Bo Burnham rocked the Reitz Union ballroom

The Reitz Union Board, commonly referred to as RUB, invited a couple of special guests to perform in honor of the third annual Big Orange Festival. One of these guests was twenty five year old comedian Bo Burnham.

For those who do not know, Burnham’s career began on YouTube where he would post comedic original songs satirizing certain social phenomena, aspects of the entertainment industry, and the practice of comedy itself. To this day, Burnham’s act consists of melodious songs intertwined with bits of more traditional stand up. The theatrical nature of his performances leaves them to be described as comedic one-man shows.

Bo Burnham begins the show on a high note

As the lights completely dim, the music played to introduce the show was drowned out by the sound of hundreds of worshipping fans. Suddenly, Burnham appears and begins by rapping over a booming beat. He emphatically asks the crowd to the rhythm of the music, “Yo, if you like drinkin’ booze say, ‘Hell yeah!'” The audience responds accordingly. Burnham asks again, “Yo, if you like smokin’ weed, say ‘Hell yeah!'” Just as the audience vehemently shouts in response, the track abruptly shuts off and police sirens wail. “There we go! I got ’em,” Burnham declares triumphantly.

Burnham doing what he does best

Shortly afterward, the wondrous moment comes when Burnham sits at his keyboard for the first time in the performance. The fans are overwhelmed. They applaud excitedly only to be interrupted by Burnham humorously jeering, “What? Did you think I wasn’t gonna use this, you idiots? It’s not a fuckin’ prop.”

He prefaces his first song by noting that as a heterosexual white male, he has had a lot of privilege in his life. However, he states that straight white guys have been getting a bad rap. He sings from the perspective of a disheartened member of the community explaining that though they still technically run everything, “it’s not as fun anymore” because of all the flack they have received from minorities. “Do you get it? This song is ironic!”, he proclaims in the middle of the bit, jokingly mocking his audience’s intelligence.

After Burnham completed a joke reflecting upon how he is often referred to as a “faggot” because of his interests and how he carries himself, a particular member of the crowd was feeling rather brave and decided this was the opportune time to shout, “Fag!” Burnham invites the character up to the stage, asks him his name, and proceeds to turn him into the running joke of the show. One of Burnham’s jabs described the unfortunate soul as nothing more than his “sea-foam colored hoodie and access to his Daddy’s credit card.”

As the show progresses, Burnham asks the tech crew to bring up the house lights as he steps off the stage to interact with his audience. He asks different students what their majors are, making quips about how engineers are socially awkward and how he already learned everything a biology major needs to know in the eighth grade. Funny enough, he encounters the girl who shouted her request for Bo to go on formal with her earlier on in the show.

As a huge Bo Burnham fan, I couldn’t decide if I should shed tears of joy, pee myself like an excited puppy, or just go into full on cardiac arrest when this happened

The finale of the show consisted of a serious bit detailing Burnham’s love/hate relationship with his profession. Though he loves performing and considers himself fortunate to have the career that he does, he struggles with his desire to please his audience while remaining true to himself. He wishes he could perform without the burden of worrying what his audience thinks, but it is a factor that is constantly at play.

He closes by expressing his gratitude that we all came to his show, his hopes that we all lead good lives, and that our “sports teams beat other sports teams.”

Bo closing the show with “Oh Bo”

Burnham exited the stage, but the crowd wanted more. The standing ovation continued until he came back, only to take his rightful place behind the keyboard. He played the first few notes to the opening of his 2009 hit “Oh Bo” and the audience was again in an uproar. Looking around, there were countless faces excitedly singing along and reliving his past special Words, Words, Words.

The show finally comes to a close with a second standing ovation. The lights turn back on and a myriad of smiles exit the Grand Ballroom.