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Bo Burnham: Yup, Still Hilarious

He was just here in April for SPA’s comedy month, but Bo Burnham returned to Happy Valley to perform his new comedy show: “what.” The State Theater was jam-packed — the show sold out completely, despite being on a Tuesday night. Before Bo graced the stage, his opener Adam Newman came out for a few minutes to heckle those in the front row and Vine a selfie of himself and the crowd singing “The Diarrhea Song.”

Then came Bo. His entrance and show were atypical in comparison to his older performances. Instead of relying on his own voice and acoustic instruments to weave music into his comedy routine, Bo switched it up by utilizing voiceovers, light shows, and pre-recorded jokes and songs to create a totally fresh experience for the audience. Even his oldest fans must have been caught off-guard by the change in technique, but it was definitely a happy surprise.

Old Bo was still there, of course. He’s still awkward, still tells fucked up jokes, but lays the irony on thick so you know he’s not actually a terrible person. He still bounces from slapstick comedy to his spiritual and intellectual musings with the flip of a switch, and still does the self-deprecating “I must be gay because I’m a theater nerd” thing. He’s got crazy vocal and comedic range — the voice of an angel and the mind of a sociopath. Oh, and in addition to the technical stuff, he also added a lot more gyrating and crotch-rubbing to his routine, if that’s your thing.

After finishing all of “what.” and reading a few poems from his recently-released book Egghead, Burnham sang an oldie-but-goodie from his old show, “words, words, words,” called “Love Is.” After the show ended, the crowd’s applause and cheers were too loud for Bo to ignore. He came back out for an encore of two songs: “Art is Dead” and “Oh, Bo.” Needless to say, everyone recorded the encore on their phones, so it should be all over your Facebook news feed by morning.

At least ten times throughout the show, Burnham dropped his angsty stage-persona to thank the crowd for coming out to see him on a Tuesday night. The pleasure was all ours, Bo. Come back again soon.

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About the Author

Alicia Thomas

Alicia is a senior with majors in Print Journalism and Spanish and a minor in International Studies. Chances are that she's somewhere talking about her semester abroad or ranting about sexual assault prevention right now. She can be reached via Twitter (@aliciarthomas) or email ([email protected]).

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