Bo Burnham

Burnham was in a relationship with filmmaker Lorene Scafaria from 2013 to 2022. He has been dating singer Phoebe Bridgers since December 2022.

Burnham has spoken about experiencing anxiety and panic attacks, particularly during live performances. He later explained that these experiences contributed to his decision to step away from live comedy.

Burnham began posting comedic songs to YouTube in 2006 after recording performances in his bedroom to show his older brother Pete. His video for "My Whole Family" quickly spread beyond YouTube, including on Break.com, and made him an early internet comedy sensation.

His early songs used musical comedy, wordplay and deliberately provocative subjects. The success of the videos led to a contract with Comedy Central Records, the comedy EP Bo fo Sho in 2008 and the self-titled album Bo Burnham in 2009. Bo fo Sho reached No. 123 on the Billboard 200, while Bo Burnham reached No. 105.

Burnham moved from online videos into live stand-up while combining traditional routines with comedy songs. At 17, he recorded a performance for Comedy Central's The World Stands Up, becoming the youngest person to do so. In 2010, he recorded Words Words Words, his first one-hour stand-up special, and was nominated for the main Edinburgh Comedy Award before winning the festival's Panel Prize and the Malcolm Hardee Award for Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid.

His subsequent specials included what. in 2013 and Make Happy in 2016. He also published the poetry collection Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone in 2013. His comedy often examined performance, fame, the internet, class, race, gender, sexuality and religion through satire and musical experimentation.

Burnham created, wrote and starred in the MTV series Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous in 2013. He played a teenager who hires a camera crew to manufacture celebrity for himself, but the series ended after one season.

After stepping away from live comedy, Burnham focused on writing and directing. He directed Jerrod Carmichael's comedy special 8 in 2017 and Chris Rock's Tamborine in 2018, and later directed and executive produced specials for Jerrod Carmichael and Kate Berlant.

Burnham made his feature filmmaking debut with Eighth Grade, which he wrote and directed. The 2018 film follows Kayla, a socially anxious teenager played by Elsie Fisher, as she navigates the transition to high school and expresses herself through online videos. Burnham won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing for a First-Time Feature Film, the Writers Guild Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

As an actor, he appeared in Funny People, American Virgin, Hall Pass, The Big Sick, Rough Night and Promising Young Woman. In Promising Young Woman, he played Ryan Cooper, the protagonist's love interest.

Burnham returned to performance with Bo Burnham: Inside, which he created alone in his home's guest house without a crew or audience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Released by Netflix in 2021, the special combined songs, sketches, monologues and carefully constructed visual sequences with reflections on isolation, anxiety, online life and the act of performing.

Inside won three Primetime Emmy Awards for outstanding music direction, writing and directing for a variety special, as well as a Peabody Award. Its song "All Eyes on Me" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The accompanying album, Inside (The Songs), reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200, and Burnham later released The Inside Outtakes and Inside (Deluxe).