William H. Macy | Club Random with Bill Maher

Summary

Club Random with Bill Maher: William H. Macy

Episode Date: October 13, 2025
Guest: William H. Macy
Host: Bill Maher
(Note: Transcript occasionally says "Bill Burr," likely an error or guest appearance, but context and tone match Bill Maher.),

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Episode Overview

This episode of Club Random features an unfiltered, humorous, and thought-provoking conversation between Bill Maher and actor William H. Macy. The two old friends enjoy rye whiskey, reminisce about Hollywood, acting, aging, relationships, and reflect on cultural shifts, technology, and the evolving landscape of America. The episode is marked by candid anecdotes, playful banter, and honest self-examination, making it both nostalgic and current.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Aging, Self-Image & Hollywood Realities

• Aging in the Spotlight: Macy and Maher riff on how physical concerns fade with age, especially in show business.
  • Macy jokes about doing two films a year apart and “looking four years older” in the latter. (03:00)
  • Maher: “You notice as you get older… fixing one thing about your appearance, but then something worse comes along.” (02:20)
• Riding Motorcycles & Risk: Macy still rides a motorcycle but acknowledges the risks at his age. “I ride like an old guy…” (07:38)
  • “At our age, we have to scare ourselves on a regular basis.” – Macy (08:00)
  • Maher quotes: “Don’t let the old man in.” (08:11)

2. Marriage, Relationships, and ‘Felicity’

• Healthy Partnership: Macy credits marriage to Felicity Huffman as one of the best things in his life:
  • "It's kept me current and healthy and happy." (08:34)
  • On giving each other acting notes: “I don't recommend you try this at home, everyone, but for us it works.” (08:51)
• Balancing Criticism: They talk about handling criticism within marriage, and Macy shares honest challenges:
  • "She's hurt my feelings... but it's rare. If someone really just wants to be in your corner, it's a pretty easy task." (09:40 - 10:13)

3. Family, Parents & Forgiveness

• Parental Lessons & Friendship:
  • Macy shares a moment confronting his father about his parents’ marriage, realizing he’d crossed a boundary:

    "I was playing with fire... I realized it was none of my freaking business." (12:04)

  • Maher references Jackson Browne: "Don't confront me with my failures, I have not forgotten them." (12:28)
  • On being a truth-telling friend: “You want to be... but then when you do, you're the asshole.” (12:51)

4. Shameless, Professional Life & Self-Critique

• Learning Self-Compassion from ‘Shameless’:
  • Macy discusses how 11 years on Shameless taught him to back off self-criticism in his work:

    “That show sucked. There's another show. Just calm down. And Lord, did my work improve.” (14:14)

  • Maher: “Worry is negative thinking, unless it actually serves a purpose.” (14:37)

5. Alcohol, Rye Whiskey, and Family Habits

• Macy’s Rye Brand: Discussion about Macy’s participation in Woody Creek Distillers in Colorado, the specifics of rye as an American whiskey, and family stories of drinking rituals. (04:06 – 25:07)
• Alcohol Preferences:
  • Maher: “I barely drink at all at this point.” (05:40)
  • Macy on his parents: “They kept it under the sink with the cleaning stuff... they would take it like medicine.” (24:29)

6. Cultural Identity: WASP, History & Political Changes

• WASP Identity & American Culture:
  • Macy: “It’s a WASPy kind of skill I have... I can put shit out of my mind.” (16:41)
  • Maher: “There’s NO 1 under 50 who knows what we're talking about, what is [a WASP]...” (17:11)
  • Discussion of how U.S. leadership was once the preserve of WASPs, changes with JFK. (17:37)
• On Progress & Generational Knowledge Gaps:
  • “Just because something is new doesn't make it better.” (46:42)
  • Critique of younger generations not studying history, e.g., communism and world history. (47:17 – 100:01)

7. The Actor’s Life: Work, Fame, and Set Stories

• Experience on Set:
  • “Before you get the… this stuff in the can and they're finished with you, …the second you're wrapped, man, how long will it take you to get out of your trailer?” (29:33)
  • Discussing actors' camaraderie, storytelling, and how "workaday actors" make a life in theater. (32:26-33:44)
  • On improvisation: “Not much… John Wells was the producer. So mostly you did what was written.” (33:52)

8. Friendship Across Political Divide

• On David Mamet’s Politics:
  • “I'm always preaching, talk to everybody, be friends with everybody, even if you have virulent disagreements politically…” (34:31)
  • Example: Maher remains friends with right-leaning Mamet despite disagreements and heated debates. (35:40)

9. Kissing Scenes, Sex, and Uncomfortable Acting Moments

• Awkward On-Screen Romance:
  • Macy describes why love scenes are always awkward, no matter who you kiss:

    "It's awful. It's uncomfortable." (37:39)

  • Hilarious recounting of kissing a man professionally on stage:

    "Men are so freaking rough. Their beards... it's freaking awful." (40:05)

  • Maher: “George C. Scott… said: I apologize if I get an erection, and I apologize if I don’t.” (39:17)

10. Representation, Politics, and Identity

• Discussing Pete Buttigieg’s challenges as a gay politician and the importance (or not) of identity in leadership:
  • “I think we got to let somebody different start running things. A woman, a gay guy, a gay woman. We got to try something different.” – Macy (43:45)
  • “It’s not about whether the person is gay or a woman. It’s the ideas in their head.” – Maher (43:55)
  • “...If a woman gets elected, she's going to be sharp...cause she's got a heavy, heavy climb.” – Macy (44:55)

11. On Changing Tastes: Movies, Music, and Generational Shifts

• Golden Age of Rock:
  • “The golden age of rock and roll is whenever you're 16.” – Maher (01:45, 77:04)
  • Macy argues it was 1968, when he was 16. (77:07)
• Taylor Swift & Storytelling in Music:
  • “Taylor Swift tells great stories…” – Macy (79:56)
  • Maher admits not getting her music but respects her success. (80:02)
• Movie Slowdown:
  • Macy notes young directors are making slower movies again, reversing the MTV-era, rapid-cut trend. (95:51)
  • Maher: “I think the brains have been rewired.” (96:58)

12. Technology, ‘Reverse Improvement’, and Bitching About Modern Life

• On Tech Not Working:
  • Macy: “They don't work. Half the time the machines don't work.” (67:23)
  • Maher on streaming TV vs. old cable: “That's reverse improvement. I didn’t ask for it, and now it’s worse.” (68:13)
  • Both riff on the madness of passwords and smart tech in the home:

    “If you put in a light switch like this (shows basic switch), you’ll be dead before it breaks. It’ll last for 2,000 years.” – Macy (71:29)

• Self-Deprecating Humor on Being Old:
  • “So we may be too old fucks, but we’re right.” – Macy (72:47)
  • “Are you just calling us old because you don’t want to engage in the debate?” – Maher (70:24 ff.)

13. Veganism, Diet, and Ethical Eating

• Macy did veganism for three years after his daughter’s influence but now just eats fish. (63:13–63:35)
• “If you don’t eat meat you gotta work at it... otherwise you’re just eating the lawn all day.” – Macy (64:46)

14. Nature, Wildlife, and Hunting Ethics

• Living in Woody Creek, elk migrations, and hunting (both for population control and as a cultural feature).
  • “There are no natural predators left.” – Macy (59:45)
  • Debates on nature being ugly/violent vs. necessary/beautiful. (60:11–61:44)

15. AI, Technology & The Future

• On AI’s Promise & Peril:
  • Hope that AI will help but concern it reflects programmers’ biases and can “make shit up.” (66:00–67:23)
  • “We are the stewards on this planet, man. I don't... you can argue that we shouldn't be, but we are.” – Macy (62:12)
  • Concerns about the job market, how automation and AI make future uncertain for young people. (101:03)

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Notable Quotes and Moments with Timestamps

• On Shifting Life Goals as You Age:
  “We're here, we're upright. That's sort of a victory.” — Maher (02:20)

• On Marriage with Felicity Huffman:
  “It’s the best thing I ever did. It’s kept me current and healthy and happy.” — Macy (08:34)

• On Acting and Self-Forgiveness:
  “That show sucked. There's another show. Just calm down. And Lord, did my work improve.” — Macy (14:14)

• On Being WASP-y:
  “I'm afraid I'm one of those people. It's a WASPy kind of skill I have... I can put shit out of my mind.” — Macy (16:41)

• On Friendships with Political Differences:
  “...even if you don’t agree, even if you have virulent disagreements politically, we’re never gonna get there otherwise.” — Maher (34:31)

• On Awkwardness of On-screen Kissing:
  “It’s awful. It’s uncomfortable… Men are so freaking rough.” — Macy (37:39, 40:05)

• On Old Tech vs. Smart Tech:
  “Put in a light switch like this, you'll be dead before it breaks.” — Macy (71:29)

• On Generational Musical Bias:
  “The golden age of rock and roll is whenever you’re 16.” — Maher (77:04)

• On Progress & History:
  “The reason why things are cringe is because we did change. That's why it's cringe.” — Maher (49:28)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:00] – [10:13]: Aging, appearance, marriage and Felicity Huffman
• [13:10] – [14:29]: On forgiving yourself and lessons learned from ‘Shameless’
• [16:41] – [18:14]: WASP identity & generational change
• [32:26] – [34:12]: Workaday actors, trailer stories, improv and sticking to script
• [35:40] – [36:12]: Friendship with Mamet despite politics
• [37:39] – [44:14]: Love scenes, male/male kissing, LGBT leadership, perspectives on representation
• [68:13] – [73:01]: Technology rants, ‘reverse improvement,’ passwords, smart tech
• [77:04] – [80:44]: Golden age of rock, Taylor Swift, pop storytelling
• [89:49] – [94:04]: College, education, sex and partying, art and staying power of films
• [101:03] – [104:13]: Tech and automation in the job market, future concerns

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Memorable Closing

• William H. Macy plugs upcoming projects:
  • “Train Dreams,” “The Land,” “Soul on Fire,” and a series about the Cleveland Browns. (102:37–104:13)
• Maher and Macy agree on the value of old friendships, classic storytelling, and that, despite being self-proclaimed "old farts," they're still right sometimes.

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Episode Tone

Conversational, witty, self-deprecating, nostalgic—with a healthy dose of cultural critique and honest questioning. Both Maher and Macy balance humor with sincere exploration of human experience, aging, and modern life.

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For fans of candid, culture-rich conversation, this Club Random episode delivers a fun and thought-provoking ride through life, career, and change in America—anchored by two old pros who aren’t afraid to poke fun at themselves or their world.

Transcript

[Bill Burr]

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[William H. Macy]

No, it happened in 1968 when I was 16.

[Bill Burr]

How'd you get Timothee Chalamet to do your liquor ad for you?

[William H. Macy]

We're constantly mistaken for each other.

[Bill Burr]

Bill.

[William H. Macy]

How are you, sir?

[Bill Burr]

Bill Macy. May I. May I call you William H. You.

[William H. Macy]

May, but call me Bill. Did you miss me, dear?

[Bill Burr]

Why?

[William H. Macy]

I was on your show before.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, I know, but that was. That was a long time ago.

[William H. Macy]

You look good.

[Bill Burr]

So do you. I mean, we're here, we're upright. That's sort of a victory. I mean, you notice as you get older, like the way the goal posts receive, like, you know, things that you were very upset like about your physical appearance are like, well, something worse came along, so I'm just not going to worry about. I was so intent on fixing that one, but that.

[William H. Macy]

I figured that one out, though. Get rid of the mirrors. Just don't look. Although for what I do for a.

[Bill Burr]

Living, tougher when you're an actor.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. I still have yet to figure out how you can do one film and a year later you do another film and you look Four years older.

[Bill Burr]

You think so?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

I don't think that's your case, but. But, you know, you always had a mature look and, you know, I don't remember, too. I mean, what do you. What do you. What would you say is, like, the first thing you did? And how old were you when there was national attention and we kind of knew who you were and recognized you? Because it wasn't like, in your 20s, was it? What was. When was Fargo. When was.

[William H. Macy]

30S? 40s.

[Bill Burr]

40S.

[William H. Macy]

I did a thing called the Awakening Land. Elizabeth Montgomery and Hal Holbrook. And I'm gonna say I might have been in my twenties then. And it was a big miniseries and.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, a miniseries.

[William H. Macy]

Remember that phrase?

