Bill Burr was promoting his new comedy special on the podcast Conan Needs a Friend last week. The long-time stand-up gets more personal than usual in this hour-long set, which may be partly due to his inner growth. Those who listened to the funny heart-to-heart between two beloved Boston Gingers would know this thanks to a psilocybin mushroom experience.
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The pair discussed how as they were coming up in the comedy scene, there was an understanding that funny people were not happy people. If one wanted to be funny, one could not feel the joy of safety or stability. Burr recalled seeing a movie where characters refused to shave with cold water and how he spent years opting for cold shaves to toughen himself up. He believes this toughening was a trauma response.
“All this stuff had happened to me, and I thought, ‘You gotta get tougher, you gotta get tougher,’ so all of this stuff that’s happening to me, I don’t feel it. What I was really doing was, I was walling myself off.”
After this admission, Bill credits psilocybin for cracking open that hard shell.
“Yeah, mushrooms,” he gleaned. “Mushrooms turned me around. I had one mushroom trip and it sort of woke me up.”
Those who have followed Burr over the decades of his career may have noted the softness creeping into his interviews and stand-up. He still has a sharp Boston charm, but it is no longer shrouded behind walls. The comedian seems to be letting his fans in more, and perhaps that is thanks to the shrooms.
Conan turned to his co-host, Sona Movsesian, and stated that he had been interested in trying them out, too. He has also been recommended pot, but explained he’s too scared of it to try it out these days.
Burr agreed that things have gotten far too potent for him in the cannabis world, stating that, “Weed isn’t weed anymore.”
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The conversation is refreshing. As male suicide rates reach four times that of women, this gender group needs to learn to talk about their feelings and their instincts to conceal them. Perhaps mushrooms are part of the answer.
As for Burr, he is positive he’s only scratched the surface since that fateful mushroom trip.
“I’ve only gone up one flight of the Empire State Building that is my messed up personality.”
Fans of Bill Burr who want to see how he goes deeper can stream his new special, Drop Dead Years, exclusively on Hulu. Anyone looking to hear this, or any other episodes of Conan Needs a Friend, will find them on almost all podcast networks.
