So this is a new experience, reviewing a stand up show, but
hey it’s worth a try. Make Happy is a stand-up special by Bo Burnham from his
tour in 2015 and in classic Bo Burnham style he combined stand up with comedy
songs and a heavy focus on social commentary with a dark twist focusing on the
negative parts of life and his own struggles with anxiety & mental health.
Bo Burnham is one of my favourite comedic talents working
today because of how introspective he is on society and the tropes of stand-up
comedy and expectations of his own performance. Even more so the fact that no
one out there is doing what he’s doing, the multiple forms of original jokes
and styles all thrown together is incredibly original and unique, keeping the
show fresh, fast paced and you can never see what will come next.
Even though this special came out months ago I must have
watched it about 7 times, it is truly a phenomenal comedy special that I will
not be done with until I’ve remembered every word. The first and most important
aspect of course is whether or not it actually makes you laugh and yes, I burst
out laughing so much when watching this and even on rewatches still have me laughing.
In fact, one of the later jokes is him pointing out if you watched this on your
own you probably didn’t laugh as much as you did exhale through your nose. However,
it should be pointed out this is obviously not the type of show that would
appeal to everyone for how dark the material can be at all times, after all with
a show that opens with a monotone voice talking about how the world is terrible
and the entertainment industry is just a manipulative system taking advantage
of the public, or writing a song called “Kill Yourself”. So obviously his
material might exclude certain people, but it’s things like this where I remember
the speech from the show ‘Duckman’ “Comedy
should provoke! It should blast through prejudices, challenge preconceptions!
Comedy should always leave you different than when it found you. Sure, humour
can hurt, even alienate, but the risk is better than the alternative: a steady
diet of innocuous, child-proof, flavourless mush! Demand to be challenged, to
be offended, to be treated like thinking, reasoning adults.” And that is a
good summary of Bo’s work. His perspective on life, focus on the negative
aspects of himself and humanity certainly make it a memorable experience that
challenges the form.
Why it works for someone like Bo is because another rule of
comedy is knowing if you’re willing to offend, you have to be willing to be
offended. He offends himself just as much, mocking his anxiety, his lack of
body confidence, his anxiety again…actually it’s mostly his anxiety, yeah you
kinda leave the show wanting to give him a hug just to make sure he’s okay.
Nothing is safe from Bo’s critique, the music industry, sexuality, other
comedians, even his own audience, nothing’s safe. Yet despite all this, I would
hesitate to call the show nihilistic in any sense of the word. Throughout the
show he constantly lays down his own personal philosophy, in a song titled “Lower
Your Expectations” he mentions several times how we all deserve love. Other
times while mocking the audience he later on discusses how he relies on them
and wants nothing more than to please them and make them laugh. Going as far to
end the show with one final statement “Thank You. I hope you’re happy”. Again,
that is the key to comedy, you provoke and mock, not to isolate, but to
relieve, to find the brightside of a bad situation, to help comfort pain and as
long as it brings together more than it isolates then it’s doing it’s job.
It might sound weird for me to be talking so much about the “rules”
of comedy, but I do it because Bo is meeting all of them, it applies to his
comedy and is a perfect form of what comedy should be, challenging yet inviting,
dark yet optimistic, and of course: funny. Parts of this show especially are
simply artistically joyous to watch, particularly the finale is just a
beautiful and unique rant, a half-song, half-discussion on the issues Bo deals
with in his life, combined with beautiful lighting, cinematography and a clever
use of auto-tune. It’s do distinct, so different and it’s where Bo gets the
most honest with his own issues and how he deals with them while also still
being funny and truly left me with Goosebumps. Nearly every joke in this show
is funny, clever, insightful, original and to requote Duckman, “Comedy should leave you different than when
it found you” and that’s what happened here. 10/10.
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