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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
When he isn’t consistently running his podcast via YouTube, Apple, and Spotify, actor/comedian Bill Burr does stand-up work, his most recent one being on Hulu. Titled Drop Dead Years, his new comedy special covers the trials and tribulations of growing older and entering a new epoché of psychological-social-political affairs. In the art of rhetoric, Burr never misses a beat, and he never gets too deep into his commentary. If there is anything to find levity in at harsh times like these, it’s stand-up comedy. Yet, only so few comedians around today reach perfection. Drop Dead Years succeeds at that feat as Burr tackles an array of subject matter and arguments.
Drop Dead Years is written and performed by Bill Burr (Chappelle’s Show, Date Night, Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian, Old Dads, Leo) and is directed by executive producer Ben Tishler.
In this review, I will discuss Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years.
Hulu’s Drop Dead Years Logline
According to Hulu Press, here is the logline for Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years.
‘Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years’ is the latest one-hour special from one of the greatest stand-up comedians working today. In what might be his most personal and introspective hour yet, Bill offers hilarious takes on everything from male sadness to dating advice.
Hulu Press
Discussion
I think the attention that Bill Burr’s received lately will eventually, somehow, point in the direction of this special. Personally, what’s piqued my interest in what the comic comments on—in his podcast, on social media, and in interviews—is his contextualization of the term, “politicize”. To politicize a global pandemic, to politicize Americans being harmed by wildfires and/or faulty airline systems, and now, to politicize a middle-aged man minding his business means creating strife in the nation because you can—and therefore because one side or another can drive followers towards certain change.
Amazingly, Burr’s Hulu special presents a hierarchy that starts with the broad and ends with the specific. If you’ve breezed through stand-up of anybody and (impossibly) everybody over the years like I have, then you’ll come to acquire a taste not just in appeal but the canons around which a comedian forms and structures their act. Burr addresses his ethos and pathos as if a man floating on water fishing for valuable nourishment and wisdom. In Drop Dead Years, he understands that some jokes made can be in poor taste. He also acknowledges words he shouldn’t be saying and the angles from which he shouldn’t be striking arguments.
Burr also discusses the prominent presences of depression and sadness in his life. In doing so, he doesn’t tap into anger or sorrow in the eyes of the audience. Again, he understands that in life, as Bob Dylan sings, the times they are a-changin’. The comedian, like many others, attempts to make logical sense of the world at large. Ultimately, he concludes that the timing could never have been greater than the present.
The Canons of Comedy
The invention/ discovery of Burr’s thesis, so to speak, is quite easy to identify. It’s the fact that he’s technically qualified for senior citizen status. For a progressive crowd like—he assumes—Seattle, it seems fair game to say what needs to be said and not anticipate backlash. The world today isn’t merely black or white, left or right, real or surreal, moral and immoral, etc. Burr appears to have found a sweet spot and unravels his interpretation of the world from his perspective.
The comedian’s topoi—or his series of ways of looking at issues to form such arguments—aren’t too difficult to relate to, and the arrangement thereof makes following along a walk in the park. In his opening bit, Burr reminds the crowd that there is an “in-between” for heterosexuality and homosexuality, implying transsexuality and non-binary existence. On that same note, Bill Burr strikes a hard note on Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians on the Gaza Strip. While picking sides is an obvious option, the comedian never insinuates centrism but instead turns the situation on its head. He poses the question, “How the fuck is war still legal in 2024?”
Burr hits the double-standard and hypocrisy of current-day general political rhetoric effectively. He questions why it isn’t socially acceptable to call heavy people “fat fuck[s]” while it is acceptable to launch missiles at people you don’t like, including children. What’s smart to me about rhetoric recorded in 2024 being published and released in 2025 is the reminder of children also being caught in the crossfires of our own neighborhood. Burr’s point eerily takes me back to a line from Kendrick Lamar’s “squabble up”, namely its music video, in which the rapper showcases a young boy on a toy tricycle.
Duality
Burr’s other subject matter and the ways in which he comes at them are just as intriguing. He acknowledges his cluelessness at open-casket funerals and the fact that people should just always assume the deceased is dead. I find this interesting because it’s as if he ignores “denial” as a stage of death or denies denial himself.
