Inside

Ten second review: One of the best pieces of “lockdown art” we’ve seen as of yet, Bo Burnham’s signature style shines in this introspective musical journey.

I’ve never really sat down and watched or listened to Bo Burnham (other than a few of his vines back in the day). I’ve had real life friends, internet friends and the internet side bars recommend him, but until now I’d never actually taken the time to grapple with his work. 

I’m glad I did.

Inside is a musical comedy special of sorts. Written, recorded and filmed solely by Burnham during the pandemic, it features a series of songs depicting his relationship with himself, his audience and wider society.

It’s difficult to review something like Inside objectively. It will obviously be coloured by whether or not you enjoyed the content, your own experience of the pandemic and whether you were an existing fan of Burnham’s work. It also seems rather valueless to offer sincere “review” as this special exists more like an encapsulated piece of performance art rather than a standard stand up routine. It lacks the need for review and rather invites one to divest their reaction. 

So how did it make me feel?

It made me feel a bit sick to be honest. Not in a bad way though. As it moves through Burnham’s own mental state, I could see stages of myself over the past year. From the early shallow observational humour, moving through to deeper societal analysis and into his own analysis of his psyche, there was something touching and relatable that I imagine many people will feel to some degree. Many of us have had a lot more free time than usual and for lots of people that’s seen them sitting with themselves a little more. Whether it’s sitting alone in the same room for extended amounts of time, or feeing alone in the same room for extended amounts of time, we have all had a chance to spend more time in our own heads. Whether the pandemic made us more resolute, more disparate, more insular or more outgoing, we can’t deny it has held a mirror up to our world and asked us to question it and ourselves. So when I say Inside made me feel a bit sick, it’s not a negative, it’s just a recognition of what it feels like to watch a person’s experience of their own year long lockdown condensed into an hour and a half.

While I did resist critique and review of its form, it must be said that for a solo production it couldn’t feel more full and textured. His use of lighting really does make that small room feel like a whole world crammed in to four walls. As many people have been constrained to limited spaces of the past year and change, this move to constrain the special’s limits is very clever and really speaks to Burnham’s ability for staging, but it also says a lot about how a setting informs and builds narrative. As the special goes on, the room feels smaller until he is finally able to leave and re-emerge into the real world. 

Rather like most good art, Inside lacks the need for review and instead warrants analysis of its own analysis of the world. I refrained from going into the content of the music and the subjects he chooses to delve into because they are best experienced first hand rather than expectantly, but I would doubt anyone would not be left with questions they would want to discuss after watching this special. Burnham clearly has faults, but does his self awareness of them absolve him? Is his poking fun at having a platform and all the responsibility that goes with that tongue in cheek or misguided? Is it funny with sad parts or sad with funny parts?

I will certainly sit with it a while before coming to my own conclusions and then discuss with friends to finesse my ideas and understanding to a more rounded and nuanced point. I would definitely recommend watching Inside. Whether you laugh or cry, I think it would be hard to sit through without it inciting some reaction and that reaction might in itself be interesting for you.