What Bill Burr Has Learned from Death Bed Stories

There's two deathbed stories that I heard. All right. One of them was, should I tell the sad one or the cool one first? It's up to you. OK, I'll tell the cool one first. We'll land in a dark place. So I remember hearing Lou Reed. When Lou Reed was on his deathbed, he was just sitting there relaxed, smiling with this look of like wonderment, like enjoying your last experience. I'm going to experience death. And he was open to it and had a little smile on his face. And it's just like, OK, that's how I would like to go out. Not being like, oh, fuck, oh, fuck. And then there was another one. I almost don't even want to say the fucking name. I'm not even going to. I was this famous guy. And he was a child star. And I don't think he ever got past that. You know, the ups and downs. I was here, and now I'm only here. But he's still doing these huge shows. But he's not as big as he was. And his final words were, so much wasted time. And if you look at his career, it wasn't. He worked his ass off. But then that's what scares the shit out of me. I'm like, so much wasted time, dude. You played fucking theaters for 40 years, selling out and made millions of dollars. And you came out the other side of that, saying so much wasted time. So that's kind of making me look at, like, you know, this weird sort of thing with what we do. Like, oh, it's exciting and stuff. But you kind of also sit back, like, all right, well, if I do that too much and something else suffers, or did I take the time? Like, you know, I have a pool. I'm never in it. So it's just this expensive puddle. Like, what am I doing with this fucking thing? And it's like what comes over to maintain your puddle? Dude, and that was the dream. I remember living in play fucking New York, no air conditioners, like, someday I'm going to get a fucking house. And I'm going to have a fucking pool. And on a goddamn day like this, I'm going to fucking jump into that thing. And yeah, and on hot days like that, I'm not. I'm fucking sitting in my office, you know, working. But there's something to be said about that, because that's what you're supposed to do as a dad and everything. But then, you know, there's also that other thing. It's like, if you work too much, do you end up being that guy? Laying there. You probably will. Yeah. Thanks, Joe. The thing about those guys, well, if you work too much, I'm saying. I think those guys that's so much wasted time guys, you know, they also, it's very difficult when you're in a competitive business, like show business, to pay attention to just yourself, and just like enjoy your experience and be in the moment. Everybody is looking at themselves through the eyes of the success of other people. Like I remember when I was on news radio, the staff, everybody, the crew, the cast, everybody else besides me had a background in show business. I only had a background in stand up. I'd never taken acting classes other than a few private classes they made me take when they gave me a development deal. So I didn't understand the culture of acting. And I remember I was on the set, and they would read Variety, or they would read, you know, whatever those show, Hollywood Reporter, and they would read about people getting deals, and they would read about how well Friends was doing and how well this is doing, and they'd get so fucking mad. And I would go, why are you reading that? Like you're reading the devil's rag. I go, you guys are upset. I go, last time I checked, I'm on fucking TV. I'm a 27-year-old kid, and I'm on TV. Because that was such a well-written, well-respected show that didn't get quite the shine that it should have. I felt, because that was a really, really, really good show with a ridiculous level, talented cast. And there's always those things. But that's something you have to learn in this business, that you just have to accept that like, you know, I always equate a lot of things to music, that you'll have some pop star, some young guy or girl is going to come out, prime of their life, good looking, singing some bubblegum shit is always going to sell more than this other thing. And you just have to be, you've got to be OK with that. It's like, if you want to sell that, yeah, you got to go do that bubblegum shit. And if you don't want to do that, don't fucking sit there and look at it and be upset. Comparison is a thief of joy. It's a famous quote, but it's an awesome one. It really is. I've lived that for a while. Yeah, a lot of people do. Especially show business. Show business, that's a common thing amongst comics. You would see it, this gleam of jealousy. But I think also, there's good aspects of jealousy in that you can feel bad that you're not getting something that other people are getting and then it makes you work harder. But then once you've achieved a level of success where it's measurable, where you're like, hey, look, you're paying your bills. You're going and you're doing shows and people are coming to see you. You're doing great. Just concentrate on the work. Then concentrate on the work. Concentrate on being at your best. Don't concentrate on how well this guy is doing and how well that. I remember when Dane Cook was killing it. There were so many haters. And not just because of all the real reasons to be a hater, but also just because of his success was so astronomical. I remember people would just fume thinking about Dane Cook selling out arenas. It would drive them crazy. And I remember thinking, just concentrate on getting better. Catch new episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience for free, only on Spotify. 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