Robert Pickering "Bo" Burnham (born August 21, 1990) is an American comedian, musician, actor, and filmmaker. His work combines elements of filmmaking with music, sketch, and stand-up comedy, often with a dramatic or tragic twist. After his success as one of the earliest YouTube stars throughout the late 2000s, Burnham gained notability in the early 2010s for his satirical and subversive stand-up and musical comedy. He made four comedy albums with Comedy Central Records and released three comedy specials—Words Words Words (2010), what. (2013), and Make Happy (2016)—in addition to creating and starring in the MTV mockumentary series Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous (2013) and publishing the poetry book Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone (2013). Having announced his intention to step away from live performance in 2016, he went on to make his filmmaking debut as the writer and director of the drama film Eighth Grade (2018) and began directing other comedians' comedy specials, as well as co-starring in the dark comedy thriller film Promising Young Woman (2020). Burnham returned to performing with his fourth comedy special, Inside (2021), which he created in his home without a crew or audience during the COVID-19 pandemic; it was released by Netflix to widespread acclaim and was nominated in six categories at the 73rd Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Music Direction, and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. At the 64th Grammy Awards, Inside was nominated for Best Music Film and Best Song Written for Visual Media, winning the latter. Three songs from the special appeared also on the Billboard charts and were certified gold in the United States, as was the accompanying album Inside (The Songs).
