Bill Burr Got the Best Jokes in ‘The Mandalorian’
You had to be a Star Wars fan to get these jokes. This is doubly funny because Bill Burr isn't a fan.
For dads, stand-up comedian Bill Burr has some crass — and often relatable — jokes about being a parent, a husband, and a dude. Not everyone loves him, but most dads can relate to at least one of his jokes. But he’s not a man who loves Star Wars. Prior to his surprise casting in the Disney+ Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, Burr famously roasted Star Wars and has repeatedly professed to not knowing all that much about a galaxy far, far away.
So now that Burr has made an appearance in the sixth episode of The Mandalorian, it sort of makes sense that he got the best jokes. But, the thing is, because Burr’s not a Star Wars geek at all there’s a chance that he himself does not get why these jokes are so funny.
Mild spoilers for The Mandalorian episode 6, “Chapter 6: The Prisoner.”
In the episode, Burr plays a mercenary named Mayfeld, who is described as being a competent “triggerman.” Psuedo crime boss Ran (Mark Boone Jr.) mentions that Mayfeld was a “Former Imperial sharpshooter.” Mando quips, “That’s not saying much,” and Mayfeld (Burr) shoots back, “I wasn’t a stormtrooper, wiseass!”
Okay, so just in case, like Burr, you might not know why this is funny, here’s why this is funny: If Mayfeld worked for the Empire as a “sharpshooter,” then it’s fair for Mando to imply than an Imperial sharpshooter is a contradiction in terms. And that’s because in all the Star Wars movies the Empire’s soldiers — the stormtroopers – are notoriously terrible at hitting their targets. In the original trilogy, Han, Luke, and Leia can stand still and not get hit by a blaster bolt. So Mayfeld’s line acknowledges that everyone knows that stormtroopers are terrible shots. Basically, this has been an inside joke among Star Wars fan, since 1977.
Burr gets in two more solid Star Wars disses. He jokes about Mando maybe being a “Gungan” under his helmet, which of course, is the same alien species as Jar Jar Binks. Burr also says that Mando’s ship — The Razor Crest — looks like “slot machine on Canto Bight,” a dig at the Casino Planet from The Last Jedi.
So, basically, in one episode of The Mandalorian Bill Burr mocked stormtroopers being bad shots, Jar Jar Binks, and the most controversial planet in the most controversial Star Wars movie. Yep! Seems about right!
The Mandalorian has two more episodes left in 2019. Here’s when they drop.
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