i just love Bo Burnham
I really love him. I can’t seem to come to terms with the fact that he may not be a real nerd in real life (apart from youtube) and that’s okay because I haven’t found hard evidence to suggest otherwise (yet). So I found this beautiful song and video of his and I just had to comment on it.
In this video, Bo plays a cast of characters. The Bo in the introduction, is just too cute! He’s so obviously out of place at this party that it sets up the song perfectly.
Then we see Bo, the suave piano man. For a second, people actually stop and pay attention to him. But then it’s back to Bo’s life, where he illustrates the lyrics. His awkwardness is palpable and in many instances he is acting out the lyrics. The scenario screams FML (www.fmylife.com)!
At 1:28 Bo takes on the role of a gangsta. I guess this is what he thinks girls like (when in reality we all love sweet guys like Bo…). But as usual, he fails when he uses the corniest of pick up lines “Let’s rob an Asian kitchen or stroll down the block, either way it seems girl that we’re taking a walk (wok)”. Bo’s hubris seems to be his lack of confidence in himself, which I would say is typical of the nerd persona. He leads us into the bedroom, where he again, lacks confidence. I almost start to feel sorry for him, but his funny narrative (provided by song lyrics) are just too good to cry over. He leads us through an elaborate breakdown which illustrates his confusion but highlights his low confidence again. What I thought was realism throughout the whole video turns out to be false, as the whole video eventually turns out to be a dream.
I feel that Bo is quite authentic as he does play his part quite well, however the escape from the usual amateur production aesthetic that Bo is known for threw me for a loop. It made me question whether Bo is really a nerd, or if he’s an actor posing as a nerd. The use of multiple characters was genius, it really illustrated the narrative quite well. However, Bo played these characters so well, it made me question, who is the real Bo? Is it the gangsta? the piano man? or could it be the sweatpants wearing nerd? I’m not really sure I want to find out.