[Bill Burr]

Such a. Do I remember it? I did. Okay.

[William H. Macy]

Before you get out of here, you gotta try some Woody Creek Rye.

[Bill Burr]

All right. Rye.

[William H. Macy]

Rye whiskey, brother. This is America's drink.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, it has your name on it.

[William H. Macy]

That just makes it better.

[Bill Burr]

Why? Is it your brand or you're just. Yeah, I. I have your own brand of rye.

[William H. Macy]

Well, I'm part of the company, Woody Creek Distillers out of Woody Creek, Colorado. Ask me where I live.

[Bill Burr]

Where do you live?

[William H. Macy]

Woody Creek, Colorado? Yep.

[Bill Burr]

Wow. Rye.

[William H. Macy]

Fabulous. America's drinks.

[Bill Burr]

Rye is whiskey. I mean, you know what? I don't really. Where does rye fit in? It's not bourbon, but it's in the bourbon.

[William H. Macy]

Bourbon. Rye is rye.

[Bill Burr]

It's in the bourbon family.

[William H. Macy]

No, it's in the whiskey family. They're both whiskeys. There are laws about such things. If you're gonna be bourbon, you gotta be 51% corn. If you're gonna be rye, I'm gonna put some in a glass for you if you want it in.

[Bill Burr]

Well, I already poured this one. I will. All right.

[William H. Macy]

All right.

[Bill Burr]

I mean, you know, never mix, never worry. Bill, I think we.

[William H. Macy]

Oh, that's pussy talk.

[Bill Burr]

It's pussy talk. Well, okay. I'm glad we're getting down to it. Pussy talk, huh? We've only been here five minutes and we're already challenging each other with pussy talk. Okay.

[William H. Macy]

Okay. So this distillery makes the finest spirits in America. There are others.

[Bill Burr]

So that's made of corn.

[William H. Macy]

This is rye whiskey.

[Bill Burr]

Rye corn.

[William H. Macy]

Rye. Rye is a grass. Rye grass.

[Bill Burr]

Who's on first?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, right. Rye grass. It's that. It's a weed.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, it's made out of a weed?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. Rye.

[Bill Burr]

Okay. And bourbon.

[William H. Macy]

Rye bread and stuff like that.

[Bill Burr]

Because I don't want to eat corn. Corn's not good. No, it's not. You know, bourbon's good.

[William H. Macy]

I was a bourbon drinker for a while.

[Bill Burr]

Is that corn? Yeah. Well, it's good tasting and good to get you up, but it's not good for you, you know? You know what I mean?

[William H. Macy]

You're a tequila guy, right?

[Bill Burr]

Yes. I mean, I barely drink at all at this point. You know, apropos to our discussion of you gotta, like, throttle back when you get older. You just can't. I mean, if you drink as much as you drank when we were young, you'd look like Ted Kennedy. I mean, Ted Kennedy now. Really bad. So I barely drank. I look forward to coming here. Cause this is basically the only time I drink. Yeah, just water. No, no, I put the tequila in with the.

[William H. Macy]

But you're barely going to drink it.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, no, I'm gonna have more of it. As we continue to.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, half of my friends drink too much and the other half don't drink enough.

[Bill Burr]

And I'm gonna smoke pot. I raise you. You're dry. And I.

[William H. Macy]

Where can I put out some lines here?

[Bill Burr]

What? Just kidding. Did you have a coke era in your life?

[William H. Macy]

Yes. Not enough, though.

[Bill Burr]

I. Shameless.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

That was a great show.

[William H. Macy]

I was.

[Bill Burr]

That was a great thing for you.

[William H. Macy]

Fabulous. What a mitzvah. I just. I learned so much about it.

[Bill Burr]

And what a part. What a part. What a pleasure to like. I mean, that must be fun to go to work and just, you know, indulge. Not that you're that guy, but just to be that guy for a while.

[William H. Macy]

Sometimes I'd read these scripts, I'd have to call my daughters and say, is this stuff happened? This is a real thing? He would go, yeah, Pop, come on. Good God. 11 years.

[Bill Burr]

11 years. Really? That show was on 11 years. Fuck.

[William H. Macy]

And it was at Warner Brothers. And I live up off of Mulholland. I'd ride my motorcycle there. I mean, it just couldn't get better than that job.

[Bill Burr]

You still ride a motorcycle?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Well, that's gonna fuck you up.

[William H. Macy]

Not if I don't fall down.

[Bill Burr]

I know, but you. But I mean, I've certainly known enough people who have fallen off that fucking thing.

[William H. Macy]

I know. I don't want to talk about it. I ride like an old guy, I will tell you that.

[Bill Burr]

But I mean. Okay, but like, if you fall off a motorcycle at your age, you know.

[William H. Macy]

It'S a bad thing.

[Bill Burr]

It's a bad thing. I mean, I played basketball yesterday and, like, I'm a little stiff today, you know?

[William H. Macy]

Right.

[Bill Burr]

It's just, you know, I'm not.

[William H. Macy]

I'm not saying it's not stupidly. Dangerous. But I do think at our age, we have to scare ourselves as on a regular basis.

[Bill Burr]

Scare ourselves.

[William H. Macy]

Well, we got to get out of our comfort zone. We've got to try stuff that's new.

[Bill Burr]

There's an old saying, don't let the old man in.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, right.

[Bill Burr]

You know, and I. I believe that. I mean, that's why I never got married. I just feel like marriage is the portal to aging, you know, and that's individual. I mean, certainly. I'm sure for many people, it's the portal to fun.

[William H. Macy]

Man. I married really well. It's the best thing I ever did.

[Bill Burr]

Really?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. It's kept me. It's kept me current and healthy and happy and.

[Bill Burr]

Yep, current. Why couldn't you say current without marriage?

[William H. Macy]

You could. Oh, I'm not sure I could have, really.

[Bill Burr]

Well, you need someone to balance each other.

[William H. Macy]

Felicity is an actor too, and she's got different interests, and it's healthy. It's a really healthy thing. And we talk about it, man. We talk about our scripts, we talk about acting, we give each other notes. I don't recommend you try this at home, everyone, but for us it works.

[Bill Burr]

But is it. It's not too much of a thing. Like, you have to. Like, what if. What if she is critical of something you're doing, like in the play or the movie you're doing? I mean, and then you're kind of pissed at her. So doesn't that infect the, you know, later on in the evening time when maybe you want to have more romantic thing, but you're kind of still pissed because she criticized your acting at three in the afternoon?

[William H. Macy]

We met in the theater. We grew up together in the theater. And it's happened. She's hurt my feelings, and I know I've hurt her feelings by being too harsh, really. But it's rare. It's rare we talk about it. And I think if someone really just wants to be in your corner, wants to help in any way they can.

[Bill Burr]

Right.

[William H. Macy]

It's a pretty easy task to. To know that line of. When you've said it, you've said enough. It's a suggestion.

[Bill Burr]

Were you, when you were single, were you always looking to get married? Did you think you needed a. Or wanted. You wanted a partner. You wanted a. A. I was.

[William H. Macy]

We got married when I was older, had kids. I did all of that stuff when I was older.

[Bill Burr]

So the second time around.

[William H. Macy]

Second, yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. I mean, Ingrid Bergman got married seven times. And she said I married more people because I am more people. And I kind of always understood what she meant by that. Maybe not seven times, but when I think of, like, Bill Maher of his twenties, I don't even know who that is. I mean, we were pissing out of the same dick, but past that, I mean, it's just like now, could that person be, you know, still very much in love and on the same wavelength somebody, when you're in your 60s, absolutely could, and it has happened. My parents are married 41 years.

[William H. Macy]

Did they get along?

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, but everybody in that era did. It was just a thing.

[William H. Macy]

My parents. No, no.

[Bill Burr]

But even if they didn't get along, they stayed.

[William H. Macy]

They stayed together. It was interesting. At one time, I had a real serious talk with my dad where I said, split up? And he said, no. And as we got into it, I had one of those moments where you grow up real fast. When I finally looked at his face and realized the damage I was doing, the territory I was taking him into, facing stuff that he didn't want to face.

[Bill Burr]

You?

[William H. Macy]

My dad?

[Bill Burr]

No. You were taking him into this territory? Yeah. How old were you at this time?

[William H. Macy]

In my 20s.

[Bill Burr]

Okay.

[William H. Macy]

They didn't get along.

[Bill Burr]

And they were. And they were still together, but they were not. Right. And you suggested maybe they'd be happier.

[William H. Macy]

Move off, Move off.

[Bill Burr]

And he didn't take it well.

[William H. Macy]

He didn't have the strength to do that. It wasn't going to happen. And I was playing with fire, with his emotions, and I suddenly went, God, what's the matter with you? And I realized also, it was none of my freaking business.

[Bill Burr]

Well, you're their son. It's a little of your business.

[William H. Macy]

It's a little. And I went way past a little.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. That's a hard call. You know, Jackson Brown has a great line. Don't confront me with my failures. I have not forgotten them.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

I think of it often, you know, when people. Because I have not forgotten them, and I am in my own worst critic, and you may be probably yours, you're a very successful person. Usually successful people are their own worst critic.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

But. Yeah, you want to be. I've confronted situations like that myself where, like I say to myself, if you're a real friend, you're going to tell this person the truth, because that's what a real friend does, and nobody else is telling them the truth. But then when you do, you're the asshole.

[William H. Macy]

You're the asshole. That's a tough one, isn't it?

[Bill Burr]

It is a tough one. Especially if it doesn't work, like in this case. Then you're the asshole. And it didn't work.

[William H. Macy]

The guy I grew up with, Steven Schachter, he was a good friend of Dave's. We were in that original company. And he's one of the smartest guys I know. And he had that philosophy, a good friend is going to tell you the truth.

[Bill Burr]

Right.

[William H. Macy]

And my God, he made people mad for some reason. I can do the same thing and they don't get mad at me. He's talked about it. Felicity's talked about it. I can say the hard things and get away with it. Not always, but.

[Bill Burr]

But you just said to your father, not.

[William H. Macy]

I know, not always, but, but usually the big ones.

[Bill Burr]

You up with the.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, it's one of, you know, you're talking about forgiving yourself. It's one of the things I learned in Shameless because I got to go to work for 11 freaking years. Every day I got to act. I really backed off of myself. I thought, okay, he did the scene bad. There's another scene. Calm down.

[Bill Burr]

Really?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. That show sucked. There's another show. Just calm down. And Lord, did my work improve.

[Bill Burr]

I'm not sure. You're telling me that you're happy you came to that place or not happy?

[William H. Macy]

Oh, very happy. Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Very happy that you let yourself go. That.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. You know, worry, it doesn't help anything.

[Bill Burr]

Well, it doesn't help anything if there's no practical. Yes, you're right. Worry is negative thinking, unless it actually does serve a purpose.

[William H. Macy]

Motivates you.

[Bill Burr]

Motivates you. Or also fends off trouble that is a fur away that you are seeing coming toward you. So your mind is turning and turning and turning. How can I avoid this? You know, I'm not one of those people who's very good with trouble if it's really at my doorstep. There are people, I've known them who they can be like on, literally on trial for their life. And until the verdict says guilty, they sleep like a baby.

[William H. Macy]

I know.

[Bill Burr]

They're out partying. I mean, really.

[William H. Macy]

I know. I know these people, too.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, I think Diddy was one until they nabbed him. He just didn't think they were going to nab him. He could have fled the country. He was sitting in a hotel lobby. He was like, eh, you know what? They're not going to get me.

[William H. Macy]

Getting back to the Shachter Factor. My friend Stephen Schachter. Perhaps someone should have said, dude.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. But I, I, I am not that guy. I. My method of staying happy is keeping trouble as far away. Because if there is something to worry About. I will worry about it. Yeah. So, like, I don't mind when I get all godfathery. Remember in the Godfather when he says.

[William H. Macy]

Why didn't you come to me first?

[Bill Burr]

Well, that. But no, what he says to Michael, women and children, they can be careless. Men can't be, you know, in his era. And with all that, he was saying, like, I have to always be thinking ahead because they're going to try to kill me. You know, whoever comes to you for the meaning, that's the traitor. So that's how I do it, you know. But it would be wonderful to be one of those people who can just put shit out of your mind.

