NESN has received near-universal praise for using comedian Bill Burr as a guest analyst earlier this week when the Red Sox went to Minnesota to take on the Twins. Burr is a Boston native and a diehard Red Sox fan. While many broadcasts have welcomed celebrities for an inning or two, NESN used Burr for the entire game.
Count Danny Parkins and Matt Spiegel as fans of the move. The Chicago duo had nothing but good things to say as they reviewed some of the audio on Thursday.
“It’s not like he was hanging around Boston and they said, ‘Hey, you want to come by?’” said an impressed Spiegel. “It was like on off days from his normal touring comedy world and he decided, on an invite, to fly to Minnesota and sit in.”
“I always think it’s so cool when, like – that’s an A-lister. If Bill Murray sits down with Boog [Sciambi] or with Pat [Hughes] for half an inning around the stretch, I’m like, ‘Oh man! This is so amazing. I hope something crazy happens,’ you know?” Parkins said. “But to do nine innings and fly in like that? A big sports fan. Like, a lot of respect.”
Would something like this happen again in the future? Parkins says he is confident that it would not have happened before Major League Baseball implemented rule changes this year.
“You just got on a plane to do color commentary for nine innings? That’s the pitch clock. I mean, you would not have done that if that game could have gone 4 hours.”
The duo played several clips for 670 The Score listeners. The clips included Burr making reference to the Red Sox using Apple Watches to steal signs in 2017 and shouting at Twins fans that booed a call that was not changed after a video review.
“More stand-up comics who love their team in the booth,” Spiegel pleaded.
“Absolutely,” Parkins responded. “You know what? You’re so right. Like, take that, find a stand-up comic, and make it a day.”
Spiegel suggested that Chicago has a perfect candidate in Roy Wood Jr, who is a Cubs fan and star of The Daily Show. He and Spiegel even partnered on a podcast about the team’s 2016 World Series run in 2021.
