YMMV / Bo Burnham: Inside

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • In "That Funny Feeling," Bo seems to cite Deadpool as an example of fake self-awareness for the sake of novelty, and an indication of how hopeless humanity is re: true self-awareness. However, anyone who's read a recent Deadpool comic knows the character being aware that he's a fictional character actually makes him horrendously depressed, feeling compelled to ignore his problems and destroy his own life for the sake of entertaining his audience (since that is literally his only purpose); under that lens, Wade Wilson is actually a character Bo would actually like. So one could also read this line as Bo being aware of this characterization and playing off public perception of the character, making commentary on the fact that, despite the character actually having some profound writing, people latch on to the memes and random comedy without looking deeper or questioning why they like it.
  • Is the bridge in "White Woman's Instagram" intended to highlight the humanity and emotional vulnerability of its subject, or is it supposed to suggest a cynical performance of grief for attention? The audience reaction overwhelmingly favors the former interpretation, but in a special mainly about narcissism and the corrosive effect of social media, the latter does seem plausible.
    • Considering the first line of the bridge mentions that the picture posted is her favourite of her and her mother (with this fact being noted before describing the caption, meaning this fact isn't being revealed to her followers), as well as the fact that the tone of the regular lyrics shift to slightly more sympathetic after the bridge ("a ring on her finger from the person that she loves"), the former interpretation is far more likely, and is likely the intended interpretation, but the latter still has merit.
    • Is her mother actually dead in the song? She makes a long post honoring her mother but ends it by telling her mom to "say hi to dad," implying that both parents have died or both are alive and well. Is the tragedy that both her parents have died, is she recovering from serious mental health issues, or is she making big and scary life changes that requires emotional support from her mom?
      Her favorite photo of her mom
      The caption says, "I can't believe it
      It's been a decade since you've been gone
      Mama, I miss you, I miss sitting with you in the front yard
      Still figuring out how to keep living without ya
      It's got a little better but it's still hard
      Mama, I got a job I love and my own apartment
      Mama, I got a boyfriend and I'm crazy about him
      Your little girl didn't do too bad
      Mama, I love you, give a hug and kiss to dad"
  • The title of the special itself could be interpreted two separate ways: as much as Bo is stuck inside his house due to the pandemic, he's also stuck inside his own head, collapsing under the weight of his insecurities and anxiety, which were present before the pandemic, but taken up to eleven by the isolation.
  • A running theme of Inside is the fine line between authenticity and performativity, as Bo struggles to express his pain and need for connection and validation despite the internet's commodification of self-expression as "content," and the fact that, in spite of the rawness and realness of his mental breakdown, this is still a manufactured and carefully edited presentation meant for public consumption, leaving the viewer to wonder how much of it is—or can be—genuine. In the special's final moments, Bo, from the safety of his room, smiles as he watches a video of himself locked outside. Is the smile for himself, or for his audience? Has he finally gained enough perspective on his mental health to laugh at it, a sign that he's finally come out the other side? Or is the smile a cynical confirmation all that proceeded it has been a performance, including this moment?
• Anvilicious: The core themes of Inside are mental health struggles and the toxic nature of Internet culture, as well as how the two interact with one another.
  • Bo's stance on social media and mental health is the two can never really coexist in a healthy way because some people are using social media to compensate for personal feelings of inadequacy and to deal with depression, not realising the internet is feeding these self-esteem issues and insecurities in the first place.
  • Burnham also criticizes how people use the internet to bully and harass others through anonymity, also pointing out how irresponsible parents are for letting their kids use the internet as a babysitting tool despite the ramifications of letting children learn about its darker aspects.
  • He also points out that companies don't really care about social change as they happily exploit the working class and support these causes for monetary gain, while presenting themselves as politically correct.
  • Burnham also criticises the people on the internet who try to "fix" greater social issues in "How The World Works." Burnham points out these issues were a lot simpler and easier to understand at one point, but quarantine has forced him to learn the greater injustices and complexities, as he's completely powerless to do anything but make jokes about it. His guest speaker and co-singer "Socko" ultimately tells Bo that he shouldn't take these issues personally, and that a better response is to listen to the people who have personal experiences with these issues rather than be selfish by making these issues about himself. The message is thus "either step up and help the cause, or step aside so the people it's affecting can do it".
  • Burnham mocks political correctness in "Problematic" by pretending to apologise for things he did in his past. He points out how stupid it is to condemn someone for their past, since the past doesn't matter anymore and can't be changed. The thing he's apologizing for in the song is dressing up as Aladdin for Halloween when he was seventeen years old; the intended message is the opposite, as Burnham is saying that judging him for something so mundane is Disproportionate Retribution, which ultimately helps no one. Also, Burnham argues that all content creators have an experimental phase where they try to find their "style", which can be shocking to others or outdated with time.
  • The podcast that Bo has with himself in The Inside Outtakes mocks comedians who do or say edgy things purely for shock value without any meaning behind them. It's also parodying the circlejerk nature of comedians claiming that their jokes are harmless and not hurting anyone, while simultaneously acting like comedy is an incredibly important and influential art form.
  • Bo's personal arc in Inside is him confronting the darkest point in his life and confronting existential dread in the midst of great social change — in particular, confronting the possibility that he may have adjusted a little too well to the isolation, and he's now afraid of being in the spotlight again because of the possibility of his depression and anxiety returning. Being in isolation forced him to confront his past mistakes and question his position in a changing world.
• Award Snub:
  • Many fans were upset that, despite winning three Emmy Awards, Inside lost out on its nomination for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), which went to the filmed version of Hamilton.
  • Similar unrest ensued following the announcement that the album version of the special was ruled ineligible for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, instead being submitted for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media.
• Awesome Moments:
  • Inside became the first-ever Netflix comedy special to ever receive theatrical distribution.
  • With its wins at the Emmys, Bo became the first person to ever win three Emmys individually (not shared with another person) in a single year!
• Growing the Beard: Many fans point to this special as a dramatic inflection point in Bo Burnham's critical reception, with the special receiving near-universal acclaim for its thoughtful reflections on mental health in the era of COVID-19 and increased social unrest. (Also helping matters: he literally grew a beard.)
• Harsher in Hindsight: "Any Day Now" was already sad, with the narrator desperately telling himself the pandemic and isolation will stop any day now, referencing how at the start of the pandemic, people were told it'd all be over within a few weeks (which later extended to a few months). With several new variants of COVID-19 cropping up since the special's premiere, "any day now" seemed even further away, and although the lockdowns have gradually largely ended and the pandemic eventually became yesterday's issue, it took much longer than what was initially thought to get to "any day now".
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "One does not simply walk into Mordor" - Dr. Martin Luther King.^ExplanationIn "White Woman's Instagram", one of the posts is "Some random quote from Lord of the Rings incorrectly attributed to Martin Luther King", prompting many responses of quotes from the movie "signed" by MLK.
  • "Everyone's a feminist until there is a spider around."^ExplanationThe final line of the second verse of "Five Years", in which the boyfriend of the song calls out his girlfriend for being "a total anti-sexist" and "a patriarchy fighter" but immediately reinforcing gender roles by telling him to "be a man" and kill a spider. This led to a meme template of people calling out people who claim they support a social cause but throw it under the bus the moment it inconveniences them.
  • And of course, the iconic "Welcome to the Internet". Due to the song randomly describing weird (and somewhat negative) interpretation of the titular Internet, a metric ton of parodies based on this song popped up everywhere with different topics. Here some noteworthy examples:
    • "Welcome to the Industry"
    • "Welcome to the Hospital"
    • "Welcome to Smash Bros."
    • "Welcome to Anime"
    • "Welcome to Game Theory"
    • "Welcome to Calculus"
    • "Welcome to Marvel Cinematic Universe"
    • "Welcome to VRChat"
    • "Welcome to Depression"
    • "Welcome to Rec Room"
    • "Welcome to 3D Software"
    • "Welcome to Don't Starve"
    • "Welcome to Genshin Impact"
    • "Welcome to Pokemon"
    • "Welcome to the French Language", which humorously (and somewhat accurately) describe the quirkiness of the titular language.
    • There's a rewrite of the song, which also focuses to the Internet nowadays, but it's more specifically centered into social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and many others, unlike the original one which didn't mention the Internet platforms on the song.
  • Also, let's not forget about this surprisingly awesome mashup of "Bezos I" and ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", as shown here.
• Signature Song: A multitude of songs from the special have gone on to become strong contenders for Bo's most popular song, especially with the livelihood they've had on platforms like TikTok, but the three cuts arguably most synonymous with the special are "Bezos I", "Welcome to the Internet", and "All Eyes on Me".

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