It’s Ok to Be Newly Obsessed with Bo Burnham
You aren’t losing your mind. The new Bo Burnham Netflix special, Inside, is the stuff obsession is made of.
Lots of think-pieces and think-Toks are already out there analyzing and rehashing Inside for the incredible piece of art that it is, or for the big feelings it’s provoking in viewers, or for the superficial hilarity of jokes like “my dick looks like the baby from Eraserhead.” (That one still brings a grin to my face.)
But that’s not this piece. Believe me I have big feelings about the visceral reaction I have to the music, the lyricism, the singularity of the solo filming and the whole of the art piece in general. But I’m not gonna write them all out here. Why?
Because Robert Burnham might see them, and I don’t want him to be disappointed in me. Daddy made me some content, I opened wide, and I saw what he did to Socko. So I’m gonna just commiserate with the rest of Bo’s Hoes and stay in my lane. It looks like this.
I’ve known Bo since Make Happy, and I was aware of his Vine comps and YouTube fame because I have Zoomer daughters. I saw and loved Eighth Grade. When I saw Promising Young Woman, I recognized him immediately and even caught on to the genius of his casting in that role as I was watching.
But it wasn’t until a late night a couple of weeks ago with a plate of nachos in my lap and a barely attentive husband on the sectional next to me that I found myself OBSESSED with Bo Burnham.
I don’t want to make a laundry list of all the aspects of his performance that I find compelling (it’s long). It’s not objectification. It’s a pure mesmerizing appreciation. HE DID THAT. If you feel like I do, you understand what I mean.
And in the ensuing few weeks since Inside premiered, if your FYP is full of Burnham content, if your YouTube search history of full of long-form interviews, if you’ve listened to every Bo episode of Pete Holmes’ podcast, if you’ve pirated Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous, just know, you aren’t alone.
Your obsession is normal, relatable and very welcome here at The Cool Table. Send links in the comments.