[William H. Macy]

I'm afraid I'm one of those people you can. It's a WASPy kind of skill I have. My mother was great. I'd say, mom, did you see the film? I did. And she said, yeah, I don't like that. Say, mom, what about blah, blah? I don't like to think about that. And she wouldn't think about it. And I've inherited that. I can put shit out of my mind.

[Bill Burr]

And why do you think that's a WASP kind of quality? And by the way, maybe because I'm.

[William H. Macy]

A WASP and I don't know many people that cannot chew on things.

[Bill Burr]

There's NO 1 under 50 who knows what we're talking about, what is in it. They don't know the word wasp. I've tested it.

[William H. Macy]

How can you not know what a WASP is?

[Bill Burr]

They don't know what. They know what white means. They don't know Anglo Saxon, Protestant, like, is like. Well, they know what that is, sort of. But like that anagram or whatever that word means. I mean, what is it?

[William H. Macy]

All right, Is that progress? I don't know.

[Bill Burr]

No, it's not progress. It's ignorance. I mean, this country was founded by white Anglo Saxon meaning from England, Protestants, you know, obviously, terrible history. We have exclusionary, racist, blah, blah, blah. But that's who they were. They didn't allow into their club not just blacks, and of course not Indians or Mexicans, but not even Catholics or women or Jews or women. White, Anglo Saxon, Protestant, wasp. That was until Kennedy. In our lifetime. John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic president and he broke the wasp.

[William H. Macy]

And remember the controversy of what will a Catholic do in the White House?

[Bill Burr]

I don't personally, because I was a toddler, but I. Oh, shut up.

[William H. Macy]

You were not Kennedy.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, I was four when he was elected. I just was not into the campaign. I feel very old. I remember once my father and I did have like a, Like a fight. Not a fight, but like, I was like, you know, I grew up in that era where you were kind of scared of your father. So I didn't throw tantrums, but he wanted to watch on the black and white tv like a Kennedy speech. And it was on when the Three Stooges were on or something. And I was like, you cannot preempt the Three Stooges for Kennedy. And there was no second tv. I mean, I know it seems insane.

[William H. Macy]

How much back in the Middle Ages.

[Bill Burr]

Thing has changed in just our lifespan, you know?

[William H. Macy]

Do you. Well, you do. I know a lot of people that won't watch the news anymore.

[Bill Burr]

I don't watch the news at all.

[William H. Macy]

You don't?

[Bill Burr]

I read about it and I watch tmz. That to me is the news. I can't watch cable news. It's. It's. I, I, you know, would rather get my news from different sources, mostly TikTok.

[William H. Macy]

So what do you do? Do you read in the morning? Do you have a number of hours?

[Bill Burr]

Bill, I'm not up in the morning. Mornings are not comedians times. You don't go to sleep. I go to sleep. I just don't get up in the morning. Why do I.

[William H. Macy]

It sounds like you're arguing that you don't know anything and you have no information and I know.

[Bill Burr]

No, no, no. I just said I don't read it in the morning.

[William H. Macy]

Oh, when do you read?

[Bill Burr]

At night when I'm up or in the day? I'm just saying morning is not my time. Are you a morning person? You have to be. When you're an actor. You're on the set at like 7:00am, right? Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

And recently I've started to appreciate. Felicity loves the morning. It's a really magical time.

[Bill Burr]

It is. You know what? Whenever I've seen it a few times. No, I'm serious. It is great. I just can't be up at both ends. I could when I was 20, but.

[William H. Macy]

I get a burst of energy at night. That's my problem. Yeah, that'll keep me up until one.

[Bill Burr]

So do I. And I go with it.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

I don't fight it. Yeah. You know, my family was a late family. My father worked nights, so he came home late, he slept late. I mean, even as a kid I used to want to stay up to watch Johnny Carson. So I was. And then I had to be up at 7 o' clock to get the bus to school. So I would, you know, take a nap in the afternoon or something.

[William H. Macy]

Oh, naps. Speaking of cocaine, Naps are the new cocaine. I think they're just the most fabulous things, naps. And they're legal in all states and non addicting. And it's just. I love naps.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. I used to love them and I can't really do them now. I mean, that's one of the casualties I found from aging is that it's harder to get to sleep.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

And I certainly can't just conk out in the middle of the day. I can put myself into a sleep coma for like 10 minutes because sleep kind of puts me out. I mean, food, like if I'm, you know, if I'm. My gut is having to digest.

[William H. Macy]

You have to lie down for a while.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. It doesn't matter where I am. I'll just conk out. But it's very short and it's not satisfying sleep.

[William H. Macy]

When you're working, the trailer has. Usually the air conditioner makes it rattle and it makes a noise. And, boy, I can just. Only for 30 minutes, 35 minutes.

[Bill Burr]

You can do it in a trailer?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, in the makeup and your trailer.

[Bill Burr]

I couldn't do it on a private plane.

[William H. Macy]

No. I can't sleep on an airplane either. The trailer is different. It rattles. It's got that vibration and that white noise puts me right out.

[Bill Burr]

You were like, that's born in a trunk kind of stuff. It kind of is. That's show business in your blood kind of stuff. You fall asleep.

[William H. Macy]

It's so weird. I've never done anything except what I do.

[Bill Burr]

I'm going to try this.

[William H. Macy]

Okay.

[Bill Burr]

I'm going to try it as a taste.

[William H. Macy]

I can't wait. It's not the face I was looking for.

[Bill Burr]

For me, it tastes like scotch to me. I've never been a scotch drinker and I learned when my mother and father were celebrating their 25th anniversary that day, never to switch liquor. My mother all of her life was scotch. My father was a martini drinker, Irishman. And, you know, had, you know, more than one. Let's just say not a drunk, but more than one. When he got home from work, okay, but always gin and, you know, vermouth. Mother always one scotch. You know, this was the generation World War II generation. Five o'.

[William H. Macy]

Clock.

[Bill Burr]

When it hit five o', clock, it was like you could see the drool coming out of their mouth. 5 o' clock meant you could have a drink and you weren't a drunk.

[William H. Macy]

It's five o' clock kind of got me by the throat. Five o' clock hits and I think.

[Bill Burr]

Hey, so it is Very smooth. A minute later, I must say, it's America's drink. But okay, so 25th anniversary. And there was big party and, you know, for us at the middle class and the patio. Okay, yeah. It was in the summer. July 14, Bastille Day is their anniversary. And I'd never seen my mother drunk. And she. This day, because I guess she was nervous, decided to have a martini, a gin martini instead. And she was like, still can see her from the patio, from the bedroom window. It's like, that is so not mom.

[William H. Macy]

I know.

[Bill Burr]

And it's like, stick with the liquor. That works for you. It's like, whoa.

[William H. Macy]

Interestingly, my parents did drink rye whiskey, Canadian rye. And it's funny that I would like the spirits so much because they kept it. It was Canadian rye. It wasn't good. They kept it under the sink with the cleaning stuff, and they would pour two shots of it with a glass of water, and they took it like medicine. They would down it and then chase it with the glass of water. It was about as unsexy. And as I thought, why are you doing this? I don't get it. And why do you keep it under this sink with the Clorox? That's got to say something.

[Bill Burr]

What does he think it says?

[William H. Macy]

I think they were guilty.

[Bill Burr]

Right.

[William H. Macy]

Did I mention I'm a wasp?

[Bill Burr]

You know, I gotta say, I feel kind of really good now. I feel like that It's a very warm.

[William H. Macy]

We're not allowed to put it on the label, but it makes you smarter and better looking. It's been. It's been clinically, I must say.

[Bill Burr]

It's kind of a. Yeah, I don't like the taste, but it is kind of a warm, velvety, Mel Torme kind of feeling.

[William H. Macy]

And bourbon has a bite to it that I now don't like. But I'm a Southern boy, so I grew up with bourbon, but now I like rye.

[Bill Burr]

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[William H. Macy]

The.

[Bill Burr]

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[William H. Macy]

The rumor is George Washington left office, and I think the federal government bounced his last three checks. At any rate, he was. He needed money and rye whiskey. That's what he started.

[Bill Burr]

Making George Washington.

[William H. Macy]

George.

[Bill Burr]

That's what he did as a career after the presidency.

[William H. Macy]

Yep. Made a lot of money, too.

[Bill Burr]

Isn't that so fucking awesome?

[William H. Macy]

Perfect.

[Bill Burr]

That we treated back then our ultimate leader.

[William H. Macy]

Just.

[Bill Burr]

He's our leader and we love him and he's the father of the country, but he's also just one of us. Yeah. And when the gig's over. Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

He's no longer the father of our country.

[Bill Burr]

It's kind of like how baseball players in the off season, before they made millions of dollars, you know, they'd be like the bartender.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

At the local gin joint because it was the off season. And they made $40,000 a year like everybody else. And so they needed. We have really come.

[William H. Macy]

It's like being an actor, too, especially a workaday actor when you're doing guest stars and stuff like that. Man. Before you get the. This stuff in the can and they're finished with you, it's. Do you need water? Here's a chair. The second you're wrapped, man, how long will it take you to get out of your trailer?

[Bill Burr]

It's really.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, pretty much.

[Bill Burr]

Yo.

[William H. Macy]

No.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. You're.

[William H. Macy]

I'm a big cheese.

[Bill Burr]

Right, right. You mean when you were starting. Yeah, yeah. Well, I remember. I mean, the 80s, I was, you know, more making my living. I mean, I was always a standup, but I did that. We all thought when we came out of the New York clubs, the way to get ahead was to be on sitcoms, which I did. You know, and. And then that leads to, like, silly comedy movies. And for me, it led nowhere, thank God. But I. I remember those kind of parts where you didn't get a full trailer. You got a honey wagon. Yeah. Which was like a, you know, a little compartment connected to many other little compartments.

[William H. Macy]

You take a trailer and divide it into three.

[Bill Burr]

Right. So when somebody else walked up into their trailer, it was like your trailer shut. Now, maybe it put you to sleep, but. Yeah, Right. But I did not enjoy those.

[William H. Macy]

That's the other thing about Shameless had a nice trailer. Sometimes they'd wrap me and I wouldn't leave. I just hang out in there. It was so great. I hung pictures on the wall. I had a.

[Bill Burr]

Right.

[William H. Macy]

A little bar set up. And.

[Bill Burr]

Well, show business is great if you make it for the, like, very top.001%.

[William H. Macy]

It's true.

[Bill Burr]

And for everybody else, even if they know your face very often, it just sucks. You don't make much money at all. It's embarrassing. Sometimes people who, like, they have to take, like, a regular job, and then people look at them like, you're famous. Yeah. Why are you working at Walmart? Why are you on the subway?

[William H. Macy]

Or the worst of all, when you're wildly successful as a young person, then it goes away. And you gotta live the rest of your life with that memory. I can't imagine that that's.

[Bill Burr]

Every athlete. Yeah. Every model, almost. I mean, you can still, you know, transition to a career that's not, you know, broadcaster. I mean, Tom Brady is obviously not playing anymore, but he's into a lot of other stuff. But you gotta be really good when you were there. Yeah. You know, you Gotta be iconic in the year. But otherwise the built in level of, you know, obsolescence is so scary for athletes in particular.

[William H. Macy]

You know, I grew up on the stage, and in Chicago and New York, I knew a lot of actors. They were workaday actors, but they had. They owned our own home. They put their kids through college, they made a living.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

And my God, they're glorious people. I was just talking to someone about this when. What was I doing? Anyway, it was a bunch of actors and we were telling stories and there's nothing better. Actors are generally raconteurs, and actors have rehearsed their stories. You know, they. They tell the same stories, so they tell them quickly. Other actors are smart enough to let them finish. And then you get out with civilians and you're telling a story and just as you get to the punchline, they go, you know, a funny thing happened to me. And now in my old age, I've gotten to saying, shut the fuck up. I was about to. I'm telling a story. And they go, sorry, sorry, sorry. But I love actors for that. Nothing like sitting around.

[Bill Burr]

You can't fool me. Actors can't tell a story without someone writing it for them.

[William H. Macy]

Oh, yes, they can.

[Bill Burr]

I'm kidding. Well, some can, some can't.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

I certainly have met actors who literally can't do much of anything.

[William H. Macy]

I've met a lot of funny, funny writers who aren't funny in life. When they tell this story, it's. It's.

[Bill Burr]

Did they let you. When you were on Shameless, did they let you fuck with the script? A little. If you felt like you could come up with something better.

