This past Saturday, Buffalo citizens braved the rain and freezing cold to see one very angry, yet quite hilarious man.
Comedian Bill Burr, originally hailing from Canton, Mass., performed this past Saturday at the Center for the Arts and did not disappoint. From his furious nature to his sidesplitting material, Burr was a hit with everyone in attendance.
When performing in Buffalo, comedians tend to target sports, wings and weather. Burr was no exception to this rule.
Unafraid to offend Bills fanatics, Burr joked that after last week's Buffalo Bills game, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick looked like "a guy lost in Home Depot." The good-natured crowd met this quip with a mixed chorus of laughter and light hearted boos.
Sticking to his football themed rant, Burr went on to comment on his hatred for the pathetic, nearly decade old Jets cheer and the lack of fear involved with going to a football game in today's world.
Burr's style of comedy can be described as traditional in nearly every sense. His performance is built around all the outlandish stories he's collected throughout his career and he relies on real world events to garnish laughs from the crowd.
However, his performance isn't without its own distinctive characteristic.
Several times during his performance he mentioned that he has a temper, which could be considered a slight understatement. However, Burr makes it work by channeling it into his comedy for hilarious results.
Thanks to his enraged mindset while on stage, Burr doesn't hesitate to speak his mind on a range of modern topics. Among them was the Tiger Woods scandal.
Describing it as a tragedy, Burr explains that what happened to Woods wasn't his fault. He goes on to say that Woods is considered the "king" and that when women marry the king, they need to realize he's going to have many temptations around him, the likes of which most other men will never experience.
But among all the vulgarity and brutal honesty, Burr also takes a serious moment to tell the audience that he is trying to turn his life around. He claimed he tried not drinking for 70 days, but found himself very bored so that was the end of that.
Burr also took a stab at the hosts of ABC's The View and their opinion on domestic violence.
"No reason to hit a woman? I would never do it, but I can think of 17 right now. Even if I came home drunk, I could knock off at least nine," Burr said.
He goes on to say that whatever happened to Rihanna was tragic, but she was not absolved of blame.
"It's not like she was just sitting there and then this shower of fists and elbows hit her," Burr said.
In addition to his take on sports and spousal abuse, Burr also felt it necessary to shed some light on his idea of faith and judging by the amount of laughter generated, the crowd was glad he did.
Organized religion has always been a target of Burr. He is a fan of science and proving why things are the way they are and he states his dislike for the "stories" of religion. Burr jokes that when, and if, Jesus ever returns he'll probably be on a seven-headed horse wielding a lightsaber.
If anything, this joke might have converted a few audience members in attendance.
What separates Burr from modern comedians is not his clever one liners or impersonations, but his ability to analyze the world for what it is while incorporating his anger and humor.
Right now Burr is in a good place, both on the stage and off. As he said, he is trying to turn his life around and dreading getting his girlfriend a ring. Hopefully however, turning his life around doesn't mean abandoning the world of comedy.
E-mail: arts@ubspectrum.com
