Bo Burnhams 10 Best Songs, Ranked

Im healing the world with comedy, Bo Burnham sings at the beginning of his latest comedy special, Inside, a hilarious and harrowing glimpse into the mind of an artist in quarantine. While the assertion is clearly said in jest, poking fun at his egoistic urge to be heard amid a deadly pandemic, Burnhams songs

“I’m healing the world with comedy,” Bo Burnham sings at the beginning of his latest comedy special, “Inside,” a hilarious and harrowing glimpse into the mind of an artist in quarantine.

While the assertion is clearly said in jest, poking fun at his egoistic urge to be heard amid a deadly pandemic, Burnham’s songs — which span from absurdist parodies to emotional confessionals — have positively impacted the lives of many.

Burnham, who recently sang, “Oh, fuck, how am I 30?” began his career on YouTube at age 16 and has released four comedy specials since then. In 2018, Burnham wrote and directed A24’s “Eighth Grade,” and in 2020 he starred in the Oscar-winning film “Promising Young Woman.” In March, he was cast to play Larry Bird in HBO’s upcoming Lakers series.

In honor of Thursday’s release of “Inside (The Songs),” an album of music from the special, Variety ranked Burnham’s best 10 songs, ranging from potty-humor to profound.

  • I'm Bo Yo

    Long before he crooned about sexting in his latest special, Burnham was a 17-year-old kid rapping, “I’m a real G, shawty, that can really find your G-spot / What the fuck’s a G-spot?” Filled to the brim with geeky puns and childish innuendos, “I’m Bo Yo” is one of Burnham’s earliest and most viewed songs on YouTube. While Burnham’s comedic style has evolved significantly over the past decade and a half, it’s still fun to revisit old lines like, “Girl, don’t sit on that couch, ’cause I treat my objects like women” and many, many others that are far too inappropriate for this article.

  • Sad

    One of the highlights of his stand-up special “what.,” “Sad” shines in typical set-up, punchline format. Throughout the song, Burnham sets up “sad” things, such as “a homeless man named Rich” and a “man with only one eye in a 3D movie,” but he throws in some twists for good measure: “I saw a little boy drop his ice cream cone, directly on his mother’s corpse.” In the song’s spoken-word interlude, Burnham discovers that laughter is the cure to sadness… well, “not for the people that are actually sad” but for those who have to “fucking deal with them all the time.” Both hilarious and dark, “Sad” perfectly sets up the rest of the show.

  • Art Is Dead

    “This next song, honestly, is not funny at all, but it helps me sleep at night,” Burnham disclaims before launching into “Art Is Dead,” a two-and-a-half-minute mental breakdown in which the comedian begs for forgiveness for being an artist. “I must be psychotic, I must be demented / To think that I’m worthy of all this attention,” Burnham muses in the first verse. While many of the songs in his “Words Words Words” special are lined with dick jokes and immature puns, “Art Is Dead” serves as his first real dip into sincerity, something he’d dive into head-first in later projects.

  • Country Song

    A reiteration of his beloved “Parks and Recreation” cameo Chipp McCapp, Burnham’s take on “stadium country music” is one of the high points of “Make Happy.” Mocking modern stars like Keith Urban, Burnham sets up his own country song in Mad Lib form (“Rural noun, simple adjective”). “I’m hoping my Southern charm offsets all these rapey vibes I’m putting out,” Burnham drawls before leading into the second verse: “A cold night, a cold beer / A cold jeans, strike that last one.” While there are so many brilliant lines in this twangy parody, none elicits a laugh better than the perfectly condescending “Y’all dumb motherfuckers want a key change?”

  • That Funny Feeling

    In “That Funny Feeling,” the only guitar song in “Inside,” Burnham sums up our strange culture in what is essentially a pandemic version of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Listing off items like “the live-action ‘Lion King,'” “carpool karaoke” and “Logan Paul,” Burnham encapsulates the modern dread, hopelessness and absurdity that can only be described as “that funny feeling.” As Burnham drifts from the mental health crisis to mass shootings to climate change, the song plays out like a stream of consciousness video diary shot during the end of the world. While Burnham surely doesn’t present the answers to any of these problems, “That Funny Feeling” is still eerily calm and comforting, a “quiet comprehending of the ending of it all.”

  • Welcome to the Internet

    For someone born from the internet, Burnham holds a pretty dark view of it. In “Welcome to the Internet,” Burnham imagines the world wide web as a demented carnival barker greeting its newest victim. “Could I interest you in everything all of the time?” he asks, offering healthy breakfast options, pictures of famous women’s feet and Harry Potter porn. Beneath the creepy, maniacally laughing narrator is Burnham — who uploaded his first YouTube video in 2006 at age 16 — warning the younger generation of the bottomless pit that launched his career.

  • Repeat Stuff

    Burnham’s knack for conveying sincere messages within parody is best exemplified by “Repeat Stuff,” an exposé on the vicious cycle of pop stars and magazines preying on vulnerable young fans, delivered via catchy, vapid pop song. While the song initially mocks generic radio hits appealing to the widest possible audience (“I love your hands ‘cause your fingerprints are like no other / I love your eyes and their bluish, brownish, greenish color”), it also comments on the predatory nature of the music industry “cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem and girls’ desperate need to feel loved.”

  • Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)

    Burnham’s anxiety is no secret — he constantly talks about his mental health struggles, which are central to his film “Eighth Grade” and comedy special “Make Happy.” Burnham would later admit he had panic attacks on stage while touring the show, adding layers to its theatrical climax, “Can’t Handle This (Kanye Rant).” The song, modeled after a rant from Kanye West’s “Yeezus” tour, details Burnham’s own unique struggles, such as ordering overstuffed Chipotle burritos and not being able to fit his hands inside of a Pringles can. Drenched in autotune, Burnham eventually moves onto his final problem: the audience. “A part of me loves you, part of me hates you / Part of me needs you, part of me fears you.” Somewhere in between funny and heartbreaking, “Can’t Handle This (Kanye Rant)” captures Burnham at his best, making audiences both laugh and cry while breaking a fourth wall rarely breached by comedians.

  • From God's Perspective

    While Burnham’s comedic arsenal spans from joking about masturbation to pondering the meaning of life, “From God’s Perspective” might be the only song that covers the entire range. Assuming the voice of God, Burnham opens the melancholy piano ballad with, “The books you think I wrote are way too thick / Who needs a thousand metaphors to figure out you shouldn’t be a dick?”, a line so clever even his most pious fans must chuckle. Throughout the song’s four minutes, Burnham offers the Creator’s views on rape (“a fucked up thing to do”), pork (“I created the universe, think I’m drawing the line at the fuckin’ deli aisle?”) and the afterlife (“maybe life on earth could be heaven”). Beautifully poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, “From God’s Perspective” immediately alienates the majority of the world and yet ends on a surprisingly profound, unifying note.

  • All Eyes on Me

    There isn’t a single joke in “All Eyes on Me,” the climax of Burnham’s emotional odyssey “Inside.” Soaking in effects and drowning in harmonies, Burnham’s voice sounds like the physical manifestation of his own depression. Midway through the song, he talks about quitting live comedy due to severe panic attacks on stage, only for his five-year recovery and plans to start performing again to be derailed by the pandemic. “Get on out of your seats / All eyes on me, all eyes on me,” Burnham sings, grabbing his greatest anxiety by the throat, or perhaps succumbing to it. Eventually, Burnham rips the camera loose and parades around the room with it, laughing and losing control, embracing the terrifying catharsis and cosmic insanity of it all.

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