A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall. 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. 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 / [. It moves kind of all over the place. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Its an uncanny, dystopian view of Burnham as an instrument in the soulless game of social media. You can stream "Inside" on Netflix now, and see our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. 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. Burnham lingers on his behind-the-scenes technical tinkering handling lights, editing, practicing lines. "I was a kid who was stuck in his room, there isn't much more to say about it. [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. Like most of Burnhams specials, it includes comedic songs and creative lighting effects. 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. 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. For fans who struggle with panic attacks (myself included) its a comfort to see yourself represented in an artist whose work you respect. But now Burnham is showing us the clutter of the room where "Inside" was filmed. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. But, like so many other plans and hopes people had in the early months of the pandemic, that goal proved unattainable. HOLMES: Yeah. Hes been addressing us the entire time. At the start of the special, Burnham sings "Content," setting the stage for his musical-comedy. Something went wrong. In Inside, Burnham confronts parasocial relationships in his most direct way yet. "That's a good start. BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. But what is it exactly - a concert, a comedy special? See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. He was alone. Or was it an elaborate callback to his earlier work, planted for fans seeking evidence that art is lie? 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). 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. Self-awareness does not absolve anyone of anything, he says. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. And we might. 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. So this is how it ends. And it has a lot of very clever and very quick wordplay about the specific things you can get on the internet. My heart hurts with and for him. Now, you heard me struggling to describe what this is, so help me out. But he knows how to do this. Though it does have a twist. Under stand up, Burnham wrote "Middle-aged men protecting free speech by humping stools and telling stories about edibles" and "podcasts. The clean, tidy interior that first connected "Inside" with "Make Happy" is gone in its place is a mess-riddled space. 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. 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. "Any Day Now" The ending credits. MARTIN: So Bo Burnham has had a lot of different identities lately. So when you get to the end of a song, it often just kind of cuts to something else. . Now get inside.". 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. "Healing the world with comedy, the indescribable power of your comedy," the voice sings. He says his goal had been to complete filming before his 30th birthday. In the song, Burnham specifically mentions looking up "derealization," a disorder that may "feel like you're living in a dream. 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. The first comes when Burnham looks directly into the camera as he addresses the audience, singing, Are you feeling nervous? But also, it's clear that there's a lot on his mind. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. 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? 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. The penultimate song, "All Eyes On Me," is the best in the whole special, in this writer's opinion. His career evolved through YouTube, MTV, Vine, his movie "Eighth Grade," and now Netflix's "Inside." 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. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. It's self-conscious. Burnham is also the main character in the game, a character who is seen moving mechanically around a room. begins with the question "Is it mean?" "), Burnham sang a parody song called "Sad" about, well, all the sad stuff in the world. Only he knows. How how successful do you think is "Inside" at addressing, describing kind of confronting the experience that a lot of people have had over the past year? In the worst case, depression can convince a person to end their life. I was not, you know, having these particular experiences. I don't think it's perfectly morally defendable.". The title card appears in white, then changes to red, signaling that a camera is recording. For the album, Bo is credited as writer, performer, and producer on every song. We see Burnham moving around in the daylight, a welcome contrast to the dark setting of "All Eyes on Me." Other than Fred Rogers, Bo Burnham is one of the most cited single individual creators when discussing parasocial relationships. The Volcano, which touched on labor rights. Burnham starts spiraling in a mental health crisis, mentioning suicidal ideation after lamenting his advance into his 30s. Later in Inside, Burnham thanks the audience for their support while holding them at knifepoint. But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. 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. Photograph: Netflix Its a measure of the quality of Inside 1.0 that this stuff could end up on the cutting-room floor. Thank you, Michel. 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. 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. Its called INSIDE, and it will undoubtedly strike your hearts forevermore. This is especially true for Patreon campaigns that give fans direct access to creators on platforms like Discord. People experiencing depression often stop doing basic self-care tasks, like showering or laundry or brushing their teeth. WebBo Burnham's "Inside" special on Netflix is an incredibly detailed musical-comedy artwork. 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. That quiet simplicity doesn't feel like a relief, but it is. Bo Burnham defined an era when he created Inside. All Eyes on Me takes a different approach to rattling the viewer. @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.". 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. 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. 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. 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. Instead of working his muscles at open mics or in improv, Burnham uploaded joke songs to the platform in 2006. Simply smiling at the irony of watching his own movie come to life while he's still inside? 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. And I think that, 'Oh if I'm self-aware about being a douchebag it'll somehow make me less of a douchebag.' 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"). I mean, honestly, he's saying a lot right there. I like this song, Burnham says, before pointing out the the lack of modern songs about labor exploitation. 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. 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.". 1 on Billboards comedy albums chart and eventually climbed to No. A harsh skepticism of digital life (a life the pandemic has only magnified) is the dominant subject of the special. He was only 16. It's not. And then the funniest thing happened.". And its easier to relax when the video focuses on a separate take of Burnham singing from farther away, the frame now showing the entire room. The incentives of the web, those that reward outrage, excess and sentiment, are the villains of this show. It's progress. 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. Feelings of depersonalization and derealization can be very disturbing and 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 song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. 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?". Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared don't be shy come on in the water's fine."). Bo Burnham: Inside review this is a claustrophobic masterpiece. Then, of course, the aspect ratio shrinks again as the white woman goes back to posting typical content. The song untangles the way we view peoples social media output as the complete vision of who they are, when really, we cannot know the full extent of someones inner world, especially not just through social media. 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. Yes, Amazon has a pre-order set up for the album on Vinyl. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." Is he content with its content? Please enter a valid email and try again. Each of the songs from the first half of the special are in line with Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. 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. But by the end of the tune, his narrative changes into irreverence. 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. newsletter, On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity, Bo Burnham and the Trap of Parasocial Self-Awareness.. And I think that's what you're getting here. "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. I have a lot of material from back then that I'm not proud of and I think is offensive and I think is not helpful. "Goodbye sadness, hello jokes!". It's prison. 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. Thank you so much for joining us. It's as if Burnham knows there are valid criticisms of him that haven't really stuck in the public discourse around his work. Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything.". When he appeared on NPR's radio show "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross in 2018, the host played a clip of "My Whole Family" and Burnham took his headphones off so he didn't have to relisten to the song. 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.
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