• 47:02Speaker 03

  There you go.

• 47:03Tim Ferriss?

  So, I thought we could, we have a lot of questions from the audience.

• 47:06Speaker 03

  Okay, cool.

• 47:07Tim Ferriss?

  So I thought we would, we would throw it over to the audience.

• 47:08Speaker 03

  Let's get to those.

• 47:09Tim Ferriss?

  And we have some in studio, we also have some from the internet, who have been 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? Do you still write stuff down? What are the sort of key components of where you start when you're developing?

• 47:29Speaker 03

  Well, I used to write it all out, and then I don't write it now. I just, I just treat it like how I used to treat, like if something funny had happened at work, if I was gonna 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...

• 47:58Speaker 03

  I guess the process was trying to become as comfortable as I was in a bar, shooting this shit with my friends, being that comfortable on stage. And that took a while, a long time.

• 48:07Tim Ferriss?

  What are the sort of key components of where you start when you're developing?

• 48:13Speaker 03

  When you're starting?

• 48:14Tim Ferriss?

  Uh, meaning where you start with, say, if you were gonna, if you were starting right now to do a special.

• 48:19Speaker 03

  Well, 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 ju, I'll grab a magazine that I would never read. I'll grab like Cosmo, I'm just gonna get a different point of view, because your, your brain can get bored, and when it gets bored, it goes into autopilot, and then you just stop seeing shit. 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 shit. I'm just going on stage, just, anything, just to be saying something new, something different,

• 49:01Speaker 03

  and that'll eventually lead into something, um, that's worthy of, of, of keeping. But 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 of something, I know that means something like, you know, somebody stepped on my foot that day and blah, blah, blah, blah, and.

• 49:26Tim Ferriss?

  That's the cue.

• 49:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, and so, and then I just sort of write on stage.

• 49:30Tim Ferriss?

  Writing on stage, meaning you are taking notes as you go through?

• 49:34Speaker 03

  Yeah, 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, like I said earlier, you'd 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.

• 49:47Tim Ferriss?

  Yep.

• 49:47Speaker 03

  So, 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, and all the great men and women that I see doing stand-up today, most of them do it that way, but some people wanna do a little bit of that, a little bit of writing, it's, but I would say for that person, you gotta find what works for you, um, just kinda 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.

• 50:14Tim Ferriss?

  So, if you met, let's say, a 25-year-old, 20-year-old, you can pick the age, who you seem, you, 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 gonna get up there on stage and do a set, I guess, there are two, two questions, how would you assess if someone could stand a chance, and then how would you train that person, I mean, or, or have them practice?

• 50:44Speaker 03

  Um, I don't know, you know what's weird, I 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, could be great at this, and it's like a, uh, it's a uniqueness, it'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, eh, that's an NFL arm right there, we'll see if, uh, if, if he or she develops it or whatever, but, um... I don't tell, 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.

• 51:26Speaker 03

  Like if I saw somebody young and they were funny, I would go out of my way to make sure that I said that because they need that. I realize, you know, you gotta do that.

• 51:37Tim Ferriss?

  So this is from Anna Clara Otani. Her question begins with, "Some people just don't have a sense of humor. And 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.

• 51:52Speaker 03

  Oh, cocktail party, I would just walk away.

• 51:55Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 51:55Speaker 03

  Um, if I'm doing stand-up?

• 51:57Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 51:58Speaker 03

  Oh, man. I shouldn't. This is another one that I probably should, this is some inside shit. 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, like that bug's a comic. You're just like, they couldn't fucking get that one person, it would ruin their night. Like you'd let them, I started realizing how stupid that was. I was like, if I was a president and this was my approval rating, I would be fucking killing it. So I finally decided I'm gonna have fun with this person. So what I would do is like, you can't see the people who are doing it in the back, but it was the people who were up front.

• 52:29Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 52:29Speaker 03

  So 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 over-commit 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. Like 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 fucking 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 fucking asshole. And like, I learned all of these, these, those types of things through years of doing it. Through basically, am I gonna take this as a negative or a positive?

• 53:15Speaker 03

  And realizing I have the power to decide. Like I can let this guy ruin my night, or let this woman ruin my night. Or I can have, 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? Fuck this, I'm gonna go out. And just try to kill these eight people enough that they bring eight more. And then I went out with this positive thing. And then I, I, that so got ingrained into my work ethic. Like the other day, I had a buddy of mine who was on his way up going like, he was going, ah dude, he goes, you know, the old club owner just told me that we only got thirty-four people on the late show tonight. And I literally felt like this jolt going through me, like just being like, I'm fucking destroy them. Fucking destroy them.

