Name: Bill Burr - Deciding To Not Be Angry
Uploaded: 2020-05-31T10:12:50.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Bill Burr - Deciding To Not Be Angry' from Comedy University on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-05-31. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Bill Burr - Deciding To Not Be Angry' from Comedy University on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-05-31. Transcript available.

And I believe that comedians, like when you saw them go on a talk show and be
funny, I believe that they were there like that all the time.
I didn't know there was this, you know, to some of them, a darker side or shy
or, you know, sort of introvert, you know.
I mean, because that whole, you know, the sad clown thing kind of got gassed up
a little beyond.
I mean, I've been guilty of that, but like there's a lot of other colors in
there.
There's the introvert, the shy person, the person who can't shut it off.
There's a lot of different kinds of comedians as opposed to the he tells jokes
and he makes everybody laugh.
And then he goes backstage and cries, you know, it's not, it's not.
Which version of that are you?
Good question.
What was I?
I was detached emotionally and probably didn't realize, like, how fucked up I
was through my 20s and into my 30s.
Like, I remember listening to comics and their stories and stuff like that.
And I sort of had this weird sort of all my pain was, I knew about it, but it
was sort of floating just to the right or just to the left of actually feeling
it.
And, yeah, through quite a long period of therapy and, you know, and therapy
was only effective for, it was sort of a finite thing where then it just became
like, oh, I'm just going to go here and just talk or whatever.
Because I wasn't doing, I didn't understand that I had to do the work.
I thought I was just going to talk.
That was just going to be magic.
Yeah, yeah.
So it wasn't until, and then it was when I was not in therapy and I was
actually, you know, and I met the woman that I was going to marry.
I had to, like, and I was causing, and I realized that my anger and my just
general demeanor around the house was causing her anxiety, you know?
And that's not something you want to do to anybody, forget about somebody that
you love.
So it really, like, that was a real watershed moment in my life.
It was a very painful moment in my life because it's not like the TV shows, you
know, like Dr. Phil, you need to stop doing that and you got to stop doing this.
And then that's it.
It's like, no, it's years and years and years and years of trying and failing.
I'm still doing it.
And I like to think I'm much better about it.
And then, like, of course, having a kid really intensified, like, okay, this
whole temper thing has to stop with me because that's sort of the demon in my
family tree.
That everybody's got the demon that you try to, like, at least, you know, knock
it down a little bit before it – that would really – I know it's not going
to happen.
Just for the simple fact that I have the ability that, at least when I screw up,
to be like, you're right, I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have done that.
It's not acceptable, which is something that was not available to my generation.
It was more, you know, sit there and shut the fuck up, which caused you to feel
– like, I think when I analyzed a lot of my anger, it was just immediately
assuming I was not going to be heard.
And so it was – so whatever was happening was something that I had to accept.
And so when something was starting to go away that I didn't want, rather than
just saying, hey, do you mind if, you know, just not having your foot on my armrest?
I would go from that to, like – the only option was I had to flip out and
start dropping the F word or just sit there and seethe.
And, like, it took me a long time, a long time.
And I heard a lot of people and stuff.
And it's just like – yeah, it was not something that I was proud of about
myself.
So it's something that I am still working on.
Is there an element of getting that anger out on stage so that you – so that
it doesn't come out in your real life?
Or do you – does it feel like that at all?
Yeah, well, one of the misunderstandings of me is that when I'm on stage doing,
like, a character or yelling about something, I'm actually angry.
It's like I'm not.
I'm having fun.
Yeah.
I'm having the time of my life.
Yeah, if I actually – like, I've gone on stage angry, okay?
My act does not work.
Yeah.
And you get off stage – anyway, I get off stage.
I have a headache.
I feel bad, and I feel bad for the crowd, and I feel like I let them down and
that I selfishly let my day – it's like whatever happened in my day, it wasn't
their fault.
And they paid for a sitter, and they paid to have a show and not to have me
just fucking go up there and act like a fucking baby.
So there's a difference between that and having something that drives you nuts
and sharing it with people, and then they can share in your frustration.
That's the difference.
And I think a lot of times when people say you're like an angry comic, it's
like – it always makes me laugh because I sit there going like – they don't
even – I'm having the time of my life.
I mean, it's not like I don't go up there and blow off steam and stuff like
that, but I'm not up there like,
man, what the fuck, my cell phones are being – I'm not like doing that.
Like I am aware of what I'm doing when I'm up there.
So like when I'm talking about my anger or I go into something like that, I
know what I'm doing.
And I also – as a comic, you're constantly – without even knowing it after
a while, it becomes just like a muscle.
You're just listening to the crowd.
Do I need to speed up?
Do I need to slow down?
Am I going too far?
Which I've – you know, and then I always went, all right, that was a little
too far for you guys.
And they laugh and then it's diffused.
Yeah.
Because if I just went up there for an hour and just screamed and yelled about
stuff, that would just be punishing people, innocent people.
And I don't think I'd be selling tickets.
Yeah.
Ha, ha.