THE INSIDE OUTTAKES (2022)

Bo Burnham’s comedy/musical/drama/confessional/documentary INSIDE was one of the highlights of 2021. Perfectly silly, devastatingly honest, and alarmingly relatable, the Netflix special is probably the perfect encapsulation of how things have felt the past two+ years with COVID-19 still ravaging the world and new efforts made in the pursuit of social justice. The mixture of a teetering mental health and the absurdity of online living resulted in a plaintive call for community amidst being totally isolated from, yet inextricably connected to, others.

A year later and Burnham is back with over an hour of outtakes from the making of that special. As noted in the description: “filmed from march 2020-may 2021. edited from april 2022-may 2022.” These outtakes include brand new songs, alternate takes of previously released material, and lots of behind the scenes footage. Watching Burnham struggling to construct his masterpiece, and maintain some semblance of well-being, is recognizable for all of us that continue to try to navigate this weird liminal space where a pandemic rages on but it’s somehow become background noise. The performances are terrific, too; though you can see why some are cut, whether for time or because it would’ve robbed other, better moments of their impact. A new deluxe album edition of INSIDE is coming soon, complete with all of these additional bits. But for now, enjoy THE INSIDE OUTTAKES.

(Please note: the video is only available to watch on YouTube (via the link below). But this is too great an occasion to not write about.)