Performing "Make Happy" was mentally taxing on Burnham. Bo Burnhams latest Netflix special, Inside, is a solo venture about the comedian and filmmakers difficult experience in quarantine thats earned enthusiastic critical acclaim. It's as if Burnham knows there are valid criticisms of him that haven't really stuck in the public discourse around his work. Bo Burnham At the end of the song, "Inside" cuts to a shot of Burnham watching his own video on a computer in the dark. Well now the shots are reversed. newsletter, On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity, Bo Burnham and the Trap of Parasocial Self-Awareness.. Still terrified of that spotlight? Burnham was just 16 years old when he wrote a parody song ("My Whole Family") and filmed himself performing it in his bedroom. BURNHAM: (Singing) Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background? Anyone can read what you share. [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. The battery is full, but no numbers are moving. Inside doesnt give clear answers like parasocial relationships good or parasocial relationships bad, because those answers do not, and cannot, exist. Also, Burnham's air conditioner is set to precisely 69 degrees throughout this whole faux music video. 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.". It's prison. I think you're getting from him, you know, the entertainment element. 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. 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. "You say the whole world's ending, honey it already did, you're not gonna slow it, heaven knows you tried. 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. And maybe the rest of us are ready, too. HOLMES: Right. A Detailed Breakdown of How Bo Burnham 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. ", "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? There's no more time left to add to the camera's clock. 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. 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. Bo Burnham It's not. Netflix Even when confronted with works that criticize parasocial attachment, its difficult for fans not to feel emotionally connected to performers they admire. And like unpaid interns, most working artists cant afford a mortgage (and yeah, probably torrent a porn). A part of me loves you, part of me hates you / Part of me needs you, part of me fears you / [. he sings as he refers to his birth name. 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. Its an instinct I have for all my work to have some deeper meaning or something. The song brings with it an existential dread, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. 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. Inside, a new Netflix special written, performed, directed, shot, and edited by comedian Bo Burnham, invokes and plays with many forms. "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. "I don't know that it's not," he said. Theres always been a tension in his comedy between an ironic, smarty-pants cleverness and an often melodramatic point of view. 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. ", 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.". Burnham achieved a similar uncanny sense of realism in his movie "Eighth Grade," the protagonist of which is a 13-year-old girl with extreme social anxiety who makes self-help YouTube videos. He was only 16. I don't know exactly how it tracks his experience, Bo Burnham, the person, right? 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. "I didn't perform for five years," he says. But, like so many other plans and hopes people had in the early months of the pandemic, that goal proved unattainable. When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. Bo Burnham BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. Good. 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. But before that can register, Burnham's eyes have closed and the special transitions to the uncannily catchy song "S---," bopping about how he hasn't showered in nine days or done any laundry. . With electro-pop social commentary, bleak humour and sock-puppet debates, the comics lockdown creation is astonishing. And then, of course, he had previous standup comedy specials. You can stream "Inside" on Netflix now, and see our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. Accuracy and availability may vary. Bo Burnham 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. Netflix did, however, post Facetime with My Mom (Tonight) on YouTube. "And so today I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. As someone who has devoted time, energy, and years of research into parasocial relationships, I felt almost like this song was made for me, that Burnham and I do have so much in common. Bo Burnham Burnham quickly shifts from the song to a reaction video of the song itself in the style of a YouTuber or Twitch streamer. But in recent years, theres been enough awareness of online behavior to see how parasocial relationships can have negative impacts on both the creator and the audience if left uninterrogated by both parties. "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.". Might not help, but still, it couldn't hurt.". The whole song sounds like you're having a religious experience with your own mental disorder, especially when new harmonies kick in. Burnham is especially aware as a creator constantly reflecting on his own life. And you can roughly think about this, I think, as a series of short videos that are mostly of him singing songs and that are sewn together with a little bit of other material, whether it's shots of him lying in bed or setting up the cameras. 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 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. Got it? The Volcano, which touched on labor rights. 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. The penultimate song, "All Eyes On Me," is the best in the whole special, in this writer's opinion. The label of parasocial relationship is meant to be neutral, being as natural and normal and, frankly, inescapable as familial or platonic relationships. 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.". 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. ", 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 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. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. All Eyes on Me takes a different approach to rattling the viewer. On the simplest level, Inside is the story of a comic struggling to make a funny show during quarantine and gradually losing his mind. At first it seems to be just about life in the pandemic, but it becomes a reference to his past, when he made faces and jokes from his bedroom as a teenager and put that on the internet. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. 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. If the answer is yes, then it's not funny. That YouTube commenter might be understood by Burnham if they were to meet him. Bo Burnham Having this frame of reference may help viewers better understand the design of "Inside." Still terrified of that spotlight? But what is it exactly - a concert, a comedy special? Bo Burnham Good. HOLMES: Yeah. The global pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders of March 2020 put a stop to these plans. And you know what? Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. A distorted voice is back again, mocking Burnham as he sits exposed on his fake stage: "Well, well, look who's inside again. Bo Burnham Bo Similarly, Burnham often speaks to the audience by filming himself speaking to himself in a mirror. 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. I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020, I thought 'you know what I should start performing again. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. 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. One of those is the internet itself. At the second level of the reaction video, Burnham says: "I'm being a little pretentious. For those who are unaware, Bos real name is Robert Burnham. He is now back to where he was, making jokes alone in his room, an effort to escape his reality. They may still be comical, but they have a different feel. Known as "Art is a Lie, Nothing is Real," there's a bit Burnham did at the start of his 2013 special "what." Self-awareness does not absolve anyone of anything, he says. But he knows how to do this. "I was a kid who was stuck in his room, there isn't much more to say about it. How does one know if the joke punches down? Most sources discuss fictional characters, news anchors, childrens show hosts, or celebrity culture as a whole. ", 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.". Im talking to you. He also revealed an official poster, a single frame from the special, and the cover art prior to its release. 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? Burnham's career as a young, white, male comedian has often felt distinct from his peers because of the amount of public self-reflection and acknowledgment of his own privileges that he does on stage and off screen. Its a visual that signifies a man exposing himself, until you realize hes in a spotlight. "Got it? Thank you, Michel. Is he content with its content? In his first Netflix special (2013's "what. 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. 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. WebBo Burnham's new Netflix comedy special "Inside" is jam-packed with references to his previous work. The voices of the characters eventually blend together to tell the live Burnham on stage, We think we know you.. Inside is a tricky work that for all its boundary-crossing remains in the end a comedy in the spirit of neurotic, self-loathing stand-up. Now get inside.". 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. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. Bo Burnham 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. Still, its difficult not to be lulled back into, again, this absolute banger. 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. 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. As energetic as the song "S---" is, it's really just another clear message about the mental disorder that has its grips in Burnham (or at least the version of him we're seeing in this special). Mirroring the earlier scene where Burnham went to sleep, now Burnham is shown "waking up.". "A part of me loves you, part of me hates you," he sang to the crowd. Were complicated. 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. and concludes that if it's mean, it's not funny. In Unpaid Intern, Burnham sings about how deeply unethical the position is to the workers in a pastiche of other labor-focused blues. "The world needs direction from a white guy like [you] who is healing the world with comedy. "And so, today, I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. Photograph: Netflix Its a measure of the quality of Inside 1.0 that this stuff could end up on the cutting-room floor. We see Burnham moving around in the daylight, a welcome contrast to the dark setting of "All Eyes on Me." 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. 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. Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". He doesn't really bother with any kind of transitions. Copyright 2021 NPR. Bo Burnham Its called INSIDE, and it will undoubtedly strike your hearts forevermore. But he meant to knock the water over, yeah yeah yeah, art is a lie nothing is real. Social media; it's just the market's answer to a generation that demanded to perform so the market said, here, perform. So we broke down each song and sketch and analyzed their meaning and context. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. 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. Bo Burnham: Inside, was written, edited, and directed by the talent himself and the entire show is shot in one room. 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. MARTIN: And I understand you were saying that it moves between genres. "Problematic" is a roller coaster of self-awareness, masochism, and parody. 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. But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. Daddy made you your favorite, open wide.". All rights reserved. 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.". 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. The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. And it's important to remember, you know, this is a piece of theater.