Bo Burnham: what

Bo Burnham's first hour-long special what has been on Netflix for around two years now and I can not think of a more fitting name for it.

I started watching it when it first came out and was immediately turned off. If you're not familiar with Burnham, he first rose to popularity on YouTube as a teenager with some wholly original, if strange, comedy. I really didn't like his YouTube stuff so I was not coming into this with high hopes.

I really didn't like what the first time I watched it, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. I went back to watch it and it has become one of my favourite stand-up specials to listen to whenever.

To be fair, it's closer to a one-man show or performance art than conventional stand-up, but it is safe to say you won't find anything quite like this on Netflix.

He does weird joke songs like "Hashtag Deep", weird tongue-in-cheek parody poems like "I F**k Sluts", and his opening and finale bits are quasi-pantomime bits set to strangely specific music.

If you like comedy that's not traditional brick-wall stand-up, and think you have a brain that can process the difference between a stage persona and someone's real personality, i would highly, HIGHLY recommend watching Bo Burnham: what.

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SNL 40

Before I get into it, here is Kyle Mooney's unaired sketch from the SNL 40 celebration, it is weird, awkward, and I'm so sad it didn't make it to air.

I was so, SO excited for the celebration of 40 years of Saturday Night Live. Obviously, I'm a huge fan, but this was going to be a family reunion for most of the important people in comedy for the last half-century.

My fear was that it may be taken too seriously, or devolve into a 4-hour comedic masturbation session. It did neither!

Every moment of this special was steeped—STEEPED—in the long history of the show's comedic voice. The so-so opening with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake (saved by Dratch's perfect Debbie Downer and Steve Martin's impeccable timing) into a live performance from Sir Paul McCartney and Paul Simon as if to say, "That's right New York City, we're OPENING with a m*********ing Beatles song!"

Dan Aykroyd peddling the Bass-O-Matic 2150; Will Ferrell anchoring a belligerent Sean Connery, vapid Tony Bennett, and decidedly Norm Macdonald-y Burt Reynolds; Bradley Cooper trying his best to break the Polygrip holding Betty White's dentures in her mouth; Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Jane "you ignorant slut" Curtin hosting a Weekend Update featuring the shark at the door; it was picture perfect.

And then it got better.

Giving Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, and a few others their due was a great touch without derailing the whole show, but what really brought it home for me was the audition tapes.

Everyone who tries out for the show has to audition live on the stage of Studio 8H, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in front of Lorne Michaels, the head writer and some producers. These are recorded for posterity and occasionally have been released for individuals or leaked, but they've remained largely guarded.

Seth Meyers revealed on his talk show that no one knew they were going to run the auditions package, so it was a blindside to everyone.

Seeing Gilda Radner, Phil Hartman, Dan Aykroyd, Amy Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, Dana Carvey, Tracy Morgan and all of the others in young faces and strange clothes talking nervously to a camera. None of them had any idea what was in front of them, what their next phone call from Lorne would mean for their lives. Next to the "in memoriam" reel, it was the most emotional moment of the evening for me.

I hope SNL doesn't go anywhere soon, but if it does, my ~TOTALLY LEGALLY~ download of SNL 40 will keep me warm at night.


P.S.

All the credit in the world to Mike and Dana for giving a shoutout to the crew of SNL. Norm Macdonald commented that the immediate standing ovation was not prompted at all, and was something he had never seen before in that theatre.

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The Importance of Commitment

My good friend Laina Groom is a very funny person. I don't say this about every person I know who makes jokes. I may write a comedy blog, but her writing is way, WAY funnier than mine is.

She wrote that blog post as a response to a joke I made on a previous one, and in doing so, proved her own point about the importance of commitment to a bit.

There is nothing worse (in comedy)  than someone who fails to commit to the bit.

Stand-ups respect sketch actors because, to them, the idea of being locked into a written piece in front of an audience that isn't on board is the scariest thing in the world. Good stand-ups build their sets with break-away points so they have an out if something falls flat.

Conversely, sketch actors often express that same terror at the idea of being the only person on stage when something flops, and not having the herd mentality that sketch acting brings.

They're both right. In either case, a comedian who doesn't commit to whatever premise they're trying to establish will fail, every time.

For a very low-video-quality example, observe this sketch from MADtv, where Josh Meyers and Ike Barinholtz pretend they're simply explaining how improv works. Like the sketch or not, it takes commitment to make this funny.

It's impossible to talk about commitment to a joke without bring up Will Ferrell. 

Whether you love him or hate him (in my experience there is no middle ground) there is no one better at committing to a joke.
Many of his SNL colleagues have shared stories of Will's attitude towards this. If a sketch bombed in front of the audience at dress rehearsal or live, he shifted into a "if we're going down, you're coming with us" mindset, and would dig into every uncomfortable aspect of the character he could.

His acceptance speech for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is brilliant.

His Golden Globes bit with the incredible Kristen Wiig

Ferrell in character as Ron Burgundy sitting in on a real newscast KXMB-TV from North Dakota. Bonus points for watching the curling commentators struggle to deal with Ron Burgundy at the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings

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