And it's important to remember, you know, this is a piece of theater. 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.. That's when the younger Burnham, the one from the beginning of his special-filming days, appears. "You say the whole world's ending, honey it already did, you're not gonna slow it, heaven knows you tried. Daddy made you your favorite, open wide.". Burnham's growth is admirable, but also revealing of how little we expect from men in the industry. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). A distorted voice is back again, mocking Burnham as he sits exposed on his fake stage: "Well, well, look who's inside again. But, like so many other plans and hopes people had in the early months of the pandemic, that goal proved unattainable. "Got it? But he's largely been given a pass by his fans, who praise his self-awareness and new approach. 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.". And I think that, 'Oh if I'm self-aware about being a douchebag it'll somehow make me less of a douchebag.' Bo Burnham also uploaded Welcome to the Internet and White Womans Instagram on his YouTube channel. Bo Burnhams Inside begs for our parasocial awareness The comedians lifetime online explains the heart of most of his new songs By Wil Williams @wilw_writes Jun 28, 2021, 11:01am EDT Review: Bo Burnham's 'Inside Other than Fred Rogers, Bo Burnham is one of the most cited single individual creators when discussing parasocial relationships. And then, of course, he had previous standup comedy specials. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. "The world needs direction from a white guy like [you] who is healing the world with comedy. "And I spent that time trying to improve myself mentally. Yes, Amazon has a pre-order set up for the album on Vinyl. One comment stuck out to me: Theres something really powerful and painful about, hearing his actual voice singing and breaking at certain points. And we might. Relieved to be done? The first comes when Burnham looks directly into the camera as he addresses the audience, singing, Are you feeling nervous? See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. Burnham is especially aware as a creator constantly reflecting on his own life. His hair and beard were shorter, and he was full of inspired energy. HOLMES: So before he was this celebrated filmmaker, Bo Burnham was himself a YouTube star. Not putting a name on parasocial relationships makes the theme less didactic, more blurred while still being astutesuch sharp focus on the eyes, you dont notice the rest of the face fades into shades of blue. Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. This plays almost like a glitch and goes unexplained until later in the special when a sketch plays out with Burnham as a Twitch streamer who is testing out a game called "INSIDE" (in which the player has to have a Bo Burnham video game character do things like cry, play the piano, and find a flashlight in order to complete their day). "Goodbye sadness, hello jokes!". (The question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. The piece also highlights Bos anxieties with becoming older and his legacy as a comedian. The result, a special titled "Inside," shows all of Burnham's brilliant instincts of parody and meta-commentary on the role of white, male entertainers in the world and of poisons found in internet culture that digital space that gave him a career and fostered a damaging anxiety disorder that led him to quit performing live comedy after 2015. BURNHAM: (Singing) Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background? You can stream "Inside" on Netflix now, and see our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. And did you have any favorites? The penultimate song, "All Eyes On Me," is the best in the whole special, in this writer's opinion. Hiding a mysterious past, a mother lives like a nameless fugitive with her daughter as they make hotels their home and see everyone else as a threat. Please check your email to find a confirmation email, and follow the steps to confirm your humanity. Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. Is he content with its content? And I don't think that I can handle this right now. Burnham is also the main character in the game, a character who is seen moving mechanically around a room. Burnham brings back all the motifs from the earlier songs into his finale, revisiting all the stages of emotion he took us through for the last 90 minutes. Well now the shots are reversed. An older Burnham sits at a stool in front of a clock, and he says into a microphone that he's been working on the special for six months now. Still, its difficult not to be lulled back into, again, this absolute banger. It's wonderful to be with you. Now, you heard me struggling to describe what this is, so help me out. I think this is something we've all been thinking about. Is he content with its content? Initially, this seems like a pretty standard takedown of the basic bitch stereotype co-opted from Black Twitter, until the aspect ratio widens and Burnham sings a shockingly personal, emotional caption from the same feed. Toward the end, he appears completely naked behind his keyboard. For the song "Comedy," Burnham adopts a persona adjacent to his real life self a white male comedian who is driven to try and help make the world a better place. 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. The final shot is of him looking positively orgasmic, eyes closed, on the cross. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. HOLMES: Thank you. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. The special was nominated for six Emmy Awards in 2021, of which it won three: Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, and Outstanding Music Direction. Good. 