Netflix Comedy Special Faces Loneliness Unlike Anything Else You’ve Seen
I was first exposed to Bo Burnham’s comedy when I stumbled upon his 2013 Netflix stand-up special, what., and I had mixed feelings about it after my first viewing. I distinctly remember turning to my wife and saying, “this kid’s got a lot of talent, and he’s funny, but he’s not going to put out something truly profound until life beats him down a little bit.” I was pleasantly surprised when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns forced a world-weary and isolated Bo Burnham to self-produce what I consider to be his best work as of this writing: 2021’s Bo Burnham: Inside.
While I had always approached Burnham’s comedy (even his early YouTube content) with guarded enthusiasm because of the level of immaturity you’d expect from a young artist struggling to cope with his meteoric rise to fame, I kept tabs on his career from a safe distance knowing he was destined for greatness. I felt it in my gut that Bo Burnham was a raw nerve waiting for the right stimuli (or lack thereof) to push him into the darker territory that Inside claustrophobically explores, and it turns out I was right.
I also felt a considerable amount of guilt for being happy that my prophecy was fulfilled because it meant that a real person had to wrestle his personal demons to the ground in order to painstakingly create his magnum opus.
The Inside Setup
Bo Burnham has always had a complicated relationship with the internet, his audience, parasocial relationships, his creative process, and, most importantly, himself. Bo Burnham: Inside fearlessly addresses all of these insecurities while also forcing the audience to feel the same level of discomfort that ultimately led him to step away from performing comedy entirely in 2016 after the release of his Make Happy special.
Picking up right where Make Happy left off, Bo Burnham: Inside brings us back to the guest house where he sought refuge at the end of his penultimate special, but this time he’s ready to start performing again. The only problem is that there’s nowhere to perform, as he is trapped, as the title suggests, inside.
Low-Brow But High Concept
Set entirely in a guest house full of cameras, laptops, light fixtures, and an unthinkable amount of existential dread, Bo Burnham: Inside isn’t a traditional comedy special, but rather an unhinged exploration of the creative process, perfectionism, the dark side of fame, self-inflicted (and government mandated) isolation, and sarcastic synth-pop bangers about Jeff Bezos that make you want to clap along between sobbing fits.
Just beneath the intimidatingly catchy tunes found Bo Burnham: Inside, the inner workings of a madman are revealed through Burnham’s colorful songs about FaceTiming with his mom, sexting with his girlfriend because our communication devices are replacing physical relationships, massive media conglomerates profiting off of our addiction to the internet, and the notion that as a society we’re more connected than ever, but also the most isolated we’ve ever been.
Comes Around Full-Circle
Between each skit, song, and existential exploration found in Inside, Bo Burnham pulls the curtain back by showing us his behind-the-scenes process. After nailing what you would think is a perfect performance take, there are several jarring transitions that cut to Burnham sitting alone in front of his computer and scrutinizing his own work before saying “one more” and getting ready to reshoot the entire bit from the start. As weeks turn to months, Burnham’s hair and beard grow out to unmanageable lengths, which he addresses by telling the audience that he booked a haircut that got cancelled.
Any Bo Burnham fan will tell you that they’re familiar with the backstory that led to the creation of Inside, but that doesn’t stop the then-30-year-old comedian from breaking into his most confessional composition, “All Eyes On Me.”
Pitching his voice down several octaves in order to capture the full extent of his melancholy as he sings over a brooding synth dirge, Burnham reveals over canned laughter and applause that he quit performing because he was having severe panic attacks on stage during his last tour. Revealing that he worked on his mental health during his five-year absence from performing, he looks at the camera and states that just as he was getting ready to put himself out there again “the funniest thing happened…”
It’s All A Bit
GFR SCORE
To fully enjoy Bo Burnham: Inside, you need to acknowledge that the entire special is scripted, and was meticulously planned down to its most minor details. While there’s no doubt in my mind that Burnham spent more time alone than he probably should have to put together this special that certainly came from the dark recesses of his imagination, he’s still playing a fictionalized, hyperbolic version of his on-stage persona.
If you want to take an intimate look at the creative process at the hands of a reclusive perfectionist, Bo Burnham: Inside should be the next comedy special you queue up on Netflix. And if you don’t believe me when I say that it’s all an act, The Inside Outtakes, also streaming on Netflix, is the perfect companion piece that tells you “everything is going to be okay.”
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