Bill Burr talks Fenway show, Trump, and his problems with Elf on the Shelf on ‘Kimmel’
Bill Burr stopped by “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Tuesday night for a wide-ranging interview with the late-night host.
As Burr prepares for his 2024 comedy tour across North America, Kimmel asked the Canton native about being the first comic to headline a show at Fenway Park. Burr called the 2022 performance a “big gig” and enjoyed taking the stage with veteran Boston comic Tony V, one of Burr’s longtime friends, who served as the show’s opening act.
“When I started out I learned so much from him, so it was a nice full circle moment,” Burr told Kimmel. “In the end, probably the best part, we were up in the right field bleachers smoking cigars as people were walking out. They would say, ‘Hey, great show!’ We’re both Boston guys so it was an unbelievable moment.”
While Burr enjoyed performing at the ballpark of his beloved Red Sox, he didn’t get to spend too much time to savor the moment in Boston thanks to his agent booking another gig for him in Toronto.
“I didn’t even get a chance to go to a Dunkin’ Donuts and get a high five after that show,” Burr joked. “The next morning, I’m at Logan Airport.”
The late-night host also asked Burr about his approach to the holidays, with the comic revealing that his wife,
Nia Renée Hill, purchased an Elf on the Shelf to keep their kids in line during the gift-giving season.
Burr told Kimmel that the Elf on the Shelf is “all her responsibility,” as the comedian isn’t a fan of lying to his kids about things like Santa Claus.
“How deep is the lie going to get?” said Burr. “I already don’t like that I said that there was this guy that doesn’t exist and now you have, like, the elf.”
“I really feel like whoever is keeping us all separated through politics and whatever, like Santa Claus is part of it,” he added. “They immediately break down the trust between the kids and the parent.”
The “Old Dads” star told Kimmel that, when the time comes to explain the realities of Santa and Elf on the Shelf to his kids, Burr plans to be “totally honest” with them.
“I’m just going to be, ‘Look, I got caught up in the lie that you’re supposed to say as a parent,’” Burr said. “It’s stupid.”
Burr’s holiday rant morphed into criticism of the way liberals have responded to former president Donald Trump. The comedian called Trump a narcissist and said that his critics should respond with just “neutral energy.”
“Liberals are so [expletive] stupid the way that they handle Trump,” Burr said. “You should shut up.”
The comedian compared Trump to one-hit wonders like Hank Ballard and his 1959 tune “The Twist,” which was made famous by Chubby Checker’s 1960 cover of the song. Checker followed up the track by recording 1961’s “Let’s Twist Again.”
“I think [Trump] was a one-hit wonder, right, he wrote, ‘The Twist,’ and then that was it, he was on the casino circuit,” Burr explained to Kimmel. “And then you idiot liberals wrote him ‘[Let’s] Twist Again’ when you indicted him. Now he’s a martyr.”
“He’s coming back Jimmy,” Burr added. “It’s going to be great for comedy.”