The first half is dominated by sharp, silly satires of the moment, like a visually precise and hilarious song about social media vanity, White Womans Instagram, and a commercial for a woke brand consultant. In a giddy homage to Cabaret, Burnham, in sunglasses, plays the M.C. Burnham slaps his leg in frustration and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. Bo Burnham: Inside review this is a claustrophobic masterpiece. You know, I was not, you know, I was alone, but I was not trapped in one room. Its an origin story of sorts. He's the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. Now get inside.". 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. 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.". BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. Thought modern humans have been around for much longer than 20,000 years, that's around how long ago people first migrated to North America. But unlike many of us, Burnham was also hard at work on a one-man show directed, written and performed all by himself. 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.". The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. Relieved to be done? He is not talking about it very much. I have a funky memory and I sometimes can't remember things from something I've watched, even if it was just yesterday. Burnham's creative background began with being a theater then he transitioned to musical-comedy. 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 video is an hour-long edit of footage that was deleted from the making of Inside. And finally today, like many of us, writer, comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham found himself isolated for much of last year - home alone, growing a beard, trying his best to stay sane. Burnham is also the main character in the game, a character who is seen moving mechanically around a room. 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. Netflix did, however, post Facetime with My Mom (Tonight) on YouTube. A part of me loves you, part of me hates you / Part of me needs you, part of me fears you / [. Burnham spoofs a PewDiePie-like figure a YouTuber who narrates his playing of a video game with a dead-eyed smugness, as shown in an image at the bottom-right corner of the screen. 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. I've been hiding from the world and I need to reenter.' 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?. Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. It has extended versions of songs, cut songs, and alternate versions of songs that were eventually deleted; but is mainly comprised of outtakes. 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.". Instead, thanks to his ultra-self-aware style, he seems to always get ahead of criticism by holding himself accountable first. 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. A college student navigates life and school while dealing with a unique predicament he's living with a beautiful former K-pop sensation. Bo Burnham ", "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? Bo Burnham: Inside - The 10 Funniest Quotes From The Netflix Special It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. Bo Burnham: Inside ", From then on, the narrative of "Inside" follows Burnham returning to his standard comedic style and singing various parody songs like "FaceTime with My Mom" and "White Woman's Instagram.". 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. 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. Soering New insights from various parties come to light that raise questions about Jens Sring's conviction of the 1985 murders of his then-girlfriend's parents. of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl. 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. Other than Fred Rogers, Bo Burnham is one of the most cited single individual creators when discussing parasocial relationships. Netflix 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"). 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. Burnhams online success and an awareness of what kind of his audiences perceived closeness made the comedian key to one of the most prominent discussions in a creator- and influencer-driven era of media: the idea of parasocial relationships. 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. 1 on Billboards comedy albums chart and eventually climbed to No. I actually felt true mutual empathy with someone for the first time, and with someone Ive never even met, its kinda funny.. Bo Burnham A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall. On the Netflix special, however, Josh Senior is credited as a producer, Cooper Wehde is an assistant producer, and a number of people are credited for post-production, editing, and logistical coordinating. Its easy to see Unpaid Intern as one scene and the reaction videos as another, but in the lens of parasocial relationships, digital media, and workers rights, the song and the reactions work as an analysis for another sort of labor exploitation: content creation. The penultimate song, "All Eyes On Me," is the best in the whole special, in this writer's opinion. 7 on the Top 200. And they're biting, but he's also very talented at these little catchy pop hooks. It's wonderful to be with you. Bo Burnham In his first Netflix special (2013's "what. 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. His hair and beard were shorter, and he was full of inspired energy. Only he knows. 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. Bo Burnham 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. 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. 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. "I don't know that it's not," he said. Bo Burnham 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. / Are you having fun? The crowd directions are no longer stock pop song lyrics; now, the audience understands them as direct orders to them from Burnham. My heart hurts with and for him. MARTIN: This special is titled, appropriately enough, "Inside," and it is streaming on Netflix now. 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 question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. Still terrified of that spotlight? 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.". ", 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. "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. Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. And he's done virtually no press about it. 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. 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. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. And you know what? 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. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. ", 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. I hope to see you inside at some point. 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. The global pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders of March 2020 put a stop to these plans. 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.". Most sources discuss fictional characters, news anchors, childrens show hosts, or celebrity culture as a whole. Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. In the song "That Funny Feeling," Burnham mentions these two year spans without further explanation, but it seems like he's referencing the "critical window for action to prevent the effects of global warming from becoming irreversible. It's not. The lead-in is Burnham thanking a nonexistent audience for being there with him for the last year. Self-awareness does not absolve anyone of anything, he says. LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Thank you, Michel. And so I think he's always had that stubborn insistence on holding both of those things in his head at the same time. Parasocial relationships are neutral, and how we interact with them is usually a mixed bag. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. When Burnham's character decides he doesn't want to actually hear criticism from Socko, he threatens to remove him, prompting Socko's subservience once again, because "that's how the world works.". 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's new Netflix comedy special "Inside" is jam-packed with references to his previous work. Then comes the third emotional jump scare. @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.". At the forefront of this shift has been Bo Burnham, one of YouTubes earliest stars, who went on to make his own innovative specials with satirical songs backed by theatrical lighting and disembodied voices. Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. 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. WebA grieving woman magically travels through time to 1998, where she meets a man with an uncanny resemblance to her late love. And part of it is sometimes he's just in despair. "I was a kid who was stuck in his room, there isn't much more to say about it. 