Bill Burr

It's Open with Ilana Glazer

Bill Burr joins Ilana Glazer to discuss his upcoming role in Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, detailing how the film explores Facebook's political ad dangers and corporate whistleblowing. He opens up about a transformative

Key takeaways

• Bill Burr plays a fictional moral compass/coach in Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, which centers on a Facebook whistleblower facing congressional testimony.
• Burr reveals his anger sober date was December 1st of last year, following a breathwork session that released decades of trapped childhood and acting-related emotions.

Main topics

• Acting in The Social Reckoning / Aaron Sorkin collaboration
• Emotional breakthrough & breathwork therapy

Notable quotes

"The more of a reptile you are, the more ruthless you are. It's respected in business."

Conclusion

Burr's candid reflections on emotional healing, corporate overreach, a

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Welcome to It's Open. I'm still so excited that we're in season two and I'm thrilled about our guest today who's my friend Bill Burr. Bill started stand-up comedy in 1992 and he is a fucking champ. He was named one of the 50 best comedians, stand-up comedians of all time by Rolling Stone which is just sick. He and I met, I guess we met because we both had specials on Hulu but then we really became friends because we were doing Broadway at the same time. And he's just a multi hyphenate and a real like thought leader. But also this is so like sincere, but like a heart leader because he really does. He leads with heart. He's got eight standup specials. They're all fucking hits. He's been in TV and movies and made TV and movies. But like looking it up, I just Speaker 1 (0:47) remembered he was in fucking Breaking Speaker 2 (0:50) Bad and was in The Mandalorian. I'm like, girl, and he's going to be in The Social Reckoning, the upcoming movie about. Facebook that's not a sequel to the social network but is an update with where we're at. He's amazing and I loved our conversation and I hope you will too. Come on in. Speaker 2 (1:12) So I didn't know you were in The Special Reckoning. Speaker 1 (1:14) Oh, yeah. Speaker 2 (1:15) That's fucking major. Well, Speaker 1 (1:16) it hasn't come out yet. So a lot of people don't know that I'm in that. What Speaker 2 (1:20) part do you play? Speaker 1 (1:21) So it was, you know, it's written by Aaron Sorkin. And it's just, it's incredible. And like, I'm like the slowest reader ever. When I got the script, I still remember it was 145 pages. I'm like, this is gonna take me like four nights to get through this. And I started reading it. And the way he writes. It's like a snowball going down like the hill. And it just, I sat there in one Speaker 2 (1:42) sitting, Speaker 1 (1:43) summer school kid, and I got through all 145 pages. I was like, wow, that's like one of the, I think might be the best script. I think it's the best script I was ever sent. It's really about this real life employee that was at Facebook that had the courage to look at the direction they were going and say it was wrong. and become like a whistleblower. That's the real, that's the main, I'm like the B or C story. So what ours just sort of going back and forth is, I believe the Facebook guy is about ready to go in front of like Congress, and they're coaching him. how to testify Speaker 2 (2:21) so Speaker 1 (2:21) he can basically continue doing what he's doing rather than potentially fixing his business so he doesn't create a civil war or be part of the reason that we feel like we're headed towards that. It was amazing. And I got to work with, you know, everybody on it was just, you know, I met all these Billy Magnuson and Woodme and all of these amazing, amazing, amazing actors. And I, you know, I love like. There was sort of like an ensemble thing, so there was like six of us. So I'm kind of into watching how people do their thing. When it comes around to them, their coverage and the choices that they make. It was just like a really fun hang. Speaker 2 (3:01) And Speaker 1 (3:02) we shot in Vancouver, which is a really cool city. I had a great time. Speaker 2 (3:06) Billy Magnuson is so funny. As an actor, he is so fucking funny. He's Speaker 1 (3:11) funny as a person. Just in general, he's like super positive. Speaker 2 (3:15) Like, Speaker 1 (3:15) oh my God, do we have this muffin? This is like the best muffin ever. I met Speaker 2 (3:19) him in college and he was like always that person. Speaker 1 (3:21) Yeah, no, no. Kind of like a Speaker 2 (3:23) cheerleader vibe. Speaker 1 (3:24) Yeah, no, he was like, no, we totally like, we totally hit it off. And yeah, it was just, it was a good time. It was just a good time. And Aaron was awesome. He was, you know, wrote it and he was directing it and stuff. And he was like super excited, you know, after like a good take. Speaker 2 (3:40) Yeah. That's so cool. Speaker 1 (3:43) Yeah, and I'm a total people pleaser. So if he came out and he was excited, that would like make me happy or whatever. Congratulations. Speaker 2 (3:48) That's huge. Speaker 1 (3:49) Yeah. Yeah, it's all right. We'll see. Speaker 2 (3:51) Did you like the social network, the first movie? Speaker 1 (3:54) Yeah, yeah. I liked it a lot. And I actually, I was one night, my lovely wife was going like, you know, I know this because it's not a sequel. It's just sort of like. Oh. Speaker 2 (4:04) The Speaker 1 (4:05) first one was like, this is how it came about. And this one is just completely about like the dangers of not fact checking political ads. Uh Speaker 2 (4:14) huh. Oh, you Speaker 1 (4:15) know, not just calling them out specifically, but like just in general, this this whole like I don't understand why if I say something that's a lie on TV, I can be sued for libel or slander. But like if you do it on the Internet, you can just literally make shit up and there's no it's a really. crazy thing. So like, it's sort of examining Speaker 1 (4:39) that aspect of politics now, so. Speaker 1 (4:45) Anyway, I did go back and I watched the first one and it was one of those ones like, you know, I'm just going to watch like 10 minutes, get like the vibe of it. And then like two minutes later, I'd watch like the whole movie. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great cast on that first one, too. So, yeah, Speaker 2 (5:02) it's so fucking crazy like that. We've like watched this unfold. And it's really cool that you're like a part of the telling of like why we're here now. But it's I've been like running it back, you know, in my head. of like the past 10, 20 years of like being on Facebook for college and you like would get, you would get your college email and that was the only time you could go on Facebook. Speaker 1 (5:24) Oh, really? And Speaker 2 (5:25) it was like, oh my God, I'm not going to college. I'm going to go on Facebook. And then it becoming a public general thing and then it becoming. Parents Speaker 1 (5:34) took it over and then it became like just like this political kind of thing. I mean. Yeah, we're sort of like the lab rats for all of this stuff, and it hasn't been good. And I just know, I can just say, in the time that I've been doing stand-up, I started in 1992. It used to be, you know, we hated the Russians. That was it. And now it's like people hate states. It's just like, you want to be like, guys, same teams here. Like, people hate California, they hate New York, or they hate Texas, and they hate Florida. It's like, dude. Those like, don't you watch sports? Like the, and the thing that's scary to me is because there's so much content out there, like being like abrasive or like divisive is how you get clicks. And so everybody is sort of participating in pulling this thing apart. Like, you know, Trump to Biden to Trump is insane. It's like, it's, you got two guys who should be in a home. Like, how about somebody young that is going to have to deal with the ramifications of the decisions or whatever? So, you know, I'm just a comics, but it's like everybody's just grabbing what they can off the shelves and Speaker 2 (6:44) running Speaker 1 (6:45) out with whatever they can. But, you know, capitalism is a great thing if it's regulated. And they started deregulating it in the early 80s. And that's how we ended up. like where we're at and all of this, this new way of doing business where like you come up with something and you just close the door behind it. And it's like, no, nobody else is making money in this business, this, this sector of business, except for me. And then I'm going to systematically eat up everybody that's left. I'm going to do this startup lead loss. I'm going to overpay everybody and Speaker 2 (7:18) everybody's going to come to Speaker 1 (7:20) me and then we put everybody else out of the business. I dictate the market and you're going to work for fucking pennies or you're going to be homeless. And like that's happened in our business and every other business. And it's just like, you know, that's it. That's. It's out of control. Like you can tell it's Speaker 2 (7:35) a Speaker 1 (7:35) monopoly when they don't give a fuck. Because it used to be like when there weren't monopolies, all you had was your reputation, the quality of your product and how you treated your customers. When you have a monopoly, that's why like, you know, like Live Nation, they're internally sending emails laughing about how much they're fucking over people. Like this is what we fucked them out of parking. And it's just like, why would you guys be joking about that? Because if there was somebody across the street. Speaker 2 (8:01) Right. Speaker 1 (8:02) That treated them better, you'd lose all your business. But there's nobody across the street anymore. Speaker 2 (8:05) Right. Speaker 1 (8:06) And Speaker 2 (8:06) it's like annoying, too. Like it's tragic at worst, but it's just like fucking annoying on the day to day. No, it does Speaker 1 (8:14) get to the point. It's like, dude, how big does your yacht have to be? Like I have no problem with people having zillions of dollars, but like pay the workers. I Speaker 2 (8:22) know. It's so weird. Speaker 1 (8:23) Give them benefits. Like most people like. don't have ridiculous like demands. It's like, I would like to have a family. I'd like to be able to, to clothe shelter and feed them and not have to worry every month that I'm going to be homeless. Yeah. You can still have the bigger house. You could be on the Hill. You can look down. I don't give a fuck. I Speaker 2 (8:42) know. I I'm like, it's so weird that they like, don't want to even be liked, you know, the like antisocial aspect of it is so creepy. To me. Yeah. Speaker 1 (8:52) The more of a reptile you are, the more ruthless you are. It's respected in business. And then they hide behind, let's help business is done. It's like, no, it isn't. Yeah. That's how you're doing business. They just have like these sayings. Well, if I don't do it, somebody else would. And it's just like, all right. I don't know. I try not to like pay attention to it now because it's like super depressing. So I just kind of like. Speaker 1 (9:18) You know, I just tell my jokes And I try to be there for my kids and my wife. I don't know what else I can do. I know. Because everything else is just people yelling at each other. Speaker 2 (9:30) I know. That's uplifting. When I go on Instagram, I get so depressed and spiral. And then I'm like, oh, yeah. Then I remember, don't go on fucking Instagram. Social media drives me insane. Speaker 1 (9:45) I know, but it is fun. Speaker 2 (9:47) I Speaker 1 (9:47) get like motorcycles and old cars. No, Speaker 2 (9:49) my algorithm is saving Speaker 1 (9:50) that workout video that, you know, you're never going to do. My algorithm Speaker 2 (9:54) trolls me for sure. And like pulls me into anxiety and depression or I like skincare videos, but like, that's like, that's trolling me too. They're like, you get an older bitch. She'd tap your face a hundred times in a row and this will save you. And then I'm doing like dumb, like exercises, like so stupid. Like Speaker 1 (10:12) they just, they're doing the, what do they call the assumptive clothes and sales? It's like, You're doing this face exercise and