Bo Burnham

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About

Bo Burnham is an American comedian and musician who first rose to Internet fame through musical comedy videos uploaded to his YouTube channel. Since his on-screen debut in 2006, he has stared in his own sitcom, released four comedy shows (3 albums) and a movie.

Online History

On July 11th, 2006, Bo Burnham created his YouTube channel boburnham when he was 15.^[1] He uploaded his first video to the channel on December 21st, 2006. The video features Burnham singing an original comedy song titled, "My Whole Family…". As of May 2019, the video has over 10.3 million views.

Burnham began to add more songs to his channel, and he released his debut EP Bo Fo Sho, name after one of the songs in the EP, in June 17, 2008.

I'm Bo Yo, one of Burnham's trademark songs, was also posted to YouTube at the same day the EP was released. The song soon began to be the most viewed video in Burnham's channel (as of May 2019). is first full-length eponymous album Bo Burnham was released in March 10, 2009.

On May 10, 2010, Bo Burnham, in partnership with Comedy Central, made his first one-hour stand-up special Words Words Words which was released on October 10, 2010 as both a comedy special and an album. Words Words Words was well received by both critics and fans, having been charted on four separate Billboard charts, topping first place in the Billboard Comedy Chart.

Burnham's channel and his career remained in hiatus until 2013, when Bo Burnham released what. on YouTube and on Netflix. what. received positive reviews, being described as a successor to Words Words Words.

On December 13th, 2013, Burnham hosted an Ask Me Anything event on Reddit^[9] to promote his comedy special, what.. He covered many topics including his relationship with his parents, cars, and his plans for the future. When asked if he would return to posting videos on his YouTube channel more regularly he explained,

"The reason I didn't for the last three years is because I wanted to make the whole show first. When I post songs online, then they don't play well live anymore (people know them so they don't laugh). And I love performing live. So I probably won't return to posting things regularly, but when I do have stuff, and it makes sense, I'll post it."

Bo Burnham, along with Netflix, released Make Happy in 2015. While what. was written without production design in mind, everything in the show is considered from the beginning. Most of the show is about performing, and it ends with Burnham admitting that he can't handle the popularity surrounding his life, along with a song rhetorically asking you if you're happy.

Burnham plans to focus more on writing, which means that Make Happy will be his very last special.^[10]

As of May 2019, Burnham's YouTube channel has more than 1,580,000 subscribers.

Offline Career

Burnham has had small roles in the comedy films Funny People (2009), American Virgin (2009), Hall Pass (2011), and Adventures in the Sin Bin (2012). Burnham wrote, produced, and stared in Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous, a comedy show that premiered on MTV on May 2, 2013.^[8] The show was canceled after one twelve episode season.

Burnham wrote and directed Eighth Grade, which was released by distribution and production company A24. The movie is about an eighth grader named Kayla Fisher struggling to finish her final week at eighth grade. The film received positive reviews for its accurate representation of anxiety, which is what the movie explores.

He has also released the four aforementioned comedy albums-Bo Fo Sho (2008), Bo Burnham (2009), Words Words Words (2010), and what. (2013). All four were released through Comedy Central Records.

Reception

As of May 2019 Burnham's Twitter^[3] account has over 1.79M followers and his Facebook^[4] page has more than 756,000 likes. He also has 1.7 million followers on Vine^[2], and his Vines are frequently included in round-ups compiled by VineyVideos^[5].

[This video has been removed]

Personal Life

Bo Burnham was born in Hamilton, Massachusetts on August 21st, 1990.^[6] He attended Massachusetts Catholic school St. John's Preparatory. He was accepted into NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2008, but he deferred his enrollment.^[7]