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. WebBo Burnham: Inside (2021) Exploring mental health decline over 2020, the constant challenges our world faces, and the struggles of life itself, Bo Burnham creates a. wonderful masterpiece to explain each of these, both from general view and personal experience. Only he knows. An existential dread creeps in, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. While talking to the audience during the opening section, Burnham takes a sip out of a water bottle. that shows this exact meta style. Likewise. of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl. And it portends and casts doubt on a later scene when his mental health frays and Burnham cries in earnest. My heart hurts with and for him. He had a role in the film "Promising Young Woman." Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". Or DM a girl and groom her, do a Zoomer, find a tumor in her HOLMES: And this is what the chorus of that song sounds like. Might not help, but still, it couldn't hurt.". MARTIN: And it's deep, too. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared, don't be shy, come on in the water's fine."). The whole song sounds like you're having a religious experience with your own mental disorder, especially when new harmonies kick in. The first comes when Burnham looks directly into the camera as he addresses the audience, singing, Are you feeling nervous? 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. BURNHAM: (Singing) Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background? Is he content with its content? It's a heartbreaking chiding coming from his own distorted voice, as if he's shaming himself for sinking back into that mental state. So this is how it ends. 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. "I didn't perform for five years," he says. and concludes that if it's mean, it's not funny. 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. Known as "Art is a Lie, Nothing is Real," there's a bit Burnham did at the start of his 2013 special "what." And I think the pandemic was a time when a lot of people were in this do I laugh or cry space in their own minds. 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. Long before the phrase parasocial relationship had entered the mainstream zeitgeist, Burnhams work discussed the phenomenon. Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. And it has a real feel of restlessness to it, almost like stream of consciousness. 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). Burnham quickly shifts from the song to a reaction video of the song itself in the style of a YouTuber or Twitch streamer. 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. When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. And I'm just wondering, like, how would you describe that? But Burnham doesn't put the bottle down right, and it falls off the stool. HOLMES: Well, logically enough, let's go out on the closing song. Though it does have a twist. Anything and everything all of the time. The global pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders of March 2020 put a stop to these plans. The arrogance is taught or it was cultivated. And then the funniest thing happened.". The penultimate song, "All Eyes On Me," is the best in the whole special, in this writer's opinion. "Oh Jesus, sorry," Burnham says, hurrying over to pick it up. 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." In Unpaid Intern, Burnham sings about how deeply unethical the position is to the workers in a pastiche of other labor-focused blues. Burnham is an extraordinary actor, and "Inside" often feels like we're watching the intimate, real interior life of an artist. 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.". Tell us a little bit more about that. That quiet simplicity doesn't feel like a relief, but it is. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The song brings with it an existential dread, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. Burnham starts spiraling in a mental health crisis, mentioning suicidal ideation after lamenting his advance into his 30s. "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: (Singing) Start a rumor, buy a broom or send a death threat to a Boomer. But it doesn't. I think this is something we've all been thinking about. You can stream "Inside" on Netflix now, and see our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. HOLMES: Yeah. 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 end of the song, "Inside" cuts to a shot of Burnham watching his own video on a computer in the dark. Its an origin story of sorts. Like he's parodying white people who think that by crucifying themselves first they're somehow freed from the consequences of their actions. It's conscious of self. But usually there is one particular voice that acts as a disembodied narrator character, some omniscient force that needles Burnham in the middle of his stand up (like the voice in "Make Happy" that interrupts Burnham's set to call him the f-slur). At various points, the gamer is given the option to make the character cry. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. There's no more time left to add to the camera's clock. While sifting through fan reactions to Inside, the YouTube algorithm suggested I watch a fan-made video that pitch corrects All Eyes on Me to Burnhams actual voice. He slaps his leg in frustration, and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. 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. 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. It's like Burnham's special has swallowed you whole, bringing you fully into his mind at last. 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? Burnham was just 16 years old when he wrote a parody song ("My Whole Family") and filmed himself performing it in his bedroom. 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. Doona! And now depression has its grips in him. He was only 16. 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.". Burnham slaps his leg in frustration and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. The clean, tidy interior that first connected "Inside" with "Make Happy" is gone in its place is a mess-riddled space. 