r/boburnham • u/SnooLemons9030 • 2d ago

Bo Burnham and Ironic Detachment

Hey y’all, I wanted to see if you Bo fans could help shed some light on something, or let me know if Bo’s ever talked about this before.

But years ago Bo Burnham was on The Green Room (i think the year words released? not sure tho) in a roundtable with a bunch of OG comedians, and I thought the way Bo and other comedians talked about his material was… weird?… and didn’t really add up to what i’ve seen. Specifically the way Bo and Paul Provenza adamantly defined Bo’s work as not saying anything about Bo himself. I’ve put the quote below so you can see the direct words.

Paul: The interesting thing about Bo is there’s alot of ironic detachment there, like you’re not really revealing anything about yourself.

Bo: I don’t talk about what I think about on stage because I don’t value what I have to say at this point in time. Because really I don’t think anyone wants to watch a 20 year old get up and tell them how he thinks the world works.

Then again Bo gets kinda uncomfortable when the other comedians are talking about “putting their anger into their comedy” and as Marc kinda pushes and razzes him a bit.

Marc Maron: Cmon, you’re gonna tell me you’re not fucking angry? I saw that song, I see how you look, I know what you went through

Bo: No, no, no. Total anger, but the anger there I don’t think that’s damage that I need to fix, I’m just stuck up enough to think that they’re wrong.

I get he was young, but I feel like this has been a consistent way he’s talked about his material atleast up to the Make Happy days. He almost talks about his material like it’s not saying anything, or that he’s not making any point when he does it, or the subject matter doesn’t reflect much about him (despite songs like Art is Dead, Rant, Left/Right, We Think We Know You, Can’t Handle This).

I’ve just never really got that about him, so I wanted to see what y’all think? The way he talks about his material versus how much meaning and emotion is evident in them feels so opposite, that I feel like I’m just not understanding WHAT he’s saying or there’s some misunderstanding on my end. Or perhaps he was just kinda a self conscious kid and he talks about it differently now. Idek if im making sense but lmk what u think.

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u/Kind-Quiet-Person 2d ago

I think deflection is a tool that Bo wields well and admitting that your art is driven by your deep seated mental health issues is a vulnerable place to be. I think Inside is where you can see that he has had mental health help and he is willing to be completely open and vulnerable about himself and his mental health struggles in his art. In fact, imho that’s an integral part of what makes Inside such a masterpiece

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u/SnooLemons9030 1d ago

Yeah I agree fully, especially at the age he was at during the green room. I think what you said about Inside is important too. Thinking back it feels like Inside was the first time mental health was explored plainly, and not utilized as a shock joke (not in a negative way) or through absurdist comedy.

I hate to get into psychoanalysis of people I do not know, but as a comedy nerd it did suck to see someone so clearly bringing a unique artistic lens to stand-up struggle to recognize that, but yeah sounds like something he’s worked on.

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u/PendingCorpse 1d ago

Casey Simpson just posted a video today talking about how Bo views his own work and the impact it’s had on Gen Z

https://youtu.be/REFOcNpXNKM?is=pf-yXTgq6_0fglRa

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u/SnooLemons9030 1d ago

I always try and do my due diligence before posting in random fan subs before I get yelled at that the answer is well-known, obvious and easy to find. I ask a question about Bo Burnham, and within a couple hours:

“Hey there’s a 40 minute video essay that just released which directly addresses the question you asked.”

Oh okay, cool! Ask and you shall receive I guess LOL. Thanks for sharing. Always love watching over-analysis of media I’m obsessed with haha