Bo Burnham has become a household name after the release of his 2020 comedy special, Inside.
Although this may be many people’s first time hearing Burnham’s music, he has been writing music since he was 16 and has worked with Comedy Central since he was 17.
Since his rise in fame, Burnham has not slowed down, putting on shows all over the world since 2008.
His unique satirical style of musical comedy has always made him stand out from the rest of the crowd.
What Is Bo Burnham’s Net Worth?
Bo Burnham has a net worth of $4 million, which he has been able to earn through his music, comedy sketches, acting, and his early internet career on YouTube.
Despite being only 31 years old, he has more credits to his name than most and has worked an extensive career.
Born on August 21st, 1990, Bo Burnham, whose real name is Robert Pickering Burnham, was the youngest of three children.
His mother, Patricia Burnham, was a hospice care nurse and his father, Scott Burnham, was the owner of a construction company.
Living in such a busy household, Bo Burnham used to perform his comedy skits as early as the age of three for family and friends’ attention.
Some of the earliest influences on Burnham’s comedy were George Carlin and Richard Pryor.
In high school, Burnham discovered his love of theater and ministry, deciding to join the appropriate clubs at Saint John’s Preparatory School.
This helped him get used to performing for people other than his family or friends.
Bo Burnham first became popular on YouTube, thanks to his musical comedy sketches.
Although it wasn’t his intention to become popular on the internet, his songs and sketches were still a major hit.
Spotting his talent early on, Comedy Central knew that they needed to sign this young talent as fast as they could before someone else could snatch him up.
With help from Comedy Central, Burnham was able to put out multiple albums and comedy sketches.
Bo Burnham saw another major boost in popularity when he released a series of Netflix comedy specials.
With each special, Burnham seemed to attract more fans.
Being a comedian who is never afraid to reference current situations, part of Burnham’s success came with his melancholic outlook and lack of fear to speak his mind freely.
His Years On YouTube
In 2006, Bo Burnham posted his first video on YouTube called My Whole Family, which he only posted online to show his older brother who no longer lived at home.
It was December of 2006 when Burnham uploaded the video to the site, which was before it had reached anywhere close to the level of popularity it has now.
Back then, having a YouTube page was just seen the same way that having an Instagram or Facebook page.
Burnham had no idea that his homemade videos would ever go viral or amass any popularity.
During his early years, he wrote many satirical songs about the most awkward years of his life.
His music has never shied away from being too personal or going too far.
To write music, Bo Burnham would use his guitar and piano.
In the song High School Party, Burnham reminisces over the massive parties he was never invited to as a teenager.
Another one of his early songs is a love song to Hellen Keller called The Perfect Woman.
His YouTube videos quickly became viral and young fans from around the world devoted their time to learning the lyrics of his songs and showing the videos to their friends.
During his time on YouTube, Bo Burnham referred to his music as “pubescent musical comedy”.
Not everyone was excited about Bo Burnham’s presence on YouTube, often mistaking his satirical remarks for serious opinions that Burnham had.
Bo Burnham and people that knew him had to make it clear that Burnham was often being sarcastic and poking fun at the people who genuinely believed and agreed with what he was saying, something he picked up from the late George Carlin.
His clear popularity on YouTube led to him touring for years, even before Comedy Central picked him up.
His Comedy Tours
Bo Burnham began touring in 2008 and didn’t stop moving a muscle until 2018.
For the past decade, Burnham has been an entertainment powerhouse, both live and in the studio.
Burnham’s show was the All Points West Festival in 2008, where he played alongside artists such as Coldplay, Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, Sia, My Bloody Valentine, and many more popular acts of the time.
The show took place in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Burnham’s set included My Whole Family, Bo Fo’ Sho, High School Party, I’m Bo Yo, Love Is, Men and Women, and Umbrella.
Shortly after the festival, Burnham had a show with Brian Posehn at Legion Field at the University of Georgia.
Within the same week, Burnham was off to the Hudson Theater in New York City for a show with Dan Levy.
He joined the Kransky Sisters and Big Joke for the Three Bags Full Tour in London, England.
In 2009, he won the Bamboozle Festival at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Performing a similar set to his previous shows with new additions, Burnham was quickly gaining more recognition at this point thanks to his deal with Comedy Central Records.
Burnham was one of the most anticipated acts at the festival, even while he was playing long acts like Sum 41, All Time Low, Owl City, and Fall Out Boy.
He would later come back to the festival in 2011.
In 2014, Bo Burnham performed at the Festival Supreme, along with other famous musical comedy artists.
The performer list includes Tenacious D, Cheech & Chong, Drunk History, Norm McDonald, and the Protomen.
Burnham has also gone on tour for his first two Netflix comedy specials.
Due to the pandemic, he hasn’t toured for the most recent one.
Bo Burnham With Comedy Central
In January of 2008, Bo Burnham was asked to record one of his London performances for Comedy Central’s The World Stands Up.
Being only 17 years old at the time, Bo Burnham became the youngest person to ever be on the show or record a comedy sketch for Comedy Central.
This young age and amazing reception from audiences around the world earned the young musical comedian a recording deal with Comedy Central for four albums.
The first they released was Burnham’s extended playlist with only six songs, including tracks such as Bo fo’ Sho’, High School Party, Sunday School, My Whole Family, and a couple of others.
The album was only sold online, but it still saw more sales than the record label was expecting, thanks to the loyalty of Bo Burnham’s fans.
However, not everyone was pleased with the album that Burnham had released.
While performing in London, the Westminster College student activist groups protested his show for his usage of homophobic and racial slurs.
The young Bo Burnham found the situation hilarious and prompted him to remind the protesting students that the school didn’t endorse any of the opinions spoken about from the show, but they did pay him.
