I still remember the first time I was listening to Bo's stuff on shuffle and this one came on. he really doesn't like juice

Climate change worsening rapidly (I was in Paris when it was 43 C with humidity this summer, forest fires, just shit getting way more shit, the mid west in the US apparently is still having humid and hot days into mid October?). The internet and social media have trained people into being their worst selves and revealing absolutely everything or otherwise performing themselves to death… I don’t use social media anymore, but without it I’m also just a homebody as so many events/etc feels like even somewhat “underground” things are still on Instagram. Like people can’t imagine creating some sort of collective group or event that’s offline, I don’t know. I hate the internet at this point, especially since it’s basically all dominated by companies owned by horrific right wing men and bolstering the racists, misogynists, etc amongst us.

I also know how much fame sucks now on a personal level! For that, I relate even more to this special. I was micro famous online from something that went viral to the point that I started getting recognized in my home city and beyond, even asked to take photos with others and sign things. Guess what? I received a lot of support for what I made, enthusiasm, had fans for the work. I also had my body and looks heavily scrutinized and discussed, all aspects of me and my personality, really. People say things about you that ring completely untrue to who you are, but they seem so convinced that must really be you. As a woman I also got rape and death threats, doxxed, stalked, and a bunch of far right men on a website the police can do nothing about still talking about me, and making AI photos/videos/porn of me, though I’ve been anon online for many months now and tried to wipe as much as I could. It’s gotten worse for anyone doing any creative thing, and also feels like the snark subreddits I randomly get recommended are out of control too. Like, you want to essentially harass and talk shit about a regular human being who happens to post online or share something, including more vulnerable art?

Everything is turned into a joke, everything is wrecked, this world is rapidly going downhill and our culture too in so many ways. I think many of us feel it - why else did Inside reach us all, the way it did in 2021? It moved me so much the first time, and maybe even more this time. What with AI, how much more the online social landscape has devolved, how isolated many of us have gotten and how difficult it is to form community when you’re too busy making money for dumb companies and might even be working two jobs to make ends meet (not Bo’s problem, but the reality of many). It’s all too fucked. I’m tired.

On top of it I have health issues I didn’t used to when I was 30, and I’m 36 now, the same age as Bo. Anyone else rewatching and feeling this way? What are you doing? Yes I try to touch grass when I can, but also living with pain and illness doesn’t let me do so to the degree healthy people can. I’m stuck at home more often and yet I try to do other things like read or watch films, not to go online constantly, in spite of having to still work online. I have to be very performative in my work too and sell sell sell, and show a face entirely opposite to how I feel inside daily.

It’s all too much. Also fuck Trump and even more so, fuck what made Trump and everyone on the right possible and remotely palatable for a majority, including such similar shifts around the world. Fuck how people are so manipulated by all the content they are fed, fuck AI and the way it’s degrading us further. All my dad does is talk to chat gpt, he has no friends and doesn’t realize his subscription has lead to something that essentially keeps him trapped in a narcissistic loop wherein it agrees with everything he says. Don’t even let me get to the story of him going to the ER for very normal minor symptoms because chat gpt told him to. He’s impossible to speak with, not that we have a relationship anyways. I feel it’s hitting everyone hard and not just the boomers, I have various friends who have been laid off and everything is being done in the name of “efficiency”. My mother told me at her government-related job, in an incredibly important department for us to have the resources we need to essentially live on, they are now relying largely on AI and have had mass layoffs. They also have set up ai agents to take care of the agents that might “go rogue” as if this is any type of solution.

We are all living the absolute worst timeline. What are we all doing? Ok, I’m done ranting. Sorry, I still have Reddit since it’s anon for me and… I mostly just sit with my thoughts feeling paralyzed and crying or dissociating when I think too much about it all 🙃 doesn’t help that some of my stupid friends had stupid children either which has… actually been much worse for most them than expected (especially the ones who aren’t wealthy nor with grandparents who are able to help), and while beautiful I think the lack of real support and community for many, having to still struggle just to survive as a human being and the grim looking future does impact them, along with the rest of us.

