Comedian Bill Burr doesn’t think CEOs got the message from UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s shooting death.
During a chat with Variety about his new Hulu special Drop Dead Years, the 56-year-old comic touched on Thompson’s murder in NYC last month.
“The funny thing when that CEO got whacked was watching CEOs have to be uncomfortable,” he said. “I’m sure they didn’t learn anything, but it’s like: This is how you make everybody feel day to day as you apply pressure because ‘that’s how business is done.’ How you leave this burning wreckage of destroyed lives as you ‘restructure’ and ‘consolidate.’ It was fun to see them worry.”
For his Seattle-filmed special, Burr picks locations where he expects “a good amount of pushback from the crowd.”
“When you’re filming a stand-up special, there’s cameras there, so people tend to be a little more agreeable,” Burr told Variety. “And I need that push-pull thing to happen. I don’t want to be in an echo chamber. I would rather have it more hostile than agreeable.”
He tweaks his “asshole vibe” based on the state, saying, “If I’m in a conservative place, I’ll go more liberal. And if I’m in a liberal place, I’ll go more conservative. It’s like trying to make an over-medium egg, you know? There’s an art to it.”
Asked about being careful with political material, he replied, “No. You just go up and do it. And if you listen to that bit, it’s apolitical. I’m just saying we need to come up with a way to solve our differences without dropping bombs on children. I don’t think anybody would have a problem with that.”
Catch Drop Dead Years on Hulu starting Mar. 14.
