Instead of working his muscles at open mics or in improv, Burnham uploaded joke songs to the platform in 2006. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared don't be shy come on in the water's fine."). 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 did! 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. Bo Burnham: Inside review this is a claustrophobic masterpiece. From the very beginning of "Inside," Burnham makes it clear that the narrative arc of the special will be self-referential. It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. ", "On September 17, the clock began counting down from seven years, 103 days, 15 hours, 40 minutes and seven seconds, displayed in red," the Smithsonian reported. He is not talking about it very much. ", 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.". "The poioumenon is calculated to offer opportunities to explore the boundaries of fiction and reality the limits of narrative truth," Fowler wrote in his book "A History of English Literature.". Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall. Theres always been a tension in his comedy between an ironic, smarty-pants cleverness and an often melodramatic point of view. The clean, tidy interior that first connected "Inside" with "Make Happy" is gone in its place is a mess-riddled space. Then comes the third emotional jump scare. 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. One of those is the internet itself. 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. As he shows in this new sketch, he's aware at a meta level that simply trying to get ahead of the criticism that could be tossed his way is itself a performance sometimes. 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). Social media; it's just the market's answer to a generation that demanded to perform so the market said, here, perform. Simply smiling at the irony of watching his own movie come to life while he's still inside? Now get inside.". Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. 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. At the start of the special, Burnham sings "Content," setting the stage for his musical-comedy. of the internet, welcoming everyone with a decadent menu of options while disco lights twirl. See our analysis of the end of the special, and why Burnham's analogy for depression works so well. The flow chat for "Is it funny?" 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"). 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. Underneath the Steve Martin-like formal trickery has always beaten the heaving heart of a flamboyantly dramatic theater kid. His hair and beard were shorter, and he was full of inspired energy. LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Thank you, Michel. 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. "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. "), Burnham sang a parody song called "Sad" about, well, all the sad stuff in the world. Now get inside.". Oops. People experiencing depression often stop doing basic self-care tasks, like showering or laundry or brushing their teeth. The vocal key used in "All Eyes On Me" could be meant to represent depression, an outside force that is rather adept at convincing our minds to simply stay in bed, to not care, and to not try anymore. It's not. Burnham had no idea that his song would be seen more than 10 million times,nor that it would kick start his career in a niche brand of self-aware musical comedy. "That's a good start. But what is it exactly - a concert, a comedy special? jonnyewers 30 May 2021. Tell us a little bit more about that. Other than Fred Rogers, Bo Burnham is one of the most cited single individual creators when discussing parasocial relationships. His new Netflix special Inside was directed, written and performed all inside one room. Fifteen years later, Burnham found himself sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to sit back down at his piano and see if he could once again entertain the world from the claustrophobic confines of a single room. This is especially true for Patreon campaigns that give fans direct access to creators on platforms like Discord. BURNHAM: (Singing) Could I interest you in everything all of the time, a little bit of everything all of the time? Burnham's hair is shorter in those initial behind-the-scenes moments, but his future-self has a longer, unkempt beard and messy hair. Instead of a live performance, he's recorded himself in isolation over the course of a year. At the second level of the reaction video, Burnham says: "I'm being a little pretentious. If "All Eyes on Me" sounds disconcertingly comforting to you, it could be because you can recognize the mental symptoms of a mood disorder like depression. 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. 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. It's progress. He also costarred in the Oscar-winning movie "Promising Young Woman," filmed in 2019. But in both of those cases, similarity and connection would come from the way the art itself connects people, not any actual tie between Burnham and myself, Burnham and the commenter. 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? And I think that's what you're getting here. 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." "You say the whole world's ending, honey it already did, you're not gonna slow it, heaven knows you tried. Just wanted to make sure everybody knew about Bo's comedy special transcripts on Scraps. It's a heartbreaking chiding coming from his own distorted voice, as if he's shaming himself for sinking back into that mental state. 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. The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. ", When asked about the inspiration for the song, like if people he knew thought he was gay, Burnham said, "A lot of my close friends were gay, and, you know, I wasn't certain I wasn't at that point.". "Truly, it's like, for a 16-year-old kid in 2006, it's not bad. This is when the musical numbers (and in-between skits) become much more grim. After more sung repetitions of get your fuckin hands up, Burnham says, Get up. Its a visual that signifies a man exposing himself, until you realize hes in a spotlight. Its called INSIDE, and it will undoubtedly strike your hearts forevermore. 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. At the end of the song, "Inside" cuts to a shot of Burnham watching his own video on a computer in the dark. All rights reserved. It's like the mental despair of the last year has turned into a comfort. 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). Burnham makes it textual, too. "I don't know that it's not," he said. He was only 16. I mean, honestly, he's saying a lot right there. But also, it's clear that there's a lot on his mind. / 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. Teeuwen's performance shows a twisted, codependent relationship between him and the puppet on his hand, something Burnham is clearly channeling in his own sock puppet routine in "Inside.". Burnham was just 16 years old when he wrote a parody song ("My Whole Family") and filmed himself performing it in his bedroom. And part of it is sometimes he's just in despair. 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. 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. 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. 7 on the Top 200. In this time-jumping dramedy, a workaholic who's always in a rush now wants life to slow down when he finds himself leaping ahead a year every few hours. Parasocial relationships can be positive too, as outlined in culture critic Stitchs essay On Parasocial Relationships and the Boundaries of Celebrity for Teen Vogue.