• 53:59Speaker 03

  And make them bring thirty-four more. Cause if you're not the guy, which I wasn't. I was never the, the, whatever the fuck they were looking for. That's the only way to do it. You just gotta hack your way through.

• 54:14Tim Ferriss?

  So, 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 are only a handful of modern comics who can play that venue, have played that venue. What was that like? Can you walk us through what that experience was like?

• 54:32Speaker 03

  It was unbelievable.

• 54:33Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 54:33Speaker 03

  It was awesome. And, uh, what I ended up doing, look at that. That was, and I, I had, um,

• 54:43Speaker 03

  I enjoyed every single second of it. Every, every single second I, I made sure on that one and I, um, because you gotta 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 my friends came down and in an empty Madison Square Garden, we just jammed and played all this cock rock from the eighties and some, you know, uh, yeah. All that, all that shit that we used to listen to, all the hair metal stuff. Um, some Black Sabbath.

• 55:28Speaker 03

  Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, we just had the best time. And it kinda, and like, what was cool was the union guys setting up the chairs, I was like, is this gonna bug them? And they're like, no, they used to ban. rehearsing and stuff and they kinda I could say had an appreciation that we had an appreciation for what it was. And they ended up putting us up on the the the screen. They did the lights in the end. And uh, no, I had everything. My agent played guitar and I got him up there and uh. All these comics came down, uh, Josh Adam Myers, Ben Bailey and all these guys. We just had the greatest time, but what was cool was. It took away the scariness of doing that place. And it it we just kinda 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.

• 56:13Speaker 03

  She's going, you drink a beer? You never drink a beer. You never drink. I said, don't worry about this one. Don't worry about. I I just knew it was awesome. It was awesome.

• 56:21Tim Ferriss?

  What did you think when you were on stage, when you were finally up on stage?

• 56:25Speaker 03

  Well, the best thing was Joe DeRosa. Paul Verzi and Joe DeRosa opened for me and Joe. Wore like this old lady like looking knitted sweater. And sometimes one of your friends just dresses in such a certain way, you're like willing the crowd to heckle him. Which you usually don't. You're usually rooting for the comic and nobody heckled him. So like annoyed me. So when I went on stage, I was like, yeah, keep it going for Verzi and uh, how about Joe DeRosa and his fucking Golden Girls sweatshirt? And everybody started laughing and I just stood there shitting on 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. I I did the whole. I was like, I'm doing the whole. Thing. I'm totally taking this in. I recorded.

• 57:11Speaker 03

  And uh, I'm only gonna 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 a total nerd of whatever I do. And uh, it was like. Yeah, it was awesome. I never talked shit about. You know, I killed, but I I fucking killed that night. I definitely. That was, that was a good one. Yep.

• 57:34Tim Ferriss?

  If you could have any. Billboard you wanted, non-advertising, but just a message you want to get out to the world. What would you put on it?

• 57:43Speaker 03

  First thing I'd say was go fuck yourself.

• 57:45Tim Ferriss?

  Go fuck yourself.

• 57:46Speaker 03

  I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Um.

• 57:54Speaker 03

  Uh, maybe I would. I just, I just have, uh, "No, it isn't." "No, it isn't." "No, it isn't."

• 58:03Speaker 03

  I like it. No, so much, people don't know what the fuck they're talking about. And they're just so, so much time getting you into this fucking panic and then "This is gonna happen, that, and uh, uh." And just breathe it. No, no, it isn't.

• 58:19Speaker 03

  You gotta be fine.

• 58:22Speaker 03

  And even if you're not gonna be fine, isn't it better to just exist thinking you're gonna be fine? Until it's not fine? And then when it's not fine, then you can just fucking handle it then? But there's no sense to ruin right now, right?

• 58:35Speaker 01

  Ladies and gentlemen, Robert!

• 58:37Speaker 03

  Thank you!

• 58:40Tim Ferriss?

  Hey guys, this is Tim again. Just one more thing before you take off. And that is Five Bullet Friday. Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little fun before the weekend? Between one and a half and two million people subscribe to my free newsletter, my super short newsletter called Five Bullet Friday. Easy to sign up, easy to cancel. 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 week. It's kinda like my diary of cool things. It often includes articles I'm reading, books I'm reading, albums perhaps, gadgets, gizmos, all sorts of tech tricks and so on that get sent to me by my friends, including a lot of podcast guests.

• 59:23Tim Ferriss?

  And these strange esoteric things end up in my field and then I test them and then I share them with you. So, if that sounds fun, again, it's very short, a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend, something to think about. If you'd like to try it out, just go to tim.blog/friday. Type that into your browser, tim.blog/friday. Drop in your email and you'll get the very next one. Thanks for listening.