Hello! I'm comedian Bo Burnham. My new special, 'Make Happy', is out on Netflix. AMA.

Bo, there seem to be a lot of speculation that Make Happy (especially the ending) hinted that you're potentially putting stand-up to bed for a while. Is there any truth to this speculation?

Definitely going to take some time off for a while. I'm a little tired of myself and I'd love to write things for other people. The sort of "goodbye" ending of the special has much heavier reasons for wanting to leave which are a portion of but not the whole reason.

Can we know what this deeper meaning is?

I don't know, CAN YOU?

How much did your role in Parks and Rec as Chipp McCapp influence the pandering country song in Make Happy?

The whole reason I wrote the song was because I had so much fun doing a stupid country voice on Parks. And I felt like I had a different enough angle on skewering country that Mike Schur wouldn't sue me. And looking good so far!

Are you happy?

PASS.

Hey Bo, I went to college with a kid from Hamilton who says that when you were in elementary school together, you stabbed him with a pencil, leaving some graphite that is still there to this day. I always thought he was full of shit. Are you, or are you not, the pencil stabbing comedian?

Edit for some exposure: Here's the Bo Burnham subreddit: /r/boburnham

hahaha! If the person you're talking to is named Jon, then he stabbed HIMSELF with that pencil. I was sick that day and it was tied to his desk because he was always losing his pencils and one day he knocked it off the desk and it stuck into his leg. No joke.

Are you legitimately upset about not being able to fit your hand into a Pringle can?

You know a lot of bullshit pringles apologists have been coming out of the woodwork sending me shit like this. A folded piece of computer paper? Are these people out of their fucking minds?

Lol, computer paper. <3

oh god am i old or something?

Much like good wine, you're overpriced, bottled, and frequently spit out by the French. j/k they swallow

niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

You said in your last Netflix special that it was insanely difficult to put that act together, but people like Louis CK do it on a much more consistent basis and that is insane to you.

My question is, how did you handle your newest special in terms of breaking it up so that the material felt fresh while not burning yourself out?

I loved Make Happy. It was absolute genius in my opinion, thank you for all you do to make people laugh!

Thanks for the kind words! In making this show, I hired some actual tech guys for this first time -- Joe Werner for sound and Chris Galante for lighting. And we basically toured with the exact same production that's in the special. So being able to work and collaborate with them on the road kept things really fresh for me. After every show we'd talk about what cues worked and what didn't - so the tech of the show was able to workshopped just like the material was workshopped. I don't know if this is specifically answering your question or not, but they were great and crucial to the show and kept the material fresh and exciting far longer for me than if I had done it myself.

The lighting and camera angles during the Kanye song were crazy good. I still can't stop thinking about how cinematic your special was.

Thanks dude. Credit for that also has to go to Andrew Wehde, the DP, and Chris Storer, the co-director.

Do you think you might ever write something like Zach Stone again? It was brilliant and I believe if it had been broadcast on a different channel it would never have been cancelled.

Thanks, that's very sweet. Yeah, I'd love to if the right idea comes along. I had a blast making Zach Stone. And MTV sexualizes children! What? Who said that?

Bo, oh my god. Where is the Make Happy album?

Not coming for a while (or maybe at all). There's a bunch of weird legal stuff in the way of making it, which I don't totally mind because I think the show should be watched and heard together. But there's a bunch of audio rips out there that you can download if you want to. Sorry!

Which of all your songs is closest to your heart?

Also love your stuff man. Didn't expect to get emotional during make happy but yeah it was fantastic

The Kanye bit at the end of this last special is the one I think I’m happiest with. There’s no need to go into specifics, but after my last special ‘what.’, I started to have panic attacks while on stage, and it made performing really stressful and terrifying for a little while. And so I wanted to try to find a way to talk about that. It’s the bit I’m most proud of because it came from something I was pretty ashamed of and didn’t even really want to admit to myself. And performing it actually made me feel less anxious because now my anxiety was part of the show. Rather than being this anvil hanging over my head on stage that could drop at any moment, this thing I had to just ignore and power through, it became part of the story. Once I gave it a purpose it receded a bit. A bit.

