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. But he's largely been given a pass by his fans, who praise his self-awareness and new approach. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. 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, written in 2006, is about how his whole family thinks he's gay, and the various conversations they're having trying to figure it out. Parasocial relationships can be positive too, as outlined in culture critic Stitchs essay On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity for Teen Vogue. Just wanted to make sure everybody knew about Bo's comedy special transcripts on Scraps. 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.". Right after the song ends, the shot of Burnham's guest house returns but this time it's filled with clutter. . 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. Feelings of depersonalization and derealization can be very disturbing and may feel like you're living in a dream.". Now get inside.". And you know what? ", "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? 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. 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. This is especially true for Patreon campaigns that give fans direct access to creators on platforms like Discord. Bo Burnham also uploaded Welcome to the Internet and White Womans Instagram on his YouTube channel. But we weren't. I have a funky memory and I sometimes can't remember things from something I've watched, even if it was just yesterday. You can stream "Inside" on Netflix now, and see our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. 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. 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). 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. 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 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. Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. At just 20 years old, Burnham was a guest alongside Judd Apatow, Marc Maron, Ray Romano, and Garry Shandling. So let's dive into "Inside" and take a closer look at nearly every song and sketch in Burnham's special. WebBo Burnham: Inside is a 2021 special written, directed, filmed, edited, and performed by American comedian Bo Burnham. Something went wrong. It's like Burnham's special has swallowed you whole, bringing you fully into his mind at last. In the worst case, depression can convince a person to end their life. Still, its difficult not to be lulled back into, again, this absolute banger. "And I spent that time trying to improve myself mentally. Because there's also a little bit Bo Burnham the character in this almost. And notably, Burnhams work focuses on parasocial relationships not from the perspective of the audience, but the perspective of the performer.Inside depicts how being a creator can feel: you are a cult leader, you are holding your audience hostage, your audience is holding you hostage, you are your audience, your audience can never be you, you need your audience, and you need to escape your audience. Get up. Might not help, but still, it couldn't hurt.". He slaps his leg in frustration, and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. The performer, along with the record label and brand deals, encourage a parasocial relationship for increased profits. It's a heartbreaking chiding coming from his own distorted voice, as if he's shaming himself for sinking back into that mental state. Copyright 2021 NPR. Entertainment correspondent Kim Renfro ranked them in ascending order of greatness. The scene cuts to black and we see Burnham waking up in his small pull-out couch bed, bookending the section of the special that started when him going to sleep. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. Is he content with its content? 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. See our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" 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. He says his goal had been to complete filming before his 30th birthday. 20. I got better. I think you're getting from him, you know, the entertainment element. Maybe we'll call it isolation theater. 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 At the start of the special, Burnham sings "Content," setting the stage for his musical-comedy. The battery is full, but no numbers are moving. 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. "Problematic" is a roller coaster of self-awareness, masochism, and parody. and concludes that if it's mean, it's not funny. And then the funniest thing happened.". Burnham starts spiraling in a mental health crisis, mentioning suicidal ideation after lamenting his advance into his 30s. 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.". 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. So when you get to the end of a song, it often just kind of cuts to something else. Hes been addressing us the entire time. It's self-conscious. MARTIN: And I understand you were saying that it moves between genres. Social media; it's just the market's answer to a generation that demanded to perform so the market said, here, perform. "Got it? (SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "BO BURNHAM: INSIDE"). Its an uncanny, dystopian view of Burnham as an instrument in the soulless game of social media. ", Right as Burnham is straightening up, music begins blaring over the speakers and Burnham's own voice sings: "He meant to knock the water over, yeah yeah yeah, but you all thought it was an accident. Is he content with its content? "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. That's when the younger Burnham, the one from the beginning of his special-filming days, appears. 7 on the Top 200. The flow chat for "Is it funny?" That quiet simplicity doesn't feel like a relief, but it is. I'm sitting down, writing jokes, singing silly songs, I'm sorry I was gone. @TheWoodMother made a video about how Burnham's "Inside" is its own poioumenon, which led to his first viral video on YouTube, written in 2006, is about how his whole family thinks he's gay, defines depersonalization-derealization disorder, "critical window for action to prevent the effects of global warming from becoming irreversible.". And they're biting, but he's also very talented at these little catchy pop hooks. 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.". Fifteen years later, Burnham found himself sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to sit back down at his piano and see if he could once again entertain the world from the claustrophobic confines of a single room. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. Burnham uses vocal tuning often throughout all of his specials. 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"). Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. 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. 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. Like he's parodying white people who think that by crucifying themselves first they're somehow freed from the consequences of their actions. The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 chart, #1 on the Comedy Albums chart, and #18 on the Independent Albums chart. It's wonderful to be with you. 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. 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 Bo Burnhams latest Netflix special, Inside, is a solo venture about the comedian and filmmakers difficult experience in quarantine thats earned enthusiastic critical acclaim. 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. 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. And now depression has its grips in him. Accuracy and availability may vary. 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. 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. 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. Burnhams eyes are sharply in focus; the rest of him faded out subtly, a detail you might not even notice with how striking his eyes are. If the answer is yes, then it's not funny. He had a role in the film "Promising Young Woman." He's almost claustrophobically surrounded by equipment. 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. 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. Burnham may also be trying to parody the hollow, PR-scripted apologies that celebrities will trot out before they've possibly had the time to self-reflect and really understand what people are trying to hold them accountable for. 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. In the song, Burnham specifically mentions looking up "derealization," a disorder that may "feel like you're living in a dream. He was alone. And I don't think that I can handle this right now. begins with the question "Is it mean?" It's like the mental despair of the last year has turned into a comfort. People experiencing depression often stop doing basic self-care tasks, like showering or laundry or brushing their teeth. