Bo Burnham Was Nominated For Six Emmys For 'Bo Burnham: Inside,' Which Is Pretty Impressive For Bo Burnham
Daddy made us some content... and now he's nominated for six Emmy awards.
Comedian Bo Burnham did the impossible with his Netflix comedy special Inside. Our own Ben Pearson called it a masterpiece and I completely agree — it's 90 minutes of staring straight into the existential void, complete with catchy songs and some absolutely gorgeous visuals. I mean, it's not every day that Netflix decides to actually put something of theirs in theaters. (That's right, at the end of this month, we can go sit inside and watch Inside, together!)
While it might not exactly be "healing the world with comedy," six Emmy nominations is nothing to sneeze at. If he wins at least five of them, he will make Emmy history for taking home the most wins in a single ceremony. (That title is currently held by Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy, who took home four statues in 2020.)
Inside is nominated for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), while Burnham himself is nominated for Outstanding Directing For a Variety Special, Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programing, Outstanding Music Direction, Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, and Outstanding Writing For a Variety Special.
An Award-Worthy One-Man Show
So what makes Inside so impressive? Burnham did the entire thing himself, that's what. Over the course of a year during the coronavirus pandemic, he wrote, recorded, and edited together a musical comedy special that is both heartbreaking and hilarious. The entire special takes place in the one room, and we see Burnham as he processes everything. His hair and beard grow longer, the dark circles under his eyes get darker, and we watch as a man basically has an extended existential crisis. An entire historically horrific year is compressed into 90 minutes, an experience that occasionally feels like a complete nervous breakdown.
Every element of Inside is excellent on a technical level as well as an artistic level. Burnham manages to make the one-room location into so much more through the use of a projector, lighting, and props. It would be easy to set up a single camera and just let it roll, but he uses multiple angles and a variety of cuts to make a visually cohesive, emotionally resonant work of art. On top of the writing, cinematography, and editing, the songs are absolute bangers. There's a reason that the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Comedy Charts and, at the time of this writing, is sitting at #11 on the Top 200 music chart.
You can check out Inside for yourself on Netflix or in theaters July 22-25, and you can catch the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards and maybe see Burnham make history on September 19 on CBS and Paramount Plus.