Egghead

Bo Burnham’s Egghead is a fun, dark, and sometimes twisted book of poetry that utilises to full effect Burnham’s famous introspective and lyrical form of comedy. The order of the poems creates an interesting emotional response in the reader; one is pulled from reading a farcical, light-hearted poem, to a poignant moment of reflection and sympathy, to shock from exaggerated obscenities very quickly, and at times within the same poem. A key component of Burnham’s poetry is his ability to make the reader pause and think through the multiple layers of his words, and acknowledge that not everything can be taken at face-value, particularly in regards to the emotional undertones many of his poems carry. Burnham’s use of comedy as a tool to provoke the reader to think about serious issues in society, or on difficulties regarding human relationships and behaviour is done intelligently, and often hidden within the seemingly silly comedic nature of his poetry. However, this does not negate the fact that several of his poems are light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek only, which provide some fun and positive moments amongst the darker or more thoughtful poems.

I do think that, whilst it is not essential, familiarity with Burnham’s work prior to reading this book could improve its impact with the reader, as it offers a foundation of understanding of the tone and style Burnham employs, and knowledge of the fact that he does not shy away from dark and serious subject matter. This includes death and suicide, body image, abusive relationships, inequality, politics, and religion. There are multiple examples of how Burnham's poetry and stand-up relate in theme or subject matter, and one that I find particularly significant is the link between his poem ‘Ashley’ and his song ‘Repeat Stuff’ from his show What. In both he discusses how young girls are affected by the media industry, negatively impacting their body image and self-esteem. In ‘Ashely’, Burnham leaves the reader on a simple but powerful note, inviting one to empathise with the despairing and contradictory way young girls are pushed into viewing themselves by magazines. He references the way that these magazines promote female celebrities as idols that girls should work towards emulating, whilst simultaneously over-sexualising them and using Photoshop to make ever achieving looking like them unattainable. In ‘Repeat Stuff’ he continues to describe how the music industry exploits this through emotional manipulation to make successes of young male singers who promise to love the young girls just the way they are, when they have been told repeatedly that they are not good enough and need improvement by the magazines the male singers are featured in and promoted by.

Furthermore, the artwork by Chance Bone compliments the poems well, and helps to bring Burnham’s work to life. On stage Burnham’s words are given impact by his music and charisma, and on the page the illustrations help to retain elements of this, emphasising the tone or setting the scene the reader is being introduced to. They can also be a useful tool to make the poems more accessible and digestible in some cases, such as the poem ‘Hanged’ which deals with the subject of suicide. As the character in the drawing is not quite human, although it has human attributes, the reader is, at least to an extent, enabled to remove themself emotionally from the narrator of the poem, and is therefore less affected by the potentially disturbing content they are reading.

I do think it is worth noting that Egghead is reflective of Burnham’s work at the time of writing, and as mentioned, ties in well to his show What. Burnham’s more recent stand-up show, Make Happy, still retains numerous components of this style of comedy, but also mirrors Burnham’s increase in age and maturity since What and Egghead. Personally, I find both shows, and his work prior to What, excellent and thought-provoking, and would recommend Egghead, and all of Burnham’s work, to anyone interested in dark and introspective comedy.

Rating: 4/5