Name: Bill Burr | The SNL Story
Uploaded: 2020-10-14T12:00:09.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Bill Burr | The SNL Story' from Bill Burr Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-10-14. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Bill Burr | The SNL Story' from Bill Burr Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2020-10-14. Transcript available.

let's just talk about snl for a second i just i just want to thank everybody
over there um
laura michaels and the entire cast and everybody that works there i had the
most fun i had so much
goddamn fun doing that show i thought i was going to be an absolute wreck i'm
not going to lie to
you i was a nervous wreck um on sunday afternoon because i had run my monologue
a couple of times
and it wasn't working because i was putting it together and it always that's
what how it always
goes but i had this big legendary show that i'm gonna go do and everybody knows
the first episode
the first guest host was george carlin so i was really trying to downplay the
magnitude of the gig
but you can't when it's snl so i was kind of in my head and i was going on
stage and rather than just
telling my jokes i was asking the crowd if here's this idea what how what about
this one and i was
just eating my balls and then of course i was also doing covid comedy so i was
standing on sidewalks
and on top of roofs and i was just like what the fuck and i went to the taping
saturday night
um when chris rock did it and um it really helped me as far as when i saw it i
was just like oh my god
i can't believe this giant show is this whole the whole history of this show is
in this little studio
because it just seems because when you watch it on tv it is just the biggest
thing ever when you go
there it's it's not it's a soundstage it's just like this little thing and so
in a way that helped
me to relax but then on the other side like the fucking open sketch had jim carrey
and alec baldwin
two of the greatest to ever do it and i'm going like i can't follow those guys
i can't you know i'm
just and i was like you can't hold it together hold it together right and by
the way i had already run
my set like three times before i went over there for the taping and just ate my
balls
so i was trying to play it cool and um i i watched the whole show and i talked
to chris afterwards he gave
me some great advice and everything and i was thinking in my head i was like
god i wish i was
him right now because he's done and it went great i just like i can't wait for
that and i just started
thinking about 101 a.m you know sunday morning the following week when the gig
would be over which is
the the stupidest thing you can do because now you're not going to enjoy it and
that's right where
my head went i started catastrophizing my head i had a total fucking panic
attack in the hotel room
the sunday you know right before i was going to go in on the monday the first
day and my wife being
the rock that she is she took she talked me down and all of that and um you
know i've put her through
some shit on some big gigs like that freaking out which really is normal when
you're doing something
like that but it's also sucks for the person you're with that they have to sit
there it's like
you know somebody threatening to kill themselves that isn't going to kill
themselves you know it gets
exhausting after a while it's like you're not going to kill yourself can you
stop putting me through
this right so um i just was like all right i don't want to put my wife through
this and i don't
want to be in this mindset the whole week because it's going to fly by and then
afterwards
i know i'm going to do well i know i'm going to have a good time and then i'm
going to look back
going i wish i enjoyed this so i just took all of my angst and said there's no
reason to be nervous
the whole week until 11 30 saturday night and then if you want to be a little
nervous manageably
nervous whatever and then the show's going to start and just once i get out on
stage i'll be fine
so uh i just every day i'd wake up and i'd be like oh my god i'm doing snl and
i'd be like it's monday
we just sit down we hang out we kick around some ideas but blah blah blah blah
nobody's going to see
it none of this is going to be taped you could literally do a face plant you
know into a pie
nobody's going to see it and then i just kept doing that every morning and i
ended up having
the best time and um being obviously any comedian a huge fan of the show the
greatest one of the
greatest parts about the show is not only that you you get to do it is you get
to see how they put it
together you get to see how hard everybody works because that's the thing when
you host the show
you know everybody around you is busting their ass and you're just they're just
waltzing you around
like the friggin prom queen everybody's writing shit for you what's your wheelhouse
