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. 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. "Problematic" is a roller coaster of self-awareness, masochism, and parody. So let's dive into "Inside" and take a closer look at nearly every song and sketch in Burnham's special. Linda Holmes, welcome. "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.". Open wide.. Burnham is especially aware as a creator constantly reflecting on his own life. At the start of the special, Burnham sings "Content," setting the stage for his musical-comedy. 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. It has extended versions of songs, cut songs, and alternate versions of songs that were eventually deleted; but is mainly comprised of outtakes. Burnham brings back all the motifs from the earlier songs into his finale, revisiting all the stages of emotion he took us through for the last 90 minutes. 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.". 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. 20. 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. WebBo Burnham: Inside is by far one of the riskiest and original comedy specials to come out in years. 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. 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. WebBo Burnham: Inside is a 2021 special written, directed, filmed, edited, and performed by American comedian Bo Burnham. Oops. At the end of the song, "Inside" cuts to a shot of Burnham watching his own video on a computer in the dark. 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. Like Struccis Fake Friends documentary, this song is highlighted in Anuska Dhars video essay, Bo Burnham and the Trap of Parasocial Self-Awareness. Burnhams work consistently addresses his relationship with his audience, the ways he navigates those parasocial relationships, and how easy they can be to exploit. Who Were We Running From? 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.". Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. "That's a good start. Its a visual that signifies a man exposing himself, until you realize hes in a spotlight. Burnham then kicks back into song, still addressing his audience, who seem unsure of whether to laugh, applaud, or sit somberly in their chairs. 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. Perform everything to each other, all the time for no reason. But by the end of the tune, his narrative changes into irreverence. 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.". Please enter a valid email and try again. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. "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. Got it? That quiet simplicity doesn't feel like a relief, but it is. 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. Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. I don't think it's perfectly morally defendable.". The incentives of the web, those that reward outrage, excess and sentiment, are the villains of this show. The Volcano, which touched on labor rights. Photograph: Netflix Its a measure of the quality of Inside 1.0 that this stuff could end up on the cutting-room floor. 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. I think you're getting from him, you know, the entertainment element. Viewer discretion is advised. 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. 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. 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. He slaps his leg in frustration, and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. 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. At first hearing, this is a simple set of lyrics about the way kids deal with struggles throughout adolescence, particularly things like anxiety and depression. Went out to look for a reason to hide again. And part of it is sometimes he's just in despair. 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. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." Instead of working his muscles at open mics or in improv, Burnham uploaded joke songs to the platform in 2006. 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 we might. 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. Web9/10. His hair and beard were shorter, and he was full of inspired energy. Yes, Amazon has a pre-order set up for the album on Vinyl. Long before the phrase parasocial relationship had entered the mainstream zeitgeist, Burnhams work discussed the phenomenon. I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020, I thought 'you know what I should start performing again. It chronicles Burnhams life during the pandemic and his journey creating the special. We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. He is now back to where he was, making jokes alone in his room, an effort to escape his reality. 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 WebBo Burnham is more than a comedian he's a writer-director-actor who first went viral in 2006. Parasocial relationships are neutral, and how we interact with them is usually a mixed bag. 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. Partway through the song, the battery icon switches to low and starts blinking in warning as if death is imminent. But also, it's clear that there's a lot on his mind. The picturesque view of sun-soaked clouds was featured in "Comedy," during the section of the song when Burnham stood up and decided that the only thing he (or his character in the song) could do was "heal the world with comedy.". The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. The special is available exclusively on Netflix, while the album can be found on most streaming platforms. Im talking to you. Now Burnham is showing us the clutter of the room, where he's almost claustrophobically surrounded by equipment. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. Its an uncanny, dystopian view of Burnham as an instrument in the soulless game of social media. "I'm criticizing my initial reaction for being pretentious, which is honestly a defense mechanism," he says. A harsh skepticism of digital life (a life the pandemic has only magnified) is the dominant subject of the special. But by using this meta-narrative throughout the whole special, Burnham messes with our ability to know when we're seeing a genuine struggle with artistic expression versus a meticulously staged fictional breakdown. Maybe we'll call it isolation theater. Please check your email to find a confirmation email, and follow the steps to confirm your humanity. That's what it is. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. Burnham's growth is admirable, but also revealing of how little we expect from men in the industry. It's as if Burnham knows there are valid criticisms of him that haven't really stuck in the public discourse around his work. "Inside" feels like the creative culmination of Bo Burnham's career over the last 15 years, starting with his first viral YouTube video in 2006. 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. ", He then pulls the same joke again, letting the song play after the audience's applause so it seems like a mistake. 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. Bo Burnhams 2021 special, Inside. And I don't think that I can handle this right now. And so I think he's always had that stubborn insistence on holding both of those things in his head at the same time. 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?. In his first Netflix special (2013's "what. Now, you heard me struggling to describe what this is, so help me out. Feelings of depersonalization and derealization can be very disturbing and may feel like you're living in a dream.". The first comes when Burnham looks directly into the camera as he addresses the audience, singing, Are you feeling nervous? of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl. 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 second emotional jump scare comes when Burnham monologues about how he stopped performing live because he started having panic attacks on stage, which is not a great place to have them. The monologue increases that sense of intimacy; Burnham is letting the audience in on the state of his mental health even before the global pandemic. Under the TV section, he has "adults playing twister" (something he referenced in "Make Happy" when he said that celebrity lip-syncing battles were the "end of culture") and "9 season love letter to corporate labor" (which is likely referencing "The Office"). HOLMES: Yeah. And he's done virtually no press about it. In his new Netflix special, Inside, Bo Burnham sings about trying to be funny while stuck in a room. It's progress. The lead-in is Burnham thanking a nonexistent audience for being there with him for the last year. Burnham starts spiraling in a mental health crisis, mentioning suicidal ideation after lamenting his advance into his 30s. . Years later, the comedian told NPR's Terry Gross that performing the special was so tough that he was having panic attacks on stage. that shows this exact meta style. 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. But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. The song brings with it an existential dread, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. Burnham was just 16 years old when he wrote a parody song ("My Whole Family") and filmed himself performing it in his bedroom. 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. "Goodbye sadness, hello jokes!". 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. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Netflix Its a stupid song, and, uh, it doesnt really mean anything. The video continues. Bo Burnham; former YouTuber, iconic Viner, and acclaimed stand-up comedian has recently released a new Netflix special. 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. Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. I cant say how Burnham thinks or feels with any authority, but as text and form-driven comedy, Inside urges the audience to reflect on how they interact with creators. So this is how it ends. Throughout the song and its accompanying visuals, Burnham is highlighting the "girlboss" aesthetic of many white women's Instagram accounts. 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. But we weren't. While this special is the product of evolution, Burnham is pointing out its also a regression. our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" here. But what is it exactly - a concert, a comedy special? It's like Burnham's special has swallowed you whole, bringing you fully into his mind at last. and concludes that if it's mean, it's not funny. Thematically, it deals with the events of 2020, rising wealth inequality, racial injustice, isolation, mental health, social media, and technologys role in our lives. 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. begins with the question "Is it mean?" The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. 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. All Eyes on Me takes a different approach to rattling the viewer. HOLMES: So before he was this celebrated filmmaker, Bo Burnham was himself a YouTube star. I did! Just wanted to make sure everybody knew about Bo's comedy special transcripts on Scraps. That's when the younger Burnham, the one from the beginning of his special-filming days, appears. When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. It's like the mental despair of the last year has turned into a comfort. 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. That's a really clever, fun little rhyme in this, you know, kind of heavy song. It's a series of musical numbers and skits that are inherently about the creation of comedy itself. this breakdown of 31 details you might have missed in "Inside,". Inside doesnt give clear answers like parasocial relationships good or parasocial relationships bad, because those answers do not, and cannot, exist. Its an origin story of sorts. HOLMES: Thank you. MARTIN: Well, that being said, Lynda, like, what song do you want to go out on? 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. A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy. Some of the things he mentions that give him "that funny feeling" include discount Etsy agitprop (aka communist-themed merchandise) and the Pepsi halftime show. 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. In one interpretation, maybe the smile means he's ready to be outside again. ", 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. 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. But look, I made you some 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. Anyone can read what you share. Its folly to duplicate the feel of a live set, so why not fully adjust to the screen and try to make something as visually ambitious as a feature? Likewise. The piece also highlights Bos anxieties with becoming older and his legacy as a comedian. 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 arrogance is taught or it was cultivated. In the worst case, depression can convince a person to end their life. ", 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.". But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. Social media; it's just the market's answer to a generation that demanded to perform so the market said, here, perform. "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. Or was it an elaborate callback to his earlier work, planted for fans seeking evidence that art is lie?