How Bo Burnham Did The Impossible 

I can guarantee "Inside" will be the only film that truly captures the maddening loneliness of quarantine than any Hollywood production that going to attempt to do in the coming years.

Bo went ahead and made an artistic and accurate representation of 2020 while making a fair critique of himself doing so. Dude is incredible.

You felt LIBERATED when he grabbed the camera? That felt like assault to me, he violated the boundary between the performance and the audience, and that felt like the point to me. I appreciated it for how horrific it was.

One of my favorite background things about this is how the room got progressively more cluttered and messy as time went on. Represents the whole aspect of being stuck inside for a whole year so very well.

To this day “Inside” is the funniest psychological horror I have ever seen.

I really hope he wins whatever award would mean the most to him

The part where he goes on a rant about “Can anyone, anywhere, at any time just shut the fuck up about anything? For like an hour?” It’s a short rant but so true since everyone has to have an opinion about everything all the time.

This may be classified as a comedy, but my boyfriend and I sobbed when we watched it. We still listen to the album all the time and I listened to it a few nights ago so I could cry. It’s devastating.

"got it? good, now get inside" wasn't just a comment on the effects of covid, or governments' response to covid but also speaks to the debilitating nature of chronic anxiety and its persistence and primacy despite any conscious grasp of facts to the contrary

It's honestly difficult to call this a comedy special because it feels so much bigger than that. There's so many times where I the visuals and music both competed for my attention in compelling ways. And let's not ignore that this special has some absolute bops in it.

The ending sequence is INSANE. When he's on the outside and trying to get back inside, it feels like he's on a stage and we're just watching his desperation. Truly horrific and so deep. Nothing will ever be like what he has made, ever.

"Inside" spoke to me on so many levels. I don't consider it as a portrayal of the pandemic, more like true expression of what it feels like to be stuck in a personal chaos with no way out. It felt like watching the inside of my head. Like an intrusion. I loved and hated every second of it.

The "Welcome to the Internet"/"Welcome to RU-vid" connection is fascinating. It shows both how the internet has changed and how Burnham's perspective on the internet evolved. There was always some cynicism and dark humor there but Inside really wrestles with how scary and seductive the internet is now.

Can i just say, your video about "How Bo Burnham uses light" aged like the finest of Wine

In the opening song, when he said "I made you some content" and tilted his head lamp up, I got chills and immediately knew I'd be watching this special many times over.

"Does anybody want to joke when no one's laughing in the background?" is at the end of the special! I watched a live-streamed comedy event during COVID and pretty much every comedian fell flat and seemed cringey telling jokes for no audience. It's harder than it seems!! Bo nails it and then some.

Can we just take moment to appreciate that while this may feel like a quarantine special, Bo cleverly made it not about the quarantine at all. I don't think he even mentions it explicitly once. Instead, it is about aspects of modern reality that the quarantine has simply brought to a head and made doubly salient in our day-to-day lives. So people watch it now and say "Yeah, he really nailed the feeling of being socially isolated during COVID," but the special will probably still be just as relevant 5 years after this has all ended.

"But look I made you some content" was the line that really set the tone of 'Inside' for me; Bo has done so much outside the world of RU-vid, but I think in his heart he is a RU-vidr still. He understands the internet in ways that most filmmakers don't and knows that from the company's perpective (whether RU-vid or Netflix) content is content; the algorithim is cold and unfeeling and sees no difference between a film length performance art piece or a 2 minute prank video. He does an amazing job in the special of keeping us all walking the line between laughing and crying, pointing out the riduculous and emphasising the humanity.

Bo is the only comedian who makes me laugh and cry at the same time, "Get your hands up" song is one of the best songs i ever heard. Ty Bo

Inside is a literal piece of art. With the metaphors surrounding it, the lyrics wanting to make you laugh but even making you wrench out of pure detest and all that done by one man's mind and in a room...Inside is a commentary like no other

"Welcome to the Internet" is the best song on "Inside". It presents the directorial, staging, lyrical and musical heights of what Bo can do. It's the best Disney-Villain song in decades.

Idk if I'd call the moment "liberating" when he grabs the camera in All Eyes On Me .... More like terrifying and utterly heartbreaking 🤕

"people online arent physical people, they're a literal projection of themselves" this is how physical people work too, you project a version of yourself that you want others to see but you also hide the things about yourself that you dont want them to see.