everybody is
they're all busting their ass and then people are you okay is everything okay
with you it's like yeah
i'm not doing shit you guys you guys are all working and um i just you know you
sit down you
do the table read you read like a zillion sketches and um i was reading them
you know and i thought
there was going to be like you know a lot that weren't going to be good and i
was reading like
these are all fucking funny and even the ones that aren't as funny as the other
one you could see how
you could punch this up by saturday it was going to work so i started really
getting excited like man
these guys these writers are amazing right then we did the table read the table
read was fun as shit
and i got to see the whole cast and um watching them how they do it and the
whole thing was just
i don't know it was it was incredible and then we started rehearsing them and
you get to go up in
the room as they start putting together this which ones after the table read
which ones they're going
to pick and then you go into the war room and now we're thinking of doing this
here and that there
what do you think about a pre-tape here and you get to sit in on all of it and
then there's all
this memorabilia and shit like i took a picture there was a flyer in there from
the first show
that had george carlin you know george carlin's picture on it said something
like a new show s
saturday night live or something like that and um and then friday we did the
pre-tapes
and i had a great time doing that we rehearsed and then i went back out shot
some more stuff that
was a long that was the only long day and then saturday you just show up they
they do like
a dress rehearsal and then they do one in front of the crowd and then you just
do the show
and it just flies by is the only thing i can tell you and um standing backstage
when they were doing you know after they did the uh the cold open with jim carrey
and maya rudolph
do my head spinning i forgot the whole jack white part you know that poor guy
was going to do the show
was doing what i would be doing if i was a rock star at 27 he was making out
with some pretty girl and
somebody saw it and took a picture whatever whatever whatever you know who
doesn't do that at 27 or 28
they'll have him on just not this show so then they added jack white and then
jack white came in
like the show wasn't already exciting enough he comes in
and um i got to watch them rehearse
and i gotta tell you something man this is amazing is it is to watch when you
guys watched it at home
to be standing right there when they were doing it like when i tell you all the
hair on my arm was
standing up when these guys started playing and the drummer was it is it daru jones
or daru jones i
didn't i i like the week just flew by his fucking setup my buddy said it look
he was playing drums
look like he's gonna be like falling out a window and um
they just came in and just
fucking
ripped
just
face melting shit and i was like holy shit and i just started thinking you know
if i crush my monologue
and i just do my part in these sketches and then jack's gonna do that twice
this is gonna be a fucking killer show
and then when we did the dress rehearsal
there was all all there was so much shit in there for eddie van halen by the
way
um like i didn't know that they were going to show um
the clip from when he came on
i think it was in 89 when his then wife valerie bertinelli hosted the show
so they had that clip and we did the dress rehearsal in front of the crowd and
we were about ready to say goodnight
um they played that clip
and i didn't know it was coming and i like the emotion of that was just like
fuck
like what are the odds like
you know
that i could get to say goodbye to this guy on this stage man was crazy
so
and then the other thing
was jack was telling me that you know
for the longest time i've ever seen like jack jack white is literally a guy who
could have gone to sears roebuck and bought a fucking guitar
and he'll make it sound better
than you know someone like me on a
ten thousand dollar guitar
he just can get that sound
he's just
like i can't even describe like
his whole vibe
it's like he's like a time traveler
it's like he's from now
but if you also feel like you're talking to somebody from the 1930s in like the
best way
and he goes on stage and it's like he's like fucking possessed
and i got such
i got so much out of watching him
even in the rehearsal
where it reminded me of a story i remember here
chris layton layton uh steve ray vaughn's drummer was talking about
where stevie was talking about some guitar lick and they were on the tour bus
and when he played it he still played it like he was in front of 30,000 people
he didn't half-ass it like he had a musical idea and he just fucking
just
you know only knew one way to do it like jack white and his band had that vibe
and
i don't know why but i always grab it i think
just