I went to the make happy tour in 2015 and at the time bought the gray shirt with the ice cream cone art work on it. Since then I’ve moved several times and that shirt got lost in the shuffle. Maybe it’s my midlife crisis but I’m feeling nostalgic and want to find the same shirt. If anyone has any leads on where to buy this replacement you’d be filling a very nostalgic void for me. Thank you

choose carefully

This weekend I turned 30, so my band (Meteor Street) and I put together a cover of Bo's song! We recorded the voice and guitar live on location and the rest in our studio to flesh out the song. I hope you dig it, we had a really fun time reimagining this song. 🎵 💖

In “Funny Feeling”, when he sings “Going for a drive and obeying all the traffic laws in GTA5”, do you think he’s referring to obeying real-life traffic laws while playing the game or obeying the traffic laws in the game while actually driving? (I’m not super familiar with the games but I know you can pretty much do anything on the road in them without getting arrested. Or am I way wrong?)

bo burnham's full name is Robert pickering burnham take now take out pickering and nows is robert burnham now there's to ways to see it (1 is robert burnham and take the "b" from burnham and add the "o" from robert and it makes "bo") and the other way is like this (2 is take "ob" from robert and switch places with the "b" and the "o" and that makes "bo") get now maybe this is not why they call him like that but still is a fun fact thanks. from a small comedian and a big fan of bo burnham (Mati Herrera)

P is for...

Submit your favorite song, quote, word, project, or thing related to Bo Burnham that starts with that week's letter and/or vote for your favorite!

The winner each week will be the comment that gets the most upvotes!

Last week the winners for O were:
1/ Oh Bo, play that oboe - 44 upvotes - u/Emotional_Living_871
2/ Oh shit, you're really joking at a time like this - 39 upvotes - u/UndeadT
3/ Oedipus was the first motherf*cker - 38 upvotes - u/maxiMallows31

A few rules:

• Only submit 1 item per comment. If you suggest more than 1 thing in the same comment I won't know what thing people are upvoting to win.
• If multiple people comment the same thing, the comment with the highest number of upvotes will be the winner. For example, if "Are you happy?" gets posted seven times and one comment has 10 upvotes, another has 5, and the rest 1, the comment with 10 upvotes will win.
• You can add as many comments as you like and upvote as many comments as you like

Each post will be run in contest mode, to randomise the order of posts and to hide total upvotes until the following week. I will try to post at different times throughout the day to hopefully hit everyone's availability.

What's your favorite?

Like a man who wants to merge without looking, they make me want to merge without looking.

I was about 13 when inside came out, I was addicted to it and watched it a billion times.
Yesterday I had nothing to do and I decided to revisit inside (+outtakes) and holy fuck
I knew all of the lyrics by heart but the thirteen year old me never really thought much of them, I found some lines funny but there were a lot I didn’t quite get. Naturally im way more informed about politics and the economical state of the world (I’m Portuguese and believe me, shit’s tough out here) and the jokes that previously flew over my head are amazing and make inside much more enjoyable even though I already loved it. The criticisms he made I once only understood on the surface have a way more significant impact on me now: white privilege in “Content”, “How The World Works”and “Problematic”, worker exploitation in “Unpaid Intern”, consumerism in all of the Bezos, the way attention has become a form of currency in “Welcome to the internet” and literally the ENTIRE WORLD in “That Funny Feeling”. The lack of real world connection during quarantine is also something Bo talks about a lot in very interesting and funny ways: the obligation to FaceTime with his mom instead of ACTUALLY being there with her, “Sexting” and the struggle of making a comedy special without an audience and the anxiety of not knowing wether he’s being funny or not in “Look Who’s Inside Again”, “Don’t Wanna Know but mainly in “Goodbye”. Inside is a cry for help masked as a comedy special and I love that Bo is able to make you laugh while you ask yourself if you should be laughing at a, what seemed at the time, a dying man.
Some of my favourite lines are:
“A Jew walks into a bar and I’ve saved him a seat”
“Some random quote from LOTR incorrectly attributed to MLK”
“The coffee is free, just like me”
“We’ll use emojis only, we don’t need phonetical diction”
“I did not darken my skin, but still, it feels weird in hindsight”
“Stupid, fucking ugly, boring children”
“The quiet comprehending of the ending of it all” (actually That Funny Feeling as a whole)
“You say the whole world’s ending, honey, it already did”
“Hey, here’s a funny idea, how about I sit on the couch and I watch you next time?”