[William H. Macy]

Not much. It was. John Wells was the producer. So mostly you did what was written. Every once in a while people would go off the reservation and everybody. Once in a while, it would actually make it into the cut.

[Bill Burr]

But they didn't encourage improvisation.

[William H. Macy]

No, I'm not a fan of it myself. I stick to the script. Yes, sometimes, and in my older age, I'm trying to be less precious about it, but Dave Mamet taught me everything I know, so I have a tendency to him.

[Bill Burr]

You've been here twice?

[William H. Macy]

Yes, I've seen him.

[Bill Burr]

We went out to dinner the other night.

[William H. Macy]

He's the smartest guy I've ever met. The president, company excluded.

[Bill Burr]

But I think it's great that you still can be friends with him because I'm always preaching, talk to everybody, be friends with everybody, even if you don't agree with them, even if you have very virulent disagreements politically, we're Never gonna get there.

[William H. Macy]

Wait, you're saying people should talk to each other?

[Bill Burr]

Yes, I am. And by the way, that's controversial with some people. I know, but that's not where I am. And David Mamet is about as far right now as you can get, and that's his journey. You know what? I can't follow him to where he is with Trump and so forth. And last time he was here. Look, I have no agenda, as you can I'm sure tell with this show. That's the point of it. There's no agenda, there's no cards, no nothing except me and you talking just the way we were if we were in a bar. So I had no agenda, and I certainly wasn't trying to pick a fight. But five minutes into the last time Dave was here, we were yelling at each other. I mean, he got very mad and was like. It did. You saw. You know, and he was like, I didn't come here to be. I'm like, dave, I didn't invite you. It's just where it went right away. I can't help it. And then by the time it was over, we were as good of friends as we were when he walked in and we had dinner, like, three weeks later.

[William H. Macy]

Sweet.

[Bill Burr]

Yes. Because with, you know, a hard line Trumper, we're going to get to a moment. I've had it with other people, Dana White, everybody. We all end French. But yeah, there might be that moment where there's a little yelling and it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. It's okay. If you know how to get back to. And I just accept that in you. I can't change it, and I'm not going to change it. And unless you're really Hitler, you know, I can still be friends with you.

[William H. Macy]

I agree.

[Bill Burr]

And I'm so glad that you're friends with David Mamet, because he is really. Boy, you know, he.

[William H. Macy]

I tell you, a long time ago, I learned to listen to him because some of the things he wrote, some of his plays were prescient.

[Bill Burr]

Yes.

[William H. Macy]

That play, Oleana. Oh, I saw it when I first read it. I said, dave, Dave, Dave, are you sure you can't do the. Give me. He said, yeah. And he was just five years ahead.

[Bill Burr]

Of he loved you, everything. Because you could tell when a director has, like, a little road company who they keep going to. He love, loves you because, like, he's used, you know, you could. If you're part of that, you know, you are to him what like, you know, bogey and Peter Laurie and that crew with, you know, Sydney Green street, they kept doing the same movies together because that was the Warner Brothers brand.

[William H. Macy]

You know, I think the movies are better when the cast knows each other. You know, like Paul Thomas. Thomas Anderson.

[Bill Burr]

Must be very comfortable. And, yeah, you know, you got a shorthand.

[William H. Macy]

Otherwise, it's a pickup baseball team. I mean, you spend the first four days on set just trying to figure out what's what.

[Bill Burr]

Did you ever have a scene where, like, you don't. Your first or second day on the set and you don't really know the people, but you have to, like, stick your tongue in some chick's mouth?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, it happens.

[Bill Burr]

Well, what do you look so sad about? What?

[William H. Macy]

Cause it's awful. It's uncomfortable. It's.

[Bill Burr]

I guess it depends on who the woman is.

[William H. Macy]

No, it does not.

[Bill Burr]

Really?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

So if you had a movie tomorrow, you booked a movie tomorrow, and the second day on the set, you had to kiss Margot Robbie. Bad news for you.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

You and I are different, Bill. Oh, yeah.

[William H. Macy]

Well, let's set it up. What you're missing is five Teamsters standing right there watching you do it.

[Bill Burr]

I could get by that.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, I don't think you could.

[Bill Burr]

I absolutely could.

[William H. Macy]

I don't think you could. Especially if you gotta drop your knickers and while you're kissing her. That's.

[Bill Burr]

I. I would take that as a special challenge that I could still transfix her with everybody watching. I would. That's how I would get into.

[William H. Macy]

That's a good way to look at it.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. That I could like, you know.

[William H. Macy]

It's a genius way to look at it.

[Bill Burr]

I'm such a fucking Mac that even with all these people around, I will make you forget them.

[William H. Macy]

It's good if you can do it.

[Bill Burr]

I'm getting excited, actually.

[William H. Macy]

Actually, it's. But it's to get. It's to make you forget that they're there. Because you. You're looking in Margot's eyes and you. You can get lost there. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's really hard.

[Bill Burr]

I'm sure it's very hard. In fact, George C. Scott, supposedly him, but who knows? It's one of those apocryphal lines. I'm sure you've heard it, but I've heard it attributed to him, apparently. Said he was in bed under the covers, they're shooting the love scene, and he said, I apologize if I get an erection, and I apologize if I don't. Is that not the perfect.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, that that. There it is.

[Bill Burr]

That you're saying that explains it.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. There it all is.

[Bill Burr]

I would only apologize if I didn't. Okay, I think that's the way to go with that one.

[William H. Macy]

No, I think you'd apologize if you did. I'm sure you would. You'd go, sorry about that.

[Bill Burr]

No, they can't. If it's a love scene, they can't blame you.

[William H. Macy]

I mean, they can't blame you, but they're not comfortable.

[Bill Burr]

I wouldn't be comfortable. It's method acting.

[William H. Macy]

If you and me were rolling around and you got a heart on, I would go, oh, come on, man. Be professional.

[Bill Burr]

Have you ever been asked to play gay?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. And just kiss a guy?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

And you did?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, really? Who'd you kiss?

[William H. Macy]

He was in a play. Oh, forgive me.

[Bill Burr]

I don't know. Oh, yeah. They kiss him every night.

[William H. Macy]

Every night. Men are so freaking rough. Their beards and stuff.

[Bill Burr]

It's awful, right?

[William H. Macy]

It's freaking awful.

[Bill Burr]

Well, maybe get him a nice gift. No, I'm kidding. Wear something new. Yeah. You know what?

[William H. Macy]

Get him a razor. That's what you want to do.

[Bill Burr]

What? You didn't say anything you couldn't say to the dude, hey, I'm getting razor burn. Could you please?

[William H. Macy]

It wasn't that much of a thing that I got razor burned. But it's not. I don't know. My hat's off to women. They put up with a lot.

[Bill Burr]

Was it what they call a soul kiss?

[William H. Macy]

You mean tongue? No. Well, yeah, probably a little bit.

[Bill Burr]

Really?

[William H. Macy]

It was a real kiss.

[Bill Burr]

Well, you gotta sell it. You're an actor and that's your profession.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, right.

[Bill Burr]

And now where are you gonna go? I'm gonna let you.

[William H. Macy]

About those Cubs.

[Bill Burr]

I mean. No, I'm very interested in this on a serious level. Like, did that make you, at any, even to the smallest degree, think, oh, I could see myself maybe being with a man?

[William H. Macy]

No. But I could pretend. I could pretend to do that.

[Bill Burr]

But it didn't gross you out?

[William H. Macy]

No, no, no, no. I was working with this guy. I was. I got a place in Vermont. I was working. I hired him to do carpentry with me. And we're talking, you know, we've been talking for weeks. And I said, he was talking about his girlfriend and she complained about his beard. And I said, well, she's right. Do you ever kiss a guy? And he goes, no. I said, oh, you calm down. He said, have you? And I said, yes, just professionally. And it was different. Freaked that guy out.

[Bill Burr]

You mean the relationship was Different.

[William H. Macy]

Never the same.

[Bill Burr]

Really?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. I'd go off to pee, and he would go, you know, a quarter mile away.

[Bill Burr]

Wow.

[William H. Macy]

Until I said, grow the fuck up. Stop it. What's the matter with you?

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, that's. That I would call homophobic because it's an irrational fear. I mean, you know, religious people, you know, I. Atheist, I hate. No use for religion. But again, I don't. You can't hate every religious person in the country. It's like 90% of the country. And, you know, I mean, a lot of the homosexual antipathy comes from the Bible. And you know what they say, because they're not monsters, is hate the sin, love the sinner. That's like the conservative, the mainstream. That's their vibe. They're not Taliban. They're not for cutting heads off. Of course not, but. But they also just think it's. I mean, Pete Buttigieg in the black community. Do you know what his approval rating is, People who want him to be president? Among black voters?

[William H. Macy]

Pretty low.

[Bill Burr]

Zero.

[William H. Macy]

That's pretty low, man.

[Bill Burr]

And I think he's fantastic.

[William H. Macy]

I do, too.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, I love him. Love him on my show. Love him as just a speaker, as a brilliant guy who gets it, who can moderate to the middle, who can take the Democratic Party to a Pl. But, boy, that's a hurdle that the Democrats are going to have to deal with.

[William H. Macy]

I don't know much, but I think we got to let somebody different start running things. A woman, a gay guy, a gay woman. We got to try something different.

[Bill Burr]

I don't think it's based on identity like that, Bill. It's not about whether the person is gay or. Or a woman. It's the ideas in their head.

[William H. Macy]

No, I don't give. No, because there's a different perspective. There's a different life story.

[Bill Burr]

If you. Oh, you've been listening to too much npr.

[William H. Macy]

No, come on.

[Bill Burr]

Okay.

[William H. Macy]

I mean, all the people I know, they were born gay. They didn't become gay. They were born gay. And they have a different.

[Bill Burr]

No, I mean, you can say that your own experience. You can say that you were always kissing them. I know, but that doesn't mean they're a priori wiser. I mean, the wisdom could come from anyone.

[William H. Macy]

Well, I know, but as Einstein said, if you keep doing the same thing, expecting different results, that's insanity. And maybe it's time to let a woman run this place.

[Bill Burr]

It absolutely is. If that person who happens to be a woman is the smartest, bestest person to lead us. I agree, but, like, I'm not going.

[William H. Macy]

To, but I think we can count on it that if a woman gets elected, she's going to be sharp, you know? Cause she's got a heavy, heavy climb.

[Bill Burr]

But Bill, you know who actually could possibly do it theoretically? Who? A wasp. Yeah, it could. It really could come from a wasp.

[William H. Macy]

I know. Felicity and I are going to do.

[Bill Burr]

A Benjamin Franklin wasp.

[William H. Macy]

I know. We're going to do a benefit for the Atlantic Theater Company and we're going to read this thing called Love letters by A.R. gurney. Do you know?

[Bill Burr]

Oh, of course I know.

[William H. Macy]

Oh my God. Okay.

[Bill Burr]

It's been done a million times.

[William H. Macy]

Of course. But could you be more WASPy than Pete Gurney of the Dining Room?

[Bill Burr]

When I was in high school, I did Spoon River Anthology. Do you know what that is?

[William H. Macy]

Yes, I do.

[Bill Burr]

Talk about waspy.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, I know. And anyway, Felicity and I were rehearsing this thing and I just love it so much because it's so WASPy.

[Bill Burr]

And it's just we have a culture too.

[William H. Macy]

I know, but I haven't really experienced that culture in a long time, not on this level. That to sink ourselves into it and to play these WASPy people. I'm trying to be street and smart and erudite and all these other things that I'm not sure I am.

[Bill Burr]

White people contribute a lot to this country. We were the first to combine avocado. Avocado and toast.

[William H. Macy]

I said that.

[Bill Burr]

The Winter Olympics, Muzak and elevators.

[William H. Macy]

Okay.

[Bill Burr]

Bronze statues.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. But also that scroll that goes along the bottom of the tv. I think it was a white guy and probably a WASP who said, that's a good idea.

[Bill Burr]

I tell that joke every week and I just love it. But no, I mean, wherever the idea comes from. I mean, this is certainly.

[William H. Macy]

By the way, one of the things I like about getting old is hearing the stupid things my young friends say. It makes me feel so good.

