Name: Performing in the Paris Catacombs while on Death's Door | Josh Homme & Bill Burr
Uploaded: 2025-06-20T16:01:02.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Performing in the Paris Catacombs while on Death's Door | Josh Homme & Bill Burr' from Bill Burr Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-06-20. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Performing in the Paris Catacombs while on Death's Door | Josh Homme & Bill Burr' from Bill Burr Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-06-20. Transcript available.

Well, how did the whole idea, when did that come about?
I know just what I know about you,
the second you saw those skulls and bones,
you're like, oh yeah, I got to play that gig.
The sewers of Paris with dead bodies.
I was born to do this.
Well, it actually, I remember learning about the catacombs
in a book when I was like eight, you know,
and just being fascinated, just that it seems so taboo.
Like you're stacking bodies and you're doing,
you know, geometric designs with them.
At first I thought, are you allowed to do that?
You know, it seems like a bit of a dick move until you see it.
It walks the line of respect and artful
and then sort of serial killer, necrophiliac.
Yeah, sort of like, what are you doing, Gary?
Oh, I'm just stacking them, you know?
And it's like, there's done into hearts and stuff like that,
where it's like...
If you love your job, you never work again.
Down there juggling skulls.
What are you doing? I'm on break.
Doing a little soft shoe with a femur.
But it is like, it's typical Paris where it's like...
Everything's art.
Even that is gorgeous.
Even that is gorgeous.
So...
Well, we're all going to deal with it too.
So I think so much of the time here,
you never, like, don't think about death.
Let's talk about, have you seen that new Mission Impossible movie?
Instead, it's just...
And, I mean, I had no way of knowing that I would be sort of dealing on death's
door myself,
and which made it really strange to be there.
How long did...
I don't know if you want to get into what the medical thing...
I mean, not too deep, but...
Yeah, okay.
But a little bit.
I was, you know, it made it really intense.
Like doctors were telling you to get off the road.
They didn't know what I had, so they were sort of giving me advice based on
being incorrect.
And so, of course, they were like, you know, play it safe.
But everyone cancels, man.
Everyone cancels.
It drives me crazy.
And by the time we got to Paris, I knew the tour was over.
The band knew that I couldn't go any further.
But I just wanted it so bad.
We've been trying to put it together for 20 years, you know.
And almost like...
Excuse me.
You've wanted to play that gig for 20 years?
I've been trying to put it together for 20 years.
And it would get close, and then it would go away.
And it was almost like...
What would make it go?
Schedules?
Or was Paris just like, hey, you know...
Yeah, ask him.
And then you'd go ask someone else and be like, ask her.
You know, just get in the runaround, and you give up for a second.
And then, you know, it would be like Paris is on the tour schedule.
And I would say, well, time to take another run at this, you know.
And I almost stopped believing that it would be possible until we met this guy.
They had this show called Album of the Week where you just play your record on
television there.
Which is a novel idea.
But he played Cupid and sort of got us in the right hands, finally.
But I knew it would go away if we didn't do it.
And I just thought, it physically hurts, but that's going to go away.
That's going to go away.
Right.
But this will last, hopefully, forever, you know.
And if I'm honest, it made it cooler having to go through something because it's
like, are you going to do it or not?
Are you going to quit or not?
Right.
And I felt good about, I honestly felt like, no, I'm going to, I can do this.
It made me, it made me feel like I was, it added a layer of importance to it
that I, that I wouldn't say enjoyed, but I, I, I was, I was proud to, to.
So when you finally get on, I can't say on stage, when you get under the,
underground, underground, underground.
In the, in the, the sewer system and the show is actually happening.
Something that people have told me, like when I'm going to go do something,
they always go, make sure you take it in, make sure you enjoy it.
And I'm always jealous because I feel like with music, you can kind of do that.
When someone else is taking a solo, you can kind of strum along and look where
like comedy is like, I can't take it in because I have to, I made you laugh.
Now I got, I got to keep the momentum.
But I would say that there's got, there's certainly, there's many moments and
maybe you almost don't realize them because you're so in it where you're not
thinking about anything else.
And you're not thinking about the past, the future.
You're just there in the center of your feet and it's happening.
And I like that a lot.
I like that feeling of everything else is chased away.
And I don't, I don't think.
Can you do that naturally?
Do you have to play a game with yourself mentally?
Like is the grind of the road?
Well, you know, you're, it's, it's a bit like, you know, dodgeball.
Sometimes I get hit with it and sometimes I, I don't, you know?
Yes.
And, but I'm always trying to be in the moment like that.
And I, I think because of what was going on, I was so focused.
Plus we did, we did.
I might not get out of these.
I might, well.
That might be part of this wall.
I mean, I started saying, wouldn't it be ironic if something, if this really
took a bad, there was one moment, there was one moment.
We have the song Villains of Circumstance.
It was the third song we did.
And there was one moment and they actually caught it in the doc part where I, I,
I got such a searing pain.
I was like, excuse me, I, I'm going to take, I've take a minute.
And I had to get up and I thought, oh my God, I'm going to, I started sweating.
And I was like, I can't do this.
I'm going to have to tell everyone we're going to go.
Can you do that?
Can you tell everyone to go?
What would they say?
I'm like having this dialogue and, and it hurts so bad.
It was so specific and acute.
And, uh, you almost became that short list of performers who died on stage.
But what a great way to go.
So what, uh, what are some of the upcoming dates?
And are you going to be coming through LA so I can see you guys again?
Cause this, this, this play is going to end.
We're going to do, we're going to do a catacombs tour.
We've just decided we're going to do, I don't.
The sewer tour.
We're going to be playing the sewers of, it's not the sewer.
Sorry.
It's a coal mine.
We're going to be playing this, but we're going to be playing the sewers of Los
Angeles.
I'm a little tone deaf when it comes to sewers.
Yeah.
I need to get more progressive.
Yeah, you need to like do, do your research.
I think we're going to do some dates in October, November.
That's what we're looking at for the catacombs thing.
Um, and actually this is announcing it here for the very first.
We haven't, I haven't said any of this before.
Did you not want to say that?
And I just got that out of you.
Yeah.
You like, you like those interview skills?
Pulled that right out of me.
Pulled it right out of you.
After all the piggy comments, I had no choice but to pivot.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of you.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.
Pulled it right out of me.