The comic then talks about improving the state of his 11-year marriage. Again, he hits the crowd so well, at this point with the line, “You’re not in it”, after they applaud at the assumption that marriage is a happy ending for both of them. What I love about this topic is how he speaks of his wife as a sort of bomb-defuser who gives him addictive “jolt[s] of love”. When it comes to love, Burr talks about their power dynamic, not necessarily as something to play tug-of-war for but one that should be shared. Of course, love isn’t a one-way street.
Burr then briefly goes to a dark place—depression. I love that he doesn’t see it as taboo but as something to be communicated to another. Again, he examines the duality in pathos, not just in “mad or fine” and not feelings that are exclusively feminine. Rather, sadness feels like an “in-between” that anyone and everyone can endure. He then discusses dementia as an unfortunate condition that occurs in older relatives, yet if it occurs in US Presidents, then it doesn’t matter as much. Burr then comes for the hypocrisy of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes but the legality of hate groups. Subject matter like this is why I love the Hulu special so much—because of how he speaks of them.
Bill Burr’s Style, i.e. Choice of Words
Bill Burr, ‘Drop Dead Years’ via Hulu
I wouldn’t get pulled over because I joined a terrorist organization; I would get pulled over because I didn’t have another terrorist with me.
When it comes to rhetorical style, it doesn’t have to be full of million-dollar dictionary vocabulary, but simply how any words are delivered. For Burr, it’s almost baffling to hear what he gets away with in Drop Dead Years. By all means, he isn’t a genius, although if words were to have power, then he damned sure knows how to kill with style and suggestion. Akin to a lot of us fair-minded folks, the comedian doesn’t attack freedom of speech but critiques it as a concept gatekept by Caucasians.
Mind you, the entire special is the sundae and the whole special is the cherry on top. It would be wrong to break a part from the whole without breaking down the whole into parts. Once again, Burr hits the crowd with a hard point, persuading them not to necessarily give up on the gun control issue but to embrace what advantages it does offer. I wouldn’t want to ruin the best elements of this bit because it would infer pinning blame on him for the same sorts of actions a certain US President was guilty of at the onset of 2021.
Again, stand-up comedy, like so many arts and fields, solidifies that words hold power. There is something hilarious about how Burr owns up to having used the f-slur—the one targeted at those of homosexual identities, not the word “fuck”—in the past and begs to know what a substitute would be. Similarly, he questions what synonyms for “balls”, i.e. testicles, exist, while the list for “pee pee” is lengthy. He also compares gun ranges to charcuterie boards, and the word “spectrum” to imply just about anything, albeit presumably autism.
The Crew Behind Drop Dead Years
Dylan Sanford (Demetri Martin: The Overthinker, Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All, The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar) serves as the director of photography.
Koury Angelo serves as the stills photographer.
Kelly Lyon serves as the editor. Ky Kenyon (Jesus Is King: A Kanye West Film, Love Death & Robots) serves as the assistant editor.
Tom Lenz (Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward, Jenny Slate: Stage Fright) serves as the production designer. Mel Lovric (Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward) is the art director.
Marc Janowitz serves as the lighting designer. Paul Reifenberg serves as the gaffer.
Final Thoughts on Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years
Bill Burr, ‘Drop Dead Years’ via Hulu
I’m sick of words getting hijacked.
The rhetoric of comedy gold isn’t dying any time soon, not as long as we know how to hit the right notes. Bill Burr raises concerns and questions over the who, the what, the why, and the how. For example, why genocides and hate groups are still allowed to be around in the world a quarter-century after Y2K, a dozen years after the supposed Aztec apocalypse, and sadly, a long few years after a global pandemic. When he comes down to it, Burr isn’t spiraling into madness in this Hulu special. Instead, he takes a risk of passion. To take on the darkness head-on. To live a little than not at all. When confronted with the metamorphosis into a new world, we must ask ourselves: what lies ahead in the future, and is there harmony in any of it?
5/5 stars
Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years is now streaming via Hulu!
Have you seen Bill Burr’s stand-up comedy work? If so, then what are your thoughts on it so far? Let us know! For more comedy-related news and reviews, follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Bluesky! Also, follow us on Letterboxd for further feature film, short film, and limited series reviews!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