You're so Brave™, Bo. I'm glad you finally let us hear you Roar™.

Welcome to my hell.

Just like your last special, "what", you had a joke just for the Netflix live version. What did you tell the audience during you taking the sweater off?

I did that part during the encore of the second show when everything was done. I just told them I was gonna fuck around and try something and this won't make sense but it'll take 10 seconds. I've been surprised how few people have noticed the continuity error though. The editor didn't notice it and he watched it 50 times.

Do you consciously try to evolve with each progressive special or do you think that each is just a reflection of who you are at the time of recording?

Great question! I think it's much more a reflection of me at the time. My three specials happened when I was 19, 22 and 25 - and I think that's a time when everyone is sort of figuring out what they think about things and changing their minds every six months. So I try to just embrace that.

I really love this acknowledgement because every time you release something I'm a little bit different and older and (maybe) wiser. I'm really keen on your content because I feel like I've done so much growing up with it, as cliche as that sounds. I like that this art or comedy, or whatever the fuck it'll be, is constantly evolving with you and us even though we are consistently separate.

thanks dude. Yeah I'd like to think there are people who are cringing at my older stuff like I am but can like the stuff I do now. And we can all cringe at this stuff later when we're older and wiser.

I caught the celeri but dropped the beet

Musical genius right there already, don't worry

shivers

You stated you wanted to start writing material for people other than yourself (IE other people who sing better than you) -- do you have an ideal medium preference for that? Standup? TV? Movie?

(Also-- I was Ian's assistant who helped record Words Words Words at Caroline's! Hey!)

Hey man! It's been 6 years, hope you're well. I'd love to write a musical. It'd be so great to be able to write songs from people who are built to perform. I have to write songs for my limited range and lung capacity. I'd also love to write a song for demi lovato or something. All the top 40 songs have such awful lyrics for no reason. It'd be nice to have some cool/weird ones that are phrased well.

Bo, I'm the same age as you and i've been watching your work since high school when you were a brand new Youtube sensation.

Every special you put out seems to resonate very strongly with me and where I have been mentally throughout the years, and Make Happy was no exception.

There's a bit in the new special about you simply being an overpaid service industry professional, and I've also heard you say similar remarks in interviews. I think that is ludicrous. Your show is so much more than simply a "comedy special" - you blend comedy with real, raw emotions (whether staged or genuine) and speaks to people in a much stronger way than a "typical" comedian does.

As someone who has personally gone through depression, I cried at the end of your new special. I replayed that last bit literally 8-10 times that day. There's not a lot of entertainers, in any industry, that can connect on such a direct, pure emotional level with people in that way.

I hope that, whatever work you do in the future, you continue to be yourself and produce the content that you think you should produce. I don't know Bo (ha) but (based on the service-industry comment) I feel like you do not give yourself enough credit for the voice you have and the real connection you have to your audience.

Do you have any ideas or plans on where or what you want to do next?

Thank you, this is very thoughtful and kind. I'm sorry to hear you've struggled with depression, I never have, and wouldn't claim to, but I've had people in my life who have and I've dealt with separate feelings of anxiety. The truth is, about the "service industry" comment, is I don't see that as a slam. Or a downplay. I think it's a wonderful thing to be of service to other people. And entertainers should try to see themselves as in the service industry. We're hear to give people something. That's a good thing I think. And who knows what's next! Just sort of cooling off from this. Thanks again for the thoughtful comment. Very appreciated.

what have you been doing with yourself post make happy?

Hanging with my dumb dog and trying to get this weird little movie made maybe. I've also started exercising in an attempt to finally become a man!

How hard is it making and finding friends and girlfriends because of your stage persona? How do they react to you out of character?

It's hard making girlfriends because of my current girlfriend. But making friends, no. I have a small group of friends that I've known for a long time (before all this started). And most of my friends I think are more surprised by me "in character" than "out of". I'm not like I am on stage in real life. I hope to god I'm not that'd be awful.

Who are your favourite pianists?

Oh god I'm a hack I have no idea. Schroeder?

