‘Monday Morning Podcast’ Listeners Aren’t Interested in Hearing Bill Burr Ramble About Football Anymore

After weeks of raging against critics of his performance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, Bill Burr is finally ready to return to his regularly scheduled programming on The Monday Morning Podcast. Unfortunately for Burr, the critics are getting quite comfortable in his comments section.

When Burr returned from the state-sponsored, state-funded comedy event in Saudi Arabia, he immediately went on the offensive against comedians, comedy fans and media members who, along with the Human Rights Watch and other humanitarian watchdog groups, objected to his trip on moral grounds. Burr had spent the last year raging that “rabid dog” billionaires need to be “put down,” but, over the last few weeks, the comedian has been furiously defending his decision to accept a sizable check from Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman and perform at a Saudi-government-organized show where he was contractually banned from criticizing the Saudi government.

However, that was before the New England Patriots went on a three-game win streak.

On yesterday’s new episode of The Monday Morning Podcast, Burr made no mention of the Riyadh backlash, and he avoided the abruptly canceled Monday Morning Podcast live-show that was supposed to take place over the weekend. Instead, Burr spent a measly half-hour rambling about his usual topics, including both college and professional football, although his listeners were about as interested in hearing Burr's memories of Super Bowls past as the Saudi Government is in reading the Human Rights Watch report on them.

The content of the latest Monday Morning Podcast episode wasn’t nearly as explosive as past entries in which he raged against the “sanctimonious” critics of the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but you wouldn’t guess it from browsing through the comments. Just like every other new YouTube video that Burr’s team has posted since he returned from Saudi Arabia, the fan reaction to yesterday’s episode is an absolute bloodbath — but not the kind that Burr could probably enjoy at the Riyadh Royal Spa.

The top commenter under the new video cracked, “Ol’ Billy ‘Maybe if I ignore the comments’ Burr.”

“Bill, how big has your yacht gotta be?” one user asked of Burr’s unspecified but likely sizable paycheck from the Saudi Royals.

“Whyja not do the Q and A bill?” another inquired of the planned and suddenly canceled MMP live show.

A different fan wrote, “The biggest joke to come out of the Riyadh Comedy Festival is Bill Burr’s integrity.”

Many, many more listeners offered new nicknames for the MMP host — including, “Ol Billy ‘they have a Starbucks so their slavery is a-ok,’” “Bill ‘I don’t realize I was bought by royalty to bring the propaganda home’ Burr” and “Ol Billy ‘I take money from trillionaire slave owners’ Burqa.”

This has been the typical reaction of Burr’s following to anything Burr has said and done since returning from Riyadh. “Once again, we’re only here for the comment section now Bill,” wrote one enraged fan as the post became yet another forum for them to roast Burr the way he used to rip selfish, hypocritical, holier-than-thou celebrities.

The once-thriving Bill Burr subreddit is similarly unimpressed with Burr’s attempt to move on from the Riyadh blowback, though the tone is more mournful than scornful over there. “I used to care about what sports he is watching and the little things he did throughout his day because he was a decent person, not because it’s funny,” one of Burr's disappointed fans wrote in a thread about the new MMP episode. “But now this feels like I’m listening to a nearly estranged friend, half-heartily hearing what they’re going through.”

“I didn’t listen, but if it’s only 1/2 hour he must have gotten the message that people don’t want a sell out preaching about greedy billionaires,” another discouraged follower wrote. “There goes half his material.”

Clearly, Burr finally listened to his public relations team and has taken a new approach to dealing with the biggest controversy of his recent career. Ignoring the blowback, canceling the live shows and moving on may seem to be Burr’s most sensible move (besides, you know, apologizing and doing something charitable with some of his blood money), but it’s certainly not going to solve the crisis overnight — especially when the pushback is still picking up steam.

Unlike some other comedians who performed in Riyadh, Burr has long presented himself as a mouthpiece for moral indignation, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise to him or his team that his fans will be just as vocally indignant when he suddenly betrays every single one of his values for a check. MMP listeners aren’t likely to forget Burr’s Riyadh performance and his response to their complaints any time soon. In fact, they’re getting pretty comfortable in their new role as Burr’s most ruthless hecklers.

As one YouTube commenter put it, “Is there a chili’s down here in the comments?”