Bill Burr

Born William Frederic Burr, Massachusetts native Bill Burr is a standup comedian, podcaster, and actor best known for his sardonic observational humor. Burr studied radio at Emerson College in the early '90s, and did his first standup show as a student in 1992. He relocated to New York City in 1995. In 1996, Burr won a role as a regular on the short-lived TV sitcom Townies, which co-starred Molly Ringwald, Jenna Elfman, and Lauren Graham. Sporadic guest roles followed on shows ranging from Law & Order: Criminal Intent to Chappelle's Show. In the meantime, he began to earn small parts in feature films, including 2001's Perfect Fit. Burr's first standup album, Emotionally Unavailable, was released in 2003. An expanded edition that included material from a 2004 show arrived in 2007 on the What Are Records? label. That same year, he started his own weekly podcast called Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast, offering his acerbic take on experiences and current events of the week. Recorded at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, his hourlong standup special Why Did I Do This? was released by Image Entertainment in 2008. It landed on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart. By that time, the comedian was a familiar face and voice to fans of late-night talk shows like Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Late Show with David Letterman, and another special, Let It Go, appeared in 2010. It climbed to number two on the Comedy Albums chart. In the meantime, he continued to appear in films such as 2010's Date Night and 2012's Stand Up Guys, and won a recurring role on the hit Bryan Cranston series Breaking Bad. Subsequent television work included appearing on comedian Nick Kroll's Kroll Show and voicing the lead of Frank Murphy on the Netflix animated comedy F Is for Family, which Burr co-created. In 2014, Jack White's Third Man Records released Live at Andrew's House, which captured a 2011 performance at Carnegie Hall. It returned Burr to the comedy albums Top Ten. Between his TV work, he continued to tour the country regularly with his standup show, including appearances at the National Theatre and Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in 2016. ~ Marcy Donelson