At the end of last month, Bo Burnham surprised fans by releasing Inside, his first comedy special in five years. It’s less of a traditional Netflix standup special than it is an experimental look at quarantine’s highs, lows, and the dark comedy that lies in between. It’s held up by a number of catchy songs that Burnham created himself, and it turns out those tracks are about to get a proper album release later this week.
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, Burnham will put Inside (The Songs) on music streaming platforms this Thursday, June 10th. It will include songs that have already become fan-favorites for their discussion of capitalist exploitation, Jeff Bezos, and white women’s Instagram accounts. One of those songs, “Welcome to the Internet”, was released four days ago and has already accumulated over 4.5 million views.
Inside is a remarkable feat created solely by Burnham himself. Over the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic, he filmed, edited, lit, composed, sang, and acted the entire special with no help from others. It includes light-hearted jabs and topical jokes while simultaneously capturing the comedian’s bleak descent into loneliness, depression, and at times self-loathing. It’s available to stream on Netflix right now.
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Several years ago, Burnham revealed that his onstage anxiety and the pressure to do standup in front of fans led to a decision to no longer perform in-person specials. Afterwards, he spent his time making his directorial debut with the smash hit movie Eighth Grade, portraying Carey Mulligan’s love interest in the Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman, and filming scenes as Larry Bird for the upcoming HBO series about the “Showtime” Lakers.