What's the mark on your face from?

http://i.imgur.com/EWN1Hg3.png

From birth. The first thing you're supposed to see when a baby comes out is the top of its head. I came out FACE FIRST. That is a scar from my mother's pelvic bone smacking me in the face. Need any more deets about my mom's pussy?

Hey Bo,

Saw you in Toronto and you told the audience to collectively crack their knuckles.

Did you do that for the show in New York? Why was it cut?

Hope you're happy. You're very intelligent and hilarious.

That was something I actually saw done in a video posted here. So I didn't really come up with it so I wouldn't want to put it in the special. But it was fun to do every night.

Hey Bo! Thanks for doing this AMA! You've said you like to keep a big difference between your real self and your 'on-stage' persona, but do you feel you sort of combined the two near the end of Make Happy?

Yeah, I think so, in a way. I mean it's still a very exaggerated, very concentrated, very dramatized version of a real emotion. I think people tend to latch on to the "serious" stuff as more "truthful," but it's all the same sort of weird version of honesty for me. I don't know, it's tough to explain and I don't really have a good answer for it. A lot of it was just about what felt right more than, okay, now I'm gonna hit em with the fucking TRUTH.

Hey Bo, I met a girl at a bar in NYC who said she gave you a bj in high school because she knew you were going to be famous. Thought you'd get a kick out of that. How was it?

Non-existent!

Who is your girlfriend?

Nunya!

Nunya who's that?

NUNYA BUSINESS! YAY! WE DID IT!

For those of us who have watched Make Happy a few hundred times already, and have seen all your other stuff, can you toss up the names of a some comedians that you think are great that we don't know about?

Sam Simmons, Hans Teeuwen, Stewart Lee, Tim Minchin, Bill Bailey, Kate Berlant, Jerrod Carmichael.

How does it feel knowing that most people can see up your nostrils?

Horrifying. I have a deviated septum and it is on full display and I would like to drink bleach please.

What are some of your favorite creators/creative products from this year? Comedy, Movies, Music, Books, Articles, Websites whatever.

Really, really love the new Radiohead album. This movie The Lobster. A great book by Douglas Rushkoff called Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus (Douglas Rushkoff is so brilliant I feel like reddit would love him and yet I never see his stuff posted here). Thought Louis' Horace and Pete was a pretty special thing. What about you?

Make Happy has been my recommendation of choice for the last several weeks. Beyond that I really liked Ali Wong's Netflix special, David Bazan's new Album Blanco, The majority of the stuff coming out of Slate and The Ringer. Oh and WNYC's "On the Media" is on a tear right now. Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone are killing it.

Sweet. I'll check out that David Bazan album. Never heard of him but the previews sounded killer.

Bo, do you remember being kicked off stage at the Hamilton-Wenham Community Center during your first performance? My band opened for you that night. So, that was pretty great.

hahaha! yes! The woman in the blue dress did it!

What's the most ridiculously over-offended response you've ever had to a joke/song?

I don't know, you know I feel like people, for the most part, have a good sense of humor. Comedians bitch a lot about everyone being so PC and not being able to take a joke but it's like we get up on stage and talk for an hour non-stop. Once in a while people say some shit back. It's all good with me. Except when asians do it.

什么他妈的你他妈的刚才说我，你这小婊子？我会让你知道我毕业了我班的顶部的海豹突击队，我已经参与了许多秘密袭击的基地组织，和我有超过300证实杀死。我在训练的大猩猩战，我在整个美国军队的最高狙击手。你是我什么都不是，但只是一个目标。我会消灭你他妈的精度喜欢哪一个从未见过在这个地球上，记住我的话他妈的。你以为你可以逃脱说狗屎我在互联网上？再想想，笨蛋。在我们发言，我联系我的秘密横跨美国间谍网络和IP被追踪作为现在让您风暴，蛆更好的准备。这抹了你打电话

300 you say?

Bo, when is the worst time you have had to kick someone out of a show? I was at the Baltimore show in November when you had to have that guy removed.

Thanks for being super entertaining and stuff.

There was a drunk guy that wondered on stage in atlanta and sat at my keyboard. That was strange. I think I told him to kill himself or something, not my finest hour. And appreciate the kind words dude!

