"You say the whole world's ending, honey it already did, you're not gonna slow it, heaven knows you tried. An ethereal voice (which is really just Burnham's own voice with effects over it) responds to Burnham's question while a bright light suddenly shines on his face, as if he's receiving a message from God. BURNHAM: (Singing) Could I interest you in everything all of the time, a little bit of everything all of the time? Anyone can read what you share. Burnham spent his teen years doing theater and songwriting, which led to his first viral video on YouTube a song he now likely categorizes as "offensive.". Burnham wrote out: "Does it target those who have been disenfranchised in a historical, political, social, economic and/or psychological context?". "I was in a full body sweat, so I didn't hear most of that," Burnham said after the clip played. See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. WebA biotech genius tries to bounce back from the depths of grief with help from his son, who works to escape his dads shadow and save the family business. I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020, I thought 'you know what I should start performing again. 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. BURNHAM: (Singing) Start a rumor, buy a broom or send a death threat to a Boomer. Like he's parodying white people who think that by crucifying themselves first they're somehow freed from the consequences of their actions. All Eyes on Me takes a different approach to rattling the viewer. Let's take a closer look at just a few of those bubbles, shall we? In the song Problematic, Burnham sings about his past problematic behavior, asking the audience, Isnt anyone going to hold me accountable? The specials intermission looks like a clear view into Burnhams room, until Burnham washes a window between himself and the viewer an explicit, but invisible, boundary between creator and audience. Under the TV section, he has "adults playing twister" (something he referenced in "Make Happy" when he said that celebrity lip-syncing battles were the "end of culture") and "9 season love letter to corporate labor" (which is likely referencing "The Office"). 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. He's the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. The video is an hour-long edit of footage that was deleted from the making of Inside. He, for example, it starts off with him rhyming carpool karaoke, which is a segment on James Corden's show, with Steve Aoki, who's a DJ. The tension between creator and audience is a prominent theme in Burnhams work, likely because he got his start on YouTube. Back in 2010, Burnham appeared on Showtime's "The Green Room," a comics round table hosted by Paul Provenza. ", 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.". But in both of those cases, similarity and connection would come from the way the art itself connects people, not any actual tie between Burnham and myself, Burnham and the commenter. 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. In his first Netflix special (2013's "what. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. And many people will probably remember his 2018 movie, "Eighth Grade." "Got it? [1] Created in the guest house of Burnham's Los Angeles home during the COVID-19 pandemic without a crew or audience, it was released on Netflix on May 30, 2021. "A part of me loves you, part of me hates you," he sang to the crowd. MARTIN: You know, about that, because it does move into a deeply serious place at some point. One comment stuck out to me: Theres something really powerful and painful about, hearing his actual voice singing and breaking at certain points. Bo Burnham also uploaded Welcome to the Internet and White Womans Instagram on his YouTube channel. This is when the musical numbers (and in-between skits) become much more grim. He also costarred in the Oscar-winning movie "Promising Young Woman," filmed in 2019. A distorted voice is back again, mocking Burnham as he sits exposed on his fake stage: "Well, well, look who's inside again. WebA grieving woman magically travels through time to 1998, where she meets a man with an uncanny resemblance to her late love. and concludes that if it's mean, it's not funny. 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.". You know, as silly as that one is, some of the other ones are more sedate. Thank you, Michel. Like most of Burnhams specials, it includes comedic songs and creative lighting effects. It's a series of musical numbers and skits that are inherently about the creation of comedy itself. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). The hustle to be a working artist usually means delivering an unending churn of content curated specifically for the demands of an audience that can tell you directly why they are upset with you because they did not actually like the content you gave them, and then they can take away some of your revenue for it. That's what it is. For the album, Bo is credited as writer, performer, and producer on every song. Went out to look for a reason to hide again. When you're a kid and you're stuck in your room, you'll do any old s--- to get out of it.". But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. The vocal key used in "All Eyes On Me" could be meant to represent depression, an outside force that is rather adept at convincing our minds to simply stay in bed, to not care, and to not try anymore. 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. Similarly, Burnham often speaks to the audience by filming himself speaking to himself in a mirror. 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. It's wonderful to be with you. Anything and everything all of the time. Its a lyrically dense song with camerawork that speeds up with its rhythm. 