Ever since Bo Burnham’s most recent special, “Inside,” came out, it has taken the world—mostly TikTok—by storm. It’s so different from his previous stand-up comedy, but I think it’s my favorite special of his. It contains so many humorous songs and some that are emotionally hard-hitting, and I wanted to make a list of some of my favorites.
Disclaimer, if you haven’t seen this special yet, stop reading and go watch it. It’s not one that should be spoiled.
- White Woman’s Instagram
I loved this song as soon as I heard it on the special. It was funny, listing all the tropes of Instagram posts that white women post often, and I do feel a majority of it is spot-on. This song exemplifies the much more polished sound than his previous songs from specials like “What.”
- Welcome to the Internet
This song is a great commentary on the Internet at large, and especially how vast the content can be, as he says himself, “some better, some worse.” It has a great first verse where it lists off the absurd content you can find or search on the internet and I love the whiplash he gives you sometimes when listing things off in lyrics like, “Here’s a healthy breakfast option. You should kill your mom.” If I didn’t love this song enough, I liked the aloof, circus sounding music at the beginning, because the internet is certainly like a wild circus.
Oh, and you can’t forget that iconic evil laugh.
- Bezos I
Need I say more? This song blew UP on TikTok as a meme. This song is clearly a commentary on Jeff Bezos and I love that. There isn’t much more to say, except he harps on Bezos so much there’s a second song in the special called “Bezos II” The screaming at the end is also hilarious and a little off-putting at the same time.
- Look Who’s Inside Again
This song has more of a serious tone. As funny as the past songs I listed are, this special is very serious at times. It’s something I love about this special and Burnham in general. He’s not afraid to get real in his specials. This song spoke to me differently than the other songs did. He’s trying to do his comedy while stuck in a room during the pandemic, which is when he shot this special. He was like this as a child too, where he spent a lot of time inside, and it seems like he wants to get outside, but he finds excuses to stay inside. It goes with the condescending title “Look Who’s Inside Again”, as if a parent or someone in his life is saying, “Jeez, you’re still inside? Why don’t you come out?”
I did feel this way during the pandemic, and sometime during when cases were dwindling down for a while. I wanted to go outside, and then once I had the opportunity to go outside, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to.
- All Eyes On Me
Not to end on a downer, but this song is definitely a downer. It speaks on the topic of the state of the world, and in the middle of it, he stops singing and talks about how he stopped doing stand-up for five years because of his debilitating mental health. Just in January 2020, he was considering coming back, to stop hiding from the world. Then the pandemic happened, and it was “the funniest thing” as he says.
Bo Burnham’s special “Inside” is a masterpiece of a special. It’s not as funny as his previous works, but if you’re a fan of his specials, you know going into it that they’re not always funny like other comedians. However, it’s so worth a watch.