Bo Burnham: Inside

INSIDE is a masterpiece. It describes Bo's struggles throughout the global pandemic and hits hard. It's made for mature audiences and has controversial topics that most kids won't get. But if you have children that are mature or have seen his stuff before this will be amazing. It has some adult themes but no really sexy stuff, there is one song about sexting but it's for humour and nothing really bad is described has some strong language but all is ok and most language they will hear at school anyway.

If I could give it more stars I would! What an incredible watch and listen. I have rewatched it multiple times and listen to the songs almost daily. It has so many important messages in it that are talked about in a way that young teens can understand and even resonate with. But it's also a great watch for adults. Bo Burnham did a wonderful job at describing loneliness, white privilege, aging and so much more. He talks about feeling like you haven't done enough in your life, owning up to problematic things you've done in your past and the issues with big corporations. I can't recommend this enough.

A captivating special that comes out swinging in the first few moments and does not let up for 90 minutes. Smart, poignant and full of isolation. I am not a musical theatre fan, but these original songs are perfect for the acerbic wit that is being served. Burnham proves how his voice wedges itself in the different crevices of performativity. Riveting, interesting, boring, and always of the moment Burnham has us inside together.

Bo Burnham does discuss some serious topics in this, as it is mainly about his experiences with mental health, maturing, and the pressure of lockdown. In some of his songs, he mentions topics such as suicide, mental health generally, and a lot of swearing!!! One of the songs in the show is called Sexting and is based around that situation, other than that the show does not have that much sexual content. As he is a comedian, he is quite funny, but has made some offensive jokes in the past, and apologises for them in this show. The show is overall quite funny, and he discusses mental health with a tune. I've watched this with my two kids, 13 and 14, and they both thoroughly enjoyed it. Certainly for more mature audiences, as are Burnham's other specials.

I watched this with my almost 13-year-old after watching it first myself. If your kid is in middle school or has access to youtube (our filters don’t block as much as we’d like, but that’s another story) they'll have come across most of the language here. Compared to Burnham’s earlier specials, the sexy-talk is limited, confined mostly to the song "Sexting." I disagree with some of the category ratings in Common Sense’s official review. I saw this special a few times and didn’t catch any mentions of drugs or alcohol. There’s no encouragement of consumerism; this mocks it, with one segment clearly satirizing a brand manager who affiliates with social causes to sell, say, butterfingers. One monologue actually succinctly aligns with CS’s mission: “I’ve been thinking recently that… that you know, maybe, um, allowing giant digital media corporations to exploit the neurochemical drama of our children for profit… You know, maybe that was, uh… a bad call by us.” There’s no violence, though suicide is discussed several times. We witness Burnham’s (or Burnham’s character’s) downward spiral, though you’re eventually led to a place where he gets better, kind of. Which brings me to the crux of where the parental deliberation might lie: This is essentially a tragicomic deep dive on the alienation of technology, the omnipresence of the internet, and the anxiety and despair that can accompany creation and performance — all of this set in the backdrop of the past year, which adds yet another layer of isolation. While the stakes are different for Bo, his arc reflects back our own. While some of darker undertones might be indistinguishable from the edgy content many teens consume daily, as a whole it’s a very affecting piece of art, and some teens (and adults) who watch it might be triggered into an existential crisis of sorts. That is to say, like all good art, it has the capacity to rattle one’s foundations before one emerges, changed.