“You say the oceans rising like I give a shit, you say the whole world’s ending, honey it already did. You’re not gonna slow it, Heaven knows you tried.” That right there felt like admitting defeat. We tried to save the environment but we’re too late.

Inside both made me realize how depressed I've been for years while also lighting a fire in me I didnt know I had. I've needed something creative some kind of outlet and I haven't had anything like that in years. I'm searching for it now.

I feel his ability to get across mental health and the effects on limited human contact is something very few others have managed. When he said "I am... not... well..." that single line spoke so many things

I don't mean to sound special or like I understand or know something you all don't, but feel that "Inside" and the entire album he created was more about how he has been battling crippling anxiety and other mental health things that has been beating him down. In fact, I remember him talking about both loving but feeling so mentally and physically drained by being on stage. I think that he really set the bar high, with this creation. I both love it and am sad because I can feel the lonliness and anxiety he was able to incorporate into it. It may be my favorite album from any creator in the last 5 years...especially from this genre. I know it coincided with quaratine but feel that it goes past that.

Sorry to all the Oscar chasing quarantine movies. You'll never be as good as Inside.

i've groaned at most every other "why bo burnham is a genius (INSIDE analysis)" video that's come up on my suggested, but i had a feeling yours would be different. I was super right.

I stumbled across this on Netflix while severely stoned and ooooohhhh boiiiii, let me tell you that was a wild ride.

I feel like we've failed to hit on one of the heaviest types of anxiety this special comments on, and one that everything else speaks to: eschatological anxiety. That's the one that keeps us doomscrolling, and indeed gives it that name. It feels like the end of the world, and I've never seen that quiet anxiety about how unsustainable this all is better portrayed.

Great breakdown. The only point missed was "Get your fucking hands up" being an unexpected surrender to anxiety, where anxiety is like an arresting officer breaking in, and "Get on out of your seat, all eyes on me" being similar to their commands. From there he masterfully goes back forth between depression and anxiety talking to him.

Comparing “Welcome To The Internet” to “Welcome To RU-vid” is like comparing the dystopia to the cautionary tale that failed to stop it. Pointedly enough, no one understood or at least acknowledged to any significant level the (now fairly standard) shots he took at RU-vid and the community as a whole, it’s honestly insane how sickeningly consistent the man has always been. People still don’t seem to understand his special, and while I don’t claim to either, it is both chilling and fascinating how people consistently miss the most obvious of his jabs in this entire special.

“Ones inner most thoughts... have become targeted by social media platforms for entertainment and profit” * ad break *

When I found out Bo released a special, I got a bit of butterflies in my stomach and rushed to Netflix, not knowing the rush of absolute accuracy in portraying quarantine, being inside, the digital world and anxiety. Some of the subjects he portrays is really is an eye opener for me, it being in song form is a great bonus. The special itself captures the absolute monotony and loneliness of quarantine and how people uses other mediums to experience human contact, and this special and his portrayal of anxiety attacks hits close to home when I experienced my first one, no one knew if was myself in that certain moment, and it is definitely a sensory overload, from the feeling of your heart beating from your chest, that damned tunnel vision, fast breaths, the feeling of weakness and that cherry ontop being an urge to puke. I hope for the best for Bo's future endeavors.

The entire show is how I feel at all times while awake. Constant anxiety, constant existential crisis, constant living on the internet, constant loneliness, constant self-awareness, constant mental breakdown. It's been a difficult decade. It's nice to have something like "Inside" exist because now I don't feel so alone. Also, the visuals and musicality are pure genius.

Burnham's Welcome to the Internet character: A maniacal carnival barker inviting you into a sinister and inescapable fun house of toxicity or a carousel of madness

Is there a way to get an Oscar nomination for cinematography for a Netflix comedy special?

I wouldn't even call it a comedy special, cause I cried more then laugh about it.

Gotta highlight how he constantly puts himself in the center through the use of darkness associated with focused light sources, as well as lightsources right behind him. It plays into one of the themes of the special (his relation to the attention of others: wanting it, dreading it, being in it, etc.) even when it's not the topic of the song; it plays up the loneliness of being alone filming a special in a room; it extends the room through shadows, making it look vast and isolating; and it hooks the viewer. Incredible!

