Netflix Dark Comedy Special Classic Defines An Entire Era
It may seem trivial now, but the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic had most of us genuinely thinking the world was coming to an end. It was not only a scary and unprecedented time for employees who had lost their jobs or kids who were being kept out of schools but also a time of social reckoning with massive protests and uprisings across both sides of the political aisle. Just as the very first COVID vaccines began to roll out across the United States, legendary musical comedian Bo Burnham emerged from a years-long performance hiatus, and delivered his greatest work to date with a Netflix special titled Inside.
Bo Burnham Redefines Comedy
Long before Bo Burnham crafted Inside, he was a Boston-based stand-up comedian who had blown up with a number of silly songs on YouTube. Tracks such as “I’m Bo Yo,” “High School Party,” and “My Whole Family” made the lanky teenage attic-dweller a household name amongst young folks, propelling a number of full-length specials with Comedy Central and Netflix.
Having been in high school when Burnham’s stand-up was getting hot, I, like many others, was drawn to his blend of pop tunes and dense lyrical passages, especially present in his final stage show, 2016’s Make Happy.
Inside Heals The World With Comedy
After Make Happy, Burnham disappeared from the spotlight, choosing to take his talents behind the camera. For several years, he directed comedy specials for other standup comedians such as Jerrod Carmichael and Chris Rock, and even helmed the feature film Eighth Grade. Most fans assumed Bo Burnham had simply moved on from performing on stage, and wanted to evolve into new projects before Inside premiered.
But then, the funniest thing happened. The Coronavirus pandemic swept the nation, locking all of us inside our homes and most of us inside our own heads. During this time, Bo Burnham had been developing a new stand-up show in secret, which ultimately became a feature-length one-man special, which takes place entirely inside a tiny guest house.
Totally Relatable Lockdown Reaction
Throughout the special, Bo Burnham perfectly encapsulates the experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic without mentioning the world-shattering virus. Instead, Inside showcases the isolation, the anxiety, the loneliness, and the depression of being trapped by stay-at-home orders or by your own crippling inability to escape from a self-aware feedback loop. Burnham reveals mid-way through the special that his decision to stop performing on stage was actually made because he was suffering from crippling panic attacks.
Inside Catapulted Bo Burnham’s Career Further
Throughout Inside, Bo Burnham uses hilarious and sometimes gut-wrenching songs to examine comedy’s place in social justice, the ever-evolving standards of woke culture, and the horrors of the unflinching march of time. The special was such a major hit with Netflix that Bo Burnham eventually released a theatrical version of Inside (when theaters reopened the following summer) and even dropped an album containing the songs from the special on music streaming platforms.
Bo Burnham also used Inside as an opportunity to experiment with different forms of camera equipment and lighting techniques, honing his directing skills from the cramped space of his backyard guest house. The result is a wide array of stunning visuals and well-shot interstitials, which should make you very excited for whatever feature film endeavor the comedian cooks up next.
Watch Inside Over And Over Again On Netflix
REVIEW SCORE
I must have watched Bo Burnham’s Inside special roughly 460 times between its May 2021 release and the “end” of COVID. I streamed the album version so much that it completely ruined my Spotify wrapped for that year. Burnham’s introspective pop ballads about turning 30 and suffering social anxiety do not bang on a New Year’s playlist at all.
Anyone who is old enough to remember the throes of the pandemic should absolutely revisit this special if and when those wounds are healed.