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. And she's with us now to tell us more about it. And that can be a really - if you're not very good at it, that kind of thing, where there's a balance between sort of the sarcastic and ironic versus the very sincere can be really exhausting. But then the video keeps playing, and so he winds up reacting to his own reaction, and then reacting yet again to that reaction. Partway through the song, the battery icon switches to low and starts blinking in warning as if death is imminent. The picturesque view of sun-soaked clouds was featured in "Comedy," during the section of the song when Burnham stood up and decided that the only thing he (or his character in the song) could do was "heal the world with comedy.". "The quiet comprehending of the ending of it all," is another of Burnham's lyrics in this song that seems to speak to the idea that civilization is nearing collapse, and also touches on suicidal ideation. Burnham then kicks back into song, still addressing his audience, who seem unsure of whether to laugh, applaud, or sit somberly in their chairs. But Burnham is of course the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. Burnham reacts to his reaction to his reaction to his reaction, focusing so intently on his body and image that he panics, stops the videoand then smiles at his audience, thanking them for watching. Now get inside.". 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. The piece also highlights Bos anxieties with becoming older and his legacy as a comedian. 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. Remember how Burnham's older, more-bearded self popped up at the beginning of "Inside" when we were watching footage of him setting up the cameras and lighting? It's an emergence from the darkness. But unlike many of us, Burnham was also hard at work on a one-man show directed, written and performed all by himself. At the second level of the reaction video, Burnham says: "I'm being a little pretentious. Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". It is set almost entirely within one room of his Los Angeles guest house, the same one shown in the closing song of the June 2016 Make Happy special, titled Are you happy?. And the biggest risk Burnham takes in the show is letting his emotional side loose, but not before cracking a ton of jokes. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. I like this song, Burnham says, before pointing out the the lack of modern songs about labor exploitation. Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. 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. 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. Yes, Amazon has a pre-order set up for the album on Vinyl. Some of the narrative of the show can be indulgently overheated, playing into clichs about the process of the brooding artist, but Burnham has anticipated this and other criticisms, and integrated them into the special, including the idea that drawing attention to potential flaws fixes them. We see Burnham moving around in the daylight, a welcome contrast to the dark setting of "All Eyes on Me." Is he content with its content? They may still be comical, but they have a different feel. Transcript Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. 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 / [. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. 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. He slaps his leg in frustration, and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. This is especially true for Patreon campaigns that give fans direct access to creators on platforms like Discord. The structured movements of the last hour and half fall away as Burnham snaps at the audience: "Get up. After about 35 minutes of candy-colored, slickly designed sketch comedy, the tone shifts with Burnhams first completely earnest song, a lovely indie-rock tune with an ear worm of a hook about trying to be funny and stuck in a room. This is the shows hinge. It's progress. This special spoke to me closer and clearer than Ive ever felt with another person. Burnham is an extraordinary actor, and "Inside" often feels like we're watching the intimate, real interior life of an artist. 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. 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 ". At the beginning of "Inside," Burnham is not only coming back to that same room, but he's wearing a very similar outfit: jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers picking up right back where he left off. Here's a little bit of that. Its an uncanny, dystopian view of Burnham as an instrument in the soulless game of social media. 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? Even when confronted with works that criticize parasocial attachment, its difficult for fans not to feel emotionally connected to performers they admire. 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. 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.". Bo Burnham: INSIDE | Trailer - YouTube 0:00 / 2:09 The following content may contain suicide or self-harm topics. 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. HOLMES: Yeah. In his new Netflix special, Inside, Bo Burnham sings about trying to be funny while stuck in a room. I got better. "I'm criticizing my initial reaction for being pretentious, which is honestly a defense mechanism," he says. Theyre complicated. of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl. 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. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. 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.". "You say the ocean's rising, like I give a s---," he sings. They Cloned Tyrone. .] WebBo Burnham: Inside is by far one of the riskiest and original comedy specials to come out in years. 