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. WebBo Burnham's new Netflix comedy special "Inside" is jam-packed with references to his previous work. His hair and beard were shorter, and he was full of inspired energy. A college student navigates life and school while dealing with a unique predicament he's living with a beautiful former K-pop sensation. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. 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. I've been hiding from the world and I need to reenter.' But Burnham is of course the writer, director, editor, and star of this show. WebBo's transcripts on Scraps From The Loft. WebBo Burnham's Netflix special "Inside" features 20 new original songs. 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. "And so today I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. Burnham lingers on his behind-the-scenes technical tinkering handling lights, editing, practicing lines. 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. 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. So we broke down each song and sketch and analyzed their meaning and context. BURNHAM: (Singing) Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background? It's like the mental despair of the last year has turned into a comfort. 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. 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. So in "Inside," when we see Burnham recording himself doing lighting set up and then accidentally pull down his camera was that a real blooper he decided to edit in? The tropes he says you may find on a white woman's Instagram page are peppered with cultural appropriation ("a dreamcatcher bought from Urban Outfitters") and ignorant political takes ("a random quote from 'Lord of the Rings' misattributed to Martin Luther King"). 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. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. 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. Bo Burnham One of those is the internet itself. The song is like having a religious experience with your own mental disorder. We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. HOLMES: Right. "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. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. In Inside, Burnham confronts parasocial relationships in his most direct way yet. 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. Burnham was just 16 years old when he wrote a parody song ("My Whole Family") and filmed himself performing it in his bedroom. "This show is called 'what.,' and I hope there are some surprises for you," he says as he goes to set down the water bottle. 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. Its easy to see Unpaid Intern as one scene and the reaction videos as another, but in the lens of parasocial relationships, digital media, and workers rights, the song and the reactions work as an analysis for another sort of labor exploitation: content creation. It's not. You know, I was not, you know, I was alone, but I was not trapped in one room. But unlike many of us, Burnham was also hard at work on a one-man show directed, written and performed all by himself. Then he moves into a new layer of reaction, where he responds to that previous comment. Research and analysis of parasocial relationships usually revolves around genres of performers instead of individuals. The result, a special titled "Inside," shows all of Burnham's brilliant instincts of parody and meta-commentary on the role of white, male entertainers in the world and of poisons found in internet culture that digital space that gave him a career and fostered a damaging anxiety disorder that led him to quit performing live comedy after 2015. Bo Burnham: Inside, was written, edited, and directed by the talent himself and the entire show is shot in one room. Bo Burnham: Inside - The 10 Funniest Quotes From The Netflix Special 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. 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. Accuracy and availability may vary. newsletter, On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity, Bo Burnham and the Trap of Parasocial Self-Awareness.. ", "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? that shows this exact meta style. Burnham is an extraordinary actor, and "Inside" often feels like we're watching the intimate, real interior life of an artist. This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy. It's a series of musical numbers and skits that are inherently about the creation of comedy itself. "Truly, it's like, for a 16-year-old kid in 2006, it's not bad. The special is available exclusively on Netflix, while the album can be found on most streaming platforms. "All Eyes On Me" starts right after Burnham's outburst of anger and sadness. But now Burnham is showing us the clutter of the room where "Inside" was filmed. It's self-conscious. Simply smiling at the irony of watching his own movie come to life while he's still inside? For fans who struggle with panic attacks (myself included) its a comfort to see yourself represented in an artist whose work you respect. That's a really clever, fun little rhyme in this, you know, kind of heavy song. . It's so good to hear your voice. Bo Burnham Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. WebA grieving woman magically travels through time to 1998, where she meets a man with an uncanny resemblance to her late love. 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. The clean, tidy interior that first connected "Inside" with "Make Happy" is gone in its place is a mess-riddled space. So we broke down each song and sketch and analyzed their meaning and context. WebOn a budget. Inside has been making waves for comedy fans, similar to the ways previous landmark comedy specials like Hannah Gadsbys Nanette or Tig Notaros Live (aka Hello, I Have Cancer) have. The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. Feelings of depersonalization and derealization can be very disturbing and may feel like you're living in a dream.". 