The Miseducation of Funny Man Bill Burr

“Morningside Heights,” he chuckled. “Is that what they’re calling it in the school brochures?”

Delineating the line between Harlem and MoHi during our phoner last Friday, comedian Bill Burr spoke his mind about the renaming of New York City neighborhoods, the state of the nation, and turkey carving, among other things.

Burr, who is known for his work on the second season of Chappelle’s Show and his appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Late Show with David Letterman, is in the midst of performing “The Uninformed Comedy Tour.” Today marks the first of four performances Burr has booked at Caroline’s Comedy Club in NYC.

Though an he is an avid fan of The Opie and Anthony Show and draws his inspiration from Bill Cosby, Burr guarantees that his tour material has never been heard before. Fans of his critically acclaimed Comedy Central CD and DVD titled Why Do I Do This? are in for some fresh musings couched in the same unapologetic style. Over the years, he’s made a name for himself based on his blunt delivery and candid rapport with the audience.

The native Bostonian crafts his sets on anything from street fairs to racial stereotyping, using his uncensored train of thought to keep time and those everyone’s-thinking-them-but-is-afraid-to-say-them opinions as punch lines. “I’ll overhear something in a bar or watch something on TV ... something that makes me take notice of it,” Burr said, favoring life experience over hitting the books. “Whatever that is gets added to the useless un-researched information in my head and out of that comes my point of view.”

In addition to touring, Burr cohosts a Sirius XM radio show with Joe DeRosa, who will make a special guest appearance at Caroline’s. Like the tour, “It’s called ‘Uninformed’ ... no reading, no research, just strong opinions,” said the LA-based comedian. Both Burr and DeRosa enjoy the freedom that satellite provides. “That format gives us license to be complete idiots and bring in experts to teach us something about whatever we’ve been ignorantly talking about.”

This Monday, Burr also shot the pilot for his new television series, The Untitled Bill Burr Show. The premiere date has not yet been set, but the interactive show promises to be unique. Burr, who recently turned to YouTube to learn how to carve his first turkey, recognizes the power of digital media and hopes that the show will be accessible to both television and online audiences. Episodes will be broken up into segments—to be watched either separately or together—which will be ready for download for viewers online. “For the first time I’m actually able to get an idea to the point where we are shooting a pilot,” Burr said. “I’m getting to watch actors say what I and Jeff Cesario wrote, which is pretty exciting.”