Bill Burr Visibly Hated Reviewing These Bill Burr Impressions

You know who does a great impression of Bill Burr struggling to keep his soul and his rage contained within a bright blue sweater? Bill Burr.

Of all the superstar stand-up comics who claim self-effacement and discomfort with the extraordinary level of attention and dissection that comes with being a comedy A-lister, we believe Burr’s insistence that he can’t stand to watch himself on camera, especially when he’s being played by someone else. Presumably, the publicists and press coordinators involved in booking Boston’s most irate comedy export understood that the list of activities that Burr would enjoy less than spending ten minutes watching other people impersonate him is basically just a collection of dental surgeries and a ten-hour marathon of The View, but they decided to sit Burr down with Vanity Fair for an exercise in embarrassment nonetheless.

Yesterday, Vanity Fair posted their session with Burr as they forced him to watch Jay Pharoah, Jon Lovitz and many other comics both prominent and internet famous do their best Burr impressions. By far, the best performance of the video is Burr’s imitation of a man who isn’t screaming.

To be fair to a couple of the comics featured in the Vanity Fair video, some of the Burr impressions actually are pretty spot on, as Burr himself admitted. However, Pharoah’s attempt was so far off that it makes us wonder why exactly he was featured twice — though Andrew Santino, who has made a habit of imitating Burr on the podcast circuit, certainly found the right shade for O’Billy Red Nuts.

Alt-right YouTuber Tyler Fischer’s impression was similarly apt, so much so that Burr’s smile seemed the least pained during his performance. Burr might not have been quite amused by Fischer’s act if he knew how deep Fischer was in the “failed comedian to alt-right podcaster pipeline” and how often he cries on Twitter about how black-on-white racism is the biggest problem facing this country.

Ultimately, in Burr’s eyes, imitation is not necessarily the best form of flattery, but he was able to find some scarce moments of enjoyment throughout the process, thanks to the talent that was on display. As Burr closed the video, “I’m very flattered, y’all did a great job, and now I hate my self even more. Thank you! Thank you, Vanity Fair! I wore a sweater for you guys to feel even worse about myself!”