Saturday, October 8, 2011

Bo Burnham - Comedic Genius

Last night I watched Bo Burnham's "Words Words Words" comedy special on Netflix. The guy is seriously brilliant. For anyone who's not familiar with Bo, he began on YouTube posting videos for his family and friends (I've included a video in this post, but seriously go look at the rest of them. All of them.) He taught himself to play piano and began composing funny little songs; due to the... controversial content of the videos, they garnered a lot of views and this led to a deal with Comedy Central and a number of good things for Bo, including the special I watched.

The special includes a combination of musical comedy and normal stand-up, and pokes fun at modern commercial comedy, almost taunting other comedians, daring them to make intelligent comedy and to trust that the audience can understand the jokes. Often, there are so many jokes in a song that it takes multiple listens to fully appreciate his genius. Unfortunately, some people aren't willing to put that much effort into listening, and turn to dumbed-down comedy that they can absorb without trying. But for someone looking for a person who truly pushes the envelope comedically needs to watch this special.

To me, it's so impressive to look at what he's accomplished so far in his life, and it's crazy to think that he's only a year older than me. I really look up to the guy, and would love to be able to collaborate with him on a future project, somewhere down the line.

Well don't just take my word for it, check him out!


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