''what.'' (also called ''Bo Burnham: what.'') is a 2013

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

routine and album by American comedian and musician

Bo Burnham Robert Pickering "Bo" Burnham (born 1990) is an American comedian, musician, songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. His comedy work often combines musical, sketch, and stand-up elements with filmmaking. Following his success as one of the earlies ...

. It is his first show following his 2010 comedy special '' Words Words Words''. Like the majority of Burnham's live work, the show consists of

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

, prop comedy, miming, observational jokes, and the inversion of established comedy

cliché A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...

s. It received positive reviews. The live performance debuted at the Regency Ball Room in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on December 17, 2013, while the album is derived from a live performance of the same set at the

Barrymore Theatre The Barrymore Theatre is a 971-capacity live music venue on the east side of Madison, Wisconsin. Originally built as the Eastwood Theater in 1929, the Barrymore was founded by Richard "Sich" Slone and Tom Peterson in 1987 in an attempt to revive M ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin b ...

. In addition to the live performance, the album has five studio tracks: "Repeat Stuff", "Eff", "Nerds", "Channel 5: The Musical", and "Hell of a Ride". Unlike the other tracks, "Repeat Stuff" was performed during the live show (as a piano-only version) and was later released as a single with a music video. ''what.'' was released on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

on December 17, 2013, and the album was released via iTunes the next day.

Background

Burnham rose to fame for posting songs on his

page with satirical, funny, and offensive slants. He signed to

Comedy Central Records Comedy Central Records is a record label based in New York and owned by Paramount Global. The label specializes in stand-up comedy albums and is distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. The label has r ...

and released his debut EP, '' Bo fo Sho'', in 2008. He released his debut album, ''

'', in 2009. He toured extensively during this time, gathering material for his first official Comedy Central stand-up hour. '' Words Words Words'' was recorded in 2010 at the

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film '' The Blues Brothers''. The first location opened at ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

and received acclaim. Burnham later published a ''New York Times'' Best Selling book of poetry titled '' Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone'' and wrote and starred in the mockumentary series '' Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous'' on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. Burnham spent three years writing ''what.'', which was released on YouTube and

for free on December 17, 2013, with money Burnham made from touring used to finance the special. The YouTube video has over 24 million views as of August 2022. Burnham experienced 12

panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing ...

s while touring for ''what.'' but had never had panic attacks prior to this. This influenced the writing of his next stand-up performance, '' Make Happy'' (2016), after which he quit live comedy until returning with ''Inside'' (2021).

Album

''what.'' was released by

as a download on both

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

on December 17, 2013. The album features five new studio songs: "Repeat Stuff", "Eff", "Nerds", "Channel 5: The Musical", and "Hell of a Ride". Unlike the other tracks, "Repeat Stuff" was performed during the live show (as a piano-only version) and was later released as a single with a music video which has gained over 16 million YouTube views as of October 2021.

Track listing

Reception

Reception to ''what.'' has been positive. Mark Monahan of '' The Telegraph'' writes, "If his Edinburgh debut was more impressive than it was laugh-out-loud funny, this lightning-fast, constantly wrong-footing, even more ambitious follow-up is supremely both", and gave the show 5 out of 5 stars. Brian Logan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, describing it as a "full-frontal assault of music and meta-comedy that leaves you gasping for air", with "not a line out of place, nor one that isn't in there for destabilising comic effect", though Logan noted that "Burnham's comedy has a depressive streak, and his material is often base". Another writer in ''The Guardian'' summarised the show by writing, "Burnham mixes the utterly base with the sophisticated, meshing hip-hop-influenced songs that reference Shakespeare, and feature plenty of dick jokes." Jason Zinoman of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

writes that the show has a "manic satirical style", which is "ambitious, and sometimes inspired" but contains "a tension at the core of this show that remains unresolved".

Chart positions

''what.'' debuted on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Comedy Albums Comedy Albums is a ''Billboard'' chart that lists the "top-selling spoken word and musical comedy albums" each week, as ranked by sales data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Top Comedy Albums in October 2004 (simultaneously wit ...

chart at position #2, on January 4, 2014, peaking at #1 on January 18, 2014, and remaining on the chart for 77 weeks. It was on the Independent Albums chart for 4 weeks, peaking at position #31. ''what.'' had first week sales of 10,000 copies.

References

External links

*
what.
at

* {{Authority control 2013 albums Comedy albums by American artists Stand-up comedy albums 2010s comedy albums Bo Burnham albums Films directed by Bo Burnham