Bo Burnham
(born Robert Burnham
on :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq: ( 1990 - -{{padleft:21 T : : ) [1] [2]) is an American singer-songwriter and Internet celebrity. Writing comedic and satirical songs with a politically incorrect slant, his YouTube videos have received more than 49.7 million views s of []. [3] His first EP—Bo Fo Sho
—was released in June 2008 by Comedy Central Records, and his first full-length self titled album was released by the same label in March 2009.
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BO BURNHAM TICKETS
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Personal life
Bo Burnham was born the youngest of three on August 21, 1990 to Patricia and Scott Burnham.
[4] [5]
In February 2008, Patricia was a
staff nurse at her youngest's school, and Scott owned a
North Shore, Massachusetts construction company. Their two older children, Pete and Samm, were concurrently enrolled in their third and second years at
Cornell University and
Suffolk Law School, respectively.
Bo attended the all-boys'
Catholic high school,
St. John's Preparatory School in
Danvers, Massachusetts; there he was on the school
honor roll and involved in
theatre and the
campus ministry program. The school's assistant principal, Wendy Olson, remarked in a February 2008 interview that while "[t]he Bo on YouTube is not the Bo we see around here, [...] no one at St. John's is surprised at his creativity or that he's pursuing his dream, which is to make a name for himself." Burnham graduated from St. Johns in Spring 2008.
Burnham applied to
New York University (NYU),
University of Southern California (USC), and
Yale University,
and was accepted to NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts.
[6] Although expected to begin attending in Autumn 2008,
[7] he deferred his enrollment for a year to focus on his burgeoning media career.
[8]
Home-grown music
Burnham was performing skits ("Bo Shows") in his home by age three, and grew up listening to
boomer-generation comedians like
George Carlin and
Richard Pryor.
As detailed by Burnham himself, 2006 was the beginning of what would become his musical comedy career. Rehearsing a play at St. John's that summer, Burnham began writing songs about
teenage angst and debuting them to his fellow high school thespians. He then videotaped himself performing two songs and posted them to the
video-sharing website
YouTube in December 2006,
so that his older brother Pete could watch them from college. While response to his videos on YouTube ("My Whole Family... " and "My 'little' secret...") was initially unexceptional, when they were copied to
Break.com they became an overnight sensation, with
traffic to his videos multiplying over 111 times.
Accompanying himself on
guitar or
electric piano, Burnham continued to release self-described "pubescent musical comedy"
songs and videos online as his fame and recognition grew. Described by
The Boston Globe
's Joseph P. Kahn as "simultaneously wholesome and disturbing, intimate in a folksy-creepy sort of way," Burnham wrote and released
R-rated songs about
white supremacy,
Helen Keller's disabilities,
homosexuality, and more.
All of Burnham's home-released videos were self-recorded in and around his family's home in
Hamilton, Massachusetts, most in his bedroom. Occasionally jokingly addressing his audience in his videos, ("Hello, Internet pedophiles,") Burnham rarely changes
expression or
camera angle while performing—simply setting the video camera on a stack of books.
In Autumn 2007,
Douglas Edley,
talent agent from
The Gersh Agency,
[9] had Burnham recommended to him by his assistant. The next day Edley called Burnham and told him: "I gotta represent you." Said Edley in a February 2008 telephone interview: "He's definitely the youngest comedian I've worked with - he was getting ready for his SATs when I called - but the quality of his writing is amazing."
It was this call from Edley—whom Burnham had initially thought to be "a very advanced
Internet predator"—that was Burnham's wake-up call as to his potential professional success.
In addition to Burnham, Edley also represents several top-tier comedians, including
Drew Carey and
Dave Chappelle.
Career
Compared to
Ben Folds,
Eminem, and
Andrew Dice Clay, Burnham's music and performances tackle such taboo subjects as
race,
gender,
human sexuality, and
sex.
Represented by Douglas Edley, Burnham recorded a performance in
London for Comedy Central's
The World Stands Up
in January 2008 (aired :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq:
( 2008 - -{{padleft:30 T : : )),
and signed a four-record deal with
Comedy Central Records.
[10] Comedy Central Records released Burnham's first EP, the six-song
Bo Fo Sho
, as an
online release-only album on :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq:
( 2008 - -{{padleft:17 T : : ).
Burnham's first full
album, the eponymous
Bo Burnham
, was released by Comedy Central Records on :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq:
( 2009 - -{{padleft:10 T : : ).
