Bill Burr - Paper Tiger (stand-up): First not-so-funny Burr special

Bill has been releasing a lot of material in the past couple of years and also working on "F is for Family" so perhaps we are expecting too much out of the guy to believe that his new special should be (or could be) as good as those he has done in the past. Sadly, this one is a bit of a letdown and not anywhere near as good as his past specials.

source

This special took place in London at the massive Royal Albert Hall. I can't say for sure but this is likely the biggest venue that Burr has ever done.

Some would say that he was "following in the footsteps" of Dave Chapelle's recent special "Sticks and Stones" as a great deal of his comedy directly attacks Social Justice Warriors and the PC culture that (and I agree with him) has gone too far. I don't know if he was expecting the same sort of media backlash that Chappelle faced, but as far as I can tell, it didn't happen... it must be white privilege.

source

As is his shtick, Bill does a lot of screaming during his delivery and at least to me, it seemed like he was doing it a bit too much. The crowd nearly turns on him when he briefly mocked Stephen Hawking and during another bit someone in the crowd heckled him and Burr immediately completely destroyed this person.

As usual, Burr uses no props or technology during his set - it is just him and a microphone. He covers mostly social issues, but also talks about being a dad and a little on racism - which he is allowed to do because his wife is black.

While I definitely don't think this is a bad special, it simply isn't as good as what I have come to expect from this man. I think perhaps the tank is running on empty since he has put so much of his material into his TV show. I dunno. While still funnier than a vast majority of comedians out there, this is simply disappointing coming from who i consider to be one of the funniest people alive.

Overall rating = Decent

---

If you are interested here is a list of the specials I have watched that are currently available on Netflix (for my region anyway.)

---

Stuff I rate as "Excellent"

Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones
Ricky Gervais- Humanity
Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh
Joe Rogan: Strange Times
Dave Chappelle: Equanimity, The Age of Spin, and Deep in the Heart of Texas

The "Really Good" stuff I have seen includes

Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid
Kevin Hart: Irresponsible

The "Decent" stuff I have seen includes

Zach Galifianakis live at the purple onion
Ellen Degeneres: Relatable
Ken Jeong: You Complete me, Ho
Tom Segura: Disgraceful
Bill Burr: Paper Tiger

And the really not so good to awful stand up is

Amy Schumer: Growing
Amy Schumer: The Leather Special (quite possibly the most unfunny thing I have ever seen)
Donald Glover: Weirdo
Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado
Simon Amstell: Set Free
Bert Kreischer - Secret Time