20. While platforms like Patreon mean creators can make their own works independently without studio influence, they also mean that the creator is directly beholden to their audience. It's wonderful to be with you. "Got it? "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. Burnham quickly shifts from the song to a reaction video of the song itself in the style of a YouTuber or Twitch streamer. And like unpaid interns, most working artists cant afford a mortgage (and yeah, probably torrent a porn). It's an emergence from the darkness. Anyone can read what you share. Bo Burnham: Inside 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. Inside is the work of a comic with artistic tools most of his peers ignore or overlook. And maybe the rest of us are ready, too. Thematically, it deals with the events of 2020, rising wealth inequality, racial injustice, isolation, mental health, social media, and technologys role in our lives. Long before the phrase parasocial relationship had entered the mainstream zeitgeist, Burnhams work discussed the phenomenon. It's prison. He's freely admitting that self-awareness isn't enough while also clearly unable to move away from that self-aware comedic space he so brilliantly holds. 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? Good. Parasocial relationships are neutral, and how we interact with them is usually a mixed bag. 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. 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. 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. Not in the traditional senseno music was released prior to the special other than a backing track from Content found in the trailer. Similarly, Burnham often speaks to the audience by filming himself speaking to himself in a mirror. Later in Inside, Burnham thanks the audience for their support while holding them at knifepoint. It's a dangerously tempting invitation to stop caring, coming from the villain of this musical comedy (depression). Its a visual that signifies a man exposing himself, until you realize hes in a spotlight. 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). The arrogance is taught or it was cultivated. He points it at himself as he sways, singing again: Get your fuckin hands up / Get on out of your seat / All eyes on me, all eyes on me.. and concludes that if it's mean, it's not funny. 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. Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. "I'm criticizing my initial reaction for being pretentious, which is honestly a defense mechanism," he says. If the answer is yes, then it's not funny. Let's take a closer look at just a few of those bubbles, shall we? His new Netflix special Inside was directed, written and performed all inside one room. Not a comedy per se, but a masterpiece nonetheless. Trying to grant his dying father's wish, a son discovers an epic love story buried in his family's distant past. our full breakdown of every detail and reference you might have missed in "Inside" here. But, like so many other plans and hopes people had in the early months of the pandemic, that goal proved unattainable. 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. Bo Burnham: Inside 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. Its a lyrically dense song with camerawork that speeds up with its rhythm. 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). Only he knows. The lead-in is Burnham thanking a nonexistent audience for being there with him for the last year. In Unpaid Intern, Burnham sings about how deeply unethical the position is to the workers in a pastiche of other labor-focused blues. ", 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. Throughout the song and its accompanying visuals, Burnham is highlighting the "girlboss" aesthetic of many white women's Instagram accounts. This is a heartbreaking chiding coming from Burnham's own distorted voice, as if he's shaming himself for sinking back into that mental state. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. The whole song ping pongs between Burnham's singing character describing a very surface-level, pleasant definition of the world functioning as a cohesive ecosystem and his puppet, Socko, saying that the truth is the world functions at a much darker level of power imbalance and oppression. The label of parasocial relationship is meant to be neutral, being as natural and normal and, frankly, inescapable as familial or platonic relationships. It's progress. 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. [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. Burnham then kicks back into song, still addressing his audience, who seem unsure of whether to laugh, applaud, or sit somberly in their chairs. Netflix 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. He is not talking about it very much. Bo Burnham: Inside 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). / Are you having fun? The crowd directions are no longer stock pop song lyrics; now, the audience understands them as direct orders to them from Burnham. 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. 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. Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. Years later, the comedian told NPR's Terry Gross that performing the special was so tough that he was having panic attacks on stage. In White Womans Instagram, the comedian assumes the role of a white woman and sings a list of common white lady Instagram posts (Latte foam art / Tiny pumpkins / Fuzzy, comfy socks) while acting out even more cliched photos in the video with wild accuracy. 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'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. Something went wrong. Linda Holmes, welcome. Likewise. Down to the second, the clock changes to midnight exactly halfway through the runtime of "Inside.". 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? The battery is full, but no numbers are moving. But then the video keeps playing, and so he winds up reacting to his own reaction, and then reacting yet again to that reaction. 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. Bo Who Were We Running From? '", "Robert's been a little depressed, no!" 