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. Get up. And did you have any favorites? Perform everything to each other, all the time for no reason. Photograph: Netflix Its a measure of the quality of Inside 1.0 that this stuff could end up on the cutting-room floor. And I don't think that I can handle this right now. The whole song sounds like you're having a religious experience with your own mental disorder, especially when new harmonies kick in. But now Burnham is back. Its a stupid song, and, uh, it doesnt really mean anything. The video continues. And maybe the rest of us are ready, too. "Healing the world with comedy, the indescribable power of your comedy," the voice sings. Inside takes topics discussed academically, analytically, and delivers them to a new audience through the form of a comedy special by a widely beloved performer. But he knows how to do this. In Inside, Burnham confronts parasocial relationships in his most direct way yet. Something went wrong. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. This sketch, like the "White Woman Instagram" song, shows one of Burnham's writing techniques of bringing a common Internet culture into a fictionalized bit. With electro-pop social commentary, bleak humour and sock-puppet debates, the comics lockdown creation is astonishing. .] Its a feat, the work of a gifted experimentalist whose craft has caught up to his talent. "Oh Jesus, sorry," Burnham says, hurrying over to pick it up. Having this frame of reference may help viewers better understand the design of "Inside." 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. On the simplest level, Inside is the story of a comic struggling to make a funny show during quarantine and gradually losing his mind. Audiences who might not read a 1956 essay by researchers about news anchors still see much of the same discussion in Inside. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. 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. "Truly, it's like, for a 16-year-old kid in 2006, it's not bad. 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's showing us how terrifying it can be to present something you've made to the world, or to hear laughter from an audience when what you were hoping for was a genuine connection. 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. But look, I made you some content. 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. The penultimate song, "All Eyes On Me," is the best in the whole special, in this writer's opinion. jonnyewers 30 May 2021. Good. Inside, a new Netflix special written, performed, directed, shot, and edited by comedian Bo Burnham, invokes and plays with many forms. "Any Day Now" The ending credits. HOLMES: So, as you'll hear there, on the one hand, there's a lot of sadness in what he's talking about there. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." He says his goal had been to complete filming before his 30th birthday. That quiet simplicity doesn't feel like a relief, but it is. It moves kind of all over the place. He is leaving it to speak for itself in terms of what it says about isolation and sadness. Inside is the work of a comic with artistic tools most of his peers ignore or overlook. 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. 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. Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. that shows this exact meta style. I feel very close and intimate with him in this version. Then he moves into a new layer of reaction, where he responds to that previous comment. All Eyes on Me also earned Bo his first Grammy win for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2022 Grammys. It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again. A harsh skepticism of digital life (a life the pandemic has only magnified) is the dominant subject of the special. "This show is called 'what.,' and I hope there are some surprises for you," he says as he goes to set down the water bottle. 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. "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.". 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. Years later, the comedian told NPR's Terry Gross that performing the special was so tough that he was having panic attacks on stage. It's prison. Still terrified of that spotlight? How does one know if the joke punches down? And like unpaid interns, most working artists cant afford a mortgage (and yeah, probably torrent a porn). Social media; it's just the market's answer to a generation that demanded to perform so the market said, here, perform. Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. And like those specials, Inside implores fans to think about deeper themes as well as how we think about comedy as a genre. I hope to see you inside at some point. According to the special, Bo decided he was ready to begin doing stand-up again in January 2020, after dealing with panic attacks onstage during his previous tour, the Make Happy Tour of 2015-2016. Thank you so much for joining us. It's so good to hear your voice. Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything.". Sitting in the meeting room, not making a sound becomes the perceived 24/7 access fans have to DM you, reply to you, ask you questions. Though it does have a twist. WebBo Burnham has been critical of his past self for the edgy, offensive comedy he used to make. "Goodbye sadness, hello jokes!". "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. We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. At various points, the gamer is given the option to make the character cry. Most of the comments talk about how visceral it is to hear Burnhams real voice singing the upsetting lyrics. I was not, you know, having these particular experiences. 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.
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