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. At various points, the gamer is given the option to make the character cry. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. He says his goal had been to complete filming before his 30th birthday. "I didn't perform for five years," he says. Thematically, it deals with the events of 2020, rising wealth inequality, racial injustice, isolation, mental health, social media, and technologys role in our lives. Bo Burnham "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.". 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. The battery is full, but no numbers are moving. It's like Burnham's special has swallowed you whole, bringing you fully into his mind at last. But the lyrics Burnham sings seem to imply that he wants to be held accountable for thoughtless and offensive jokes of his past: "Father please forgive me for I did not realize what I did, or that I'd live to regret it, times are changing and I'm getting old, are you gonna hold me accountable?". Went out to look for a reason to hide again. When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. Burnham is especially aware as a creator constantly reflecting on his own life. 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. So we broke down each song and sketch and analyzed their meaning and context. Mid-song, a spotlight turns on Burnham and shows him completely naked as a voice sings: "Well, well, look who's inside again. Got it? Well now the shots are reversed. Viewer discretion is advised. When we see it again towards the end of the special, it's from a new camera angle. MARTIN: Well, that being said, Lynda, like, what song do you want to go out on? It's a reminder, coming almost exactly halfway through the special, of the toll that this year is taking on Burnham. I did! 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. Now we've come 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. 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. 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. Like he's parodying white people who think that by crucifying themselves first they're somehow freed from the consequences of their actions. Maybe we'll call it isolation theater. Back in 2010, Burnham appeared on Showtime's "The Green Room," a comics round table hosted by Paul Provenza. 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 then the funniest thing happened.". 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.". Bo Burnham's Netflix Special, 'Inside Just wanted to make sure everybody knew about Bo's comedy special transcripts on Scraps. WebA Girl and an Astronaut. 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. And I think that's what you're getting here. 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. 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. 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"). Burnham's hair is shorter in those initial behind-the-scenes moments, but his future-self has a longer, unkempt beard and messy hair. And the very format of it, as I said, it's very much this kind of sinister figure trying to get you interested. This is especially true for Patreon campaigns that give fans direct access to creators on platforms like Discord. Is he content with its content? 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. "All Eyes On Me" starts right after Burnham's outburst of anger and sadness. Comedian Bo Burnham recently a new comedy special for Netflix aptly titled Inside which was filmed entirely by himself while under lockdown during the Coronavirus Pandemic in 2020. "Oh Jesus, sorry," Burnham says, hurrying over to pick it up. 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. All Eyes on Me takes a different approach to rattling the viewer. 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 / [. So when you get to the end of a song, it often just kind of cuts to something else. Audiences who might not read a 1956 essay by researchers about news anchors still see much of the same discussion in Inside. The title card appears in white, then changes to red, signaling that a camera is recording. 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. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." Its a visual that signifies a man exposing himself, until you realize hes in a spotlight. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. And many people will probably remember his 2018 movie, "Eighth Grade." And it portends and casts doubt on a later scene when his mental health frays and Burnham cries in earnest. That YouTube commenter might be understood by Burnham if they were to meet him. Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything.". Netflix. '", "Robert's been a little depressed, no!" . He doesn't really bother with any kind of transitions. Bo Burnham BURNHAM: (Singing) Start a rumor, buy a broom or send a death threat to a Boomer. And now depression has its grips in him. Bo Burnham defined an era when he created Inside. Research and analysis of parasocial relationships usually revolves around genres of performers instead of individuals. Bo Burnham 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. Something went wrong. begins with the question "Is it mean?" At the end of the song, "Inside" cuts to a shot of Burnham watching his own video on a computer in the dark. Burnham had no idea that his song would be seen more than 10 million times,nor that it would kick start his career in a niche brand of self-aware musical comedy. HOLMES: So before he was this celebrated filmmaker, Bo Burnham was himself a YouTube star. 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. Oops. But the cultural standards of what is appropriate comedy and also the inner standards of my own mind have changed rapidly since I was 16. 20. Known as "Art is a Lie, Nothing is Real," there's a bit Burnham did at the start of his 2013 special "what." "That's a good start. our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" here. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020, I thought 'you know what I should start performing again. WebBo Burnham: Inside is a 2021 special written, directed, filmed, edited, and performed by American comedian Bo Burnham. Not in the traditional senseno music was released prior to the special other than a backing track from Content found in the trailer. 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. 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 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). "Healing the world with comedy, the indescribable power of your comedy," the voice sings. Its an uncanny, dystopian view of Burnham as an instrument in the soulless game of social media. Theyre complicated. "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. "Robert's been a little depressed," he sings (referring to himself by his birthname). 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. 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. 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. The whole song sounds like you're having a religious experience with your own mental disorder, especially when new harmonies kick in. But also, it's clear that there's a lot on his mind. A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy. This is when the musical numbers (and in-between skits) become much more grim. 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. At the second level of the reaction video, Burnham says: "I'm being a little pretentious. 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. Like, what is it? MARTIN: And it's deep, too. Bo Burnham I think this is something we've all been thinking about. I mean, honestly, he's saying a lot right there. And like unpaid interns, most working artists cant afford a mortgage (and yeah, probably torrent a porn). 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. When you're a kid and you're stuck in your room, you'll do any old s--- to get out of it.". Its called INSIDE, and it will undoubtedly strike your hearts forevermore. Or was it an elaborate callback to his earlier work, planted for fans seeking evidence that art is lie? "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. 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. He brushes his teeth, eats a bowl of cereal, and begins editing his videos. jonnyewers 30 May 2021. Partway through the song, the battery icon switches to low and starts blinking in warning as if death is imminent. One of those is the internet itself. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Inside, a new Netflix special written, performed, directed, shot, and edited by comedian Bo Burnham, invokes and plays with many forms. The Volcano, which touched on labor rights. 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. 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.
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