Bo Burnham: Make Happy (2016) on Netflix
A performer in clown makeup wakes in a hotel room and walks to the theater. On stage he moves between songs and jokes about race, hip hop, country music and love.
- Netflix4.6/5
- IMDb8.3/1017,395 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
The show toured from February 2015 and sets comedy to music rather than relying on jokes alone, with choreography built around pre-recorded backing tracks, lighting and sound effects. The performer opens in clown makeup, waking in a hotel room and walking to the theater while a robotic voice addresses the crowd. The material covers race, hip-hop, country music, love and the culture of performance, and he stops a recorded track that interrupts him with insults. Seated at a keyboard he performs a satirical number about the grievances of a straight white man, and elsewhere a love song advises people to lower their expectations of a partner. Between numbers he uses misdirection, mime and call-and-response, asking different groups in the audience to shout back.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bo Burnham: Make Happy (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Bo Burnham began having panic attacks before shows while touring his previous stand-up show what. in 2013, which may have influenced the writing and performance of Make Happy.
- Burnham shot and performed his 2021 special Inside during the COVID-19 pandemic without an audience or crew, entirely in one room of his home, the same room in which Make Happy ends.
