Over the course of a global quarantine that saw its viewers more isolated than ever, streaming services like Netflix became a desperate refuge for escape, distraction and connection with others. But it was only a matter of time before the recursive process of art imitating life and back again would catch up to this new universal experience, and Bo Burnham: Inside offers not so much a window into the outside world, but a mirror forcing viewers to look further inward.
The comedian’s new special may just be the best work of art encapsulating the quarantine experience yet, and those looking for a few laughs might do best to wait until they’re more in the mood for a heart-wrenching exercise in self-examination.
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To call the new Netflix release a comedy special is a bit reductive, yet to call it anything more is to wander straight into the crosshairs of the exact kind of self-importance and pretentiousness the comedian takes aim at. Written, directed, shot and edited by Burnham himself, without a crew, while self-isolating in the COVID-19 pandemic, Inside certainly has plenty of laughs and downright well-done comedy. But perhaps more importantly, it offers an excruciating insight into a creative mind tearing itself apart as Burnham struggles to cope with challenges relatable to far too many throughout 2020.
The comedian’s career began in 2006 when he was just 15; his profile skyrocketing over the course of that year as his musical-comedy stylings went viral on YouTube. In those early days, he earned his name crafting humorous and often edgy music by himself, filming it in his sparse teenage bedroom with next to no budget. Over the course of a career that’s now spanned TV, film, comedy albums and three previous comedy specials, Burnham’s returned to deliver a dark mirror image of his early independent videos. And he proves that over the course of a decade and a half he’s lost none of his edge, grasp of the modern zeitgeist, nor creative talents. If anything, they’re better and more complex than ever before.
Inside includes songs, skits and confessional-style documentation of the toll the quarantine takes on his mental health. Burnham goes from putting his own unique spin on reaction videos and Twitch playthroughs one moment to singing about sexting or white women on Instagram the next. And throughout it all, the audience watches him wrestle with ubiquitous experiences from the past year, like celebrating a birthday alone or struggling to communicate with an out-of-touch parent through his cell phone.
Wrapping it all together is a political consciousness rending itself to pieces in a cannibalistic compulsion toward self-awareness. Burnham questions if a straight white man even deserves such an elevated spotlight in the modern age, or why his perspective is even valuable in a world overstuffed with billions of opinions, or if such thoughts are even sincere given their inception in an ego seeking its own satisfaction. Perhaps most miraculous of all is that throughout the wildly creative navel-gazing, the comedian manages to connect with his audience, showing that everyone over the past year who struggled in the prison of their own mind were not, in fact, as alone as they felt.
Inside is not the first creative product of the quarantine, and it certainly won’t be the last. But thus far, it establishes an admirably high bar for managing to capture so many aspects of life in quarantine at once while also managing to be about so much more.
Bo Burnham: Inside — starring Bo Burnham and written, directed, edited and composed by Bo Burnham — is available to stream on Netflix.
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