Bo Burnham: Barely legal comedy



A year ago, not-yet-legal Bo Burnham was just a scrawny kid from the suburbs who had a knack for writing funny songs. But now, millions of YouTube views and a record deal with Comedy Central have made the kid a star.

If you spend a lot of time on YouTube, chances are you’ve heard of Bo Burnham. Since his first video postings –wherein Bo is seen performing funny songs in his bedroom (see clip below) — in December of 2006, the self-described “YouTube addict”� has, himself, become an Internet sensation.

After garnering millions of views online (his songs “3.14 Apple Pie” and “My Whole Family”� have nearly two million views each) he signed a deal with Comedy Central Records and recorded a six-song E.P, Bo Fo Sho which was released last week on iTunes and as of this writing is ranked the number two comedy album, just behind Kathy Griffin and still beating out four Dane Cook releases.

It’s a busy time for Bo, who turns 18 in August. The Hamilton, MA native just graduated from St. John’s Prep, an all-boys Catholic school in nearby Danvers. He’s prepping to perform at next month’s Just for Laughs comedy festival and he’s set to start studying theater at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

But the young comedian recently took some time to chat up Punchline Magazine. Was there a change in your daily life after you started getting millions of views? Yeah, I guess it has mostly just been numbers on a screen. Like I still go to school and my friends treat me the same way. My life really hasn’t changed. �I mean, I guess I’ve seen different numbers, different friend requests on Facebook and MySpace and stuff like that, but I’m really living the same life. That might change if the record does really well. And I’ve started to do some live performances. I’ve performed in London. more... punchlinemagazine.com/site/2008/06/bo-burnham-barely-legal-comedy/