Bo Burnham
I have no real want or need to be a movie star.
The Internet is so crazy, and you're exposed to so many things. In an hour, you can really jump around.
I don't think I've had a job since I worked for my father's construction company.
I'm very left-brain.
Postmodern comedy doesn't work well with very old audiences, because it's making fun of the comedy they enjoy.
I don't interact with people much.
Everyone in my family is very supportive, and any mention of family in my show is just, in my idea, the funniest version of the family of the guy of who's performing.
I try and write satire that's well-intentioned. But those intentions have to be hidden. It can't be completely clear, and that's what makes it comedy.
I've always liked the format of YouTube, sharing things for free, which is a nice exchange between people.
I definitely like making music in the studio, but I never had it out to make a CD specifically.
The quality of the work when I was 16... I've had my issues with it, but I've learned to forgive myself because I was 16 years old.
Life, to me, doesn't feel like a straightforward story; it doesn't make sense for me to get up there and just tell a story. Life feels like what my show feels like: chaotic and strange and disconnected.
I really like The Beatles.
I always loved bands who would try to change their sound radically album to album, experiment in one album and revert back in another.
I've found nothing but support and generosity from older comics. I think comedians are a lot nicer than the stigma is, at least from my experience.
Comedy should be a source of positivity. I don't want to bully people, and I don't want people to come to my show to feel terrible about something. So I'm actually very open to having a conversation about what I should or shouldn't say.
At the time of 'Words, Words, Words,' I'm a 19-year-old getting up feeling like he's entitled to do comedy and tell you what he thinks of the world, so that's inherently a little bit ridiculous.
'Words, Words, Words' was very much its title. It's just words, words, words and trying to show that I can pack as much material into an hour as I possibly could word count-wise.
For me, comedy is constantly presented as this fake casualness, like a guy just walked on stage going, 'This crazy thing happened to me the other day.' And he's in front of 3000 people, and he's acting like an everyman, and he's getting paid so much money.
At once I feel that comedy is this amazing sort of transcendent thing, and I'm also open to the fact that maybe it's just an evolutionary hiccup, something that upright apes do in their free time.
The strange thing was, when I was starting on YouTube, even the paradigm of YouTube and Internet sensation - or whatever - that didn't really exist. So I didn't even know that that was a thing.
I think the comedy clubs tend to homogenize the acts a little bit, because they force them to be palatable in way too many environments.
I don't try to call myself a poet. But I know that my stuff is pretty literal, in that the themes are pretty simple and on the surface.
Comedy doesn't really matter that much; I know that. I treat it like an adult - I don't treat it like a child or a god, which some people do. This might just be in America, but 'stand-up comedy' is something very particular that I don't particularly relate to.
I think comedy has a range, with multiple peaks in different areas. It's like trying to compare Beethoven and the Beatles. Sometimes I hear from people, 'I think you try too hard in your comedy.' And that's what I worry about.
I chose to do comedy instead of going to college.
I remember being superyoung, like nine or ten years old, and thinking, 'Man, I wonder what famous people eat for breakfast. They must have some special kind of cereal!' My mind was so warped by the idea of fame.
My career was exploding at the same time that social media itself was expanding. But when my online videos were taking off, I didn't think, 'Oh, great! I'm going to be able to parlay this into a career!' I just wanted to be a comedian. I just wanted to perform live.
There's a certain line between jokes and music and poetry that's a bit blurred in my mind.
I misdirect the audience, so they have no idea where they are or who they're listening to.
Comedy is the one absolutely self-aware art form. Actually, hip-hop's another one, I suppose. Because in your songs you're talking about how good a hip-hop artist you are. It's like a painter painting a panting of himself painting a painting.
The U.K. and Europe in general seem to be a lot more patient. The U.S. are expecting 'joke joke joke joke joke joke joke.' They don't actually sit and listen to you.
Most of my songs make fun of myself.
I'm still a kid in his bedroom, writing songs and playing them.
I thought I had more of a European sense of humour than the average American comic.
I always wanted to be a comedian but never thought I'd be a musical comedian.
The unlimited amount of information that I have access to has also given me an unlimited threshold for how I need to be stimulated.
I know I'm probably digging for fresh fruit in the garbage, and as much as anyone, my attitude is, if stuff's sincere, it's gooey and boring and uninteresting. But it's no way to live.
There's only one rule in stand-up, which is that you have to be funny. Yet 99 per cent of comics look and talk exactly the same.
I'll stop when I think I'm not doing good stuff. I'll never exploit something just because people like it.
All my fans saw me as some little kid who can't even afford new jeans in his room, so they'll support me. That'll work until I become a success.
I really like maths.
Music is really, really mathematical.
I always wanted to be a comedian and actor.
I've come across people referring to themselves as 'Vine famous.' Some of them started out by putting up Vines just for fun, then all of a sudden they get a bunch of fans, and a week later their Vines are totally different. They become obsessed with how their videos will be perceived.
If I had posted my first video a week later, I don't know if it would have spread like it did. That's why, with everything I do, I try to enjoy the making of it instead of worrying about the release and reception.
The thing is, I always thought I could do stand-up, and so I just stayed focused on the belief that I could succeed.
Not enough comedy makes you feel something.
I became good friends with Jack Whitehall. I think he's great, such a great dude, and really funny.