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. 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. "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.". Each of the songs from the first half of the special are in line with Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. And it has a lot of very clever and very quick wordplay about the specific things you can get on the internet. Then, the video keeps going past the runtime of the song and into that reaction itself. The lead-in is Burnham thanking a nonexistent audience for being there with him for the last year. 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. It has extended versions of songs, cut songs, and alternate versions of songs that were eventually deleted; but is mainly comprised of outtakes. 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. 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. Inside, a new Netflix special written, performed, directed, shot, and edited by comedian Bo Burnham, invokes and plays with many forms. 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. 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.. 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"). Most creator-made content online is available for free, meaning creators usually have to rely on their fans for income via crowdfunding like Patreon. Today We'll Talk About That Day This is when the musical numbers (and in-between skits) become much more grim. 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. That cloud scene was projected onto Burnham during the section of "Comedy" when Burnham stood up right after the God-like voice had given him his directive to "heal the world with comedy." Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. Once he's decided he's done with the special, Burnham brings back all the motifs from the earlier songs into "Goodbye," his finale of this musical movie. our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. 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. WebBo Burnham's new Netflix comedy special "Inside" is jam-packed with references to his previous work. He takes it, and Burnham cries robotically as a tinny version of the song about being stuck in the room plays. 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. Please check your email to find a confirmation email, and follow the steps to confirm your humanity. But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. 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. A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy. Transcript Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. ", 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.". 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.". It's an emergence from the darkness. It's so good to hear your voice. It's a reminder, coming almost exactly halfway through the special, of the toll that this year is taking on Burnham. One comment stuck out to me: Theres something really powerful and painful about, hearing his actual voice singing and breaking at certain points. It's prison. 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? I've been singing that song for about a week NOW. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared don't be shy come on in the water's fine."). The song is like having a religious experience with your own mental disorder. "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. Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything.". Depression acts like an outside force, one that is rather adept at convincing our minds to simply stay in bed, to not care, and to not try anymore. Toward the end, he appears completely naked behind his keyboard. I hope to see you inside at some point. Burnham has said in interviews that his inspiration for the character came from real YouTube videos he had watched, most with just a handful of views, and saw the way young women expressed themselves online. 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. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. "), Burnham sang a parody song called "Sad" about, well, all the sad stuff in the world. HOLMES: Right. Carpool Karaoke, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul. The question is now, Will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease?). BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). 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. But Burnham is of course the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. Only he knows. "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. I did! Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. ", 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've been hiding from the world and I need to reenter.' Linda, thank you so much for joining us. All rights reserved. BO BURNHAM: (Singing) If you'd have told me a year ago that I'd be locked inside of my home, I would have told you a year ago, interesting, now leave me alone. 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? The special is available exclusively on Netflix, while the album can be found on most streaming platforms. Likewise. 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? "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. 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. But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. Inside doesnt give clear answers like parasocial relationships good or parasocial relationships bad, because those answers do not, and cannot, exist. By inserting that Twitch character in this earlier scene, Burnham was seemingly giving a peek into his daily routine. Like, what is it? 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. 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. When we see it again towards the end of the special, it's from a new camera angle. Most of the comments talk about how visceral it is to hear Burnhams real voice singing the upsetting lyrics. Parasocial relationships are neutral, and how we interact with them is usually a mixed bag. Web9/10. 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. Just as often, Burnhams shot sequencing plays against the meaning of a song, like when he breaks out a glamorous split screen to complement a comic song about FaceTiming with his mom. And then, of course, he had previous standup comedy specials. 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. "The world needs direction from a white guy like [you] who is healing the world with comedy. (The question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. I don't think it's perfectly morally defendable.". our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" here. The final shot is of him looking positively orgasmic, eyes closed, on the cross. So this is how it ends. Theres always been a tension in his comedy between an ironic, smarty-pants cleverness and an often melodramatic point of view. But when reading songs like Dont Wanna Know and All Eyes On Me between the lines, Inside can help audiences better identify that funny feeling when they start feeling like a creator is their friend. Under the movies section, there's a bubble that says "sequel to classic comedy that everyone watches and then pretends never happened" and "Thor's comebacks.". Doona! 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 song brings with it an existential dread, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. 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. 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. MARTIN: And it's deep, too. 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. 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. 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. His hair and beard were shorter, and he was full of inspired energy. Burnham lingers on his behind-the-scenes technical tinkering handling lights, editing, practicing lines. 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. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. And the very format of it, as I said, it's very much this kind of sinister figure trying to get you interested. And I think that's what you're getting here. 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. At various points, the gamer is given the option to make the character cry. True, but it can deepen and clarify art. HOLMES: So before he was this celebrated filmmaker, Bo Burnham was himself a YouTube star. And I think that, 'Oh if I'm self-aware about being a douchebag it'll somehow make me less of a douchebag.' This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future.