what.

For other uses, see What (disambiguation).

what.
Live album by Bo Burnham
Released	December 17, 2013 (2013-12-17)
Genre	Comedy
Length	1:15:56
Label	Comedy Central Records
Producer	Bo Burnham, Christopher Storer
Bo Burnham chronology
Words, Words, Words (2010) what. (2013) Inside (The Songs) (2021)

what. (also called Bo Burnham: what.) is a 2013 stand-up comedy routine and album by American comedian and musician Bo Burnham. It is his first show following his 2010 comedy special Words Words Words. Like the majority of Burnham's live work, the show consists of musical comedy, prop comedy, miming, observational jokes, and the inversion of established comedy clichés. It received positive reviews.

The live performance debuted at the Regency Ball Room in San Francisco on December 17, 2013, while the album is derived from a live performance of the same set at the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to the live performance, the album has five studio tracks: "Repeat Stuff", "Eff", "Nerds", "Channel 5: The Musical", and "Hell of a Ride". Unlike the other tracks, "Repeat Stuff" was performed during the live show (as a piano-only version) and was later released as a single with a music video. what. was released on YouTube and Netflix on December 17, 2013, and the album was released via iTunes the next day.

Background

Burnham rose to fame for posting songs on his YouTube page with satirical, funny, and offensive slants. He signed to Comedy Central Records and released his debut EP, Bo fo Sho, in 2008. He released his debut album, Bo Burnham, in 2009. He toured extensively during this time, gathering material for his first official Comedy Central stand-up hour. Words Words Words was recorded in 2010 at the House of Blues in Boston and received acclaim. Burnham later published a New York Times Best Selling book of poetry titled Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone and wrote and starred in the mockumentary series Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous on MTV.

Burnham spent three years writing what., which was released on YouTube and Netflix for free on December 17, 2013, with money Burnham made from touring used to finance the special. The YouTube video has over 24 million views as of August 2022. Burnham experienced 12 panic attacks while touring for what. but had never had panic attacks prior to this. This influenced the writing of his next stand-up performance, Make Happy (2016), after which he quit live comedy until returning with Inside (2021).

Album

what. was released by Comedy Central Records as a download on both Amazon and the iTunes Store on December 17, 2013. The album features five new studio songs: "Repeat Stuff", "Eff", "Nerds", "Channel 5: The Musical", and "Hell of a Ride". Unlike the other tracks, "Repeat Stuff" was performed during the live show (as a piano-only version) and was later released as a single with a music video which has gained over 16 million YouTube views as of October 2021.

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Intro"	9:29
2.	"Sad"	4:23
3.	"I F--k Sl--ts"	3:21
4.	"WDIDLN?"	1:56
5.	"Left Brain, Right Brain"	6:34
6.	"#deep"	4:04
7.	"Beating Off in A Minor"	2:30
8.	"Poems"	3:27
9.	"From God's Perspective"	4:21
10.	"Andy the Frog"	3:13
11.	"Out of the Abyss"	3:40
12.	"Repeat Stuff"	5:21
13.	"We Think We Know You"	6:54
14.	"Repeat Stuff" (Studio)	4:58
15.	"Eff" (Studio)	2:50
16.	"Nerds" (Studio)	3:26
17.	"Channel 5: The Musical" (Studio)	4:32
18.	"Hell of a Ride" (Studio)	4:24

Analysis

The special has a subtle theme throughout of Nihilism, which is made slightly more obvious later in the show. For example, in a sketch near to the beginning of the show, Burnham tells the audience that 'art is a lie, nothing is real'. Later, in the song 'From God's Perspective', he tells the audience that 'you're not going to heaven' and that they're 'not [God's'] children, [they're] a bad game of Sims', implying that the world has no real meaning or significance. Towards the end of Burnham's parodic children's story 'Andy the Frog', the protagonist Andy is eaten alive by a crocodile while screaming 'There's no God is there? Is there? Fuck! Fuck!'. Burnham immediately closes the book and states factually 'The End', implying that there is no afterlife waiting after death, and that Andy was correct. He also tells the audience that 'the moral of the story is irrelevant, we're humans, it's about a [frog], why would it apply to us?', again implying a lack of meaning. Finally, in the show's finale, 'We Think We Know You', Burnham points to the ceiling, which in the context of the song should let the audience hear the voice of God. Instead, we hear the sound of crickets chirping, again implying that there is no God, and therefore no meaning.

However, there is also a theme of Optimistic Nihilism and/or Existentialism. For example, in the opening scene of the special, Burnham repeatedly shouts 'Magic isn't real, you idiot', at an audience member, implying Nihilism, but then asks 'Or is it?'. A pre-recorded voice narrates that 'At that moment, Bo's twenty-year old cynicism melted into childlike wonder. He never knew there could be so much magic in the world. it's a world of possibilities, Bo. What do you want to do first? [...] Fly? yeah, you can fly.' In this segment, particularly the parts in bold, Burnham implies that there could be meaning in the world, but we must look for it, or make it ourselves - it will not be created for us by a God. Another example of this is that, towards the end of the song 'From God's Perspective', Burnham sings 'You pray so badly for heaven, knowing any day might be the day that you die, but maybe life on earth could be heaven - doesn't just the thought of it make it worth a try?'. Again, he implies that although there is no heaven waiting for us, we can create our own meaning and purpose on Earth. Finally, in the opening scene of the show, Burnham reads a book while a robotic voice tells him that 'You will die alone - and you will deserve it. But in the meantime, you might as well tell those silly jokes of yours - see if that helps'. Burnham then begins performing. Again, this implies that there is no inherent meaning to life, and regardless of what choices we make, we will all die anyway, and so there is no point in doing anything - but equally there's no point in not doing anything.

There is also a running theme of the relationship between the performer and the audience, which Burnham later expands on in Make Happy (2016) and Inside (2021). He conveys this relationship as one of inherent dishonesty from the performer, creating a slight mistrust between himself and his own audience in the show. He also generally conveys the performer-audience relationship as a parasocial relationship in which the audience never truly knows the performer. For example, near the start of the show, Burnham tricks the audience twice into thinking the show has gone wrong, before immediately revealing that both 'mistakes' were planned and part of the show, telling them that 'art is a lie, nothing is real'. In the CD (but not in the Netflix special, as it was improvised), an audience member shouts 'I love you', to which Burnham replies 'You don't love me, you love the idea of me, it's called a parasocial relationship, it goes one-way and it's ultimately destructive, but please - keep buying my shit forever'. Near the end of the show, Burnham performs the song, 'Repeat Stuff' which details how many modern love songs are written purely for the purpose of emotionally manipulating the audience, typically made up of teenage girls, into developing feelings for the artist, ultimately to make the artist and the record label large amounts of money, with no concern for the negative impact created by this. Finally, in the show's finale, 'We Think We Know You', Burnham gives three example of people who think they know Bo Burnham (a stereotypical 'popular girl' from Burnham's old high school, an agent from Los Angeles, and a 'jock boy'), but in reality know virtually nothing about him.

Reception

Reception to what. has been positive. Mark Monahan of The Telegraph writes, "If his Edinburgh debut was more impressive than it was laugh-out-loud funny, this lightning-fast, constantly wrong-footing, even more ambitious follow-up is supremely both", and gave the show 5 out of 5 stars. Brian Logan of The Guardian gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, describing it as a "full-frontal assault of music and meta-comedy that leaves you gasping for air", with "not a line out of place, nor one that isn't in there for destabilising comic effect", though Logan noted that "Burnham's comedy has a depressive streak, and his material is often base". Another writer in The Guardian summarised the show by writing, "Burnham mixes the utterly base with the sophisticated, meshing hip-hop-influenced songs that reference Shakespeare, and feature plenty of dick jokes." Jason Zinoman of the New York Times writes that the show has a "manic satirical style", which is "ambitious, and sometimes inspired" but contains "a tension at the core of this show that remains unresolved".

Chart positions

what. debuted on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart at position #2, on January 4, 2014, peaking at #1 on January 18, 2014, and remaining on the chart for 77 weeks. It was on the Independent Albums chart for 4 weeks, peaking at position #31. what. had first week sales of 10,000 copies.

External links

• what. on YouTube
• what. at Netflix
• Soundtrack of Bo Burnham: what. at IMDb