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. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). It's prison. 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. I like this song, Burnham says, before pointing out the the lack of modern songs about labor exploitation. 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. I got better. 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? This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. 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 / [. Now get inside.". 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. Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. And she's with us now to tell us more about it. It's just Burnham, his room, the depressive-sound of his song, and us watching as his distorted voice tries to convince us to join him in that darkness. "Robert's been a little depressed," he sings (referring to himself by his birthname). Bo Burnhams Inside: A Comedy Special and an Inspired Experiment, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/arts/television/bo-burnham-inside-comedy.html. This is when the musical numbers (and in-between skits) become much more grim. Self-awareness does not absolve anyone of anything, he says. The lead-in is Burnham thanking a nonexistent audience for being there with him for the last year. "And so today I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. WebA Girl and an Astronaut. 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. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. / 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. Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime. 20. WebBo Burnham: Inside is by far one of the riskiest and original comedy specials to come out in years. 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. Web9/10. But he knows how to do this. And I think that, 'Oh if I'm self-aware about being a douchebag it'll somehow make me less of a douchebag.' Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Hes been addressing us the entire time. "I don't know that it's not," he said. 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. For the album, Bo is credited as writer, performer, and producer on every song. Good. "I was in a full body sweat, so I didn't hear most of that," Burnham said after the clip played. But Burnham is of course the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. MARTIN: So Bo Burnham has had a lot of different identities lately. In the song, Burnham specifically mentions looking up "derealization," a disorder that may "feel like you're living in a dream. And like unpaid interns, most working artists cant afford a mortgage (and yeah, probably torrent a porn). 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. MARTIN: And I understand you were saying that it moves between genres. In this case, it's likely some combination of depression/anxiety/any other mental disorder. And many people will probably remember his 2018 movie, "Eighth Grade." Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. Similarly, Burnham often speaks to the audience by filming himself speaking to himself in a mirror. 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. ", 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. Accuracy and availability may vary. The label of parasocial relationship is meant to be neutral, being as natural and normal and, frankly, inescapable as familial or platonic relationships. Most creator-made content online is available for free, meaning creators usually have to rely on their fans for income via crowdfunding like Patreon. They Cloned Tyrone. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. In the worst case, depression can convince a person to end their life. An astronaut's return after a 30-year disappearance rekindles a lost love and sparks interest from a corporation determined to learn why he hasn't aged. But now Burnham is back. 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. "You say the ocean's rising, like I give a s---, you say the whole world's ending, honey it already did, you're not gonna slow it, heaven knows you tried," he sings. 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.". But he meant to knock the water over, yeah yeah yeah, art is a lie nothing is real. "And I spent that time trying to improve myself mentally. Oops. 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.". It's progress. And we might. Bo Burnham: Inside, was written, edited, and directed by the talent himself and the entire show is shot in one room. Burnham then kicks back into song, still addressing his audience, who seem unsure of whether to laugh, applaud, or sit somberly in their chairs. Having this frame of reference may help viewers better understand the design of "Inside." Simply smiling at the irony of watching his own movie come to life while he's still inside? Carpool Karaoke, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul. It moves kind of all over the place. He takes it, and Burnham cries robotically as a tinny version of the song about being stuck in the room plays. Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. Still terrified of that spotlight? Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. Also, Burnham's air conditioner is set to precisely 69 degrees throughout this whole faux music video. But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. 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. 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. Burnham reacts to his reaction to his reaction: Im so afraid that this criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. The video keeps going. Open wide.. He grabs the camera and swings it around in a circle as the song enters another chorus, and a fake audience cheers in the background. Inside, a new Netflix special written, performed, directed, shot, and edited by comedian Bo Burnham, invokes and plays with many forms. 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. It's wonderful to be with you. The frame is intimate, and after such an intense special, something about that intimacy feels almost dangerous, like you should be preparing for some kind of emotional jump scare.

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