Bo Burnham

Bo Burnham

Date of birth: 21-08-1990
In 2006, when he was just 16, Bo Burnham started writing comic songs about teenage angst and posting them on YouTube, attracting millions of views. He then started playing live and in August 2008, four days after his 18th birthday, he became the youngest person to record a Comedy Central special. He released his first CD in March 2009. Nominated for best music or variety act in the 2014 Chortle Awards.
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Bo Burnham: Inside Outtakes

Review of the comic's surprise release of bonus material

It’s the obvious thing to say, but that doesn’t make it less true. Bo Burnham’s so good that the material he casts away is better than most comedians’ gold.

That’s the takeaway from Inside Outtakes, the irresistibly named collection of songs, sketches and snippets that never made the final cut of his seminal lockdown special, Inside.

By necessity, this is even less orderly than the already fragmented original, although both project the image of a restless imagination. Inside was as always as much about Burnham being trapped within his own agitated thoughts than the literal confinement of Covid quarantine, and this carefully curated companion only serves to underline that..

If anything, this is even more self-referential than the first, whether it’s scenes of Burnham noodling around with his instruments or camera equipment as the ideas form, his naval-gazing about  his privilege and rise to fame via YouTube, or the sketches that mock the very notion of comedians as digital content creators.

There’s a spot-on parody of Joe Rogan style podcasts, with loud-mouthed bros complaining that you can’t say anymore, while spoof commercials urge you to buy jeans or peanut butter. It’s as cluttered as the studio space he locked himself in to record this astonishing special.

Burnham kept some new songs up his sleeve too, from quickies about Joe Biden and Jeff Bezos to the mini-masterpiece Chicken, which deconstructs the old ‘why did the chicken cross the road?’ joke to become a bittersweet but ultimately hopeful ballad to ambition.

That’s not something this preternaturally talent comic has ever been short of, and even with these offcuts he cements himself as the voice of an uncertain yet self-aware generation.

Bo Burnham: Inside Outtakes is available free on YouTube.

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Published: 2 Jun 2022

Eighth Grade

From his earliest 'pubescent musical comedy'…
28/02/2019

Bo Burnham: What

In the hamster wheel powering Bo Burnham’s mind…
27/07/2013

Past Shows

Edinburgh Fringe 2010

Bo Burnham: Words, Words, Words


Edinburgh Fringe 2013

Bo Burnham: What


Agent

We do not currently hold contact details for Bo Burnham's agent. If you are a comic or agent wanting your details to appear here, for a one-off fee of £59, email steve@chortle.co.uk.

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