In 2010, Bo Burnham released his first recorded one-hour stand-up special, titled Words, Words, Words.
The special was recorded in May of that year and released that October.
His performance in Words, Words, Words won him the Edinburgh Comedy Awards Panel Prize, for “the show or act who has most captured the comedy spirit of the 2010 Fringe.”
Later in 2010, he wrote, executive produced, and starred in Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous.
However, the series was not picked up for a second season and ended production in 2013.
What was one of the last specials before his Netflix success.
The Netflix Specials
What was Bo Burnham’s first special since signing with Comedy Central.
The special aired on both Netflix and YouTube in December 2013.
Appearing on YouTube meant that it didn’t cost his fans with an internet connection a penny to see the special.
Instead, Bo Burnham relied on his fanbase to buy his album for him and Comedy Central to make money.
This ended up being an excellent move on their part, as the show has continued to do exceptionally well on Netflix to this day.
In June of 2016, Burnham and Comedy Central released a follow-up special, called Make Happy.
In this special, Burnham goes over everything from how the diameter of a Pringles can needs to be larger to how Chipotle employees need to warn you when you overstuff your burrito.
During the special, Burnham takes jabs at the country music industry by creating a country song that “appeals to every demographic” and how too many rappers were relying too heavily on auto-tune.
In 2017, he co-created a special with Jerrod Carmichael in Jerrod Carmichael: 8.
Carmichael had acted as a role model and peer for the young Burnham, so being able to co-create and co-direct Jerrod Carmichael’s special was an honor for them both.
In 2018, Burnham directed Chris Rock’s comedy special Tambourine.
The extended cut that was released took Burnham’s name out of the credits, along with personal touches he’d made to the special.
In 2021, Burnham released Inside.
He filmed his most recent comedy special from home and by himself, recording his feelings during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Inside won Bo Burnham his first Emmy awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Music Direction, and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special.
Many of his songs have become even more popular thanks to TikTok.
Bo Burnham In Film
Bo Burnham has been performing on television since 2009 when he started appearing on Yo Teach!
It was a mini television show that only had six episodes and Bo Burnham appeared in the episodes EPK, MC Shakespeare, Cyber Bullying, and Ca’ Shawn Is Pregnant.
In the Adam Sandler movie Funny People, Bo Burnham appears in the show as a cast member of his old show.
He can also be spotted as the bartender in the 2011 movie, Hall Pass.
One of Bo Burnham’s first major roles was Rudy in American Virgin.
The movie was released in 2009 and stars Rob Schneider, Jenna Dewan, and Brianne Davis.
In 2012, Bo Burnham starred alongside Michael Seater and Emily Meade in their comedy Adventures in the Sin Bin.
However, the movie had less than great reception.
During the 2013 run of Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous, Bo Burnham was the star of the show that he wrote and executively produced.
The show only had one season of 12 episodes before it was denied another season.
On the popular show Parks and Recreation, Burnham played a guest character named Chipp McCapp on the episode Flu Season 2.
He also appeared on two episodes of Kroll Show, which was a comedy show featuring a line of characters played by Nick Kroll.
Burnham’s character on the fellow comedian’s show is named Diz and appears in the episodes The Time of My Life and The Commonwealth Games.
Nick Kroll’s show isn’t the only guest star appearance Burnham has made.
He also played Lyle in A Cappella Club on Key and Peele.
Burnham has even appeared on children’s shows like We Bare Bears where he played Andy Bangs, a koala who is also an online celebrity.
Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade
When Bo Burnham announced that he was making a movie, nobody expected it to be as emotional and heart-tugging as it was.
Eighth Grade is an allegorical film, in which Burnham decided to represent the anxious feelings of his younger self through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl.
Middle school is oftentimes the worst part of school while growing up.
You and your friends are changing rapidly, everyone is insecure, and some unfortunate souls begin to feel the heavy weight of bullying and social anxiety it can bring.
The entire movie is about dealing with anxiety, despite not showing in public at all.
The story follows Kayla, an 8th grader who posts advice videos on YouTube.
When the camera turns off, Kayla breaks down into an anxious wreck.
Bo Burnham decided to have the main character be a young girl because he believed she’d be a lot easier for the audience to feel empathetic for, rather than a 25-year-old man.
Burnham had tried selling the script around Hollywood since 2014, but a movie about anxiety was a hard sell.
What made it even more difficult for it to be produced was the fact that Burnham wanted to direct it himself.
After the Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous situation, investors were concerned about the movie’s success.
The movie only had a $2 million budget and 27 days to shoot.
Due to the minor actors being on set, the crew couldn’t work for more than nine hours a day.
During filming, the crew and cast stayed in a large house where they’d cook dinner together and watch Elsie Fisher, who plays Kayla, and her brother play Mario Kart.
The movie was a success and even earned a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It also made $13.5 million worldwide.
The Future Of Burnham
Bo Burnham is only 31 years old and has been able to accomplish so much in his career, which started before he even graduated high school.
In 14 years, he has put on hundreds of live shows, created multiple comedy sketches, made the switch from television to film, and has written and directed his own movie.
Burnham has proven time and time again that he is capable of being the next legend in comedy, using the inspiration that he gathered from Richard Pryor and George Carlin.
Despite all that he has done, Bo Burnham shows no signs of slowing down.
As of 2021, Burnham is recording music for the Sesame Street movie, where he is currently solely credited as a “composer”.
While no one has specified whether Burnham’s vocals will appear in the movie, the compositions are supposedly going to be sung by Anne Hathaway.
Bo Burnham was set to play Larry Bird in HBO Max’s series about the Los Angeles Lakers, but composing the music for the Sesame Street movie has proved to be the bigger focus for Burnham.
No matter what Bo Burnham decides to do, you know that it will be memorable.
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