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. Next in his special, Burnham performs a sketch song about being an unpaid intern, and then says he's going to do a "reaction" video to the song in classic YouTube format. I actually felt true mutual empathy with someone for the first time, and with someone Ive never even met, its kinda funny.. How does one know if the joke punches down? our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. 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. He was only 16. He says his goal had been to complete filming before his 30th birthday. Something went wrong. Inside is a tricky work that for all its boundary-crossing remains in the end a comedy in the spirit of neurotic, self-loathing stand-up. Bo Burnham Parasocial relationships can be positive too, as outlined in culture critic Stitchs essay On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity for Teen Vogue. BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. Netflix. Bo Burnham For all the ways Burnham had been desperate to leave the confines of his studio, now that he's able to go back out into the world (and onto a real stage), he's terrified. Like he's parodying white people who think that by crucifying themselves first they're somehow freed from the consequences of their actions. To save you the time freeze-framing, here's the complete message: "No pressure by the way at any point we can stop i just want to make sure ur comfortable all this and please dont feel obligated to send anything you dont want to just cuz i want things doesnt mean i should get them and its sometimes confusing because i think you enjoy it when i beg and express how much i want you but i dont ever want that to turn into you feeling pressured into doing something you don't want or feeling like youre disappointing me this is just meant to be fun and if at any point its not fun for you we can stop and im sorry if me saying this is killing the mood i just like ". 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. Viewer discretion is advised. WebA Girl and an Astronaut. Long before the phrase parasocial relationship had entered the mainstream zeitgeist, Burnhams work discussed the phenomenon. Netflix All Eyes on Me takes a different approach to rattling the viewer. That's a really clever, fun little rhyme in this, you know, kind of heavy song. And they're biting, but he's also very talented at these little catchy pop hooks. 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.". But he knows how to do this. He decided to stop doing live performances, and instead set out to write and direct his first feature film, the critically-acclaimed 2018 movie "Eighth Grade." The whole video is filmed like one big thirst trap as he sweats and works out. Teeuwen's performance shows a twisted, codependent relationship between him and the puppet on his hand, something Burnham is clearly channeling in his own sock puppet routine in "Inside.". Bo Burnham When that future-Burnham appears, it's almost like a precursor to what he'll have shown us by the end of the special: That both he, and his audience, could never have known just how brutal the next year was about to be. The arrogance is taught or it was cultivated. MARTIN: So as you can hear in that bit, he sounds something like other comedic songwriters who do these kind of parody or comedy songs, whether it's Tom Lehrer, Weird Al or whoever. HOLMES: So, as you'll hear there, on the one hand, there's a lot of sadness in what he's talking about there. MARTIN: And I understand you were saying that it moves between genres. Burnham's hair is shorter in those initial behind-the-scenes moments, but his future-self has a longer, unkempt beard and messy hair. Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. It feels like the ending of a show, a climax, but it's not. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. "Any Day Now" The ending credits. Get the fuck up! Burnham walks towards the camera and grabs it like hes grabbing the viewer by the throat. A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy. See our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" here. Its a stupid song, and, uh, it doesnt really mean anything. The video continues. With electro-pop social commentary, bleak humour and sock-puppet debates, the comics lockdown creation is astonishing. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. The special is available exclusively on Netflix, while the album can be found on most streaming platforms. Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. On May 30, 2022, Burnham uploaded the video Inside: The Outtakes, to his YouTube channel, marking a rare original upload, similar to how he used his YouTube channel when he was a teenager. He also revealed an official poster, a single frame from the special, and the cover art prior to its release. Tell us a little bit more about that. When we see it again towards the end of the special, it's from a new camera angle. At the second level of the reaction video, Burnham says: "I'm being a little pretentious. During the last 15 minutes of "Make Happy," Burnham turns the comedy switch down a bit and begins talking to the audience about how his comedy is almost always about performing itself because he thinks people are, at all times, doing a "performance" for one another. Throughout "Inside," there's a huge variety of light and background set-ups used, so it seems unlikely that this particular cloud-scape was just randomly chosen twice. That YouTube commenter might be understood by Burnham if they were to meet him. Burnhams 2013 special, what., culminates in Burnham, the performer, reacting to pre-recorded versions of himself playing people from his life reacting to his work and fame, trying to capitalize on their tenuous relationship with him. But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. So we broke down each song and sketch and analyzed their meaning and context. Research and analysis of parasocial relationships usually revolves around genres of performers instead of individuals. Theyre complicated. Similarly, Burnham often speaks to the audience by filming himself speaking to himself in a mirror. Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime. Bo Burnham WebBo Burnham: Inside is a 2021 special written, directed, filmed, edited, and performed by American comedian Bo Burnham. It's like the mental despair of the last year has turned into a comfort. You know, I was not, you know, I was alone, but I was not trapped in one room. Then comes the third emotional jump scare. Transcript Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. The title card appears in white, then changes to red, signaling that a camera is recording. Linda, thank you so much for joining us. Likewise, the finale of Burnhams next special, Make Happy (2016) closes in a song called Handle This (Kanye Rant). The song starts as him venting his hyperbolically small problems, until the tone shifts, and he starts directly addressing the audience, singing: The truth is, my biggest problem is you / [. Even when confronted with works that criticize parasocial attachment, its difficult for fans not to feel emotionally connected to performers they admire. Bo Burnhams latest Netflix special, Inside, is a solo venture about the comedian and filmmakers difficult experience in quarantine thats earned enthusiastic critical acclaim. Bo Burnham Still terrified of that spotlight? Were complicated. We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. Still terrified of that spotlight? ", When asked about the inspiration for the song, like if people he knew thought he was gay, Burnham said, "A lot of my close friends were gay, and, you know, I wasn't certain I wasn't at that point.". I don't know exactly how it tracks his experience, Bo Burnham, the person, right? that shows this exact meta style. The video is an hour-long edit of footage that was deleted from the making of 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. And then the funniest thing happened.". And he's done virtually no press about it. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. Each of the songs from the first half of the special are in line with Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. He's the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. And the biggest risk Burnham takes in the show is letting his emotional side loose, but not before cracking a ton of jokes. I hope to see you inside at some point. 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? The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. In his new Netflix special, Inside, Bo Burnham sings about trying to be funny while stuck in a room. Its an origin story of sorts. Underneath the Steve Martin-like formal trickery has always beaten the heaving heart of a flamboyantly dramatic theater kid. The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 chart, #1 on the Comedy Albums chart, and #18 on the Independent Albums chart. Bo Burnham (For example, the song "Straight, White, Male" from the "Make Happy" special). The performer, along with the record label and brand deals, encourage a parasocial relationship for increased profits. Likewise. WebStuck in a passionless marriage, a journalist must choose between her distant but loving husband and a younger ex-boyfriend who has reentered her life. Later in Inside, Burnham thanks the audience for their support while holding them at knifepoint. "Everything that once was sad is somehow funny now, the Holocaust and 9/11, that s---'s funny, 24-7, 'cause tragedy will be exclusively joked about, because my empathy iss bumming me out," he sang. It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again. "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.". How how successful do you think is "Inside" at addressing, describing kind of confronting the experience that a lot of people have had over the past year? When he appeared on NPR's radio show "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross in 2018, the host played a clip of "My Whole Family" and Burnham took his headphones off so he didn't have to relisten to the song. I'm talking to you, get the f--- up.". He brushes his teeth, eats a bowl of cereal, and begins editing his videos. While talking to the audience during the opening section, Burnham takes a sip out of a water bottle. It's as if Burnham knows there are valid criticisms of him that haven't really stuck in the public discourse around his work. The clean, tidy interior that first connected "Inside" with "Make Happy" is gone in its place is a mess-riddled space. WebBo Burnham has been critical of his past self for the edgy, offensive comedy he used to make. So let's dive into "Inside" and take a closer look at nearly every song and sketch in Burnham's special. And she's with us now to tell us more about it. Burnham makes it textual, too. Also, Burnham's air conditioner is set to precisely 69 degrees throughout this whole faux music video. He puts himself on a cross using his projector, and the whole video is him exercising, like he's training for when he's inevitably "canceled.". Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. Most creator-made content online is available for free, meaning creators usually have to rely on their fans for income via crowdfunding like Patreon. There's also another little joke baked into this bit, because the game is made by a company called SSRI interactive the most common form of antidepressant drugs are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, aka SSRIs. It's progress. ", "On September 17, the clock began counting down from seven years, 103 days, 15 hours, 40 minutes and seven seconds, displayed in red," the Smithsonian reported. And while its an ominous portrait of the isolation of the pandemic, theres hope in its existence: Written, designed and shot by Burnham over the last year inside a single room, it illustrates that theres no greater inspiration than limitations. But by the end of the tune, his narrative changes into irreverence. "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. 