Bill Burr

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy winner Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd) has inked a deal to join comedian Bill Burr in Bender, the coming-of-age comedy shooting in Ireland this summer. Described as Superbad meets Derry Girls, Bender is based on the late-’70s, post-punk Dublin coming-of-age experiences of Adrian Cunningham, who penned the script. The story unfolds amid the [...]

Bill Burr is renowned for his work as a stand-up comedian, but he also appears to have plenty of hockey knowledge. The 57-year-old was in Utah on Tuesday night following a show at the Kingsbury Hall. He ended up going to watch the Mammoth and Edmonton Oilers game, and even did a quick intermission hit with Sportsnet’s Gene Principe. Burr, who grew up a Boston Bruins fan, was quick to mention how devastating it used to be going up against the Oilers during their dynasty years. “I’ve been watching, probably over 40 years. I pretty much follow the Bruins, but I used to watch you guys beat us in the ’80s a lot. Both Finals, ’87 and ’90, once with [Wayne] Gretzky, once with [Mark] Messier leading the team.” As it turns out, Burr has gotten to know Oilers assistant coach and Hall of Fame defenceman Paul Coffey quite well, to the point that he often tries to watch Edmonton play in order to run into the now 64-year-old. In typical Burr fashion, their relationship started out in a pretty funny way. “I didn’t know who he was. When I watched him, he had the jet black hair with the mullet. You can see we all got a little older,” Burr joked. “I did this charity thing for Mario Lemieux, and afterwards we were all hanging out. This guy was just giving me the business, we’ll keep it clean. “He had this dumb sweater on, I go, ‘Look at you with your J.Crew sweater,’ and he started laughing. We were going back and forth for like 20 minutes, then I looked, and I was like, ‘Is that Paul Coffey?’ [It’s] how all my friendships begin. It usually starts with a couple of insults and goes back and forth.” Burr was able to witness an impressive effort from the Oilers, who defeated the Mammoth by a 5-2 final. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the full Oilers lineup the American comic had hoped for. “I’m kind of bummed out that Leon Draisaitl isn’t playing,” Burr said. That will continue to be the case, as Draisaitl is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury. As for the Oilers, they’ll look to keep things rolling in a big divisional matchup on Thursday versus the Vegas Golden Knights. You might also like: - McDavid banged up? Oilers captain admits he's dealing with 'hips and groin stuff'