Video if anyone's curious. Not his finest moment, but still the heckler's fault. I remember when this was posted people were shitting on Bo, making it clear they've never been to a comedy show.

Also like, I wasn't totally "safe." I was most concerned with just getting the guy out of there, more than doing some sort of subtle take down of him.

is the kanye rant as deep as i perceive it to be?

DEEPER.

What is the worst thing that an audience member has done during a show?

Shot everybody. At my show? I don't know, texted?

I have looked up to you for years and I love performing and everything that comes with it. What is some advice you can give for young performers to get themselves out there?

You know I sort of fell into an audience at a young age because I went #VIRAL so any advice I’d give on starting out building a career would be silly as I got very lucky very early. But I do think there’s a lot working against young people who are wanting to make things right now, and they are things I’ve struggled with and continue to struggle with and I don’t feel are talked about enough. Everyone talks about how great these new internet distribution models are—and they are, they’re more democratic and from the bottom and up and they allow people to be in control of how they share their work with others—but I also think they create really toxic impulses. Brand-building, self-promotion. These are fine things to do once you’ve actually worked hard enough to get good enough where you can make something worthy of being shared. But it should never be a starting point. The first step when starting out should always be to get as good as you possibly can at the thing you’re doing. Learn a ton, try different things, challenge yourself, fuck up, learn more. And I’m not saying this to say “fuck success, do the work”—I really do believe that good work is the best promotion—that if you want to have your thing seen by a lot of people, the best chance you have is to make it as good as possible. In getting an audience early, I realized how incredibly fluky and volatile people’s attention was. And that trying to control it directly was impossible. The only thing I ever have had control of was the actual work. And for me, the corny truth at the center of it is that you should try to follow your impulse to GIVE something to people, not the impulse to get something from them. I try to tell myself to just shut the fuck up and work hard on something that I think is good and important and make it as good as I can and when I’m done with it, share it. Self-promotion should be the last step, not the first. But also I got super lucky and didn’t have to promote myself so I’m a bit of a privileged hypocrite – but like that self-branding shit is pretty gross and I just think like makes you feel icky and unsatisfied and I don’t think leads to happiness even when it works. But making things is fun. So make stuff! Hope that made any sense.

Are you still wrestling with the possibility of pursuing a degree, or is that in the past now?

I'd love to take some classes. I wouldn't know what to do with a degree but I have plenty of things I'd like to learn more about.

Are you going to be writing another book?

I'd love to, yeah! I'm paranoid about being another piece of shit pseudo-celebrity killing the book industry and taking up the shelf space of writers who've worked their entire lives to write books. Sorry passionate, hard-working people!

What the heck is this?

what the fuck? oh god. that's definitely not happening.

So my one claim to fame is when I fixed your iPhone when you were in Richmond, VA. Thank you. Although I ment to ask what were you doing even doing there?

ha! I remember you, thank you. I was in town for a college show. And thanks for telling me where the 7-eleven was.

What's your stance on straight marriage?

It's gay.

Would you ever collaborate with Tim Minchin? If so, any ideas?

I'm friends with Tim and we've talked about it. If there's something that works for both of us we'd love to. He's scary good.

Bo do you eat ass?

You bet your sweet ass I do.

I love you, no homo.

On another note, would you let me suck your dick?

But wait, you said, wait, hold on, wait.

Are STAX cans any easier to fit your hands into?

I'm too intimidated by the very cool, hip spelling of stax to even approach them.

Did your dad like your new special?

Too much. He needs to chill.

You were one of the first comedians I really began to follow, and I remember distinctly assuming that every comedian was both funny, and poignant; that every comedian would have an "Art is Dead", or "Are You Happy". Was it always your intention to create comedy that had an ulterior motive, so to speak, or was it just part of the process that organically led to content like that?

I think a lot of comedians have vulnerable or slightly more serious moments. I just think because my stuff is musical and theatrical it tends to announce it's seriousness a little more obviously when it goes there. But I don't know how it really started. I tried it out a little at first and the audience seemed to dig it so I just kept pursuing it.

I think a lot of comedians have vulnerable or slightly more serious moments. I just think because my stuff is musical and theatrical it tends to announce it's seriousness a little more obviously when it goes there. But I don't know how it really started. I tried it out a little at first and the audience seemed to dig it so I just kept pursuing it.

I really enjoyed the NPR segment on your mother and her important work. Was there ever a time you considered going into medicine?

No, I don't have the strength for that stuff. But I'm so glad you liked that segment, my mother is a very special person!

Also Jesus is this your 5th account? did you really forget the password to the last one again?

Yes, I'm sorry.

Hi Bo! Why do you say "sorry" so many times in Make Happy? It's an alarming amount haha. Is it a subconscious thing? Also what's your favorite Kanye song?

hahaha I think 'sorry' is probably a good subtitle for the show. And I'm all about waves right now.

why did you take a dark approach at the end of Make Happy?

I weirdly thought I was making a happy ending. I wasn't trying to be dark or heavy, I was just trying to speak honestly about what I was feeling. And it's not that everything up until that point was a lie and now I'm showing you the darkness of my soul - I just wanted to fill the thing out emotionally. Cause everyone I think feels happy and sad and bored and anxious and I wanted to try to make the show feel that way.

Any chance of seeing more of Zach Stone in the future?

Maybe! Who knows. I always thought he'd be a fun person to check in on 10 years later and see what he's like.

Bo, what's a good song you'd recommend? I need something new to listen to.

GMF

Hi Bo! Can you tell us what is the hardest thing about being you? I'm sure you have so many pressures to just perform, but what else in your real life do you struggle with? (Btw, I have been watching you since the you tube days, you have definitely made a great difference for me on my bad days. Always know you have been a positive influence on a lot of people I'm sure)

Oh boy! Very cool, low key questions. I think it's probably similar to what other people struggle with -- trying to be present and kind and not angry at everything all the time and be a little more patient? I don't know, I think the internet is killing us. I pee sitting down now so I can look at my phone. Please send help.

Can you give us your take on the meaning of Make Happy's ending?

I LOVE MY DOG.

How does your girlfriend handle your fame? It must be a little unnerving to know that probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other girls want you.

Also, has your fame reached the point where people are constantly bugging you in public? As much as I would love to shake the hands of some celebrities if I saw them, I know I would feel bad because they have to deal with that constantly.

It's not really a problem. This isn't being fake humble: I'm really not that famous at all. I think I'm known to a small core of people, which is cool, but my day-to-day life isn't really affected. A few people might come up to me once in a while, but it's not like I can't be in public.

Will you ever go back and do Pete Holmes podcast again?

I hope to! Pete's shooting his HBO show now but hopefully when he's done. Pete's the greatest.

Bo, will you be performing the show in England at any time? Or doing shows of any kind or over here?

Nothing in the near future. Scheduling stuff didn't work out so I wasn't able to perform Make Happy over there which really bummed me out. But I don't mind that people get to see the special completely fresh. That's a plus.

Did you give Bruce the dog cookie I gave you in Birmingham?

yes, he's dead now bitch.

what is your all time favorite heckler story, bo?

one show, no one heckled.

I'm terrified to follow my passion. Everyone keeps telling me that it won't make me enough money or that it's an industry that's impossible to get into, but cinematography and creative directing are my two favorite things to do. Any advice on how to get out there and be confident in decision making and following your heart? Also side question, what's your favorite band? Hope you're doing well. Thank you for Make Happy 💜

I'd say try as hard as you can to ground your own happiness in the work you do. Making things and challenging yourself and getting better is a very rewarding thing, and that's something that you can do regardless of the amount of success you achieve -- especially in your field of interest, cameras are getting really cheap and really efficient, we shot the opening and closing of my special on those new little sony 4ks that look amazing. So I don't really have a solution for success and I can't say that the industry isn't impossible to get into, but I do think the work, the actual rewarding part of it, is available to you at any time. So I'd say try to allocate as much of your mental space to that. Good luck with it! And radiohead for a band!

As you stated in your special, you like artists like Kendrick Lamar. Which is your favorite song of his?

Probably "Thong Song."