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. Then he moves into a new layer of reaction, where he responds to that previous comment. And I'm just wondering, like, how would you describe that? BURNHAM: (Singing) Start a rumor, buy a broom or send a death threat to a Boomer. Only he knows. "), Burnham sang a parody song called "Sad" about, well, all the sad stuff in the world. See our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" here. 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 wrote out: "Does it target those who have been disenfranchised in a historical, political, social, economic and/or psychological context?". I mean, honestly, he's saying a lot right there. People experiencing depression often stop doing basic self-care tasks, like showering or laundry or brushing their teeth. When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. 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. "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. Still, its difficult not to be lulled back into, again, this absolute banger. Throughout the song and its accompanying visuals, Burnham is highlighting the "girlboss" aesthetic of many white women's Instagram accounts. A college student navigates life and school while dealing with a unique predicament he's living with a beautiful former K-pop sensation. The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. At various points, the gamer is given the option to make the character cry. Right after the song ends, the shot of Burnham's guest house returns but this time it's filled with clutter. Got it? 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. Inside, a new Netflix special written, performed, directed, shot, and edited by comedian Bo Burnham, invokes and plays with many forms. This special spoke to me closer and clearer than Ive ever felt with another person. 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 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. It's conscious of self. 1 on Billboards comedy albums chart and eventually climbed to No. BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. In the song, Burnham specifically mentions looking up "derealization," a disorder that may "feel like you're living in a dream. Mirroring the earlier scene where Burnham went to sleep, now Burnham is shown "waking up.". The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. The structured movements of the last hour and half fall away as Burnham snaps at the audience: "Get up. He's the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. 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. Later in Inside, Burnham thanks the audience for their support while holding them at knifepoint. I'm sitting down, writing jokes, singing silly songs, I'm sorry I was gone. We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. This is especially true for Patreon campaigns that give fans direct access to creators on platforms like Discord. 20. They may still be comical, but they have a different feel. 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 / [. Not a comedy per se, but a masterpiece nonetheless. 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.". But what is it exactly - a concert, a comedy special? NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Inside (2021) opens with Bo Burnham sitting alone in a room singing what will be the first of many musical comedy numbers, Content. In the song, Burnham expresses, Roberts been a little depressed ii. A distorted voice is back again, mocking Burnham as he sits exposed on his fake stage: "Well, well, look who's inside again. This sketch, like the "White Woman Instagram" song, shows one of Burnham's writing techniques of bringing a common Internet culture into a fictionalized bit. 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. And I think that, 'Oh if I'm self-aware about being a douchebag it'll somehow make me less of a douchebag.' 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. 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. 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. While talking to the audience during the opening section, Burnham takes a sip out of a water bottle. 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. It's so good to hear your voice. (The question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. 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. 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. Instead of a live performance, he's recorded himself in isolation over the course of a year. 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. 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 fun thing about this is he started writing it and recording it early on, so you get to see clips of him singing it both, you know, with the short hair and with the long hair - when he had just started this special and when he was finishing it. That's a really clever, fun little rhyme in this, you know, kind of heavy song. And like unpaid interns, most working artists cant afford a mortgage (and yeah, probably torrent a porn). He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. "And so, today, I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. Though it does have a twist. 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. '", "Robert's been a little depressed, no!" Burnham was just 16 years old when he wrote a parody song ("My Whole Family") and filmed himself performing it in his bedroom. He takes a break in the song to talk about how he was having panic attacks on stage while touring the "Make Happy" special, and so he decided to stop doing live shows. The performer, along with the record label and brand deals, encourage a parasocial relationship for increased profits. Self-awareness does not absolve anyone of anything, he says. 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. The video is an hour-long edit of footage that was deleted from the making of Inside. 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. He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. And it has a lot of very clever and very quick wordplay about the specific things you can get on the internet. Something went wrong. "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 do not think my intention was homophobic, but what is the implicit comedy of that song if you chase it all the way down? "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. He says his goal had been to complete filming before his 30th birthday. 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. It's not. For fans who struggle with panic attacks (myself included) its a comfort to see yourself represented in an artist whose work you respect. He also costarred in the Oscar-winning movie "Promising Young Woman," filmed in 2019. Hes bedraggled, increasingly unshaven, growing a Rasputin-like beard. And so I think he's always had that stubborn insistence on holding both of those things in his head at the same time. Thank you, Michel. And maybe the rest of us are ready, too. The final shot is of him looking positively orgasmic, eyes closed, on the cross. "The world needs direction from a white guy like [you] who is healing the world with comedy. And I don't think that I can handle this right now. 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. that shows this exact meta style. 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. The flow chat for "Is it funny?" Coined in 1956 by researchers Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, the term initially was used to analyze relationships between news anchors who spoke directly to the audience and that audience itself. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). He slaps his leg in frustration, and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. WebOn a budget. The global pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders of March 2020 put a stop to these plans. And part of it is sometimes he's just in despair. There's no more time left to add to the camera's clock. 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. At the end of the song, "Inside" cuts to a shot of Burnham watching his own video on a computer in the dark. You know, I was not, you know, I was alone, but I was not trapped in one room. 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 brushes his teeth, eats a bowl of cereal, and begins editing his videos. It has extended versions of songs, cut songs, and alternate versions of songs that were eventually deleted; but is mainly comprised of outtakes. Performing "Make Happy" was mentally taxing on Burnham. An existential dread creeps in, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. 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. Burnham can't get through his words in the update as he admits he's been working on the special much longer than he'd anticipated. 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. Its an origin story of sorts. "And so today I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. 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. Bo Burnham: INSIDE | Trailer - YouTube 0:00 / 2:09 The following content may contain suicide or self-harm topics. I think you're getting from him, you know, the entertainment element. See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. He is now back to where he was, making jokes alone in his room, an effort to escape his reality. And we might. At the second level of the reaction video, Burnham says: "I'm being a little pretentious. "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.". 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). And you know 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. It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again. "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. ", He then pulls the same joke again, letting the song play after the audience's applause so it seems like a mistake. 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. From the very beginning of "Inside," Burnham makes it clear that the narrative arc of the special will be self-referential. MARTIN: And I understand you were saying that it moves between genres. And it portends and casts doubt on a later scene when his mental health frays and Burnham cries in earnest. WebBo Burnham's Netflix special "Inside" features 20 new original songs. HOLMES: Yeah. It's a series of musical numbers and skits that are inherently about the creation of comedy itself. "And I spent that time trying to improve myself mentally. Like most of Burnhams specials, it includes comedic songs and creative lighting effects. HOLMES: So, as you'll hear there, on the one hand, there's a lot of sadness in what he's talking about there. ", 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.". "Oh Jesus, sorry," Burnham says, hurrying over to pick it up. By inserting that Twitch character in this earlier scene, Burnham was seemingly giving a peek into his daily routine. That's when the younger Burnham, the one from the beginning of his special-filming days, appears. But he meant to knock the water over, yeah yeah yeah, art is a lie nothing is real. But then the video keeps playing, and so he winds up reacting to his own reaction, and then reacting yet again to that reaction. Likewise. LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Thank you, Michel. Now, hes come a long way since his previous specials titled What. and Make Happy, where his large audiences roared with laughter Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. 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. 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. When you're a kid and you're stuck in your room, you'll do any old s--- to get out of it.". But by the end of the tune, his narrative changes into irreverence. WebBo Burnham's "Inside" special on Netflix is an incredibly detailed musical-comedy artwork. newsletter, On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity, Bo Burnham and the Trap of Parasocial Self-Awareness.. 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. Most creator-made content online is available for free, meaning creators usually have to rely on their fans for income via crowdfunding like Patreon. Parasocial relationships can be positive too, as outlined in culture critic Stitchs essay On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity for Teen Vogue. 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. Copyright 2021 NPR. 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. 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. The incentives of the web, those that reward outrage, excess and sentiment, are the villains of this show. 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. Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. Burnham quickly shifts from the song to a reaction video of the song itself in the style of a YouTuber or Twitch streamer. I actually felt true mutual empathy with someone for the first time, and with someone Ive never even met, its kinda funny.. Burnham is an extraordinary actor, and "Inside" often feels like we're watching the intimate, real interior life of an artist. 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. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. He was only 16. HOLMES: It felt very true to me, not in the literal sense. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). MARTIN: And it's deep, too. Burnham is also the main character in the game, a character who is seen moving mechanically around a room. 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. WebA grieving woman magically travels through time to 1998, where she meets a man with an uncanny resemblance to her late love. Netflix 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. Each of the songs from the first half of the special are in line with Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. 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). The whole song sounds like you're having a religious experience with your own mental disorder, especially when new harmonies kick in. It's 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. (SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "BO BURNHAM: INSIDE"). But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. 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.". 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. But look, I made you some content. I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020, I thought 'you know what I should start performing again. Social media; it's just the market's answer to a generation that demanded to perform so the market said, here, perform. 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. With electro-pop social commentary, bleak humour and sock-puppet debates, the comics lockdown creation is astonishing. Bo Burnhams latest Netflix special, Inside, is a solo venture about the comedian and filmmakers difficult experience in quarantine thats earned enthusiastic critical acclaim. 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. WebA Girl and an Astronaut. 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.
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