‘They want to extend the Northern line, but I think this is Morden adequate.’
Ahead of his two London dates, 23-year-old Bostonian comedian Bo Burnham dropped by Time Out London's pop-up office in Covent Garden to be interviewed by the internet… By that, we mean we asked him the five most Googled questions about himself. So if you've ever typed 'Is Bo Burnham single?' or 'Is Bo Burnham a jerk?' into a search engine (a lot of people evidently have), today's your lucky day.
Is Bo Burnham a jerk?
BB: 'Uh, that's adorable. That's really cute, because I think that's probably young people, right? Because I'd be like "is he an asshole?", but "is he a jerk?" seems almost timid, like the people asking "is he a jerk?" want the answer to be no. As opposed to the people saying "is he an asshole?" or "is he a douche?" who want the answer to be yes, I would think. So yeah, that sounds - I could be wrong - like young people who maybe see the way I act on stage and worry that I'm a jerk or something. I don't think anyone's called me a jerk in the 21st century! Um, but yeah, I can't judge, I can't answer that.'
Is Bo Burnham an atheist?
BB: 'Oooh... uh yeah-yeah I mean I probably don't, yeah probably not, I mean yeah, I don't know, I - I don't think is I-I-I dunno, uh, yeah, probably, but who cares? You know, 'cos I feel it's so aggressive to say it. There's implied like a monologue behind it, or an uncomfortable dinner, or like "oh god, you're that guy." Y'know, if that makes sense. My mother loves Jesus and she's great.'
Is Bo Burnham single?
BB: 'No! Just as profound though. I think more profound than 'is there a God?' is 'do you have a girlfriend?' That has more impact on day-to-day life for me than God, for sure.'
Is Bo Burnham a feminist?
BB: 'I don't even know enough about the definition of modern feminism to say what it is, but I would think in the layman's understanding - or what I understand it to be - probably? I'd worry that if I was to call myself a feminist, I'd be taking the virtue away from people who are actually making an effort to do it, you know what I mean? It's like me calling myself a civil rights activist because I'm not racist! Women are great. My mother believes in Jesus, she's great.'
Can Bo Burnham play the oboe?
BB: 'I can't, man. Oboes are double reeded. They're really really hard. I played a saxophone in sixth grade and even the one reed would squeak on me like no-one's business. I have a song called "Oh Bo" and one of the puns in it is that I play the oboe. It's stupid, but, I don't know why people are Googling it, I think they Google it knowing that it's a... I'm very confused. Or maybe that it'll open up a world to my entire double-reeded subculture that I'm involved with or something.'
