If you haven’t yet watched Inside, Bo Burnham’s electric new comedy special, drop what you’re doing and go watch it on Netflix. If you need more convincing, you can now get a taste of the just-on-the-edge-of-going-insane energy Burnham brings to Inside with “Welcome to the Internet,†a song from the special that he just posted on YouTube.
Channeling a deranged carnival barker (side note: Cast Bo Burnham as the Balladeer in Assassins plz and ty), he enumerates the wonders of the internet, from “a healthy breakfast option†to “a bunch of colored-pencil drawings of all the different characters in Harry Potter fucking each other.†The offerings crescendo into madness, rave-style lights dance around the room, and Burnham cackles like a witch. It’s a fun, depressing time all around.
“Welcome to the Internet†is the first upload to Burnham’s YouTube channel in almost three years, which is wild when you consider he launched his career with YouTube. It’s actually an interesting companion piece to “Welcome to YouTube,†the song he performed at 2008’s YouTube Live. At the time, Burnham was just 18 and already a little jaded about the platform that made him famous: “Upload a video, you’ve got nothing to lose / Except all of your friends / And the approval of your parents.†Thirteen years later, he seems ready to burn the whole enterprise down.