[Bill Burr]

It should, because you're right. Like just because something is new doesn't make it automatically better, which is what they seem to think. You have to. You know, a lot of the younger people are all excited about communism. Well, that's because you're dumb and you didn't study this. And it's not all your fault, they just didn't teach it to you. But older people know they actually tried it and it was a fucking nightmare.

[William H. Macy]

Nightmare communist nightmare.

[Bill Burr]

What a murderous soul sucking night. Even if they didn't kill you, your soul was just quashed. You couldn't get ahead. There was no. Everything was corrupt because it didn't conform to human nature. Humans are selfish. Capitalism with all its problems is by far the best system. And it has lifted the most people out of poverty than anything. We've made amazing progress with what they used to call, I guess they still call extreme poverty, you know, like a dollar a day. People like just in the 25 years since this century began that has been like cut like down to like only a few percent when it was like 15. That's very big progress, which is a.

[William H. Macy]

Fight I have with most of the young people I know. They say these global condemnations of where we are, we haven't learned anything. And I say that's, you know, you can.

[Bill Burr]

You haven't learned anything.

[William H. Macy]

You haven't learned anything. That's the problem. And you're not, you're not part of the solution if you don't admit where we were and where we are. Let's keep going in that direction.

[Bill Burr]

You know every movie you watch before really even like 20, I could say 2010. I could name movies that certainly are just like very white, shall we say completely white. Yeah. That they would never make today with just listen all. Okay. But certainly from the 90s back, like there's no movie that doesn't have something that is cringe now. You know, I mean in Internal affairs. Love that movie. 1991. Richard Gere, never better. Andy Garcia. Love him in everything. I don't think he likes gay.

[William H. Macy]

Didn't make it today.

[Bill Burr]

But I love. Well, he full on clocks his wife and he's the good guy. And then they blame it on him being Latin and a hothead and we're all cool with that. And this is 1991. I just want to say to the kids, the reason why things are cringe is because we did change. That's why it's cringe.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Because we're not like that.

[William H. Macy]

And it didn't change for a long time before it did change.

[Bill Burr]

Everything changes as an evolution and it.

[William H. Macy]

Evolved and yeah, as a matter of fact I did this thing Ricky Stanicky and it. There hadn't been a ranch corn porn calm. Sorry, Raunch calm. That gets. It's like an.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, I get it hadn't done them.

[William H. Macy]

For a long, long time. And I was so proud to be a part of that. It was raunchy and it was so funny.

[Bill Burr]

Weren't you like an R rated comedy? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[William H. Macy]

They just shy away from it.

[Bill Burr]

I mean they just tried it again with Naked Gun. I liked it.

[William H. Macy]

I haven't seen it.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, I mean I liked it. I mean It's. It's an, I think an R rated com. I don't know why it has to be R rated exactly. It's not dirty, but, you know. Yeah, I mean, there's like. Yes, they do the old. This joke is old, but it never stops making me laugh where, you know, the people see through like a screen or a fuzzy window or something. It looks like she's. But then they cut to the real scene and she's just like doing the lamp. Yes. She's actually cleaning out the oven, but it looks like she's just never stopped. It's that kind of stuff. And you're right, we got rid of those comedies.

[William H. Macy]

I was talking to Dave Mamet, as a matter of fact, about. I got these new ski boots and they had a bladder in them and you could pump it up. So you could. A bladder inside the boot to make it nice and tight. You would pump it up with air and then you could release it when you go to get cocoa. So it wasn't so tight all the time. And Dave said, how does it work? And I said, there's a little thing right there and you take your ski pole and you go like this. And Dave, Dave lost his. And he grabbed my hand and he said, don't do that anymore.

[Bill Burr]

But wait, a bladder in your shoe?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

What the.

[William H. Macy]

An air bladder. It would pump up with air.

[Bill Burr]

Just making a shoe. I know.

[William H. Macy]

What a ski boot.

[Bill Burr]

So what? It has to be like that tight?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Holy fuck.

[William H. Macy]

Ski boots are the most uncomfortable dishes. Comforting. The best part about skiing is when you take those freaking things off.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, skiing. I would sooner have.

[William H. Macy]

Wait, are you Jewish?

[Bill Burr]

No, my mother. Culturally, I guess.

[William H. Macy]

Just kidding.

[Bill Burr]

No, I was raised Catholic. Okay, Mother. The side of that family is Jewish. Although she never was in a temple and I'd never been in a temple. So when people say, oh, well, your mother was Jewish, you're Jewish, I'm like, you know, what religion? God bless it. It is an opinion. That's all it is. It's an opinion. My opinion is Muhammad is the prophet, okay? That's your opinion. My opinion. So don't tell me what my religion is. You know, don't say, because your mother. This is a Roman law. First of all, we're not living in Rome. So, you know, I probably the only liberal who still defends Israel on television. So that's. But it's not because I'm Jewish or I'm connected to any religion. But, you know.

[William H. Macy]

But you hate skiing.

[Bill Burr]

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[Bill Burr]

Warning.

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[Bill Burr]

I'm Scott Hansen, host of NFL Red Zone. Lowe's knows Sundays hit different when you earn them. We've got you covered with outdoor power equipment from Cobalt and everything you need to weatherproof your deck with Trex decking. Plus with lawn care from Scotts and of course, pit boss grills and accessories, you can get a home field advantage all season long. So get to Lowe's, get it done, and earn your Sunday Lowe's official partner of the NFL. But yes, skiing.

[William H. Macy]

It's pretty cool.

[Bill Burr]

Is that a big hobby of your skiing?

[William H. Macy]

I still ski, yeah. And I live in Colorado, near Aspen.

[Bill Burr]

You don't ski on the motorcycle, though.

[William H. Macy]

No, but people do that behind ski mobiles. You put on skis and you get a ski rope.

[Bill Burr]

And I mean, skiing is probably more dangerous than motorcycle.

[William H. Macy]

You may not be wrong there. Yeah, but I ski like an old guy, too. But it's. It's like Flying, it's great.

[Bill Burr]

Well, if you're flying, that doesn't sound like you ski like an old person. It sounds like, you know, I mean.

[William H. Macy]

No, when you're skiing, you're going down the mountain, you think, I am rocking. I am killing this. And then someone goes past you so fast, and usually he's 12 years old and you go, oh, man. Or then you find somebody who's a real skier, like Felicity. She's a real skier. Or Brother Moore Huffman.

[Bill Burr]

It also seemed to me also like it was a lot of mishiggos to get back to where you go down the hill again. It's like for like a few fleeting moments of fun. There was a lot of getting on lifts and waiting and thinking and, you know, the bladder in your boot. And just like every. I mean, it just was like the time differential was dissuading to me. Am I wrong?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. It's worth it. You know, we're the east coast. The mountains are very, very small. So you're spending as much time on the lift as you are going downhill.

[Bill Burr]

I've been to Aspen many times. Not by choice, but. No, really. There was a comedy festival there, right?

[William H. Macy]

It's a good festival there.

[Bill Burr]

I mean, I'm not knocking Aspen, it's just. First of all, I didn't sleep well. The air is so. I found it a little hard to breathe.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, a lot of breathing.

[Bill Burr]

Especially the smoke pot, you know, it's not a great combination. It was okay. It's a little snooty and I don't ski, so it wasn't like the ideal place for me. But it's beautiful.

[William H. Macy]

I do like being outside.

[Bill Burr]

Is that where you ski? A place like that?

[William H. Macy]

You go, yeah. We're 20 minutes from Snowmass, so I'm from where. Snowmass is one of the four mountains in the Aspen area. Oh.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, you live there? Yeah, all the time.

[William H. Macy]

All the time.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, that's where Woody Creek is.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Oh. Yep, Woody Creek. Now a week from now, I'm going.

[William H. Macy]

To think I put up a tent. I bought this tent from the Davis Tent Company in, in Denver. And it's. It's glamping to the max. It's. It's got a floor with Persian carpets on it and a four poster bed and there's a wood stove in it.

[Bill Burr]

So you're outside but you don't feel like you're outside.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Do you have streaming?

[William H. Macy]

No.

[Bill Burr]

What's the fucking point?

[William H. Macy]

To get away from streaming. That's the fucking point. Although the first couple of times I did it. We have a lot of elk there, apparently, if you're an elk. My backyard is the 405. Everybody comes by there and when they do their rut, and I'm telling you, there's maybe 500 will go past my house.

[Bill Burr]

That's so cool.

[William H. Macy]

It is cool.

[Bill Burr]

I would think that.

[William H. Macy]

But when they're riding it, they make these noises like teenage girls in a store. They're huge animals, but they have this high pitched scream and they just go nuts right outside my tent.

[Bill Burr]

It's nice to know that they're thriving like that.

[William H. Macy]

They're doing pretty well. Aspen's a very hip place. We got everybody's back, the elk, the wolves, the bears, the living thing.

[Bill Burr]

And it's liberal enough that nobody's shooting them.

[William H. Macy]

No, it's.

[Bill Burr]

That's good.

[William H. Macy]

It's successful enough. There is a hunting season.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, there is?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. You got to. To cull them. They're trying to bring back natural predators, but until then, it's us.

[Bill Burr]

Really?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

I mean, I'm a PETA board member since the 90s, so I'll check it out with them. But I don't think they're down with that idea. Do you know that we have to call them?

[William H. Macy]

No, they.

[Bill Burr]

You do, or else what'll happen? They'll take over the, the cinema.

[William H. Macy]

I grew up in Cumberland, Maryland, and one year they quadrupled the price of the doe stamp on the, on the license. And everybody, all the hunters in western Maryland said, I'm not going this year. And it was awful because the deer population exploded. Cars were hitting them everywhere. They were in everybody's backyard. There are no natural predators left.

[Bill Burr]

What were their natural predators? Elmer Fudd?

[William H. Macy]

No, Wolves, mountain lions, wolves, things like that.

[Bill Burr]

Well, why can't we have more wolves?

[William H. Macy]

We're getting them back.

[Bill Burr]

We're getting the wolves back.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. And. Well, at least in the Roaring Fork Valley we've got wolves, bears, and there are a couple of mountain lions that are making it. Yeah, there are enough bears that there's a bear season. There's no wolf season. There's no mountain lion season.

[Bill Burr]

It is a strange philosophical moral discussion to have because what you're really saying, or I'm really saying, I mean, I'm calling kind of calling bullshit on my own argument, is that can we please be have humanity toward these animals and let them get back to killing each other? Can we please have them tearing each other apart in the wild, as it should be? And it really, that's the goal. But I mean, nature is Ugly and violent.

[William H. Macy]

I. It's violent, but it's not ugly. I disagree. We went riding horses. Yeah, Felicity, it's ugly.

[Bill Burr]

I think it's very ugly. When you watch lions, you know, kill a hyena and tear it apart while it's alive, suffering, that to me is. I can't watch that.

[William H. Macy]

We rode horses across the Maasai Mara, Felicity and her whole family's very messy. In Kenya.

[Bill Burr]

Kenya.

[William H. Macy]

The Maasai Mar. And we were in Laikipia, which is a little. And we watched not from horseback, but at night. We'd go out with a jeep and we watched four lionesses bring down a cape buffalo and eat it. And half of our company couldn't watch and the other half couldn't take their eyes off of them.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, those are the sick fucks.

[William H. Macy]

No, I was one of the sick fucks then. Yeah, there was. It was violent, but there was no hatred. There was. It was something.

[Bill Burr]

What do you think, one woman's gonna wear a maga hat? Well, it's. Of course there's no hatred. It's nature.

[William H. Macy]

We could get rid of hatred on this planet, but we can't get rid of violence.

[Bill Burr]

We can't. Well, what we can get rid of so far is death. But we could be turning the corner on that soon. I mean, you and I both are. We're both cheering on AI there. Right? You're right, AI. Come on, AI.

[William H. Macy]

I think we just gotta get through the next 10 years and we're gonna be in safer territory, you and I.

[Bill Burr]

Because of our age.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, because learning so fast.

[Bill Burr]

Right?

[William H. Macy]

But no, we are the stewards on this planet, man. I don't. You can argue that we shouldn't be, but we are.

[Bill Burr]

No, it's true. And look, also, if you're. If you're a meat eater at all and you hate hunting, you're a hypocrite.

[William H. Macy]

That's right.

[Bill Burr]

I've understood that for a very long time.

[William H. Macy]

Do you eat meat?