Hello to whoever is reading this, this post is discussion about "inside" as a concept (?), I'm trying my best with choosing words for this one so I hope it's clear enough

Through the special Bo was in the spotlight one way or another and he's living strictly in the room for the whole of it, but I decided to put the clips to show how the same voice/spotlight that encouraged him in the start is the same that "shamed" him at the end In the way I see it, it's how bo feels the need to preform and maybe even force himself to it.. the voice is him (literally lol) Bo has argued himself into a corner where he shouldn’t really be doing this special at all "should I be joking at a time like this?". He still wants to do it though "The world needs direction.. from a white guy like me" but when does he stop performing? instead of letting him be in his room, this time, he can’t get inside anymore cause he is naked/ vulnerable and the voice shames him for it, from his fears, to political viewpoints and other, we now know it about him and I think it's the way he can be "free". after all, if he wants to leave the world better than he found it, how can he do it while being stuck in his room?

I really hope that what I wrote is understandable enough, if you have anything to add or discuss feel free to say it

sidenote: I know people will be pissed about welcome to the internet being out of top tier but to be clear I think it’s on the same level as the S+ tier songs I just wanted all tiers to have an even amount of songs

I couldn’t find video, but the review made the whole show sound interesting - “the disconnected effect resembles scrolling down a social media feed, which is indeed the point”.

"Come and watch the skinny kid with the steadily declining mental health / And laugh as he attempts to give you what he cannot give himself"

This lyric hits my core, the one who manufactures joy for others fails to keep his own self happy.

It asks an uncomfortable question: Do we consume other people's genuine suffering for cheap entertainment?

To think that after 'Make Happy', he had a five year hiatus where he didn't perform live comedy is so melancholic to think about.

This mental health deterioration kept him in total isolation which is very very evident in 'Inside'. From "Is there anything better than a p*ssy?" to "Are you happy?"

"Part of me loves you, part of me hates you." He gave us everything, but we were the problem all along. I am a very new listener, so I haven't watched shows like Eighth Grade or Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous so I have a lot more to learn about him, one thing that I have realised is that the jokes are to grab the attention, in reality he always has something more to tell.

I just hope he is fine, and when the time is right he comes back. I'll be waiting, waiting very patiently. I hope you're happy, Bo!

O is for...

Submit your favorite song, quote, word, project, or thing related to Bo Burnham that starts with that week's letter and/or vote for your favorite!

The winner each week will be the comment that gets the most upvotes!

Last week the winners for N were:
1/ None of you are going to Heaven - 53 upvotes - u/Interesting-Range140
2/ neoliberal fascists are destroying the left - 51 upvotes - u/shimmerangels
3/ NEVER WASTE A MOMENT EVERY MOMENT CAN BE A COMEDIC MOMENT - 40 upvotes - u/etoilia

A few rules:

• Only submit 1 item per comment. If you suggest more than 1 thing in the same comment I won't know what thing people are upvoting to win.
• If multiple people comment the same thing, the comment with the highest number of upvotes will be the winner. For example, if "Are you happy?" gets posted seven times and one comment has 10 upvotes, another has 5, and the rest 1, the comment with 10 upvotes will win.
• You can add as many comments as you like and upvote as many comments as you like

Each post will be run in contest mode, to randomise the order of posts and to hide total upvotes until the following week. I will try to post at different times throughout the day to hopefully hit everyone's availability.