Bill Burr Fans Are Roasting This Review of ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ Like It’s the City of Philadelphia

One negative review for the recently remounted Glengarry Glen Ross has Comedy Twitter angrier than Bill Burr when ESPN promotes the WNBA.

The revival of David Mamet’s lauded 1983 stage play Glengarry Glen Ross at the Palace Theatre in New York starring Kieran Culkin, Michael McKean, Bob Odenkirk and Burr has, so far, garnered mixed reviews from the critical community that dutifully covers the world of Broadway theatre. A production of a play as popular as Mamet’s magnum opus will naturally attract extra scrutiny, especially one that features a cast that’s almost entirely made up of A-listers from film and television, including one newcomer to dramatic theater whose fandom shares his short temper when it comes to hand-wringing, pearl-clutching and any call for increased political correctness in popular culture.

Earlier this week, The Daily Beast’s Tim Teeman tore apart the Burr-starred Glengarry Glen Ross in his review of the production, focusing the majority of his criticism on the characters’ casual racism and taking multiple diversions to add his own thoughts on the fraught American political landscape. While the Burr-lovers of Twitter have taken most criticism of Glengarry Glen Ross in stride, Teeman’s moralizing condemnation of the characters’ cultural insensitivity has them acting like Burr did when the entire city of Philadelphia pissed him off:

In fairness to Teeman and his distaste for Glengarry Glen Ross as a whole, most Twitter users who are currently going viral for mocking his critique that characters whom Mamet intentionally wrote as flawed and unlikeable have racist tendencies either don’t understand or willingly ignore Teeman’s main criticism about the audience’s reaction to the show. While those of us with developed media literacy understand that we’re not supposed to find the cutthroat and coarse real estate agents of Glengarry Glen Ross to be charming, sympathetic and morally upright protagonists, the audience also isn’t supposed to laugh along with them when they express their disdain for Indian-Americans. 

At the same time, there is, of course, a huge difference between portraying racism and endorsing racism, and a piece of theatre doesn’t need to have a heroic woke-scold come out on stage and correct the racist characters’ language for an intelligent audience member to understand that the racists aren’t the good guys. Teeman’s biggest problem with Glengarry Glen Ross is textual, as he clearly doesn’t think that Mamet punished his miserable, greedy, thieving capitalists enough for the crime of being problematic.

Teeman’s review isn’t really a theatre review, it’s a complaint that, by 2025 standards, Glengarry Glen Ross isn’t sensitive enough toward marginalized groups, and he’s right. That’s the point of the play — nobody in the show is a good person, because the capitalist system under which they scheme and toil is itself morally bankrupt. Whatever Teeman wants to say about the LGBTQ+ community and anti-trans legislation simply doesn’t belong in what’s supposed to be a review of form and technique in the medium of drama.

And, hey, if Glengarry Glen Ross didn’t have any anti-boss hate, then Burr’s fans would have demanded refunds.