Musical comedian comes to Austin, delights audience

Bo Burnham is a god among mortals. Actually, he’s a 6’5″ 24-year-old comedian/singer/pianist who is self-professed to look like a cross between Ellen DeGeneres and a giraffe. But I digress.

I discovered Bo last summer after watching his hour-long show what. on YouTube. He immediately won me over. Instead of speaking, Bo delivers most of his jokes through songs he’s composed, which is something unique and entertaining I haven’t experienced before. He’s always making fun of himself and definitely aims to be universally offensive, but at the same time, his humor has a lot of truth and social criticism mixed in.

Fortunately for me, I was able to see Bo live on March 5 at the Paramount Theater. I went in with extremely high expectations, and I was not let down. I was laughing from the moment he stepped onto the stage. His voice and piano skills sounded better than ever, and I was delighted by his physicality and banter with the audience. He didn’t shy away from any topic, including the patriarchy, religion and how generic country music is (my personal favorite song from the night was “Panderin’,” a Blake Shelton-esque parody of stadium country tunes).

The only thing that bummed me out about the show was that it ended. I could have sat there all night. It was worth every penny of the $43 I spent. If you haven’t experienced Bo for yourself, check out his show on YouTube or his plethora of songs on Spotify. And if he comes to Austin again in the future, get your tickets quickly. His shows tend to sell out.