So far, Bo Burnham’s Inside is my favorite "movie" released this year

The cut from Elsie to Bo at 6:09 was so perfect I gasped a little

I feel like inside was the peak of his career. Everything comes full circle. Every narrative he ever told in prior shoes peaks. From humor to no audience, to the battling conflict of mental health, and the long process of how long this took for him to portray. He’s not just a musical artist anymore. Bo Burnham is an artist in all forms of the word

To me, Inside is one of the greatest and most important works of art made in my generation. Absolute masterpiece.

I just hope he’s doing okay. His special captured everything I was feeling during the pandemic and I’m not okay. But I do feel less alone :)

It makes me so sad when people don’t make the comparison between All Eyes On Me and Can’t Handle This. He basically mimics that performance by opening up about his steadily declining mental health while the crowd just blindly cheers for the silly jokes. When when he ends it with ‘thank you, I hope you’re happy’ not genuinely wishing the audience is happy, but more ‘thanks a lot, I hope you’re happy with yourselves. Look what you did to me’.

this entire special looks so deep into everyone and its unbelievably well made

I didn’t finish the video because I couldn’t resist the urge to watch “Inside” again

I loved how Bo portrayed the special as both therapy for himself and the viewer. In the lead-up to "All Eyes on Me" he says "I'm not well" from behind the camera - from the POV of the audience. That song wasn't just what an unwell viewer might need to hear, it was for him as well.

"That funny feeling" is never meant as funny. It mostly refers to the uneasy sensation of things being off-kilter in the world we live in these days.

This special is a MASTERPIECE. This is truly genius! For someone to do it ALL alone!?!? The lyrics, music, set up of the space, lighting, camera work, editing, wardrobe/costume and so much more. Each piece has a completely different mood. It's amazing how he found so many different angles and different use of the same small space. The progression of the mood/energy (considering we've all gone through the lockdown/pandemic) is so tangible. I could talk for hours about this show. I loved it but also ended up being super worried about him. You can see all of his anxiety in so many of the songs and the talking parts (which it was nice to have those interview-like breaks where we get more of himself, not just a character. They way he created an upbeat song for feeling like shit. Such a contrast. Or "welcome to the internet" where it gets increasingly overwhelming. It's just... Just GENIUS!!!

The man is BEYOND smart and I don’t feel Ive ever seen a more accurate depiction of anxiety and feeling trapped in the internet, not to mention just how much of a deep understanding of the internet I have ever seen in a movie!

First person I’ve seen talk about the aspect ratio, specifically in “White Woman’s Instagram.” The widening of the frame to accompany the real-ness of the caption he’s describing, then the narrowing as she uses it as an excuse to talk about herself and how good her life is is so powerful. One of my favorite parts of the special and that’s really saying something

Bo Burnham is the most amazing and talented normal guy I've ever encountered.

This is surely Bo's magnum opus. Just the absolute perfect special and attitude that encapsulated a national time-period. I hope future artists and current ones are studying his work closely because there is a lot to take away. Plus its really satisfying to watch.

“How Bo Burnham Did The Impossible” grow a beard?

Bo said he couldn’t grow a beard in Isnt it Ironic, he lied to us all

I'm sorry, but whoever thought the spinning around in All Eyes On Me was liberating, I firmly disagree ^^ It felt unhinged

That modular light in “turning 30” genuinely blew my mind. I think by that point in the show I felt like I’d seen all his tricks. Like I get it, you’ve got a projector and some floor lights. Don’t get me wrong, I’m immensely entertained and thoroughly impressed but at the end of the day Bo, you’re stuck in one room and you can only do so much… And then BAM. And I was just like, never mind, this dudes a genius

the teacher when you call the book "just a book":

The irony of lots of ‘content creators’ making videos about inside, ‘reacting’ to his songs (that’s probably the most hilarious) and pseudo intellectually analysing it, is not lost on me.

I know the phrase "voice of a generation" gets thrown around WAY too much and usually means nothing....But Bo really is a voice for the millennials

Bo Burnham's story and how he picked up this special at the worst time possible when wanting to go out to the public again but being forced to stay inside is heartbreaking and a rollercoaster on its own, he turns 30 while filming the special its incredible.