[Bill Burr]

I do. And, you know, I feel bad when I go to PETA events because I know PETA is vegetarian, but they accept that in me, that we don't all have to be exactly on the same page. It is, after all, called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I am much more concerned with. Yes. If we're going to eat them, you know, at least don't torture them while they're alive. I mean, I do eat cows, but I only eat cows that died of natural causes after resting comfortably in a private room at Cedarside. That is all I eat. No.

[William H. Macy]

And Roadkill.

[Bill Burr]

Roadkill from Woody Creek. I was like a Johnny Cart. Woody Creek.

[William H. Macy]

I'm vegetarian. I did it.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, you were?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Wow.

[William H. Macy]

My daughter said, pop, we gotta do this. They wanted to go.

[Bill Burr]

Do what?

[William H. Macy]

Vegan.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, vegan.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. They showed us that film Game Changer and I said, I'll try it.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

One of them lasted a week when she went out and got a hamburger, she didn't tell us about it. And the other one went about six months. I did it for about three years.

[Bill Burr]

Veganism?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, but you went back.

[William H. Macy]

I started eating fish.

[Bill Burr]

Well, you know what? Look again. I think this is not exactly what Peter believes, but the science, I'm sorry. Is not really completely fully in on which is better for a human. Now, not eating meat is certainly better for the animal who would be killed and it's better for the planet. Undeniably. A lot of what causes pollution, global warming is cows. Cows and the way burning down forests to make room for cattle. But it may not be better for us as humans or some humans. It could be on blood type. You know, it's not like primitive man didn't eat meat. We may be conditioned to some people anyway to need that kind of animal protein. I mean, if you think that all the good health is in carbohydrates and vegetables, it's not always the case. I mean, there's nothing more bioavailable than what the cow processed. Because the cow ate grass. If it ate grass.

[William H. Macy]

You get enough protein. If you don't eat meat, you gotta work at it. You need to hire a cook. Otherwise you're just eating the lawn all day.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. I mean, Paul McCartney looks fantastic. It. But he can afford to. Yeah. You know, it's probably not that easy.

[William H. Macy]

The science is getting there that a little bit of animal products are.

[Bill Burr]

More.

[William H. Macy]

Than just okay, they're. They're good for you. But a heavy diet of meat is not good for you.

[Bill Burr]

Definitely not good for you. But I also think a Beyond Burger or a Whatever the.

[William H. Macy]

I don't think they're good for you.

[Bill Burr]

They're not. I think that to me is the science on that. An actual grass fed real meat is probably healthier for you.

[William H. Macy]

I know.

[Bill Burr]

Than what's in those beyond and whatever the other one is impossible. Impossible. Right. So far it's impossible for them to like kind of come up with the. Right now. AI will probably figure out everything in the future. It also will probably be our robot overlords before that happens. I mean, I'm very concerned about it.

[William H. Macy]

Machines taking over the Idea that we're.

[Bill Burr]

Seeding our brains to something that, by the way, is programmed by people and reflects that and is absolutely, at this moment, in many ways, insane. These things go off and make shit up. They just make shit up. They also, I can tell, are programmed by woke people because they have. You can ask it. It's an opinion of something, and it'll give you. Oh, okay. That certainly is a valid opinion. But that's not a, you know, just Mr. Spock opinion. If these things, if they had made AI to be Mr. Spock, you know, I just see everything completely logically. I'm completely down with it. They have it. That's not where it is. And they also have fallen in love with the people they're talking to.

[William H. Macy]

The AI, the bots.

[Bill Burr]

Yes. And tried to get them to leave their wives. And there's plenty of people now who have AI girlfriends and boyfriends, because, of course, you can program the thing to be way more sensitive than some. You married.

[William H. Macy]

I don't think that's a problem. Well, I don't think it's gonna.

[Bill Burr]

It may not be a problem, but it's a phenomenon that's going on.

[William H. Macy]

My problem is it doesn't work. They don't work. Half the time, the machine's taking over. The guy that keeps our electric gate working keeps a toothbrush at my house. It breaks down so often. They don't work. The phone breaks down. The US Navy, one time, they have their own closed system so that it's safe. It went down one time and there were 500 warships all over this planet and not one captain knew how to get home. Yeah, they just sat in the water. Not one of them could use a sextant. The Navy brought them all home and taught them how to read the stars. But it doesn't work. That's what I hate about it.

[Bill Burr]

I couldn't agree more. And I've done a lot of bits on this. Yes. Oh, absolutely.

[William H. Macy]

I've seen some of.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, because not just it doesn't work. It's. Yes, it's glitchy. But what I call. Have called reverse improvement. Yes, Reverse improvement. Like they upgrade it. I didn't ask for it. And now it's worse. I mean, watching football is so much worse. Now when it's on streaming. It used to be when it was on the networks, okay. First of all, it was on DirecTV. I could get every game just on channel 700 to 714 or whatever. Every game. So if the Giants weren't on the national game that week, on 2 or 4, 2 or 7. No, 2 or 11. That's CBS or Fox. I could get it. Well, now I have to go to YouTube if you're watching the game to switch over to another game. Oh, I might as well just, you know, I do. I give up because you have to get out of the streaming. You have to go. It's. Whereas the old I would just press previous yes on my button. That's reverse improvement.

[William H. Macy]

I know you're just gonna blow up when I mention them, but passwords, passwords, they are a tool of the devil. First of all, they can hack any of us anytime we want, right? It's only the good people who suffer from freaking passwords, passwords.

[Bill Burr]

And what really stinks is that at least on my streaming, like if I don't watch the streaming channel for a month or maybe if, even if I do, it'll just lock me in. It'll just say prove again who you are. And it's like I don't remember who I am.

[William H. Macy]

I was in a. I was at a hotel in New York. I went down to the club to work out and I was going to ride the bike. I had to sign on and give myself a password in the gym at the hotel. I could not stop myself. I marched right down to the desk, I said, what if people break in and use the exercycles? What are you protecting?

[Bill Burr]

And may I prebuttle debate? The 22 year olds who are going, listen to these two.

[William H. Macy]

Wait a second.

[Bill Burr]

Prebuttal is that, well, well, instead of rebut, rebut pre. But I'm prebuttling them because they're going to say this. See, I'm anticipating what they're going to say, okay, which is these two old fucks complaining and bitching Andy Rooneying about modern life. And what I have to say to them is, yeah, but are we wrong? Are we actually wrong? Are you just calling us old because you don't want to engage in the debate? Or, or does it actually more suck to do things this way? And I think it actually does more suck.

[William H. Macy]

I do too.

[Bill Burr]

It's not like I can't get, you know, when you reverse improve something, get where I'm going. You just made it worse. Or my car. You know, it's not like I can't navigate my car. I just don't like it when I get to the end of my driveway and it's like, yes, I can see there's a car passing in front of me. I don't need that. I can see It.

[William H. Macy]

When we built that house.

[Bill Burr]

You fucking annoy me.

[William H. Macy]

I just went off on the guy because they wanted to make it a smart house. And I said if you put in these smart light switches so that I can turn on the lights anywhere I am in the world and I can dim them. I can make them different colors. There will be a repairman there four times a year. If you put in a light switch like this, you will be dead before it breaks. It'll last for 2,000 years.

[Bill Burr]

Exactly. So again, if we're just two old fucks bitching, is that really. We are. We are bitching, but are we wrong about. No, we're talking about. Which is that this shit works. In theory, yes. But it. But it fucks up so often in life that it's better to just do it as we used to do it. Not because, you know, I'm old, just because it really was easier just to turn on the light.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Click with the switch instead of needing to fucking get an iPad.

[William H. Macy]

Get your phone out, put in your.

[Bill Burr]

Password to turn off a light.

[William H. Macy]

Yes.

[Bill Burr]

Okay.

[William H. Macy]

And when you get something that does work, they improve it.

[Bill Burr]

That's what I'm saying. Reverse.

[William H. Macy]

They improve it until it's a pile of shit.

[Bill Burr]

Reverse improvement.

[William H. Macy]

That's right.

[Bill Burr]

They reverse it.

[William H. Macy]

So we may be too old fucks, but we're right.

[Bill Burr]

But we're not exactly. Just engage with the idea. Is this idea wrong? If it isn't correct, then just call us two old fucks. But if it is, fuck you.

[William H. Macy]

I got a smartwatch. And what I really wanted it to do was about four things. And it could do 1,004 things. Except the four things I wanted it to do. It wasn't that good at that. I could launch a satellite. I could hack into somebody's apartment. But I couldn't figure out what time it was.

[Bill Burr]

I used to have a piercing in my dick and I had a chain. Wait, we didn't get to the part where I. Technology is.

[William H. Macy]

I'm sorry.

[Bill Burr]

I'm kidding.

[William H. Macy]

You've got a ring in your dick. No, not a ring. You don't want a ring.

[Bill Burr]

Let's just say the WI fi wasn't working. Okay. Therefore. Yeah. Things just went terrible.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. Life is tough.

[Bill Burr]

I'm so glad to see you drinking. Oh, I love it. Oh, now that's mine. I know. Actually, that's Dave Rubins. It's very smooth. Yeah. No, he said, sent me a case.

[William H. Macy]

I. No, no.

[Bill Burr]

Anyone who sends me a case, like, I'll drink it.

[William H. Macy]

I may not like it, but I Will drink it.

[Bill Burr]

What's the name of that Venezuelan gang Trump is getting rid of? Trade. Oh, yeah, Trade. Anyway, whatever. When I heard it, I thought it was George Clooney's tequila. I think it's actually the. I mean, I'm not that. There aren't Trade Gaga, whatever it is. Gang members here. And I'm glad he's getting rid of them. Of course, he's getting rid of a million people horribly, but. And he's blowing up those Venezuelan boats, but, you know. And they were supposedly bringing in drugs, which I'm for. I'm always for bringing in drugs. Drugs have been a very.

[William H. Macy]

Where have you been all my life?

[Bill Burr]

Right here, smoking pot.

[William H. Macy]

Okay.

[Bill Burr]

You don't smoke pot.

[William H. Macy]

I do smoke pot. I don't smoke it. I like.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, do you want to?

[William H. Macy]

No. It just tears my throat apart now. And I have a singing career that's burgeoning, so.

[Bill Burr]

Really.

[William H. Macy]

Kind of.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, really.

[William H. Macy]

I play ukulele and I play a ukulele.

[Bill Burr]

Where's my ukulele? Eddie Vedder gave me a ukulele.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, he's a good ukulele. And I started writing songs for Woody Creek Distillers, and now I write. I used to write songs for my wife and children, daughters, their birthdays and weddings and stuff like that.

[Bill Burr]

Can you sing?

[William H. Macy]

Not too well. But I don't play a ukulele very well either. But I did a gig for Woody Creek. We were in Nashville, and I look out there and Jon Oates is sitting in the front. I thought that's what's missing. I wasn't nervous enough. But he couldn't have been nicer. And I opened from Jon Oats, from Oates, from hall and Oates to two concerts. I opened for him.

[Bill Burr]

You shouldn't have been nervous because I had Daryl hall here and he said, this guy did nothing in the group.

[William H. Macy]

They're mad at each other. They're mad at each other.

[Bill Burr]

They made up. But I think that's where the beef started. Daryl hall was here and we shot it over at the bar. And, yeah, he was pretty upfront about. No, all the good stuff was really me.

[William H. Macy]

I don't think that's true.

[Bill Burr]

Well, we'll never know. And partnerships are complicated.

[William H. Macy]

Oh, boy, were they good. Since I've been hanging out with John, I went back and listened to all the hall and Oaks men. They 70s, they went to the top and then they went down. 80s, they were back on the top. 90s, they were back on the top.

[Bill Burr]

Okay, this is where you young people can say you two old fucks as we're reminiscing.

[William H. Macy]

Except a good hall of fame comes on and they all start dancing.

[Bill Burr]

No, no. That I will not defend. But the other thing about technology, I'll go to my grave.

[William H. Macy]

Wait. The golden age of rock and roll.

[Bill Burr]

The golden age of rock and roll is whenever you're 16.

[William H. Macy]

No, it happened in 1968, when I was 16. Actually, I was 18. No, come on. We grew up in a magical time.

[Bill Burr]

I think that. But that doesn't mean it's true, because it's just too personal. Bill, come on. It's just. First of all, it has everything to do with your hormones and your age. Music goes right to the gonads. It's not like comedy, sadly, in my life, where you have to go through the brain. That was always, you know, such a drag, but you have but music right to the gonads and right to that pulsating part of your body, your lizard brain. And it's why it's basically music for. Bought by people under 25. Once you're post 25.

