Burnham uses vocal tuning often throughout all of his specials. One of those is the internet itself. It's an emergence from the darkness. In the same way that earlier vocal distortion represented God, the effect on his voice in "All Eyes on Me" seems to signal some omniscient force outside of Burnham. You can tell that he's watched a ton of livestream gamers, and picked up on their intros, the way the talk with people in the chat, the cadence of their commentary on the game, everything. You know, I was not, you know, I was alone, but I was not trapped in one room. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Went out to look for a reason to hide again. But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. In recent years, he has begun directing other comics specials, staging stand-up sets by Chris Rock and Jerrod Carmichael with his signature extreme close-ups. Bo Burnham also uploaded Welcome to the Internet and White Womans Instagram on his YouTube channel. begins with the question "Is it mean?" And I think the pandemic was a time when a lot of people were in this do I laugh or cry space in their own minds. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. Performing "Make Happy" was mentally taxing on Burnham. He slaps his leg in frustration, and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. Social media; it's just the market's answer to a generation that demanded to perform so the market said, here, perform. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). He's also giving us a visual representation of the way social media feeds can jarringly swing between shallow photos and emotional posts about trauma and loss. Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. Bo Burnham Burnham can't get through his words in the update as he admits he's been working on the special much longer than he'd anticipated. I have a lot of material from back then that I'm not proud of and I think is offensive and I think is not helpful. But by using this meta-narrative throughout the whole special, Burnham messes with our ability to know when we're seeing a genuine struggle with artistic expression versus a meticulously staged fictional breakdown. Let's take a closer look at just a few of those bubbles, shall we? The first half is dominated by sharp, silly satires of the moment, like a visually precise and hilarious song about social media vanity, White Womans Instagram, and a commercial for a woke brand consultant. Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. The global pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders of March 2020 put a stop to these plans. It's self-conscious. Then, the video keeps going past the runtime of the song and into that reaction itself. And then the funniest thing happened.". The tropes he says you may find on a white woman's Instagram page are peppered with cultural appropriation ("a dreamcatcher bought from Urban Outfitters") and ignorant political takes ("a random quote from 'Lord of the Rings' misattributed to Martin Luther King"). He takes a break in the song to talk about how he was having panic attacks on stage while touring the "Make Happy" special, and so he decided to stop doing live shows. So in "Inside," when we see Burnham recording himself doing lighting set up and then accidentally pull down his camera was that a real blooper he decided to edit in? MARTIN: So a lot of us, you know, artists, journalists have been trying to describe what this period has been like, what has it meant, what's been going on with us. Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime. But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. It's as if Burnham is showing how wholesale judgments about the way people choose to use social media can gloss over earnest, genuine expressions of love and grief being shared online. Doona! '", "Robert's been a little depressed, no!" In a giddy homage to Cabaret, Burnham, in sunglasses, plays the M.C. But then the music tells the audience that "he meant to play the track again" and that "art's still a lie, nothing's still real.". Look at them, they're just staring at me, like 'Come and watch the skinny kid with a steadily declining mental health, and laugh as he attempts to give you what he cannot give himself. But then the video keeps playing, and so he winds up reacting to his own reaction, and then reacting yet again to that reaction. ", "I do not think my intention was homophobic, but what is the implicit comedy of that song if you chase it all the way down? It's an instinct that I have where I need everything that I write to have some deeper meaning or something, but it's a stupid song and it doesn't really mean anything, and it's pretty unlikable that I feel this desperate need to be seen as intelligent.". But now Burnham is showing us the clutter of the room where "Inside" was filmed. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. This is especially true for Patreon campaigns that give fans direct access to creators on platforms like Discord. From the very beginning of "Inside," Burnham makes it clear that the narrative arc of the special will be self-referential. "Goodbye sadness, hello jokes!". Burnham says he had quit live comedy several years ago because of panic attacks and returned in January 2020 before, as he puts it in typical perverse irony, the funniest thing happened. Most of the comments talk about how visceral it is to hear Burnhams real voice singing the upsetting lyrics. And did you have any favorites? And so I think he's always had that stubborn insistence on holding both of those things in his head at the same time. And it has a real feel of restlessness to it, almost like stream of consciousness. He points it at himself as he sways, singing again: Get your fuckin hands up / Get on out of your seat / All eyes on me, all eyes on me.. HOLMES: I liked a bunch of the songs in this, and a lot of them are silly songs about the things that his comedy has already been concerned with for a long time, right? It also seems noteworthy that this is one of the only sketches in "Inside" that fades to black. He was only 16. Might not help, but still, it couldn't hurt.". Get up. Comedian Bo Burnham recently a new comedy special for Netflix aptly titled Inside which was filmed entirely by himself while under lockdown during the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2020. And the very format of it, as I said, it's very much this kind of sinister figure trying to get you interested. Poioumenon (from the Greek word for "product") is a term created by author Alastair Fowler and usually used to refer to a kind of metafiction. LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Thank you, Michel. jonnyewers 30 May 2021. The comedians lifetime online explains the heart of most of his new songs, I made you some content, comedian Bo Burnham sings in the opening moments of his new Netflix special, Inside. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared, don't be shy, come on in the water's fine."). He brushes his teeth, eats a bowl of cereal, and begins editing his videos. The piece also highlights Bos anxieties with becoming older and his legacy as a comedian. The clean, tidy interior that first connected "Inside" with "Make Happy" is gone in its place is a mess-riddled space. Soering New insights from various parties come to light that raise questions about Jens Sring's conviction of the 1985 murders of his then-girlfriend's parents. That quiet simplicity doesn't feel like a relief, but it is. I think this is something we've all been thinking about. Went out to look for a reason to hide again. (SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "BO BURNHAM: INSIDE"). Some of this comes through in how scenes are shot and framed: its common for the special to be filmed, projected onto Burnhams wall (or, literally, himself), and then filmed again for the audience. WebBo Burnham's "Inside" special on Netflix is an incredibly detailed musical-comedy artwork. Now, the term is applied to how viewers devote time, energy, and emotion to celebrities and content creators like YouTubers, podcasters, and Twitch streamers people who do not know they exist. Oops. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. But the cultural standards of what is appropriate comedy and also the inner standards of my own mind have changed rapidly since I was 16. MARTIN: And I understand you were saying that it moves between genres. But Burnham doesn't put the bottle down right, and it falls off the stool. BURNHAM: (Singing) Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background? As we explained in this breakdown of 31 details you might have missed in "Inside," Bo Burnham's newest special is a poioumenon a type of artistic work that tells the story of its own creation. Now get inside.". It's just Burnham, his room, the depressive-sound of his song, and us watching as his distorted voice tries to convince us to join him in that darkness. And you can roughly think about this, I think, as a series of short videos that are mostly of him singing songs and that are sewn together with a little bit of other material, whether it's shots of him lying in bed or setting up the cameras. Not in the traditional senseno music was released prior to the special other than a backing track from Content found in the trailer. Then, of course, the aspect ratio shrinks again as the white woman goes back to posting typical content. The song untangles the way we view peoples social media output as the complete vision of who they are, when really, we cannot know the full extent of someones inner world, especially not just through social media. Instead of working his muscles at open mics or in improv, Burnham uploaded joke songs to the platform in 2006. Get the fuck up! Burnham walks towards the camera and grabs it like hes grabbing the viewer by the throat. Good. Im talking to you. That his special is an indictment of the internet by an artist whose career was born and flourished there is the ultimate joke. While the other songs have abrupt endings, or harsh transitions, "That Funny Feeling" simply fades quietly into darkness perhaps the way Burnham imagines the ending of it all will happen. In the song "That Funny Feeling," Burnham mentions these two year spans without further explanation, but it seems like he's referencing the "critical window for action to prevent the effects of global warming from becoming irreversible. All Eyes on Me also earned Bo his first Grammy win for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2022 Grammys. Bo Burnham: Inside, was written, edited, and directed by the talent himself and the entire show is shot in one room. "I'm criticizing my initial reaction for being pretentious, which is honestly a defense mechanism," he says. 7 on the Top 200. It's so good to hear your voice. A weekly roundup of the best things from Polygon, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Bo Burnhams Inside begs for our parasocial awareness, Sign up for the he sings as he refers to his birth name. Its a stupid song, and, uh, it doesnt really mean anything. The video continues. The aesthetic telegraphs authenticity and vulnerability, but the specials stunning final shots reveal the misdirection at work, encouraging skepticism of the performativity of such realism. Burnham had no idea that his song would be seen more than 10 million times,nor that it would kick start his career in a niche brand of self-aware musical comedy. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. But unlike many of us, Burnham was also hard at work on a one-man show directed, written and performed all by himself. Bo Burnham The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. He had a role in the film "Promising Young Woman." Thank you so much for joining us. It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again. of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl. Some of the things he mentions that give him "that funny feeling" include discount Etsy agitprop (aka communist-themed merchandise) and the Pepsi halftime show. HOLMES: So, as you'll hear there, on the one hand, there's a lot of sadness in what he's talking about there. Bo Burnhams latest Netflix special, Inside, is a solo venture about the comedian and filmmakers difficult experience in quarantine thats earned enthusiastic critical acclaim. Whatever it is, NPR's Linda Holmes, host of Pop Culture Happy Hour, has reviewed it, and she liked it. Trying to grant his dying father's wish, a son discovers an epic love story buried in his family's distant past. Unpaid Intern isnt just about unpaid internships; when your livelihood as an artist depends on your perceived closeness with each individual fan, fetching a coffee becomes telling someone theyre valid when they vent to you like they would a friend (or a therapist). While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. Yes, Bo Burnham posted a trailer via Twitter on April 28, 2021. On the other two sides of that question ("no" and "not sure") the flowchart asks if it could be "interpreted" as mean (if so, then it's "not funny") or if it "punches down.". "Truly, it's like, for a 16-year-old kid in 2006, it's not bad. Other artists have made works on the wavelength of Repeat Stuff, but few creators with a platform as large as Burnhams return to the topic over and over, touching on it in almost all of their works. The comedy special perfectly encapsulated the world's collective confusion, frustration, and exhaustion amid ongoing pandemic lockdowns, bringing a quirky spin to the ongoing existential terror that was the year 2020. His new Netflix special Inside was directed, written and performed all inside one room. In another scene, Burnham gives a retroactive disclaimer to discussions of his suicidal ideation by telling the audience, And if youre out there and youre struggling with suicidal thoughts and you want to kill yourself, I just wanna tell you Dont! Look Whos Inside Again is largely a song about being creative during quarantine, but ends with Now come out with your hands up, weve got you surrounded, a reflection on police violence but also being mobbed by his fans. I actually felt true mutual empathy with someone for the first time, and with someone Ive never even met, its kinda funny.. But now Burnham is back. Carpool Karaoke, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul. They may still be comical, but they have a different feel. At various points, the gamer is given the option to make the character cry. So we broke down each song and sketch and analyzed their meaning and context. WebBo Burnham: Inside is by far one of the riskiest and original comedy specials to come out in years. His 2014 song Repeat Stuff and its music video parodies how boy bands and other corporately-owned pop stars prey on young fans desire to feel loved by writing songs with lyrics vague enough anyone can feel like it was written specifically about them. Bo Burnham: Inside review this is a claustrophobic masterpiece. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." A distorted voice is back again, mocking Burnham as he sits exposed on his fake stage: "Well, well, look who's inside again. this breakdown of 31 details you might have missed in "Inside,". Its called INSIDE, and it will undoubtedly strike your hearts forevermore. Down to the second, the clock changes to midnight exactly halfway through the runtime of "Inside.". And then, of course, he had previous standup comedy specials. The battery is full, but no numbers are moving. ", He then pulls the same joke again, letting the song play after the audience's applause so it seems like a mistake. At the second level of the reaction video, Burnham says: "I'm being a little pretentious. It moves kind of all over the place. His career evolved through YouTube, MTV, Vine, his movie "Eighth Grade," and now Netflix's "Inside." Years later, the comedian told NPR's Terry Gross that performing the special was so tough that he was having panic attacks on stage. Likewise. Now, five years later, Burnham's new parody song is digging even deeper at the philosophical question of whether or not it's appropriate to be creating comedy during a horrifyingly raw period of tragedy like the COVID-19 pandemic and the social reckoning that followed George Floyd's murder. But I described it to a couple of people as, you know, this looks like what the inside of my head felt like because of his sort of restlessness, his desire to create, create, create. Well now the shots are reversed. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. ", From then on, the narrative of "Inside" follows Burnham returning to his standard comedic style and singing various parody songs like "FaceTime with My Mom" and "White Woman's Instagram.". I mean, honestly, he's saying a lot right there. Netflix Audiences who might not read a 1956 essay by researchers about news anchors still see much of the same discussion in Inside. So this is how it ends. "If greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate, then when the clock runs out, the average global temperature will be irreversibly on its way to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels.". Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". Hes bedraggled, increasingly unshaven, growing a Rasputin-like beard. But what is it exactly - a concert, a comedy special? Its a feat, the work of a gifted experimentalist whose craft has caught up to his talent. MARTIN: And it's deep, too. MARTIN: Well, that being said, Lynda, like, what song do you want to go out on? "I didn't perform for five years," he says. A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall. I'm talking to you, get the f--- up.". While talking to the audience during the opening section, Burnham takes a sip out of a water bottle. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. And many of them discuss their personal connection to the show and their analysis of how Burnham must have been thinking and feeling when he made it. Thank you, Michel. By inserting that Twitch character in this earlier scene, Burnham was seemingly giving a peek into his daily routine. And I think that's what you're getting here. Bo Burnham Still terrified of that spotlight? According to a May 2021 Slate article, the piece was filmed at Bo Burnhams Los Angeles guest housethe same room used for June 2016s Are You Happy? and the closing shots of the Make Happy special. / Are you having fun? The crowd directions are no longer stock pop song lyrics; now, the audience understands them as direct orders to them from Burnham. The structured movements of the last hour and half fall away as Burnham snaps at the audience: "Get up. The clearest inspiration is Merle Traviss 16 Tons, a song about the unethical working conditions of coal miners also used in weird Tom Hanks film Joe vs. Similarly, Burnham often speaks to the audience by filming himself speaking to himself in a mirror. Bo Burnham He is now back to where he was, making jokes alone in his room, an effort to escape his reality. Just wanted to make sure everybody knew about Bo's comedy special transcripts on Scraps. WebA grieving woman magically travels through time to 1998, where she meets a man with an uncanny resemblance to her late love. So he has, for example, a song in which he adopts the persona of a kind of horror movie carnival barker, you might call it, who is trying to sell people the internet. And it portends and casts doubt on a later scene when his mental health frays and Burnham cries in earnest. Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". "Robert's been a little depressed," he sings (referring to himself by his birthname). In one interpretation, maybe the smile means he's ready to be outside again. During that taping, Burnham said his favorite comic at the time was Hans Teeuwen, a "Dutch absurdist," who has a routine with a sock puppet that eats a candy bar as Teeuwen sings. By keeping that reveal until the end of the special, Burnham is dropping a hammer on the actual at-home audience, letting us know why his mental health has hit an ATL, as he calls it ("all time low"). Bo Burnham Linda, thank you so much for joining us. "Trying to be funny and stuck in a room, there isn't much more to say about it," he starts in a new song after fumbling a first take. "The poioumenon is calculated to offer opportunities to explore the boundaries of fiction and reality the limits of narrative truth," Fowler wrote in his book "A History of English Literature.". Bo Burnham After more sung repetitions of get your fuckin hands up, Burnham says, Get up. But the lyrics Burnham sings seem to imply that he wants to be held accountable for thoughtless and offensive jokes of his past: "Father please forgive me for I did not realize what I did, or that I'd live to regret it, times are changing and I'm getting old, are you gonna hold me accountable?". Mid-song, a spotlight turns on Burnham and shows him completely naked as a voice sings: "Well, well, look who's inside again. I cant say how Burnham thinks or feels with any authority, but as text and form-driven comedy, Inside urges the audience to reflect on how they interact with creators. See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. Bo Burnham, pictured here at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, wrote, directed and performed the entirety of his new Netflix special, Inside, by himself. If "All Eyes on Me" sounds disconcertingly comforting to you, it could be because you can recognize the mental symptoms of a mood disorder like depression. The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 chart, #1 on the Comedy Albums chart, and #18 on the Independent Albums chart. (For example, the song "Straight, White, Male" from the "Make Happy" special). The whole song ping pongs between Burnham's singing character describing a very surface-level, pleasant definition of the world functioning as a cohesive ecosystem and his puppet, Socko, saying that the truth is the world functions at a much darker level of power imbalance and oppression. But in recent years, theres been enough awareness of online behavior to see how parasocial relationships can have negative impacts on both the creator and the audience if left uninterrogated by both parties.