Welcome to the Internet felt like Willy Wonka’s scary tunnel

Your "got it? Good now get inside" gave me chills

I spent a lot of my early childhood in my room, by myself. I would attempt to play with dolls by myself, but my arms would get tired. So I’d just do the voices, but after a bit I’d get tired of that too and then I’d be sitting on my floor, staring at the wall, constructing elaborate stories in my mind, using my dolls as a visual reference to picture the characters but otherwise being completely internal. I did read, sometimes, and when I did it was books far beyond my level and I’d sit in my bed all day reading, not even remembering to get up to eat. I was a very sickly kid, always nauseous and always hungry (bc I didn’t eat). When I was in school, it got to the point where the first thing I’d do after the bus ride to school was head to the nurse because I felt like I was going to throw up every morning. I was so easily overwhelmed and nauseated, I locked myself in my room. I didn’t know I was autistic. I just knew I couldn’t handle the world. I desperately wanted friends but I didn’t know how to do that, and I wasn’t willing to put myself into any physical discomfort like playing tag or swinging from the monkey bars in order to socialize. Every summer, I would go to a day-camp thing that was absolute hell, sensory wise and in terms of the people there. When my sister was old enough to look after me, those summers turned into weeks without leaving the house because there was no one to play with and stay inside watching Tom and Jerry for hours instead, my parents at work. I didn’t think I was afraid of the world, I thought I was better than it, because it was the only reality my tiny mind could accept without falling into despair. Then, when I was around 10, I got an iPod Touch. I mostly played mobile games like Doodle Jump and Pocket Frogs, but seeing sceeenshots on photo sites of tumblr posts. I got my first inkling of the world beyond me. Then, watching Gorillaz music videos, I got an offer that I could have a RU-vid account and comment if I connect it with my gmail for a Google+ account. This is that same account. After that, after G+, I became a symbiotic life form with the Internet, because it felt like the thing I was always made for. I was sitting and staring and idly consuming stories long before there were stories in front of my eyes to consume. I’ve since gotten freedoms, I was able to drive, I had friends, I had built up my resilience. I actually owe a lot of my personal growth to learning things online that I never would’ve had the experience to learn otherwise. But quarantine put me back in that perpetual summer malaise, especially considering I graduated not long after it started. With nowhere to go and nothing to do… Well, well, look who’s inside again?

good camera+angles+slow zooming in every shot= cinematic

I had a hard time putting my feelings into words both while watching Inside, and afterwards. I get that claustrophobic, uneasy feeling.. and felt completely overwhelmed when he grabbed the camera to spin it around. It made me more aware of some of the things I feel, and made me realise what some of them are.

I can hear all the background footage in my head, the special was fantastic.

This analysis pointed out things I never thought of before, but seem so obvious now after you’ve mentioned them. I gotta be honest, on a second watch, I’d probably enjoy it more just because of this video. Every other analysis seemed to take a very surface level look at Inside, not digging deeper into the filmmaking behind it, which seems to have caused them to miss very crucial things mentioned here.

I feel like this focused too intensely on the "inside" part of inside, if that makes sense. For example, That Funny Feeling. It isn't about being inside. It's about derealization, depression, anxiety. The realization that you are watching the end of the world, and watching a life go by. It isn't an exploration of how it feels to be stuck indoors, but rather an exploration of the "funny feeling" of being alive in the modern world.

"There it is, that funny feeling....." legitimately made me cry.

“Inside” is Bo’s best creation by a country mile. A truly awesome experience. Made me look at quite a few things differently “inside” myself.

