I watched Bo Burnham's "Inside" special on Netflix a few weeks ago, not really knowing who he was, and got knocked for a loop by it. I previously posted a full review, but long story short it's one of the most intense, beautifully executed pieces of media I've seen all year. Subsequently, I decided to look into some of Burnham's past work. This sent me down the digital rabbit hole, catching up on over a decade of his specials, videos, interviews, and appearances. I haven't had my attention so totally hijacked by a single performer this way in ages, but Burnham's career is fascinating stuff. He started out as a teenage Youtuber posting silly songs from his bedroom, then became a well-regarded stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director over the next fifteen years. "Inside" has far more impact in the context of Burnham's unusual career, and seeing him develop his voice and style and the major themes that he revisits over and over again.
Bo Burnham is far from my first media infatuation (see my previous posts on my most embarrassing parasocial relationships). However, this one feels very different. It used to be that I had fairly limited access to any performer's past work, and it could be a lengthy process to track stuff down. In the early aughts, I used to buy obscure films off of Ebay to scope out a couple minutes of Leo DiCaprio or Jonathan Rhys Meyers in early roles. And now here I am, watching baby-faced Bo Burnham in that one episode of "Parks and Recreation" where he plays a country singer, and that "College Humor" sketch where he's smothered by groupies, and the episode of "Green Room" where appears alongside Gary Shandling, Ray Romano, and Marc Maron - all in the same afternoon. It is way easier to do this kind of deep dive than ever, with hours and hours of his content available online, and dedicated fans helpfully compiling links to everything and everywhere he's ever popped up. You can literally watch him grow up and mature through the videos posted on his Youtube page, like a musical version of "Boyhood." I'm churning through years of his work in days, something I never could have dreamed possible when I was stanning Johnny Depp as a teenager based on "21 Jump Street" reruns and a VHS copy of "Edward Scissorhands."
It's overwhelming essentially experiencing every stage of Burnham's career all at the same time, whiplashing from his bedroom ditties about high school parties, to the "Eighth Grade" press tour, to the music videos for his first comedy album, to the analysis and reaction videos for "Inside." On the one hand this is good - the best way I've found to get myself out of these infatuations with performers is to essentially flood myself with their relevant content for a week or two until I'm sick of them. On the other hand, the access has clearly contributed to me getting myself in this deep to begin with. My binge is nearing its end, fortunately, and I'm reaching the point where I'm getting to the more mediocre and unsuccessful projects that tend to temper my enthusiasm. I don't think I have the patience for the MTV series Burnham created and starred in, "Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous," and very little interest in his tiny parts in a string of recent comedies. His best work is really as a musical satirist, and even then there's an awful lot of sophomoric material from his earlier shows that hasn't aged well.
In the end I keep coming back to "Inside," where this whole thing started. I've only watched it twice so far in its entirety, but I've seen many of its individual segments dozens of times, and listened to the songs even more than that. I'm still in the process of parsing and digesting the special, trying to get my head around what its doing formally and thematically, trying to work out why it's had such an impact. My deep dive has been very helpful for this, giving me antecedents to help contextualize things like Burnham's relationship with the internet, his fans, and his self-image. He's given many good interviews about all these thing, including a fantastic podcast interview he did with Douglas Rushkoff, who made the vital "Merchants of Cool" documentary twenty years ago, that feels like the blueprint for much of the media commentary.
I think what impresses me the most is the degree to which I've realized Burnham actively comments on and subverts his earlier work. And that early work is way more interesting when you realize how much of it is building up to "Inside." And then there's his history of mental health issues, growing pains as a comedian, and prior attempts to leave the stand-up sphere permanently. And I could write multiple additional posts about how he engages with and criticizes various forms of social media, and the ongoing metanarrative of his disillusionment with the internet.
This part of my fixation is going to take a while longer for me to work through. Stay tuned, kids.
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