Partway through the song, the battery icon switches to low and starts blinking in warning as if death is imminent. Now get inside.". "I don't know that it's not," he said. 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. Burnham lingers on his behind-the-scenes technical tinkering handling lights, editing, practicing lines. Thematically, it deals with the events of 2020, rising wealth inequality, racial injustice, isolation, mental health, social media, and technologys role in our lives. Mid-song, a spotlight turns on Burnham and shows him completely naked as a voice sings: "Well, well, look who's inside again. The song is like having a religious experience with your own mental disorder. He was only 16. WebA grieving woman magically travels through time to 1998, where she meets a man with an uncanny resemblance to her late love. That's when the younger Burnham, the one from the beginning of his special-filming days, appears. 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. Instead of a live performance, he's recorded himself in isolation over the course of a year. Might not help, but still, it couldn't hurt.". And it's important to remember, you know, this is a piece of theater. 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. Burnham watching the end of his special on a projector also brings the poioumenon full circle the artist has finished their work and is showing you the end of the process it took to create it. "And I spent that time trying to improve myself mentally. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. 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. This special spoke to me closer and clearer than Ive ever felt with another person. Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. Its horrific.". 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. In his first Netflix special (2013's "what. 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. Web9/10. 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. (The question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. Copyright 2021 NPR. 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. 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 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. 20. 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.". And if you go back and you look at a film like "Eighth Grade," he's always been really consumed by sort of the positive and the negative of social media and the internet and the life of of young kids. Viewer discretion is advised. Bo Burnham also uploaded Welcome to the Internet and White Womans Instagram on his YouTube channel. The Volcano, which touched on labor rights. Inside doesnt give clear answers like parasocial relationships good or parasocial relationships bad, because those answers do not, and cannot, exist. . 1 on Billboards comedy albums chart and eventually climbed to No. Burnham wrote out: "Does it target those who have been disenfranchised in a historical, political, social, economic and/or psychological context?". He is not talking about it very much. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). (SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "BO BURNHAM: INSIDE"). And like those specials, Inside implores fans to think about deeper themes as well as how we think about comedy as a genre. Burnham watching the end of his special on a projector also brings the poioumenon full circle the artist has finished their work and is showing you the end of the process it took to create it. I'm talking to you, get the f--- up.". 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. Burnham is especially aware as a creator constantly reflecting on his own life. People experiencing depression often stop doing basic self-care tasks, like showering or laundry or brushing their teeth. Trying to grant his dying father's wish, a son discovers an epic love story buried in his family's distant past. Burnham slaps his leg in frustration and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. He slaps his leg in frustration, and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. He was alone. 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. . 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. BURNHAM: (Singing) Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background? 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.". "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 didn't perform for five years," he says. 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. Thank you so much for joining us. 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. And they're biting, but he's also very talented at these little catchy pop hooks. From the very beginning of "Inside," Burnham makes it clear that the narrative arc of the special will be self-referential. Photograph: Netflix Its a measure of the quality of Inside 1.0 that this stuff could end up on the cutting-room floor. Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. And so I think he's always had that stubborn insistence on holding both of those things in his head at the same time. Theres a nostalgic sweetness to this song, but parts of it return throughout the show, in darker forms, one of many variations on a theme. We see Burnham moving around in the daylight, a welcome contrast to the dark setting of "All Eyes on Me." He tries to talk into the microphone, giving his audience a one-year update. Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. It's wonderful to be with you. "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. He is leaving it to speak for itself in terms of what it says about isolation and sadness. It's progress. His virtuosic new special, Inside (on Netflix), pushes this trend further, so far that it feels as if he has created something entirely new and unlikely, both sweepingly cinematic and claustrophobically intimate, a Zeitgeist-chasing musical comedy made alone to an audience of no one. 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. It's a series of musical numbers and skits that are inherently about the creation of comedy itself. 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. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared don't be shy come on in the water's fine."). And did you have any favorites? WebOn a budget. And she's with us now to tell us more about it. Whatever it is, NPR's Linda Holmes, host of Pop Culture Happy Hour, has reviewed it, and she liked it. 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?. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." And the very format of it, as I said, it's very much this kind of sinister figure trying to get you interested. In his new Netflix special, Inside, Bo Burnham sings about trying to be funny while stuck in a room. Went out to look for a reason to hide again. HOLMES: Yeah. The structured movements of the last hour and half fall away as Burnham snaps at the audience: "Get up. WebBo Burnham has been critical of his past self for the edgy, offensive comedy he used to make. But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. Years later, the comedian told NPR's Terry Gross that performing the special was so tough that he was having panic attacks on stage. 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 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. Still terrified of that spotlight? But unlike many of us, Burnham was also hard at work on a one-man show directed, written and performed all by himself. WebBo Burnham's new Netflix comedy special "Inside" is jam-packed with references to his previous work. He uploaded it to YouTube, a then barely-known website that offered an easy way for people to share videos, so he could send it to his brother. It's as if Burnham knows there are valid criticisms of him that haven't really stuck in the public discourse around his work. ", 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.". Like, what is it? 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.". and concludes that if it's mean, it's not funny. Yes, Amazon has a pre-order set up for the album on Vinyl. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. Here's a little bit of that. Bo Burnham defined an era when he created Inside. But he knows how to do this. For those who are unaware, Bos real name is Robert Burnham. HOLMES: Thank you. 