That Funny Feeling hits me like a tonne of bricks. The fact that it's framed and presented as this folksy acoustic campfire song, where the singer would traditionally reminisce on explicitly analog, natural, familial "it's the little things" type experiences and memories, but he lists these anxious, problematic & corrupt issues with us and the world at large. It reverberates that latent debilitating frustration of wanting to scream into the void without losing the sight that we don't (a lot of people do tha screaming silently on social media) because we're so insignificant, what's the point. We want our lives to better, we don't believe anyone at the top is doing or saying anything right, we've no real faith we'd be equipped to be much better (echoed when he says 'why can't anyone just shut the fuck up & not have everyone feel the need to broadcast everything all of the time'), and even then when we do commit to saying something we're so afraid of potential criticism we either only post about what we don't entirely care for, or we do and don't have any faith in how it's received (as evident in Don't Wanna Know). We live in this detached state of wanting to heard and be left alone. We can't enjoy the immediate outside, because we feel an outside where things actually happen exists beyond us and it's only visible and accessible from the inside from media. We spend so much time in that inside world there's plenty of us that draw an identity from our digital engagement and don't feel real otherwise, so a physical campfire doesn't hold the value or primacy it should inherently have. We aren't people online, we don't feel like we're interacting online with real physical people, yet without it we don't feel like a person in the tangible world. The juxtaposition of a tonally comforting song and how unbelievably lonely and fucked we are just eats at me. Bo Burnham's currency and critique is so important. It probably eats at him that despite all his critique, it's still a Netflix special supporting a monopolising conglomerate, gradually commodifying and commercialising any and all dissent, as any hypercapitalist system eventually does. I'm glad he's here, and I'm glad he does what he does. I'd like to think there's something worth holding onto there.

This special just hit hard. Its the most interesting piece of content Ive seen in at least a year. It just felt so relatable and pertinent.

Im glad to know that I was here when this masterpiece was shown to the world, it definitely be revered for decades to come as one of the best representations of this period in time.

honestly his lyricism is beautiful and i love the use of lighting and color he used

i’d been thinking about the welcome to youtube/the internet comparison. he clearly wanted that to be made, and i loved your thoughts on it!

Awesome analysis! Thoroughly enjoyed!!

8:25, I'm so glad you mentioned this! He nails the balance of poking fun at the melodramatic/faux-idealistic lives often portrayed via social media, while also capturing the genuine heart behind many of those who take part in it. It's genius 💛

Please put Bo on suicide watch. He's a genius.

He's not cynical about the internet. He describes the current state of the internet.

I'm so glad someone also could sew all this stuff, you're definitely going deeper than idea, but I saw this special and knew the lighting and framing was unique, I write lyrics and bo has always amazed me. His use of audio and visual in past shows where so good but this one is amazing, so incredible.

Never expected to see a deep dive into the special but I loved it. Thank you for this

7:20 "... imagining a world where digital space is superior to the real world" Haha yes. Imaginary. Lucky our world isn't like that haha. Imagine that haha.

Really great video, you pointed out a lot of things I didn't notice. I feel it was a little strange that you didn't specifically mention the pandemic at all even though they is a big part of the "being stuck inside" that is being referred to in the the special.

Brother that was a truly great video. Well worth the wait!

This added even further levels to appreciating just how good this special was.

No film messed me up as much as "Inside" did

Great analysis! I love how you brought in themes from over the course of his career. It's also great to see you focus on the zoom and the liberation of the POV in Get Your Fuckin' Hands Up. I feel like that's so crucial to the whole special and you're the first person I've seen pick on that. One thing I noticed though is that you might have gotten one line from Welcome to the Internet. I'm fairly sure it's "your time is now" not "the time is now", which would then make it representative of the way the snake oil salesman/Internet is buttering up their mark.

this review is not only on point but educational. love it.

I adored this special and I hope Bo continues to be this wonderfully creative. I translated "that funny feeling" as Anxiety. All the problems he's listing in that song could cause anxiety, like the planet heating up. This project was beautifully shot and I loved every minute of it.

My favorite youtuber about my favorite former youtuber. Excellent.

If Inside was a Disney movie, then Welcome to the Internet would be the villain's song.

Bo Burnham is a comedic giant and sorely under appreciated...

I have seen many of these inside dissections but most of them come off as pretentious and grasping for straws but this one really hits something. Thank you for making this

Inside is my favorite youtube video of all time. PS: My favorite thing about it is how it has like 5 different interpretations and they all make complete sense through out the entire thing

It feels great living in the same world with Bo Burnham

I really enjoy how deep you went into this. To add on, I think as he gets less and less clothes as the movie goes on, that he is showing us what it is truly like to be "naked" not just physically, but emotionally. He is putting everything out there. Also at the end when he steps outside of the room, he is showing us all of his thoughts are now out and his anxiety is still messing with him and he can never go back to being a non-celeb ever again.

Great video man!!