because i've always loved music i
i i learned so much as a comic watching musicians if that makes any fucking
sense
it was like when i was telling you when i watched that herbie hancock thing
he told that story about uh miles davis going don't play the the butter notes
or whatever
and i was like i know what that means comedically
that means go on stage and say what the fuck you want to say
don't ask the crowd if it's funny tell them it's funny and they don't like it
fuck them
that's what it is
and also take risks
get outside your comfort zone all of that
and i and i i i don't know why
um
maybe just because i've watched so much stand-up after a while you just sort of
like
get a little numb to it that i have to see
uh uh
i have to learn stand-up lessons through musicians it's really weird
so um
anyway uh
i don't even know where the fuck i am
so
we go out to go do the show and i gotta tell you yeah when you're standing back
there
like
ready to go on man it is just like
you know i don't even know i there's there's no way to describe it it just
i you know what i kept doing i kept standing on that stage whenever i could
because i was looking at it getting butterflies i was like i need to keep
standing up here
talking to cameramen and shit while i'm on this stage i have to get comfortable
here
or this isn't gonna work and i kept doing that and of course i'm a big fan of
sean pelton
the drummer there i got to meet him he's such a nice guy gave me a drumstick
which is fucking awesome
so um
you know and he was a nice guy and i talked to him
got to know him a little bit so when i came out to do the monologue i looked at
him
and he was having a good time big smile
really helped me out so thanks to him
and um
and then now i have to give a shout out to lauren and just everybody over there
and then all of these amazing comedic actors that uh
what do you call us i think that's the right word comedic actors uh
beck bennett
michael jay pete davidson of course
uh mikey day
heidi gadna
uh she was fucking hilarious
she wrote these two killer sketches that didn't quite make the show
i hope they do them in the future because they were great
colin jose
kate mckinnon
who is the king over there
she's just fucking
i was watching her and i'm literally like
all this all she needs to get
somebody just has to write her
just give her the oscar part and she's gonna go get it
she was
like
like i learned so much from her
uh
and uh
alex moffitt
kyle mooney had a great time with those guys
you know back in pete
and mikey day we got to do the uh
the politically correct
you know don paulie all of that
we had such a good time
uh
where else who else who else who else uh
oh ego chris red
they wrote me some great stuff
uh keenan thompson
um
was just amazing
calming force to be around
and he's fucking hilarious
he's just a fucking great dude
uh punky johnson you know last time i saw her
we were fucking hanging out at the uh
and she's amazing
she was like you know everybody's favorite down at the comedy store
and she also worked at the comedy store
so she'd be like behind the bar
you know
getting drinks for the crowd
and then going up on stage crushing it
you know the typical
you know comic coming up
and i can't tell you how happy
everybody was at the comedy store
when she got
um
snl
it was like the same thing
like when uh
melissa v senior got it
uh
bow and yang
i got to know him
it just they were just
all of them were so
they were so great
and so generous
and all of the sketches
that like
it basically once you do the monologue
you can then just sort of
hide in their talent
you know
and just
deliver your lines
oh jesus
me trying to fucking read out loud
and trying to get the hang of
it's the top card
because they lift it up
and then you can see the bottom card
don't read that shit
until
until they put it up there
because i kept stepping on people's lines
um
but like i said
i just want to thank
everybody over there
for uh
get me through it
and lauren gave me like
the perfect advice
um
for my monologue
after dress rehearsal
he said
just make sure you take
the time
to tell people
thank you
and that you
because i was kind of just
jumping into my set
a little too quickly
you know
because i want to get to the first joke
get to the first laugh
da da da da
rookie moves
but i mean
you revert back to your
rookie mistakes
when you
you get into something
that's as big as that
but um
my overall takeaway
from that show
was
it was
it's the most
exciting
fun gig
i've
ever done
since i got into show business
i still can't believe
that i got to do it
i still can't believe
it went that well
and um
i just can't believe
how much fun it was
because i was like
i was so fucking nervous
when you know
i was initially supposed
to do it in april
and then the covid thing
happened
and i'm not gonna lie to you
like
i think i was more excited
that it got cancelled
than i was bummed
because i was definitely
bummed out