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. It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again. A college student navigates life and school while dealing with a unique predicament he's living with a beautiful former K-pop sensation. 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. BURNHAM: (Singing) Start a rumor, buy a broom or send a death threat to a Boomer. "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. 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. "Everything that once was sad is somehow funny now, the Holocaust and 9/11, that s---'s funny, 24-7, 'cause tragedy will be exclusively joked about, because my empathy iss bumming me out," he sang. Though it does have a twist. 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. Doona! 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. Once he's decided he's done with the special, Burnham brings back all the motifs from the earlier songs into "Goodbye," his finale of this musical movie. With electro-pop social commentary, bleak humour and sock-puppet debates, the comics lockdown creation is astonishing. 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. I hope to see you inside at some point. That his special is an indictment of the internet by an artist whose career was born and flourished there is the ultimate joke. 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. he sings as he refers to his birth name. "You say the ocean's rising, like I give a s---," he sings. Its a lyrically dense song with camerawork that speeds up with its rhythm. In the same way that earlier vocal distortion represented God, the effect on his voice in "All Eyes on Me" seems to signal some omniscient force outside of Burnham. Most sources discuss fictional characters, news anchors, childrens show hosts, or celebrity culture as a whole. 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. "Robert's been a little depressed," he sings (referring to himself by his birthname). The song is a pitched-down Charli XCX-styled banger of a ballad has minimal lyrics that are mostly just standard crowd instructions: put your hands up, get on your feet. Comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham used his time alone during the pandemic to create a one-man show. our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" here. That quiet simplicity doesn't feel like a relief, but it is. 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. Research and analysis of parasocial relationships usually revolves around genres of performers instead of individuals. The label of parasocial relationship is meant to be neutral, being as natural and normal and, frankly, inescapable as familial or platonic relationships. 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. The arrogance is taught or it was cultivated. 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.". Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything.". 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. WebBo Burnham: Inside is by far one of the riskiest and original comedy specials to come out in years. There's no more time left to add to the camera's clock. Well now the shots are reversed. Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. WebBo Burnham is more than a comedian he's a writer-director-actor who first went viral in 2006. Thank you, Michel. By inserting that Twitch character in this earlier scene, Burnham was seemingly giving a peek into his daily routine. The question is now, Will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease?). But he meant to knock the water over, yeah yeah yeah, art is a lie nothing is real. Linda Holmes, welcome. But on the other hand, it is lyrically so playful. Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime. Unpaid Intern isnt just about unpaid internships; when your livelihood as an artist depends on your perceived closeness with each individual fan, fetching a coffee becomes telling someone theyre valid when they vent to you like they would a friend (or a therapist). I like this song, Burnham says, before pointing out the the lack of modern songs about labor exploitation. Bo Burnhams latest Netflix special, Inside, is a solo venture about the comedian and filmmakers difficult experience in quarantine thats earned enthusiastic critical acclaim. 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. Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. On June 9, Burnham released the music from the special in an album titled Inside (The Songs), which hit No. But I described it to a couple of people as, you know, this looks like what the inside of my head felt like because of his sort of restlessness, his desire to create, create, create. 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. And the biggest risk Burnham takes in the show is letting his emotional side loose, but not before cracking a ton of jokes. 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. 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. He takes it, and Burnham cries robotically as a tinny version of the song about being stuck in the room plays. He decided to stop doing live performances, and instead set out to write and direct his first feature film, the critically-acclaimed 2018 movie "Eighth Grade." 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. One comment stuck out to me: Theres something really powerful and painful about, hearing his actual voice singing and breaking at certain points. I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020, I thought 'you know what I should start performing again. Netflix 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. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. It's conscious of self. And now depression has its grips in him. The video is an hour-long edit of footage that was deleted from the making of Inside. But he's largely been given a pass by his fans, who praise his self-awareness and new approach. WebStuck in a passionless marriage, a journalist must choose between her distant but loving husband and a younger ex-boyfriend who has reentered her life. The special is available exclusively on Netflix, while the album can be found on most streaming platforms. Now, five years later, Burnham's new parody song is digging even deeper at the philosophical question of whether or not it's appropriate to be creating comedy during a horrifyingly raw period of tragedy like the COVID-19 pandemic and the social reckoning that followed George Floyd's murder. "I'm criticizing my initial reaction for being pretentious, which is honestly a defense mechanism," he says. Daddy made you your favorite, open wide.". 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.. Most creator-made content online is available for free, meaning creators usually have to rely on their fans for income via crowdfunding like Patreon. The first comes when Burnham looks directly into the camera as he addresses the audience, singing, Are you feeling nervous? And then the funniest thing happened.". 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. 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. Bo Burnham, pictured here at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, wrote, directed and performed the entirety of his new Netflix special, Inside, by himself. Burnham starts spiraling in a mental health crisis, mentioning suicidal ideation after lamenting his advance into his 30s. Burnham quickly shifts from the song to a reaction video of the song itself in the style of a YouTuber or Twitch streamer. But by the end of the tune, his narrative changes into irreverence. 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. Gross asked Burnham if people "misinterpreted" the song and thought it was homophobic. (For example, the song "Straight, White, Male" from the "Make Happy" special). ", 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. It's self-conscious. "All Eyes On Me" starts right after Burnham's outburst of anger and sadness. Thought modern humans have been around for much longer than 20,000 years, that's around how long ago people first migrated to North America. "I was in a full body sweat, so I didn't hear most of that," Burnham said after the clip played. He doesn't really bother with any kind of transitions. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared, don't be shy, come on in the water's fine."). It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again.
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