Bo Burnham: Inside

***Bo Burnham: Inside*** (or known as ***Inside*** is a 2021 American special written, directed, filmed, edited by, and starring Bo Burnham. Recorded in his home during the COVID-19 pandemic without a crew or audience, it was released on Netflix on May 30, 2021.

## Plot

Bo sings songs and performs from a single room in his house, unable to leave. He gives periodic updates about the time that has passed while he has worked on Inside, and his beard grows continuously throughout the special. Singing "Getting up, sitting down" and "healing the world with comedy", he finds impetus to begin making the special. He performs a song about FaceTime calling his mother. In "That Is How the World Works", Bo explains to children how the world works, but Socko the sock puppet unexpectedly talks about historical genocide and contemporary worker exploitation, saying that politicians and police serve to protect a corporate elite. As a social brand consultant, Bo then talks about every product needing to perform moral virtues, and says that buying a product is about supporting a cause. He sings a song about white women's Instagram feeds. In a stand-up setup, Bo asks if anybody can stop expressing all of their opinions on every topic. He does a reaction video to a short song about interns, but begins reacting to a continuous loop of himself recording the reaction video.

Bo sings about sexting before questioning how he can be funny while stuck in his room. The next song is about Bo's problematic past, ending with a visual of him being crucified. He speaks to the camera on the turn of his 30th birthday, by which time he aimed to finish the special, then sings about it. He urges any suicidal viewers not to kill themselves, despite his own wish to not exist for the next 18 months.

After an intermission in which Bo does window cleaning, Bo asks the audience how they are finding the special so far. As a Twitch streamer parody, he livestreams a game of himself crying in the room, comparing it to Death Stranding. He then sings about how he feels "like shit". In "Welcome to the Internet", Bo welcomes the viewer to the vast activities available on the internet, while making social commentary on the side effects of having access to an unlimited amount of information. He sarcastically congratulates Jeff Bezos and performs a guitar song about things that give him a "Funny Feeling". In "Eyes on Me", he performs to an imaginary audience, telling them about his life up until the pandemic, then instructing them to get up and hold their hands up.

Finally, Bo sings an ending song while reflecting on his life, referencing several verses from previous songs in the special. He opens the door leading outside and leaves, only to be locked out and unable to return as an audience laughs at him. He watches footage of this skit on his projector, still in the room, and smiles.

## Why It Rocks

1. Its very interesting of how Bo Burnham was making film without having any chews involvement.
2. The music is so timeless, catchy, unique and jam packed, which is contribute very well to the plot.
	1. "Content" is the first song sets the tone perfectly with the core theme of the next 90 minutes, lighting up a disco ball with a light strapped to his head as he belts out.
	2. "All Eyes on Me" is oddly soothing, and the lyrics are a sly manifestation of the sometimes-inviting nothingness that depression can offer. The vocal distortion on Burnham's voice in this song makes him sound like the manifestation of depression, a force that's trying to convince us to sink into the comfort of inertia.
	3. "Welcome to the Internet" luring you down a poisonously designed Internet K-hole, "Welcome to the Internet" plays like Burnham's villain song in the musical theater production that is inside and captures the mania and dissonance and addictive qualities of the internet while explaining to you the malicious ethos underlying today's online culture and the businesses built up around it.
	4. "Look Who's Inside Again" manages to be one of the most profound pieces of music Burnham writes. It's one of the times that you feel like Burnham isn't putting on a character, but is singing from the depths of his vulnerable inner-self.
	5. "30" gallows humor of it all is painfully catchy, tapping into the memes millennials have been making about wanting to die for many years now.
	6. "Comedy" takes on the persona of an ego-driven, white male comic with the first parody song in his special, amping up his well-established style of being a self-aware entertainer. Not only does this song show off how much Burnham's vocal chops have advanced since his first viral parody song he wrote when he was 16 years old, but it also keys into the musical style of the whole special.
3. The use of pop-culture reference are really fun and enjoyable, which is not unnecessary.
4. Bo Burnham's performance and directing is excellent.
5. Much like with Bo Burnham's movies, the cinematography is still awesome for the most part.

## Reception

*Inside* received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its music, cinematography, and presentation of life in the pandemic. Critics found that the special incorporates a variety of art forms including music, stand-up comedy bits, and meta-commentary, describing it as some combination of comedy, drama, documentary, and theater. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the special holds an approval rating of 92% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 9.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A claustrophobic masterclass in comedy and introspection, *Inside* is a beautifully bleak, hilariously hopeful special from Bo Burnham.". On Metacritic, the special has a weighted average score of 98 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is ranked the eighth-highest television show on Metacritic, and the highest television special.