but i was also like
oh thank god
that fucking
you know
the
the
the countdown
to having to fucking
have my shit together
to pull that off
has been shut off
and um
you know
i don't know
the whole thing
but the whole thing
worked out
because of everybody
over there at the show
so
fooled them again
got away with it
um
and i also gotta thank
the comedy seller
stand up new york
and new york comedy club
uh
for all the stage time
you guys gave me
that week
getting ready to do it
and uh
also
for keith robinson
for heckling me
while i was doing
my monologue
having no respect
for the fact
that i had this level
of a
high pressure gig
and it just put me
in a stupid mood
like
keith has like
this
sage thing
about him
he probably saw
that i was a little tight
or he was just being
his usual
asshole self
like
i don't give a fuck
that you're doing
your monologue
stupid
i don't like
your jokes
so
um
it was uh
yeah
that was a hell
of an experience
i'll never forget it
and then the
after it
it
um
after it was over
you know
you're standing
on that stage
realizing
how
how
it
it
goes by
so goddamn
fast
i know
at one point
when i was changing
when i saw
a picture of me
with the snl thing
and the band
was playing
i got such a
as i
that's when it really hit me
i was like i can't
like this is real
like i'm on this
fucking show
it was nuts
and um
then in the end
you get to say good night
i got to say rest in peace
eddie van halen
they got me a van halen t-shirt
and oh also
jack white
i forgot
he was those
the subtle nods to eddie
was
i didn't even finish the story
about jack
how he used to just play
like these little store-bought
he used to make guitars
and stuff for himself
like i don't even know
but he uh
he had the eddie van halen
force gang model
which was
the name of uh
eddie's son
and that's eddie's company
he named the guitar
after his son
because he's the greatest dad ever
right
um
not only the greatest guitarist
great
i mean if you do that
for your kid
you know you're all in
right
so
and jack was showing me
like the whole setup of it
and everything
and um
you know
no one's gonna go on stage
and play a van halen song
because you're not gonna do it
like eddie
but there was one point
with a song
where they brought it down
and just for the perfect amount
six to eight seconds
ten seconds
or whatever
jack did a little tap on solo
just the totally
coolest little tip of the cap
to eddie
and then went right back in
to
and now
this is how i do it
and um
and then they showed that video
and then i got to wear the van halen t-shirt
say eddie
rest in peace
i just thought
you know
when a guy like that
of that magnitude
passes
that
a show that legendary
to give him
his due
it was so
humbling
to be a part
of that
so
yeah
crazy
crazy
crazy
crazy

Bill Burr | The SNL Story

let's just talk about snl for a second i just i just want to thank everybody
over there um
laura michaels and the entire cast and everybody that works there i had the
most fun i had so much
goddamn fun doing that show i thought i was going to be an absolute wreck i'm
not going to lie to
you i was a nervous wreck um on sunday afternoon because i had run my monologue
a couple of times
and it wasn't working because i was putting it together and it always that's
what how it always
goes but i had this big legendary show that i'm gonna go do and everybody knows
the first episode
the first guest host was george carlin so i was really trying to downplay the
magnitude of the gig
but you can't when it's snl so i was kind of in my head and i was going on
stage and rather than just
telling my jokes i was asking the crowd if here's this idea what how what about
this one and i was
just eating my balls and then of course i was also doing covid comedy so i was
standing on sidewalks
and on top of roofs and i was just like what the fuck and i went to the taping
saturday night
um when chris rock did it and um it really helped me as far as when i saw it i
was just like oh my god
i can't believe this giant show is this whole the whole history of this show is
in this little studio
because it just seems because when you watch it on tv it is just the biggest
thing ever when you go
there it's it's not it's a soundstage it's just like this little thing and so
in a way that helped
me to relax but then on the other side like the fucking open sketch had jim carrey
and alec baldwin
two of the greatest to ever do it and i'm going like i can't follow those guys
i can't you know i'm
just and i was like you can't hold it together hold it together right and by
the way i had already run
my set like three times before i went over there for the taping and just ate my
balls
so i was trying to play it cool and um i i watched the whole show and i talked
to chris afterwards he gave
me some great advice and everything and i was thinking in my head i was like
god i wish i was
him right now because he's done and it went great i just like i can't wait for
