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Why Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside’ Resonates So Deeply With Gen Z
The 30-year-old comedian’s new Netflix special is all over TikTok, so maybe he’s not as out of touch with Zoomers as he jokes
I was fourteen the first time I heard Bo Burnham’s song “New Math,” which, as he describes, “takes something that’s not funny—math—and makes it offensive.”
It was like taking the first, long drag of a cigarette; I wanted more, and Burnham didn’t disappoint, releasing multiple specials, all culminating in 2016’s Make Happy.
The special ends with an auto-tuned rant inspired by Kanye West and gets deeply personal and real between jokes about Pringle cans and overstuffed burritos: “Come and watch the skinny kid with the steadily declining mental health as he attempts to give you what he cannot give himself.”
“Thank you, good night,” he concludes. “I hope you’re happy.”
When Bo Burnham announced a break from live comedy to focus on his mental health—he was having severe panic attacks on stage—it put Make Happy into a grim perspective.
Five years later, Bo Burnham returns with Inside, a special filmed, directed, edited, and performed entirely by himself in a bedroom of his home. While it begins with goofy songs about…
