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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Walk Your Way Out

Bill Burr

Netflix · 2017 · 77 min

Bill Burr picks a fight with an unusually polite Nashville audience.

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Bill Burr is at his most combative when he’s trying to bully a quiet audience into seeing things his way, and this set thrives on that friction. He wants to talk about global overpopulation, fast-food addictions, and why he thinks Adolf Hitler’s productivity is weirdly comparable to Michael Jordan’s championship run. When the crowd pushes back, he doesn’t pivot; he digs his heels in. Filmed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, this 2017 Netflix release came at a transitional point in Burr’s career, shortly after he became a father and while he was riding high on the success of his previous hour. The release was met with a mixed reception from fans and critics, many of whom pointed out that the historic venue’s crowd felt stiff and unusually polite for Burr’s aggressive style. Still, the hour features memorable, strange detours, including a physical bit about gorillas learning sign language and a rant on cruise ship disasters.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Fat shaming and title origin

    Argues that obesity should not be off-limits to ridicule because it is preventable, coining the special's title by claiming 'You ate your way in, you can walk your way out,' while blasting customers who demand healthy options like McDonald's salads.

  2. Sinking cruise ships for population control

    Proposes addressing overpopulation by deliberately sinking cruise ships, acting out a graphic and comedic fantasy of fire-bombing vessels and strafing survivors.

  3. Measuring dictator evil

    Compares and rates historical dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin by using sports and music analogies to calibrate their levels of evil.

  4. Kanye West and the ceiling on evil

    Muses that racism occasionally works as a safeguard, suggesting that if Kanye West were white his erratic outbursts would have caused even greater societal damage, positing a glass ceiling for evil.

  5. Helicopters as ultimate escape vehicles

    Recounts learning to fly helicopters out of anxiety over economic collapse, noting a helicopter is the ultimate exit vehicle because it requires no runway.

How it plays

Tone
Irreverent, biting, dark, and politically incorrect.
On stage
No-holds-barred, no-nonsense, biting, unapologetic, and combative; dressed in a cowboy shirt on stage.
Pace
Gets straight down to business without elaborate intros or sketches, relying simply on a microphone and rapid joke delivery, though reviewers noted a deliberate slow build before hitting full stride.
About
obesity and fat shaming, fast food, overpopulation, dictators and evil, 2016 presidential election, marriage and domestic arguments

What the critics said

Critical response ranged from praising Burr's unapologetic refusal to pander to political correctness as another top-tier special to mixed reviews criticizing the running time and dated domestic material while still highlighting his dark, violent fantasy routines.

In the room: Greeted with an enthusiastic standing ovation by a sold-out Nashville crowd at the Ryman Auditorium.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, vulture.com, broadwayworld.com, eponymousreview.com, bnnvara.nl, bostonmagazine.com.

Backstory

Filmed in October 2016 shortly before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Burr taped in Nashville away from his typical New York setting, touching on topics including Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and approaching fatherhood.

Details

Released
Taped
2016, The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
Runtime
77 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Jay Karas
Topics
Before
I'm Sorry You Feel That Way (2014)
After
Paper Tiger (2019)

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