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"). Its an instinct I have for all my work to have some deeper meaning or something. Still terrified of that spotlight? 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. 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). Netflix. (For example, the song "Straight, White, Male" from the "Make Happy" special). It chronicles Burnhams life during the pandemic and his journey creating the special. Burnham is especially aware as a creator constantly reflecting on his own life. "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. "Healing the world with comedy, the indescribable power of your comedy," the voice sings. HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." And they're biting, but he's also very talented at these little catchy pop hooks. 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. 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. Bo Burnham's 'Inside 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. ", The Mayo Clinic defines depersonalization-derealization disorder as occurring "when you persistently or repeatedly have the feeling that you're observing yourself from outside your body or you have a sense that things around you aren't real, or both. 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?". "I don't know that it's not," he said. 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.". MARTIN: And it's deep, too. "Goodbye sadness, hello jokes!". Get the fuck up! Burnham walks towards the camera and grabs it like hes grabbing the viewer by the throat. "Problematic" is a roller coaster of self-awareness, masochism, and parody. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared don't be shy come on in the water's fine."). WebBo Burnham has been critical of his past self for the edgy, offensive comedy he used to make. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. And it portends and casts doubt on a later scene when his mental health frays and Burnham cries in earnest. Bo Burnham That his special is an indictment of the internet by an artist whose career was born and flourished there is the ultimate joke. Photograph: Netflix Its a measure of the quality of Inside 1.0 that this stuff could end up on the cutting-room floor. Bo Burnham: INSIDE | Trailer - YouTube 0:00 / 2:09 The following content may contain suicide or self-harm topics. Daddy made you your favorite. The special is hitting an emotional climax as Burnham shows us both intense anger and then immediately after, a deep and dark sadness. 7 on the Top 200. Even when confronted with works that criticize parasocial attachment, its difficult for fans not to feel emotionally connected to performers they admire. He also costarred in the Oscar-winning movie "Promising Young Woman," filmed in 2019. Sitting in the meeting room, not making a sound becomes the perceived 24/7 access fans have to DM you, reply to you, ask you questions. 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. "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.". During the last 15 minutes of "Make Happy," Burnham turns the comedy switch down a bit and begins talking to the audience about how his comedy is almost always about performing itself because he thinks people are, at all times, doing a "performance" for one another. Instead of a live performance, he's recorded himself in isolation over the course of a year. Released on May 30, 2021, Bo Burnham wrote, recorded, directed, and produced Inside while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. 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. The structured movements of the last hour and half fall away as Burnham snaps at the audience: "Get up. Bo Burnham In one interpretation, maybe the smile means he's ready to be outside again. 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's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. .] When you're a kid and you're stuck in your room, you'll do any old s--- to get out of it.". He takes it, and Burnham cries robotically as a tinny version of the song about being stuck in the room plays. A Detailed Breakdown of How Bo Burnham Burnham slaps his leg in frustration and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. 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. And then the funniest thing happened.". @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.". 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. 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. 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. But then the music tells the audience that "he meant to play the track again" and that "art's still a lie, nothing's still real.". When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. Tell us a little bit more about that. BURNHAM: (Singing) Could I interest you in everything all of the time, a little bit of everything all of the time? We're a long way from the days when he filmed "Comedy" and the contrast shows how fruitless this method of healing has been. In his first Netflix special (2013's "what. Inside takes topics discussed academically, analytically, and delivers them to a new audience through the form of a comedy special by a widely beloved performer. And did you have any favorites? See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. (The question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. 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. Bo Burnham, pictured here at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, wrote, directed and performed the entirety of his new Netflix special, Inside, by himself. Im talking to you. 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. he sings as he refers to his birth name. And you know what? ", 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.". And I'm just wondering, like, how would you describe that? By inserting that Twitch character in this earlier scene, Burnham was seemingly giving a peek into his daily routine. He is now back to where he was, making jokes alone in his room, an effort to escape his reality. Its called INSIDE, and it will undoubtedly strike your hearts forevermore. Now get inside.". of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl.