re: Bo Burnham “Inside” on Netflix

I just watched it again. I haven’t been this mesmerized by something in a while.

It’s the most popular one from the entire thing, but “welcome to the internet” is so well written, performed, and executed.

“Mommy let you use her iPad you were barely two,
And it did all the things we designed it to do”
*maniacal laugh*

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I would prefer to believe that it was a moment of reflection that showed that, even though he's making fun of this hypothetical white woman, there is a vulnerability below the surface that is relatable. Would Bo take something as personal as having your parents die and be judgemental about it and continue to slag the girl for over-sharing? Or is it recognition that with all the trite life things being shared, this instance was different.

I think it would take a huge amount of cynicism to treat that moment as just another annoyance that doesn't need to be shared. Obviously the girl posts everything because she's searching for some sort of connection to others. I don't think Bo is saying "frick you, who cares about your dead parents? You're just looking for attention." Maybe he is, if so, it's kinda dickish, imo.

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IMO it's Bo both recognizing that sometimes people do use it for "serious" stuff like that (parents dying), but also lampooning that people still put it on IG for the world to see (and to get attention). You can appreciate the sincerity of something while still making fun of the need to post it publicly for attention I think.

The reason I think he was still making fun of it (even if less than the rest of the stuff in the song) is he still went at the clichés and platitudes that they use when posting stuff like that (I got a job/apartment/boyfriend, "your little girl didn't do too bad," etc.). Those are all pretty common clichés in posts like that.

I’m about a 1/3 of the way through it.

White woman’s Instagram made my wife so embarrassed she got up and left the room. She had posted about 1/2 the bits he made fun of at some point.

This seems very well done for being a one man production of insomnia and insanity

Haven’t watched anything from Burnham before, but heard Anthony Jeselnik describe it as one of the first real pieces of art from, and not just released during, the pandemic for him.

Absolutely blown away that Burnham was able to put this together by himself, and “JP Morgan is against racism. In theory” from the brand manager song is one of my favorite lines from anything

Who are you....Bagel Bites?

Okay, so I watched it again today. I’m still in the “thinking about it” mode, but I think this may be one of the best performances ever. In any medium. And I know that Bo is pretty overrated by his fans (I am guilty of that at times), but I think this is legitimately great. Not good. Not really good. Great. And even incredible considering it was 100% just him in a single room.

And the bits/songs that he does range from introspective, to hilarious, to political, to biting social commentary, to outright parody, to intellectual/insightful, to downright dark, and everything else in between. And it hits all of those notes almost perfectly.

Even the songs are legit good songs on their own merit. Like White Woman Instagram is pretty amazing on video in the special. But even if you just had it as an mp3 and only listened to the lyrics without the video, it’s still a pretty incredible song on its own.

I think, without hyperbole, it’s one of the best performance pieces ever.

I made sort of a “set list” while I was watching, and for the sake of discussion in this thread, here is the list for those interested:

Intro song
Healing the world with comedy
FaceTiming with my mom
That’s how the world works (socko)
Brand consultant
White woman Instagram
“Is it necessary?” / “Shut the frick up”
Unpaid intern/reaction bit
Bezos 1
Not good rant
Sexting
Thank you (knife)
Funny/stuck in a room transition
(Watching his YT song video)
Problematic song
Camera fall transition
Turning 30 monologue and song
Suicide rant
I don’t wanna know song
Livestream gaming the special
In bed transition
Bag of shite song
Mental health rant
Welcome to the internet
Finishing the special monologue
Bezos 2
LIVE comedy/stand up bit
Funny feeling guitar song
Working on this for a year rant
I am not well/old stand up transition
All eyes on me song
Mundane transition
Closing song
Open door/going outside bit

Also for those interested, here are the lyrics to every song. I enjoyed reading/analyzing them.

Genius Lyrics - Inside by Bo Burnham

Just finished it. Thought it was fantastic. It’s not necessarily the funniest thing ever, but I’d definitely consider it art and possibly the best thing he’s done. It’s kind of crazy how genuinely depressed he seems. The insane lockdowns and quarantines in Left wing places and just Trump in general really did break some of these people.

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I was excited for this and it was just awful. I gave up 30 minutes in after not laughing one time.

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Not even WW Instagram?