Saw Inside (2021), a comedy special from Al Yankovic heir apparent Bo Burnham. He tackles the isolation and creeping agoraphobia experienced by many of us through the pandemic. It kicks off undermining the comedy a bit by neurotically asking if we should really even be joking at a time like this, when so much is wrong with the world. He continues to break the fourth wall throughout the show, including footage of himself setting up shots and rehearsing songs. It's not altogether funny, but it is interesting to watch.
Bo starts off very conventionally, poking fun at white women's Instagram pages, his own need for attention, and apologizing for being problematic. We fairly quickly shift gears however into recursive analysis of his own self-analysis in a brilliant reaction-shot sketch. This preemptive self-critique, he explains directly to the camera, is a pointless defense mechanism to stave off external critique (from people like me!) Several times he zooms the camera into a mirror, letting us see the camera's eye which is always hungrily watching him, often as he looks on haggard, or cries.
The quarantine and lockdowns are hard for all of us, but I imagine doubly so for a performer. They must perform to an unblinking, un-reacting camera in an empty room. Bo claims that he used to have panic attacks when performing on stage, and here comes a convenient pandemic to keep him locked inside, not growing but not vulnerable either - a stunted, overgrown hermit crab in his shell, just slowly falling apart from loneliness, the need for approval and attention, and the overwhelming information feed the is the internet.
The show is not that funny but, as Bo points out, it's kind of hard to be both sincere and funny right now. It reminded me a lot of Tarnation in that it seemed underproduced, sincere, and was kind of harrowing. The act of filming and sharing this footage taints its honesty though - this is a performance to some extent.
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