[11]
Burnham has performed his music in the United States, including
Cobb's Comedy Club,
YouTube Live in
San Francisco,
Carolines Comedy Club in
New York City,
and internationally in London and Montreal. Burnham describes his on-stage persona as a "more arrogant, stuck-up version [of] himself."
[12] Bo has also received media coverage in magazines such as
Teen Vogue.
[13]
Controversy
Burnham's first experience with controversy regarding his music came on :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq:
( 2009 - - T : : ), when fifteen
Westminster College students (members of the campus'
Gay-Straight Alliance,
Black Students Association,
International Club, and
Cultural Diversity Organization) protested his concert there that evening. Of the controversy, he said, "It's so ironic because
gay bashers were the ones labeling me in high school, [...] I try and write satire that’s well-intentioned. But those intentions have to be hidden. It can't be completely clear and that’s what makes it comedy." The
Columbia Daily Tribune
related that at the end of his Westminster performance, Burnham was approached by a
paraplegic fan. While Burnham was plainly uncomfortable and nervous, given that his music mocks the
handicapped, the young fan instead related a
blonde joke to the teenaged musician. Despite the college's admission that they had booked Burnham while ignorant of his content,
dean of students John Comerford praised the opportunities for discourse the controversy brought the school.
[14]
Film
thumb
While performing at the prestigious
Montreal Just for Laughs festival in 2008,
Burnham met with the award-winning director and producer
Judd Apatow. That September, Burnham negotiated with Universal Pictures to write and create the music for an Apatow-produced comedy film which he describes as the "anti-
High School Musical
",
[15] although Burnham insists the script isn't a parody of the
Disney musicals, but an attempt to emulate the high school he attended. Hoping to star in the film he's writing, Burnham told
Wired
magazine that he's naming the star "Bo" in a "not-so-subtle hint [he] wants to be in it".
[16] In a :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq:
( 2009 - -{{padleft: T : : ) interview with
Boston's Weekly Dig
, Burnham elaborated on his work with the film. When he isn't performing, the teenaged musician spends eight hours a day writing the music, and his nights writing the script, of which he's finished the first draft.
[17] Burnham explained the script-writing opportunity is a boon to his comedy career, as the comedian had been having complications with
censors and learning that his material wasn't well-suited to television. "It would work much better in a 90-minute format."
In :: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq:
( 2009 - -{{padleft: T : : ),
viral marketing began appearing for
Funny People
, in which Burnham stars in a faux
sitcom called
Yo Teach!
. In the "promo", Burnham stars opposite
Jason Schwartzman, as a student in the latter's
English class.
[18]
Performance credits
Discography
- Bo Fo Sho
(2008), Comedy Central Records – Released as an online-only EP
- "Welcome to YouTube" (2008), YouTube - Premiered at YouTube Live in San Francisco, California (November 22, 2008) [19]
- Bo Burnham
(2009), Comedy Central Records - Double-disc set containing the Compact Disc album, and a DVD with his Comedy Central Presents
special, all of his YouTube videos, and other performances
Filmography
- Comedy Central Presents
(:: , {{#ifeq: ({{#ifeq: ( 2009 - -{{padleft:27 T : : )), Himself [20] – s of {{MONTHNAME 2009 [], Burnham is the youngest comedian to be featured thereon [21]
- American Virgin
(2009) [22]
- Funny People
(2009) – Yo Teach!
Cast Member
References
- Teen Comic Signs Hollywood Deal
- Facebook {{pipe}} Bo Burnham just so everyone knows, my birthday is tomorrow. but thanks for the early wishes! you know what would be a great present? 100,000 people on this thing. or i can just shut the fuck up...agreed.
- YouTube - boburnham's Channel
- Nonfamily humor, straight from home
- Singing comic joins Apatow clan
- Young comedian Bo Burnham is heading up charts
- YouTube Star Bo Burnham Readies Debut EP, ''Bo Fo Sho''
- Teenage angst has paid off well for Bo Burnham
- Ready, set … Bo! (Burnham, that is)
- Bo Burnham: Teenaged YouTube star
- COMEDY CENTRAL Records(R) to Release 'Bo Burnham' CD/DVD on March 10
- Internet celebrity pushes envelope in performance
- Comedy Central
- In-your-face comedy
- Rising Star: Bo Burnham, comedy actor
- YouTuber Bo Burnham Scripting New Judd Apatow Movie
- BO BURNHAM
- Funny People Viral Marketing: Yo Teach!
- {{YouTube|W0quDfpfRUQ|welcome to youtube.}}
- Bo-dacious comedy: Hamilton’s Burnham moves from the bedroom to Hollywood
- Bo knows musical comedy
- From YouTube to Hollywood