Bo Burnham: Inside

I would have never thought I'd be writing about inspired cinematography, lighting and staging when reviewing a stand-up comedy special but Bo deserves a round of applause for what he accomplished. Talk about making the most out of what you have, he's operating within his own house/apartment with little space and without any technical crew but his shooting of Inside was entrancing. Each song has a distinct feel and with how he stages, frames and lights the environment, it brings you into his mindset while he's performing. I might sound a little hyperbolic but I was entranced, I think you could show this in actual classes on these subjects as an example. I'm not sure how many awards they hand out for technical excellence in this genre but he should sweep them.

I feel that what's been talked about the least for all the excellent writing and film making done in Inside, what blew me away was Burnham's growth as a performer. I went back and listened to his earlier stuff before I watched the special, he was always vulgar and consistently funny but I wouldn't have called him an award worthy actor. His delivery and performance in this is so raw, the lined blurred for me on whether this was a performance or if he really was struggling this much with his anxiety and depression. There's so much sadness and frustration in his delivery, I've had my struggles with these issues and from experience, nothing felt out of place or rang false. He's pitch perfect in his composition and singing of these heartfelt numbers and I have to tip my hat to him again for such a great job.

My only complaint here is that most of my favourite bits/songs from the special are front loaded. Welcome to the Internet is still the show stopper (which is placed in the middle-end portion of the show) and Goodbye wraps it up so well but otherwise, most of the best stuff is near the beginning. But I will also concede that its also more lighthearted at the beginning and the tone grows more and more serious as it goes on so that could have played a factor. I did like some songs better than others but I don't think there was a single one that I outright disliked. Even some of the weaker ones (Unpaid Intern comes to mind) are wrapped up with some pretty unique bits so there aren't any glaring weaknesses.

I wanted to keep my review short and succinct but this was a special show. I've been listening to the music since I saw Inside and reflecting on each song's meaning and how each song was presented. Despite Inside being a meditation on the stress, struggles and sadness of where we all are at collectively at this time in history, I would still describe this effort as triumphant. Burnham always had talent but he really outdid himself with this. I laughed hard yet I still had all the feels when Inside wanted me to and its one of my favourite pieces of media that I've seen this year bar none. This is more than worth checking out and I would recommend it wholeheartedly.