Everybody Hates Bill Burr, Good
Stand-up comedy isn't just jokes, it’s democracy's immune response — our bullshit detector.
Stand-up comedy isn't just jokes, it’s democracy's immune response — our bullshit detector.
From court jesters roasting kings (and somehow keeping their heads) to Lenny Bruce hauled off-stage by cops during a daring standup in buttoned-up 1960s America, comedians have taken the responsibility of saying what most of us can't or won't.
Lenny - Arrested for Obscenity Scene
Over the last five years, we’ve lived through the most intense wave of culture-driven censorship in my lifetime.
Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting the 2019 Oscars after an old tweet resurfaced containing homophobic slurs. SNL fired Shane Gillis for comments deemed “offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable” made in past podcasts. The list goes on.
Kevin Hart addressing the Oscars
Even with a loaded gun aimed at artists who commit thoughtcrime, comedians like Dave Chappelle stood their ground. He took on risky topics that most avoided. Chappelle famously joked about transgenderism, facing major backlash, but he didn't back down.
NBC NEWS: Chappelle Backlash Continues Over Transgender Jojes
Bill Burr chose "women" and the "MeToo" movement as his forbidden topics. Burr appeared on Conan and declared, "Women are overrated," and provocatively challenged the "Believe all women" mantra.
“Believe women? All of them? How about 85%? I’ll give you 87%, alright? But that last 13% that keys your car, lights your shit on fire and puts a family pet in a pot of stew……”
Bill Burr Thinks Women Are Overrated
Predictably, the Left hated comedians like Chappelle and Burr, while the Right embraced them.
But what happened to the comics who refused to challenge culture and merely echoed what was safe to? Comedians like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert have had their viewership decimated to audience sizes most full time YouTubers would be embarrassed with.
Have you seen a clearer example of a comedian embracing culture, instead of challenging it, than Stephen Colbert dancing for vaccines?
This isn't "go woke, go broke." It's "follow the culture—and die."
Compare this to the growth of Bill Burr over the same time period;
The comedians who have a backbone, have an audience.
Now the culture has flipped
As soon as Trump was re-elected in 2024, the cultural tides shifted overnight. Issues that previously sparked endless outrage — even in blue states — now barely raise eyebrows. Maybe we're exhausted, or perhaps we've collectively moved on, it doesn’t matter, the only thing that matters for comedians is realising the culture has changed.
This leaves comedians who championed free speech and unpopular conservative ideas over the last 5 years suddenly in a new position. The once-taboo topics they courageously addressed are now mainstream. It seems they've won; but what's next?
Bill Burr is the first comedian with the answer
Burr has adapted to the 2025 cultural pivot faster than anyone. With zero allegiance to any political tribe, Burr is now ruthlessly roasting those currently setting cultural standards.
On the Tonight Show Bill Burr went after Billionaires;
“(Billionaires) got people wearing adult diapers driving 18-wheelers trying to get Crocs to the box store on time. They’re horrible, heartless people!
“And then, for some reason, if you say that, you’re like a communist.” he went on.
“And then they try to politicise everything you say, and it’s just like, I don’t know, shouldn’t you pay your workers?”
How is the Right responding? Now they hate him, too. The popular Valuetainment podcast recently melted down over Burr’s takes on Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
“I personally don’t know what happened to Bill Burr, maybe it’s his wife, maybe it’s something else” Vinnie Oshana of Valutainment said reacting to a Bill Burr podcast clip, “You’re so stupid and gullible, you think (Elon Musk) is going to do the Natzi salute twice? That just shows how stupid Bill Burr is, that’s how gone he is. I guarantee you he was one of the BLM posting the black squares and all that shit.”
Bill Burr TORCHED Over Elon Musk Natzi Contraversy - Valutainment
And Ben Shapiro lost it over Burr’s take on Billionaires too.
“Bill Burr is a morale and economic idiot” Ben Shapiro claimed, “because you miss understand economics, (billionaires) need to be killed because they’re suddenly centralising all the resources? Please, name the person from whom Elon Musk has stolen money….. From whom Bill Burr has stolen his money? Bill Burr has a net worth apparently of $20 million”
Bill Burr’s INSANE Take On Billionaires - Ben Shapiro
Are you a comedian?
If you’re a comedian who finds their audience nodding and clapping to every joke, newsflash: you’re not a comedian, you’re a preacher.
Bill Burr is a comedian; a cultural slap to the face at precisely the moment it hurts the most.
Burr’s pivot to roasting the Right, after years of enraging the Left, isn't flip-flopping or opportunism. It's clarity. It’s honesty. It’s comedy.
New York Comedy Club Owner Emilio Savone told The Black Hoody that, “We are always living in absurd times and a comics job is to poke fun and to challenge. A great comic will walk into a room and if it’s a room that’s thinking one way, they’re duty as a comedian is to challenge it and break down the walls so we can all find the humor in all of it. Bill does that better than anyone else. He’s our modern day Carlin.”
If the comedians who challenged the Left when they were in power don’t challenge the Right now, their careers could suffer. They might end up just like those comedians who only followed trends over the past five years.
Burr is a case study on incredible art, and as a by-product, great business.
Bill Burr didn’t really pivot, he’s always been against tech bros. He had a whole run of jokes about Steve Jobs just after he died.
I love Burr. My two favorite comedians are named Bill. There will never be another Hicks.