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. Bo Burnham But then, just as Burnham is vowing to always stay inside, and lamenting that he'll be "fully irrelevant and totally broken" in the future, the spotlight turns on him and he's completely naked. 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. I like this song, Burnham says, before pointing out the the lack of modern songs about labor exploitation. Now get inside.". But then the video keeps playing, and so he winds up reacting to his own reaction, and then reacting yet again to that reaction. 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"). Daddy made you your favorite. "Healing the world with comedy, the indescribable power of your comedy," the voice sings. "Truly, it's like, for a 16-year-old kid in 2006, it's not bad. Hes bedraggled, increasingly unshaven, growing a Rasputin-like beard. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. His virtuosic new special, Inside (on Netflix), pushes this trend further, so far that it feels as if he has created something entirely new and unlikely, both sweepingly cinematic and claustrophobically intimate, a Zeitgeist-chasing musical comedy made alone to an audience of no one. As he shows in this new sketch, he's aware at a meta level that simply trying to get ahead of the criticism that could be tossed his way is itself a performance sometimes. Mirroring the earlier scene where Burnham went to sleep, now Burnham is shown "waking up.". I was not, you know, having these particular experiences. It moves kind of all over the place. 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. Bo Burnham: INSIDE | Trailer - YouTube 0:00 / 2:09 The following content may contain suicide or self-harm topics. A Detailed Breakdown of How Bo Burnham Only he knows. HOLMES: Yeah. Mid-song, a spotlight turns on Burnham and shows him completely naked as a voice sings: "Well, well, look who's inside again. When the song starts, the camera sitting in front of Burnham's mirror starts slowing zooming in, making the screen darker and darker until you (the audience member at home) are sitting in front of the black mirror of your screen. 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. Please enter a valid email and try again. Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". But Burnham doesn't put the bottle down right, and it falls off the stool. Not in the traditional senseno music was released prior to the special other than a backing track from Content found in the trailer. With menacing horror movie sound effects and hectic, dreamy camerawork, what becomes clear is Burnhams title has a double meaning: referring to being inside not just a room, but also his head. It's not. "And so today I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. Then he moves into a new layer of reaction, where he responds to that previous comment. But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. 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. "Inside" feels like the creative culmination of Bo Burnham's career over the last 15 years, starting with his first viral YouTube video in 2006. Bo Burnham: Inside At first hearing, this is a simple set of lyrics about the way kids deal with struggles throughout adolescence, particularly things like anxiety and depression. Thematically, it deals with the events of 2020, rising wealth inequality, racial injustice, isolation, mental health, social media, and technologys role in our lives. But we weren't. Throughout the song and its accompanying visuals, Burnham is highlighting the "girlboss" aesthetic of many white women's Instagram accounts. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Entertainment correspondent Kim Renfro ranked them in ascending order of greatness. Bo Burnham Anyone can read what you share. Burnham then kicks back into song, still addressing his audience, who seem unsure of whether to laugh, applaud, or sit somberly in their chairs. Got it? Feelings of depersonalization and derealization can be very disturbing and may feel like you're living in a dream.". A harsh skepticism of digital life (a life the pandemic has only magnified) is the dominant subject of the special. It's a reminder, coming almost exactly halfway through the special, of the toll that this year is taking on Burnham. It also seems noteworthy that this is one of the only sketches in "Inside" that fades to black. "Inside" kicks off with Burnham reentering the same small studio space he used for the end of "Make Happy," when the 2016 Netflix special transitioned from the live stage to Burnham suddenly sitting down at his piano by himself to sing one final song for the at-home audience. It's like Burnham's special has swallowed you whole, bringing you fully into his mind at last. Burnham uses vocal tuning often throughout all of his specials. 20. Bo Burnham defined an era when he created Inside. Hes been addressing us the entire time. Burnham slaps his leg in frustration and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. All Eyes on Me also earned Bo his first Grammy win for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2022 Grammys. TikTok creator @TheWoodMother made a video about how Burnham's "Inside" is its own poioumenon thanks to the meta scenes of Burnham setting up lights and cameras, not to mention the musical numbers like "Content" and "Comedy" that all help to tell the story of Burnham making this new special. you might have missed in Bo Burnham 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. Im talking to you. Bo Burnham Tapping on a synthesizer, he sings about the challenges of isolation as he sits on a cluttered floor, two striking squares of sunlight streaming in through the windows of a dark room. True, but it can deepen and clarify art. MARTIN: You know, about that, because it does move into a deeply serious place at some point. Good. Bo Burnham It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again.
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