I always loved bands who would try to change their sound radically album to album, experiment in one album and revert back in another.
— Bo Burnham
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.
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 definitely like making music in the studio, but I never had it out to make a CD specifically.
Facebook became ubiquitous when I was 16, so I vaguely formed a sense of myself a little bit. I had kind of learned to think a little bit before the stuff was everywhere.
I'd love to do something that doesn't have my stupid face in front of it. I feel like I've exhausted what I can do with my own face.
It's all about surprising people, and you're not surprising people if you're making them laugh every five seconds.
I'm left-brained, so I'm all about a mathematical approach to language. I've always been interested in that.
If a comic is himself, there'll be things he can't do - because he has to adhere to that persona.
A lot of my fans are really young and seem slightly unsure and nervous about things. Hopefully for young people watching my show, it comes away that I'm pretty weird up there.
Since I got an audience before I even had a comic voice, my material that really wasn't worthy of an audience somehow got it, slightly unfairly.
With 'Words, Words, Words,' that show was me experimenting with something, and then there was a clear direction for me.
The strength of comedy is I don't have to answer to anybody, but sometimes you want to learn from other people and see your ideas strengthen by other people.
Basically, I don't like to tweet stuff about my life. I only like to tweet jokes.
There's tons of dudes - like David O'Doherty, Tim Key, and Alex Horne - I made a lot of friends with people who are really incredible comics.
Not enough comedy makes you feel something.
Even in movies like 'Superbad,' they're all lovable kids.
I really like The Beatles.
I fully embrace myself as a hypocrite.
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.
I don't worship comedy; at the end of the day, I don't fall to the altar of comedy unquestioningly.
I like the idea of conceiving a show and putting on a show, and especially when I got to the place where I could play theaters.
I'd love to write a song that someone else sings that can actually sing really well.
I've kind of stopped valuing laughter as the end-all measurement of what I'm doing.
I don't mind having 16-year-old fans, but I hate just having 16-year-old fans. I want more diversity.
I was being called a shock comic. I hated that. It's so cheap and stupid.
I'd much rather wait till my material is up to par, in my opinion, than rush it just so I can stay in the limelight a little longer.
I just look at Miley Cyrus, and I'm like, 'Great, you've doubled your audience. But you've also doubled the number of people that hate you, and doesn't that hurt?' It takes a crazy person not to be affected by that.
I didn't want to bash young people. I don't want to bash a kid for dreaming or wanting something or being slightly ambitious - that's not the problem. The actual problem is with the culture surrounding him.
I enjoy stand up so much because I take time off, and then I'll be excited to go back to it.
You can give poor people this royal wedding to watch and make them feel good about themselves, or you can give them something useful like, I don't know... a toaster.
I became good friends with Jack Whitehall. I think he's great, such a great dude, and really funny.
I love Tim Minchin, Bill Bailey, and Hans Teeuwen, and I'm trying to synthesise elements of theatre into my show a little bit more.
I'm not as incredibly prolific as Louis C. K., and I'm definitely not doing a completely brand-new hour probably by the beginning of the tour.
I really don't like to tweet or Instagram anything about the people in my life just because I feel like I signed up for this, and I don't even know what this is yet. I do know that it could go anywhere, and I really don't want to sign other people in my life up for it without their permission or consent.
For me, the only value a celebrity has, or any artist or actor or anything, is the things that they make, you know?
I like to inject a bit of production value and flair to comedy, or at least to my little corner of comedy.
I don't want to monitor my audience too closely, as that can really drive you crazy.
I feel lucky, where I'm not 'famous' famous. I'm not someone that everyone kind of knows for no reason. If people know who I am, they like me because if they didn't like me, they forgot about me.
I think I wear my hypocrisy on my sleeve. I would never say I'm not a complete hypocrite.
Meta-comedy is everywhere and always seems so cold and to me is really kinda snarky.
People look at me and go, 'He's only successful because he's got a bunch of 16-year-old girls at his back who don't understand comedy.' Well, they do. In any case, no one hates me more than I do; no one's more self-conscious about that than I am.
I'm clearly doing what I want. I hope kids can see my act and feel like they can be slightly more comfortable in their own skin because I'm being so ridiculously comfortable in mine. I'm not that comfortable in my skin the moment I walk offstage. But I try to project that while I'm on it.
I don't really care about capitalizing on momentum.
A few people know me, and the few people that do know me only know me because they dig my stuff.
I just have a problem with youth culture.
I always think of myself as a comedy feeder type person, and that feeder lets themselves get out of your comfort zone as opposed to straight stand up; that feels like honing one skill, like honing one point of view.
If I was confronted with some 20-year-old American hotshot, I'd hate him.
I would say don't take advice from people like me who have gotten very lucky. We're very biased. You know, like Taylor Swift telling you to follow your dreams is like a lottery winner telling you, 'Liquidize your assets; buy Powerball tickets - it works!'
I'm grateful for every stupid mistake and dumb joke I tried to make.
