Now Burnham is showing us the clutter of the room, where he's almost claustrophobically surrounded by equipment. And if you go back and you look at a film like "Eighth Grade," he's always been really consumed by sort of the positive and the negative of social media and the internet and the life of of young kids. But it doesn't. 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 / [. Bo Burnham, pictured here at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, wrote, directed and performed the entirety of his new Netflix special, Inside, by himself. Its a feat, the work of a gifted experimentalist whose craft has caught up to his talent. Yes, Bo Burnham posted a trailer via Twitter on April 28, 2021. (For example, the song "Straight, White, Male" from the "Make Happy" special). Something went wrong. At the start of the special, Burnham sings "Content," setting the stage for his musical-comedy. And he's done virtually no press about it. It's so good to hear your voice. 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. 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.". Throughout the song and its accompanying visuals, Burnham is highlighting the "girlboss" aesthetic of many white women's Instagram accounts. In Inside, Burnham confronts parasocial relationships in his most direct way yet. Bo Burnham defined an era when he created Inside. Even when confronted with works that criticize parasocial attachment, its difficult for fans not to feel emotionally connected to performers they admire. It's conscious of self. It's a reprieve of the lyrics Burnham sang earlier in the special when he was reminiscing about being a kid stuck in his room. All Eyes on Me also earned Bo his first Grammy win for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2022 Grammys. I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020, I thought 'you know what I should start performing again. It's an emergence from the darkness. Good. The song made such a splash in its insight that it earned its own episode in Shannon Struccis seminal Fake Friends documentary series, which broke down what parasocial relationships are and how they work. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. 1 on Billboards comedy albums chart and eventually climbed to No. BURNHAM: (Singing) Could I interest you in everything all of the time, a little bit of everything all of the time? Bo Burnhams 2021 special, Inside. And I think that, 'Oh if I'm self-aware about being a douchebag it'll somehow make me less of a douchebag.' They may still be comical, but they have a different feel. Self-awareness does not absolve anyone of anything, he says. Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. I've been singing that song for about a week NOW. Burnham is also the main character in the game, a character who is seen moving mechanically around a room. He uploaded it to YouTube, a then barely-known website that offered an easy way for people to share videos, so he could send it to his brother. And it's important to remember, you know, this is a piece of theater. 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. The song's melody is oddly soothing, and the lyrics are a sly manifestation of the way depression convinces you to stay in its abyss ("It's almost over, it's just begun. .] An existential dread creeps in, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. This special spoke to me closer and clearer than Ive ever felt with another person. After more sung repetitions of get your fuckin hands up, Burnham says, Get up. Theyre complicated. Other than Fred Rogers, Bo Burnham is one of the most cited single individual creators when discussing parasocial relationships. He takes it, and Burnham cries robotically as a tinny version of the song about being stuck in the room plays. Then, the video keeps going past the runtime of the song and into that reaction itself. WebBo Burnham is more than a comedian he's a writer-director-actor who first went viral in 2006. 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. Using cinematic tools other comics overlook, the star (who is also the director, editor and cameraman) trains a glaring spotlight on internet life mid-pandemic. "The world needs direction from a white guy like [you] who is healing the world with comedy. In White Womans Instagram, the comedian assumes the role of a white woman and sings a list of common white lady Instagram posts (Latte foam art / Tiny pumpkins / Fuzzy, comfy socks) while acting out even more cliched photos in the video with wild accuracy. Its a stupid song, and, uh, it doesnt really mean anything. The video continues. ", The Mayo Clinic defines depersonalization-derealization disorder as occurring "when you persistently or repeatedly have the feeling that you're observing yourself from outside your body or you have a sense that things around you aren't real, or both. WebOn a budget. Burnham wrote out: "Does it target those who have been disenfranchised in a historical, political, social, economic and/or psychological context?". Partway through the song, the battery icon switches to low and starts blinking in warning as if death is imminent. Burnham's growth is admirable, but also revealing of how little we expect from men in the industry. People experiencing depression often stop doing basic self-care tasks, like showering or laundry or brushing their teeth. See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. The lead-in is Burnham thanking a nonexistent audience for being there with him for the last year. jonnyewers 30 May 2021. "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. Underneath the Steve Martin-like formal trickery has always beaten the heaving heart of a flamboyantly dramatic theater kid. our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. So for our own little slice of the world, Burnham's two time spans seem to be referencing the start and end of an era in our civilization. Not only is this whiteboard a play on the classic comedy rule that "tragedy plus time equals comedy," but it's a callback to Burnham's older work. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. The piece also highlights Bos anxieties with becoming older and his legacy as a comedian. BURNHAM: (Singing) Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background? He's self-evaluating his own visual creation in the same way people will often go back to look at their Instagram stories or posts to see how it looks after they've shared it. Theres always been a tension in his comedy between an ironic, smarty-pants cleverness and an often melodramatic point of view. But during the bridge of the song, he imagines a post from a woman dedicated to her dead mother, and the aspect ratio on the video widens. Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime. And so I think he's always had that stubborn insistence on holding both of those things in his head at the same time. 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 MARTIN: This special is titled, appropriately enough, "Inside," and it is streaming on Netflix now. It's like the mental despair of the last year has turned into a comfort. The reason he started making this special, he explains in the show, is to distract himself from shooting himself in the head, the first of several mentions of suicide (including one in which he tells viewers to just dont). 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. Who Were We Running From? Burnham watching the end of his special on a projector also brings the poioumenon full circle the artist has finished their work and is showing you the end of the process it took to create it. In one interpretation, maybe the smile means he's ready to be outside again. Later in Inside, Burnham thanks the audience for their support while holding them at knifepoint. Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. The whole video is filmed like one big thirst trap as he sweats and works out. Like he's parodying white people who think that by crucifying themselves first they're somehow freed from the consequences of their actions. 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. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Transcript Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. Burnham skewers himself as a virtue-signaling ally with a white-savior complex, a bully and an egoist who draws a Venn diagram and locates himself in the overlap between Weird Al and Malcolm X. Inside, a new Netflix special written, performed, directed, shot, and edited by comedian Bo Burnham, invokes and plays with many forms. 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. ", "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? Trying to grant his dying father's wish, a son discovers an epic love story buried in his family's distant past. The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. And did you have any favorites? The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. And it portends and casts doubt on a later scene when his mental health frays and Burnham cries in earnest. Not only has his musical range expanded his pastiche of styles includes bebop, synth-pop and peppy show tunes Burnham, who once published a book of poems, has also become as meticulous and creative with his visual vocabulary as his language. The song brings with it an existential dread, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. He's freely admitting that self-awareness isn't enough while also clearly unable to move away from that self-aware comedic space he so brilliantly holds. The clean, tidy interior that first connected "Inside" with "Make Happy" is gone in its place is a mess-riddled space. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. 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." In this time-jumping dramedy, a workaholic who's always in a rush now wants life to slow down when he finds himself leaping ahead a year every few hours. Bo Burnham: Inside is a devastating portrait of the actor-director-singer-comedian's dysfunctional interiority and 2020's unyielding assault on mental and social health. But he knows how to do this. Instead of a live performance, he's recorded himself in isolation over the course of a year. 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. Hes bedraggled, increasingly unshaven, growing a Rasputin-like beard. If we continue to look at it from the lens of a musical narrative, this is the point at which our protagonist realizes he's failed at his mission. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. Likewise. MARTIN: You know, about that, because it does move into a deeply serious place at some point. We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. Years later, the comedian told NPR's Terry Gross that performing the special was so tough that he was having panic attacks on stage. ", And last but not least, for social media he put "sexually pranking unsuspecting women at public beaches" and "psychologically abusive parents making rube goldberg machines" alongside "white people using GIFs of Black people widening their eyes.". Burnham quickly shifts from the song to a reaction video of the song itself in the style of a YouTuber or Twitch streamer. 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. 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. "And so, today, I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl. How does one know if the joke punches down? "Got it? Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. It's full circle from the start of the special, when Burnham sang about how he's been depressed and decided to try just getting up, sitting down, and going back to work. The song's melody is oddly soothing, and the lyrics are a sly manifestation of the way depression convinces you to stay in its abyss ("It's almost over, it's just begun. 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 ". He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. 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. Please enter a valid email and try again. Linda, thank you so much for joining us. At the end of the song, "Inside" cuts to a shot of Burnham watching his own video on a computer in the dark. Anyone can read what you share. 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. The final shot is of him looking positively orgasmic, eyes closed, on the cross. Right after the song ends, the shot of Burnham's guest house returns but this time it's filled with clutter. The song is a pitched-down Charli XCX-styled banger of a ballad has minimal lyrics that are mostly just standard crowd instructions: put your hands up, get on your feet. In Unpaid Intern, Burnham sings about how deeply unethical the position is to the workers in a pastiche of other labor-focused blues. 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.". Most sources discuss fictional characters, news anchors, childrens show hosts, or celebrity culture as a whole. It feels like the ending of a show, a climax, but it's not. The song is like having a religious experience with your own mental disorder. Inside has been making waves for comedy fans, similar to the ways previous landmark comedy specials like Hannah Gadsbys Nanette or Tig Notaros Live (aka Hello, I Have Cancer) have. Mid-song, a spotlight turns on Burnham and shows him completely naked as a voice sings: "Well, well, look who's inside again. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." "Any Day Now" The ending credits. 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.