Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill is the latest addition to Netflix stand-up specials which was released on 6 June 2022. The comedy show is a part of Netflix is a Joke: The Festival, which concluded on 8 May 2022. It is directed by Ryan Polito and hosted by the writer and comedian Bill Burr. However, apart from Bill Burr, there are 10 other stand-up comedians who are part of the show and introduced as either his friends or talents he discovered through social media videos.
The comedy show has a runtime of about 1 hour 13 minutes and is tagged as raunchy by Netflix. There isn’t a trailer of the show, however, a snippet of the opening of the show is released to watch below.
-Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers-
Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill Featuring Cast
Apart from the host Bill Burr, other noted comedians who feature in the show include – TV host Michelle Wolf, British-Irish presenter Jimmy Carr, Juno Award-nominee Steph Tolev, ‘Bumping Mics’ Jeff Ross and Insomniac host Dave Attell, Man of the Century star Ian Edwards, Joe Bartnick, actress and producer Jessica Kirson, Josh Adam Mayers (creator and host of The Goddamn Comedy Jam) and Shang-Chi star Ronny Chieng.
Star Studded But A Lacklustre Comedy Show
The show starts off with a 10 minute set from Bill Burr himself before he showcases his friends and colleagues. He gets straight to the point and shares his thought about the pandemic and expected that there would be less traffic now that a lot of people have been pulled away from this world with the covid waves. It could be found insensitive by some but he recovers by showing empathy for the doctors who had to deal with the numerous self-claimed pseudo-doctors.
However, soon he lands himself in a foot in mouth situation with his declaration of love for guns. It can be considered controversial due to the recent school shooting incident in Texas, USA. The show was filmed before it happened but considering the current media climate, his remarks can come off as ignorant and could have been edited out of the show. Then Bill Burr goes on to introduce the first in the lineup of comedians – Michelle Wolf.
Michelle performs her set for ten minutes which includes making fun of white women because it’s easy and fun but in the hindsight, it is degrading to all women. She sounds like a manager in a company who doesn’t want to work with females because they aren’t competent enough. The next stand-up to take up the stage is Jimmy Carr from London who tries to test the audience limit with his jarring one-liners and paedophile jokes while unzipping his pants.
Followed by Steph Tolev with her animated exaggerated voice as she tries to make jokes about dating in LA with her gargoyle-like physical mannerism. The mic is then passed on to Jeff Ross and Dave Attell with their set called ‘bumping mics’. Jeff Ross tries to do his popular segment called ‘roastmaster’ but it is fairly short in their ten-minute set.
Ian Edwards takes the show further with his snide remarks about gender reveal parties and some more pandemic jokes. Followed by Joe Bartnick, who doesn’t stand out that much and later by Jessica Kirson with her high pitched eccentric set. The closing act is done by Josh Adam Meyers and his band the Goddamn Comedy Jam where he sings a song with comedic lyrics and lastly Ronny Chieng closes the show by singing Teenage Dream by Katy Perry with Adam.
Final Thoughts: Stream It or Skip It?
Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill on Netflix does not stand up to the expectations considering the comedians who are featured in the show. In the middle of the runtime, it starts to feel dull and rushed in some cases as well. Like comedian Joe Bartnick, is not even memorable enough from his set and one could easily forget if he is even in the lineup. I believe Ronnie Chieng should have been given some time to perform his set as well instead of just a song.
Also, pandemic jokes should be done away with at this moment, they sound the same and are repetitious. The line-up could be shuffled a bit to make it more dynamic and Josh Adam and his band could have been used in between sets as well instead of just the closing number, which was one of the good parts of the show.
Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill is streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Ammar (2020) Review: Unclear Plot With No Horror, Directed By Mahmoud Kamel
This was written by someone who “doesn’t get funny”
You’re obnoxious and everything wrong with America. To be honest the set wasn’t great but nobody needed a complete political review of every joke. Let me guess you could do it better? Exactly. The real problem was how unenthusiastic the crowd was on every level. Why would Netflix choose LA for this rowdy crowd? Everyone was “above” all the jokes and might as well have been a crowd of mannequins. The vibes in the room were so negative it made the jokes painful.
I’m a Quincy, aka Boston guy. This show sucked ass.
Not good he is so wrong….I used to love him but not anymore….
The show was ok, I honestly recommend you to not review stand-up
The show sucks, the jokes have no wit. It felt like being clubbed over the head by someone who desperately wants you to laugh.
Why have a snowflake (who clearly looks for things to be offended by so she can complain) review stand-up comedy? She’s as qualified to judge stand-up as a blind man is qualified to judge a dancing competition.
Only positive take away from this “comedy special” is that although the “special ” is 1h 13m long it only took me 20mins to watch….that’s because I fast forwarded every single one of Bill’s awesome, amazing…just the funniest guests
Bill burr is better than this! I love bill and support everything he does this just wasn’t his best work.
Your review is actually ‘everything that is wrong with America’. A comedy special never failed ‘because the audience’. In reality, the show was complete s**t. That’s it. Even the veteran comedians bombed. It’s not that complicated.
The show was not funny.
This is a terrible review. Yes it was an awful and unfunny show but stop being the “it can be considered unfunny, insensitive, etc., due to current events. It is like you are completely unfamiliar with comedy. The jokes can be considered bad because their timing was off and some of them were desperate. Insensitive jokes are stock in trade. Ugh.
Bill Burr is not funny
This was the worst comedy show ever, lol!
This was the worst comedy show ever, lol!
This was the worst comedy show ever, lol!
This show was terrible.
The show was okay. Burr was great. The audience was terrible and seemed either stoned or uptight. I don’t blame the comics for their nervous energy with a crowd like that. Could’ve done without Attell and Ross. Decent showcase. Steph Tolev fuckin’ slayed. I didn’t know who she was before watching.
Bill was great as usual, I somewhat enjoyed Michelle’s time, Jimmy wasn’t his best and I stopped watching during Stephanie, who was awful.
What are you talking about? It had nothing to do with the crowd. This was a train wreck through and though.
Agree