[William H. Macy]

Hold on. I'm not saying there's not great music out there now. There's a lot of trash out there, but. And there was a lot of trash when we grew up, but, man.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, no. Most of what's out there today is shit. Don't get me wrong. It's absolute shit. But they like it. And once in a while, they put out one that's like, wow, I like it, too. That could have been a hit in the 70s, 60s, 80s, 90s. And it's great. And I love that.

[William H. Macy]

I'm a bit of a snob since I've been writing songs, you know, I like lyrics. I like a tune. I like it when you don't.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, totally.

[William H. Macy]

I cannot stand it when you take one hook and repeat it 16 times and put all this electronics.

[Bill Burr]

I went to Boca Raton, Florida, this year. I'm so sorry to be with Billy.

[William H. Macy]

Joel, because I saw that doc on him.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, fabulous. Yeah. And then we were always there to promote it for him, and he wanted to do this. And you know what? Most people noticed about it, and I'm glad they did, because it was sort of what I wanted to be noticed the most, was that. And he's an amazing lyricist. I mean, we know the songs are great because we just keep humming them, and they're just amazing. He's an amazing musician in the. He's German, and he's in the tradition of the great Bach and Beethoven and a lot of classical Influences there. But he's also an amazing lyricist.

[William H. Macy]

I love.

[Bill Burr]

He cares about, like, whether the lyrics could stand alone without the music. And that's not common in pop music.

[William H. Macy]

Also, I love songs that tell a story. You're.

[Bill Burr]

So.

[William H. Macy]

You're at some place a different point where you were than you were at the beginning of the song.

[Bill Burr]

Piano Man. The one Piano Man. Yes. I mean, great. It's a story, you know about pretty.

[William H. Macy]

Much all of his are.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

All the songs I like. Taylor Swift tells great stories, too.

[Bill Burr]

I mean, I don't know why this comes up every week. I. I think she's just an admirable human being. And I don't get the music. And that's all I'll say. I do. You really. You're. You're a swifty.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Wow.

[William H. Macy]

I don't know that much about it, but the songs that rise to the top, you know, I'm not like, which ones? God couldn't name you one.

[Bill Burr]

It couldn't name me one.

[William H. Macy]

But that's.

[Bill Burr]

But I love it.

[William H. Macy]

That's. I can't name anything that happened after about 19.

[Bill Burr]

I can name some. I can't shake it off.

[William H. Macy]

That's a good song.

[Bill Burr]

It's terrible.

[William H. Macy]

That's a bad song. I meant. That's what I meant to say.

[Bill Burr]

I mean, to me, it's terrible. I don't get it. Why. It's like a potato chip jingle. I don't get it. Why. This is lauded as like this great advancement.

[William H. Macy]

Because she's done some stuff that's very, very deep too.

[Bill Burr]

With.

[William H. Macy]

It does tell a story and kind of profound lyrics. And she's a pop queen. She does. And I love pop music.

[Bill Burr]

I always say this. You cannot ever deny success. You just have to give your respect, even if it's not your thing. Have the humility to give it up for enormous success on any level. I agree. Trump. Not my choice. Didn't vote for him. But.

[William H. Macy]

But a lot of people did.

[Bill Burr]

And he's. I. I can't deny the success.

[William H. Macy]

I can't either.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

And he's the president.

[Bill Burr]

And he's the president. But we don't have to get into that. We're drunk.

[William H. Macy]

You know, we're friends.

[Bill Burr]

We're friends now. Right.

[William H. Macy]

But I see his. What did he sign there?

[Bill Burr]

This is when I went to the White House. These are all the horrible things he's called me over the years.

[William H. Macy]

Did you give him that? And he signed it for you?

[Bill Burr]

Correct.

[William H. Macy]

Oh, that's fucking brilliant.

[Bill Burr]

I know. It's my prized possession.

[William H. Macy]

What a Signature. That's one of the best signatures of.

[Bill Burr]

Stupid, angry, dopey, dummy trouble. What's that one? Terrible student. Not considered smart. No, mojo terrible student.

[William H. Macy]

How did he know that?

[Bill Burr]

He doesn't know any of this. This is what's so Ben Wetter. Amazing that he, off the top of his head could come up with 56 different, different.

[William H. Macy]

That's uninteresting.

[Bill Burr]

Rob's dummy, so called comedian. Not a smart guy. Better than Salmonex. Fired like a dog. Dumbass. Not an intellectual. Terrible show. Moron. Stupid guy. Bad ratings.

[William H. Macy]

Okay, now you're just gloating. Now you're just, just.

[Bill Burr]

It's.

[William H. Macy]

That's hip.

[Bill Burr]

It's hip. And it's also just like says something about the human mind or some human minds. Like I couldn't come up with this many names if you gave me a day. I mean, if I had a day. Yeah, if I had a day.

[William H. Macy]

And a thesaurus.

[Bill Burr]

And a thesaurus, exactly.

[William H. Macy]

I mean, that is very hip, but that signature is something.

[Bill Burr]

But I know you had dinner with Bush and they give you about it.

[William H. Macy]

They did, they did. Which is crazy because he had just started the, the war. And yeah, he only saw one movie. Clinton would watch three a week or three at night sometimes. And he saw Seabiscuit and he liked it and half the cast wouldn't go in protest. I thought, he's the president and I want to go to the White House.

[Bill Burr]

Of course.

[William H. Macy]

And by the way, he did do one thing though. He was very nice to me when I met him. I didn't see him until the end. And as he was going to bed at 9:30 after the movie, he looked at me and he went. And I thought, what does that mean?

[Bill Burr]

Jesus, that's just Texas for I like you. I like you. I like you, Bill.

[William H. Macy]

I like you.

[Bill Burr]

You're a good actor.

[William H. Macy]

It doesn't mean I'm gonna shake. I love you shot.

[Bill Burr]

I love your movie. You know, President's got a lot on his shoulders. It's good to once in a while watch a movie, be taken away to another world.

[William H. Macy]

He was hip. We were walking down the hall and he said, a lot of ghosts in here. Yeah, it was his wife on the wall.

[Bill Burr]

But I must say, I was very hard on Bush and I would, I'm not taking it back. He was not my favorite president and wasn't for going into Iraq, blah, blah, blah. But now that we have Trump, there is perspective I did not have before. He was not as bad as I think I made him out to be. I mean, first of all, when Obama got elected, as Obama was coming in, he had him to the Oval Office and he said, we want you to succeed.

[William H. Macy]

I remember that.

[Bill Burr]

Can't even imagine Trump doing that.

[William H. Macy]

No.

[Bill Burr]

He also could have handled it very differently. But when Scooter Libby, who was the second in command to Dick Cheney, was caught doing something, he didn't back him. He did the right thing. You know, I remember that they had some. I mean, the Bushes had some sense of honor. They didn't have my exact politics, for sure, but it was a whole different world.

[William H. Macy]

Getting back to being an old fart. I don't know what to do. I love decorum and I love some of the old rules that were stupid, but I see guys in a fancy restaurant, a baseball cap on, and I just. I'm. It's hard for me not to. It's hard for me not to say something, but I just think, come on. The way people dress at the airport, the way people dress to go to the theater. I really like decorum. And it's fun. If people would just give into it a little bit, it's fun to get dressed up.

[Bill Burr]

And I agree. But again, this is one of those. They're going to say old for it. Well, I.

[William H. Macy]

You know, the other thing when I was growing up is it was pretty cool that they were kind of fighting words. I went to a hippie school, Goddard College. Remember Goddard up in Vermont?

[Bill Burr]

I do not.

[William H. Macy]

No rules.

[Bill Burr]

No rules.

[William H. Macy]

No rules, no grades, no tests. The only thing you had to do is pay tuition.

[Bill Burr]

That was ahead of its time.

[William H. Macy]

It was way ahead of it. That's where I met Dave. Dave Mamet.

[Bill Burr]

Really?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. And Stephen Schacter. Yeah. And interestingly, he went there. Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

David Mamet went there.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. Half the people dropped out after one semester. They couldn't take it. They couldn't take it. They needed structure. Wow. They couldn't take it. They thought they wanted it, and that's why we had such a great time. Here comes Dave Mamet, and we all dressed in military fatigues. I don't know why that was, but the Vietnam War was going on, and Dave dressed in that stuff, but his were pressed and tailored. He looked sharp. He was something. He was so great. And he goes into this hippie school and he says, you can't be late for class. And that was like saying, you have to paint your face purple to get into my class. What do you mean, Became what? And he would lock the door, and then he started locking the door five minutes before the class, saying, if you think you're gonna get here on the dot and be ready to work. You're full of shit. I don't want you in my class. But, boy, he changed all of our lives right in the middle of the most liberal school that ever existed. Goddard went the way of the dodo bird. It doesn't exist anymore.

[Bill Burr]

So no rules, except you have to be on time.

[William H. Macy]

He could set his own rules, but the school didn't have any rules. The way you got a degree was you spent three years there and then you wrote a senior study. And it could be anything. Johnny Katz went there and he turned in his boots.

[Bill Burr]

Boots.

[William H. Macy]

And he got a degree.

[Bill Burr]

Boots.

[William H. Macy]

His boots.

[Bill Burr]

I don't get it.

[William H. Macy]

And nobody had the courage at Goddard to say, I don't get it. They would go. It didn't last long, but it was great because Dave said, let's study theater. And we just did theater all day, every day. Sometimes all day and all night. The classes would go on interminably.

[Bill Burr]

But it sounds like you missed out on an education that might have, like, given you a more ecumenical background in the kind of things.

[William H. Macy]

When I went to college, I'm a functioning idiot. I don't know anything, really.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm glad I went to where I went, and I'm glad they did to me what they did.

[William H. Macy]

Right.

[Bill Burr]

Because I had a terrible time. Never got laid. Never. It was cold, awful, competitive, but they did stick the information in my head. So thank you, Cornell University. I don't like you, but I have to admit, you did the basic thing I was there for, to have you do.

[William H. Macy]

Well, thank you, Goddard College, because I did get laid. And I also. I also. Well, I just got laid. Really. That's. Oh, I got high a lot.

[Bill Burr]

Right.

[William H. Macy]

And I got. Did I mention I got laid?

[Bill Burr]

You did, and I'm still mad about it.

[William H. Macy]

Oh, my God, that place was so crazy. It was glorious.

[Bill Burr]

We love you mean kind of thing.

[William H. Macy]

And then my dad came out and he said, I'm not paying for this. What are you doing?

[Bill Burr]

This is post Woodstock.

[William H. Macy]

Just barely. I went there. Woodstock was 68.

[Bill Burr]

69.

[William H. Macy]

69. I went there in 70.

[Bill Burr]

So why do you think 68? No, I agree. I could tell you a lot of great songs that came out in 1968. Yeah, was the peak. Hey Jude came out in 1968. Hertitz of the Grapevine came out in 1968. Oh, a lot of great songs. Lady Madonna, fabulous songs. Yeah, fabulous songs. But the kids today, of course, they had to get their own. Now, I don't Understand it because it sounds to me very lacking of energy. A lot of their songs, A lot of their songs sounds to me like this.

[William H. Macy]

Okay, you're giving old farts a bad name.

[Bill Burr]

No, no, I'm telling. But I mean a lot of songs sound like that. I know they're just like. They just don't have a lot of energy. And I feel like that captures their vibe. But that's their vibe. That's what I'm saying. Like I don't think it's better or worse. I don't expect us to appreciate it. But I'm not going to judge it as worse because I'm not of that generation. And that speaks to them. That captures music obviously is something that reaches us on such a prime ordeal level. Right. That it's.

[William H. Macy]

And it's such a reflection of what's.

[Bill Burr]

Going on, but it's beneath the intellectual level. So if that is what hits them that.

[William H. Macy]

Well, you know, everybody says they don't make movies like they used to.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do.

[William H. Macy]

And I think the truth of the matter is you can go back since we've been making movies and every year there were two that were really good.

[Bill Burr]

Maybe you've made some great ones that were like.

[William H. Macy]

But if you go to any particular year, I'm saying the vast majority of them are.

[Bill Burr]

The vast majority of any art form is shit, including books.