that and i just started
thinking about 101 a.m you know sunday morning the following week when the gig
would be over which is
the the stupidest thing you can do because now you're not going to enjoy it and
that's right where
my head went i started catastrophizing my head i had a total fucking panic
attack in the hotel room
the sunday you know right before i was going to go in on the monday the first
day and my wife being
the rock that she is she took she talked me down and all of that and um you
know i've put her through
some shit on some big gigs like that freaking out which really is normal when
you're doing something
like that but it's also sucks for the person you're with that they have to sit
there it's like
you know somebody threatening to kill themselves that isn't going to kill
themselves you know it gets
exhausting after a while it's like you're not going to kill yourself can you
stop putting me through
this right so um i just was like all right i don't want to put my wife through
this and i don't
want to be in this mindset the whole week because it's going to fly by and then
afterwards
i know i'm going to do well i know i'm going to have a good time and then i'm
going to look back
going i wish i enjoyed this so i just took all of my angst and said there's no
reason to be nervous
the whole week until 11 30 saturday night and then if you want to be a little
nervous manageably
nervous whatever and then the show's going to start and just once i get out on
stage i'll be fine
so uh i just every day i'd wake up and i'd be like oh my god i'm doing snl and
i'd be like it's monday
we just sit down we hang out we kick around some ideas but blah blah blah blah
nobody's going to see
it none of this is going to be taped you could literally do a face plant you
know into a pie
nobody's going to see it and then i just kept doing that every morning and i
ended up having
the best time and um being obviously any comedian a huge fan of the show the
greatest one of the
greatest parts about the show is not only that you you get to do it is you get
to see how they put it
together you get to see how hard everybody works because that's the thing when
you host the show
you know everybody around you is busting their ass and you're just they're just
waltzing you around
like the friggin prom queen everybody's writing shit for you what's your wheelhouse
everybody is
they're all busting their ass and then people are you okay is everything okay
with you it's like yeah
i'm not doing shit you guys you guys are all working and um i just you know you
sit down you
do the table read you read like a zillion sketches and um i was reading them
you know and i thought
there was going to be like you know a lot that weren't going to be good and i
was reading like
these are all fucking funny and even the ones that aren't as funny as the other
one you could see how
you could punch this up by saturday it was going to work so i started really
getting excited like man
these guys these writers are amazing right then we did the table read the table
read was fun as shit
and i got to see the whole cast and um watching them how they do it and the
whole thing was just
i don't know it was it was incredible and then we started rehearsing them and
you get to go up in
the room as they start putting together this which ones after the table read
which ones they're going
to pick and then you go into the war room and now we're thinking of doing this
here and that there
what do you think about a pre-tape here and you get to sit in on all of it and
then there's all
this memorabilia and shit like i took a picture there was a flyer in there from
the first show
that had george carlin you know george carlin's picture on it said something
like a new show s
saturday night live or something like that and um and then friday we did the
pre-tapes
and i had a great time doing that we rehearsed and then i went back out shot
some more stuff that
was a long that was the only long day and then saturday you just show up they
they do like
a dress rehearsal and then they do one in front of the crowd and then you just
do the show
and it just flies by is the only thing i can tell you and um standing backstage
when they were doing you know after they did the uh the cold open with jim carrey
and maya rudolph
do my head spinning i forgot the whole jack white part you know that poor guy
was going to do the show
was doing what i would be doing if i was a rock star at 27 he was making out
with some pretty girl and
somebody saw it and took a picture whatever whatever whatever you know who
doesn't do that at 27 or 28
they'll have him on just not this show so then they added jack white and then
jack white came in
like the show wasn't already exciting enough he comes in
and um i got to watch them rehearse
and i gotta tell you something man this is amazing is it is to watch when you
guys watched it at home
to be standing right there when they were doing it like when i tell you all the
hair on my arm was
standing up when these guys started playing and the drummer was it is it daru jones
or daru jones i
didn't i i like the week just flew by his fucking setup my buddy said it look
he was playing drums
look like he's gonna be like falling out a window and um
they just came in and just
fucking
ripped
just
face melting shit and i was like holy shit and i just started thinking you know
if i crush my monologue
and i just do my part in these sketches and then jack's gonna do that twice
this is gonna be a fucking killer show
and then when we did the dress rehearsal
there was all all there was so much shit in there for eddie van halen by the
way
um like i didn't know that they were going to show um
the clip from when he came on
i think it was in 89 when his then wife valerie bertinelli hosted the show
so they had that clip and we did the dress rehearsal in front of the crowd and
we were about ready to say goodnight
um they played that clip
and i didn't know it was coming and i like the emotion of that was just like
fuck
like what are the odds like
you know
that i could get to say goodbye to this guy on this stage man was crazy
so
and then the other thing
was jack was telling me that you know
for the longest time i've ever seen like jack jack white is literally a guy who
could have gone to sears roebuck and bought a fucking guitar
and he'll make it sound better
than you know someone like me on a
ten thousand dollar guitar
he just can get that sound
he's just
like i can't even describe like
his whole vibe
it's like he's like a time traveler
it's like he's from now
but if you also feel like you're talking to somebody from the 1930s in like the
best way
and he goes on stage and it's like he's like fucking possessed
and i got such
i got so much out of watching him
even in the rehearsal
where it reminded me of a story i remember here
chris layton layton uh steve ray vaughn's drummer was talking about
where stevie was talking about some guitar lick and they were on the tour bus
and when he played it he still played it like he was in front of 30,000 people
he didn't half-ass it like he had a musical idea and he just fucking
just
you know only knew one way to do it like jack white and his band had that vibe
and
i don't know why but i always grab it i think
just
because i've always loved music i
i i learned so much as a comic watching musicians if that makes any fucking
sense
it was like when i was telling you when i watched that herbie hancock thing
he told that story about uh miles davis going don't play the the butter notes
or whatever
and i was like i know what that means comedically
that means go on stage and say what the fuck you want to say
don't ask the crowd if it's funny tell them it's funny and they don't like it
fuck them
that's what it is
and also take risks
get outside your comfort zone all of that
and i and i i i don't know why
um
maybe just because i've watched so much stand-up after a while you just sort of
like
get a little numb to it that i have to see
uh uh
i have to learn stand-up lessons through musicians it's really weird
so um
anyway uh
i don't even know where the fuck i am
so
we go out to go do the show and i gotta tell you yeah when you're standing back
there
like
ready to go on man it is just like
you know i don't even know i there's there's no way to describe it it just
i you know what i kept doing i kept standing on that stage whenever i could
because i was looking at it getting butterflies i was like i need to keep
standing up here
talking to cameramen and shit while i'm on this stage i have to get comfortable
here
or this isn't gonna work and i kept doing that and of course i'm a big fan of
sean pelton
the drummer there i got to meet him he's such a nice guy gave me a drumstick
which is fucking awesome
so um
you know and he was a nice guy and i talked to him
got to know him a little bit so when i came out to do the monologue i looked at
him
and he was having a good time big smile
really helped me out so thanks to him
and um
and then now i have to give a shout out to lauren and just everybody over there
and then all of these amazing comedic actors that uh
what do you call us i think that's the right word comedic actors uh
beck bennett
michael jay pete davidson of course
uh mikey day
heidi gadna
uh she was fucking hilarious
she wrote these two killer sketches that didn't quite make the show
i hope they do them in the future because they were great
colin jose
kate mckinnon
who is the king over there
she's just fucking
i was watching her and i'm literally like
all this all she needs to get
somebody just has to write her
just give her the oscar part and she's gonna go get it
she was
like
like i learned so much from her
uh
and uh
alex moffitt
kyle mooney had a great time with those guys
you know back in pete
and mikey day we got to do the uh
the 