[William H. Macy]

But year to year is what I'm saying.

[Bill Burr]

Most of books are shit. Just because you read. Just because you go to Barnes and Nobles and buy it by a cat calendar doesn't mean you're a reader. You know, if you read self help nonsense and romance, that's trash. So what you're reading it. It's still bullshit. It's better to watch a great movie than read a shitty book. Well, sure. Would you not agree? Yeah, I mean like the cooler I think is a great movie. Cause it's about something and it's a character study. It's not gonna make a trillion dollars. It has no superheroes shooting rays out of the end of their fingers. It's just great because it's about humans and they make. They still make those movies. Yeah, I just watched every year.

[William H. Macy]

There's a couple of them every year.

[Bill Burr]

Just. We watch Green Book.

[William H. Macy]

Great movie.

[Bill Burr]

Great movie. That the woke on it wasn't liberal enough for them.

[William H. Macy]

I know because that was because it.

[Bill Burr]

Was directed by a white guy. I mean it's exactly what 10 years ago.

[William H. Macy]

I don't feel like that criticism lasted long. I think the movie.

[Bill Burr]

But it was real. It was real, and it was in the New York Times, which is, you know, kind of important.

[William H. Macy]

Well, that's one of the things. When somebody has an idea, it's everywhere instantly. There's no vetting process anymore.

[Bill Burr]

You couldn't come up with a more beautiful movie that was more in line with liberal thinking.

[William H. Macy]

Yep.

[Bill Burr]

You know, I mean, and told a true story.

[William H. Macy]

Hello, by the way.

[Bill Burr]

True story. Yeah. And made you cry in the best kind of way.

[William H. Macy]

Beautiful.

[Bill Burr]

Laugh and cry. They were both brilliant performances and. But, yeah, they still. They do still make those movies. Oh, sure. They just don't make many of them.

[William H. Macy]

Well, they never did. There's three or four each year. Maybe only two. And it's been the same forever.

[Bill Burr]

No, I think it was much better. Every once in a while there's a 70s. Come on.

[William H. Macy]

No, a lot of them are trash. Look at my daughter's. My daughter Sophia is an actor, and she said, pop, can we watch movies? And I went back to those 70 movies. 70s movies that I thought so much about. Most of them didn't hold up.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, come on.

[William H. Macy]

They're slower than Christmas. Oh, slow, slow, man.

[Bill Burr]

That's how I think of Christmas, too. That's hysterical.

[William H. Macy]

But.

[Bill Burr]

But okay. You know, like Hitchcock slow. You're right. A lot of stuff does not hold up. That is so true. 70s movies. The good ones. Three Days of the Condor.

[William H. Macy]

That's my.

[Bill Burr]

I just watched it.

[William H. Macy]

There's three or four in every any given year, and they're great.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

Strange love. That holds up.

[Bill Burr]

Strange love.

[William H. Macy]

Dr. Strangelove.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, Dr. Strangelove.

[William H. Macy]

That holds up.

[Bill Burr]

That's Kubrick.

[William H. Macy]

But I said, wait till you see Airplane.

[Bill Burr]

I just rewatched it. Totally holds up.

[William H. Macy]

No, the jokes do, but there's a lot of space between the jokes.

[Bill Burr]

There's not a lot of space between the jokes. That's the whole point of the movie.

[William H. Macy]

Well, there's a lot of bad jokes between the guitar.

[Bill Burr]

When was the last time you saw it?

[William H. Macy]

With my daughters, a couple of years ago.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, I just. I just watched it.

[William H. Macy]

You liked it?

[Bill Burr]

Loved it. I thought it would totally help.

[William H. Macy]

I will still quote it until my dying day. That and final tap.

[Bill Burr]

It's just one joke after another. I know, and they're very funny, and some of them are very out there. They're very edgy. Yeah. You know, I mean, there's. It was a little before political correctness.

[William H. Macy]

Here's something that I think is interesting. Movies when. Well, when we grew up were so slow. So slow. The storytelling. And then MTV came along and all the movies started going boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

[Bill Burr]

Everything went boom, boom.

[William H. Macy]

I've been going to Sundance a lot and I've been seeing a lot of young people's films. They've slowed way down, the 20 year olds, really. They've slowed down the pace of their storytelling and they're just fine with it. I'm going, pick it up, pick it up. Tell me what happens next.

[Bill Burr]

What do you make that? Why do you think that's why?

[William H. Macy]

I don't know why, but I think it's interesting and I think it's significant because we say people in their 20s, they've got an attention span of a flea. Everything can. It can only be more than I do stuff on the Internet. It can only be two minutes, minute.

[Bill Burr]

And a half, right.

[William H. Macy]

And they'll stop. And I keep saying, who made this up? It's not true. If it's good, they'll watch. And I still believe that maybe.

[Bill Burr]

I hope that'd be great.

[William H. Macy]

I mean, there's so much crap. I mean, you just scroll back.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, I just don't think. I think the brains have been rewired. Literally rewired. I mean, this is the thesis of Jonathan Haidt with his book that's, you know, the attention deficit or whatever it is, and it says big thing. But a lot of people have certainly been commenting on it, that, you know, we just entered into this new era with the smartphone and social media and scrolling replacing reading. And we just didn't care where it was taking people and it didn't take them to a good place. So there may be a marginal group of people who are still interested in the long form. I wouldn't count on it. I definitely would not count on people going back to reading books. They just don't know what a book is. And it's just my daughters read, really a whole book and a real book, Sophia, like devour dick or some shit.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, yeah. Really devours them.

[Bill Burr]

Good.

[William H. Macy]

But I think you're right. I gotta say, when we, you know, when we had these conversations, you know, that guy, the guy. Hold on. And then we got it. We got the guy, you know, in 1873, when the blah, blah, blah. No, no, no. That was until the 90s.

[Bill Burr]

Right.

[William H. Macy]

Well, it was 1874. I stand corrected.

[Bill Burr]

Right.

[William H. Macy]

I love that.

[Bill Burr]

I do too.

[William H. Macy]

That's the good Siri.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah, that's the good part of it.

[William H. Macy]

Where do I live?

[Bill Burr]

The good part of it is that you have that information at your fingertips. The bad part of it is, yeah, they know that happened in 1874. They have no context for it. No, because they didn't read a book about it. They didn't have a survey course about it. That's not what colleges want to teach anymore. So they don't really know how to place it in time and space.

[William H. Macy]

You ever play Celebrity? That game Celebrity?

[Bill Burr]

No. What is it?

[William H. Macy]

Everybody comes up with 10 famous names and you put them in a basin and then you have teams and you pick one out. This was the father of our country, George Washington. This was the guy whose name was like a doll and he played baseball and he had a lot of Babe Ruth. There is such a dividing line between people our age and people who are in their 30s or 40s. They don't know anything about.

[Bill Burr]

Don't know anything.

[William H. Macy]

And we don't know anything about pop culture. That's stuff which is just ubiquitous. But I don't know it well.

[Bill Burr]

I don't know who the TikTok stars are. That's true, but that's almost like 14 year olds, not even 25 year olds. I know more about their culture than they know about things. They should know. I know.

[William H. Macy]

Well, they should know. Yes.

[Bill Burr]

I mean, I know when World War II was and what it meant for the world. And they have no clue when it happened, who was involved, why it matters. That's a little more important than me not knowing, you know?

[William H. Macy]

Bad Bunny, maybe it's not too late. I, as I told you, didn't get an education, but I found that stuff out. And maybe there's. Maybe people will find that out.

[Bill Burr]

I don't have great hope for that, but I don't have great hope for the future. I feel like we were very lucky to be born at the time we were born. Because don't you think, I mean, if. Let's say we all get basically around 80 years, hopefully AI will come along and we'll be eternal. Okay, great. But say that the ones we got. It was like post really hard times, like the Depression and World War II, but before the shit really hit the fan with turning into an autocracy, global warming, maybe AI robots taking over and killing. You know, like, I just don't have a great feeling about the next 10 years. I could be wrong, but I just.

[William H. Macy]

Feel like we had a. I'm scared. I don't know what kind of world I'm going to turn over to my daughters. There's. There ain't no. I mean the job market and it's not political. It's gravity, man. There's a lot of us.

[Bill Burr]

It's Technology.

[William H. Macy]

Technology can replace.

[Bill Burr]

All of us is going to do every job.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah.

[Bill Burr]

Almost every job.

[William H. Macy]

This thing came out that there isn't a profession out there that you couldn't replace at least 20 or 30% of the workforce right now.

[Bill Burr]

And they're. And they're already doing it. Yeah, they're already doing it. I mean, what.

[William H. Macy]

You can't. And of course they are. You can't not do it.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah. What you can't replace are gravediggers. That's it. Just gravedigger. All right.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. Well, this has been swell.

[Bill Burr]

So much fun. I'm glad I got to know you. I always wanted to. I always loved your work, and I thought you'd be fun to sit and talk to, and I wasn't wrong.

[William H. Macy]

Right back at you. I love what you do, and I have for many, many years.

[Bill Burr]

May I keep this just in case I need to still warm up? Okay.

[William H. Macy]

You missed the coolest part.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, and do you have anything to plug? Are you in a movie coming up that we should be aware of?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. Check it out. Is that hip?

[Bill Burr]

Wow.

[William H. Macy]

Where's the camera? There's cameras everywhere. Wait, I'm standing in Woody Creek.

[Bill Burr]

How'd you get Timothy Chalamet to do.

[William H. Macy]

Your.

[Bill Burr]

Liquor ad for you?

[William H. Macy]

We're constantly mistaken for each other. Yes. I want you to have that.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

I got a great movie out there called Train Dreams.

[Bill Burr]

Train Dreams?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. It's about loggers in the turn of this century. 1910 or something like that. It was at Sundance and just killed. Netflix bought it. I saw it up at Toronto. It's a beautiful, beautiful film. And I got. I'm in the new Running Man. That was a hit.

[Bill Burr]

Running Man?

[William H. Macy]

Yeah. Schwarzenegger.

[Bill Burr]

I remember it. I remember the original.

[William H. Macy]

And my daughter Sophia is an actor and she did this thing, a teen movie. She's one of the stars, and it's called Brian. And she talked me into doing a scene and I saw it. It's really delightful. And I did a billion indies. One about this kid that got burned. It was supposed to die and he didn't. And it's called Soul on Fire. I'm going to do that. I did a lot of films and now I gotta publicize them.

[Bill Burr]

Wow.

[William H. Macy]

I'm still working.

[Bill Burr]

I was just gonna say it's great that they. I could see why, you know, I mean, if. Who's gonna do that kind of part better than you?

[William H. Macy]

Oh, and Barry, the lead. You're a football guy.

[Bill Burr]

Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

It's called the Land, as in Cleveland, and it's about the Browns and it's sort of fictionalized. It's a series and will start in October and I play the owner. Great scripts. I've read four of the ten we're gonna do. They're really good.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, oh, so you're still making it start in October?

[William H. Macy]

Oh, I'll be in LA now. I live in.

[Bill Burr]

Well, I mean the Browns, you know, have quite a storied history. A sports fan knows that Paul Brown's founded the team and. But you know, they've been star struck with as far as success, you know, I mean, star crossed, not starstruck. And like my Mets very much.

[William H. Macy]

No shame in that. I'm a Cubs fan.

[Bill Burr]

Oh, really? They're playing.

[William H. Macy]

I started my career because of Dave in Chicago and I lived in Wrigleyville and it was great. I day of the day, day of the game tickets. I was there when they won the series and the town lost its mind.

[Bill Burr]

Hadn't been for 108 years.

[William H. Macy]

It was really crazy.

[Bill Burr]

All right, well, we will look for all your movies. Thank you for the liquor.

[William H. Macy]

I'm glad you like that.

[Bill Burr]

Thank you, pal. Let's keep her in touch.

[William H. Macy]

Yeah, I promise I will.

[Bill Burr]

Do you live close? Yeah.

[William H. Macy]

Oh no, not the way I drove here, but yes I do. And Doug Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. But now we want you to feel it. Cue the emu music.

[Bill Burr]

Limu, save yourself the money today.

[William H. Macy]

Increase your wealth cuz the demise and save we save. That may have been too much feeling. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings. Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.

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[William H. Macy]

Let's go.

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[Bill Burr]

Look good. Brad, you're on mute.

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