Promoting Bo Burnham's Egghead

1. Bo Burnham is exultant to announce the release of his poetry book, Egghead: Or
you can’t survive on ideas alone, today: 1st October 2013. It’s essentially 240
pages of deep, comedic poetry that makes you comprehend the meanings, laugh
and then question why you just laughed at something so morbid – his poems are
enticing, elaborate and almost brutally honest with the reader which is what
hauls you in and keeps you reading.
Bo teamed up with Chance Bone, (artist, illustrator, friend) to create this unique
book of surprisingly mature and excruciatingly truthful insights – it ranges from
rather morbid topics such as: break ups, religion, suicide and death to cheerier
subjects like romance, self confidence, a dogs perspective and farts. The idea is
that you can experience Bo in the comfort of your own home, it’s also to get
himself out there, though he has already been named one of the ’50 comedians
you should and will know’ by Vulture.
Bo’s poetry attacks real issues, especially in the media; this helps him relate to
the audience – the poems have them laughing but also keeps them highly aware
of real world problems such as: ‘body image and self esteem issues.’ He mentions
that unless the material produced in the way he’s done it is worth it, younger,
internet raised audiences are ‘going to get bored’ – it’s why this book is so
unique.
There’s also the fact that it’s actually a book – it’s not a video or an audio clip –
it’s fine, genuine literature – even if the overall concept is sometimes a little
crude.
Bo describes his poetry book as a collection of ‘sort of adult Shel Silverstein
poems’ (American poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist,
screenwriter and author of children books - September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1990)
– even going as far to say that Burnham is the new Shel Silverstein, this is
because their general ideas contrast – although they have a similar writing style
and an even similar illustration style – Bo’s work is definitely not for children.
Egghead is an ‘anti-intellectual’ metaphor directed at people who are considered
‘out-of-touch’ with ‘ordinary people’– in British slang, Egghead is the same as
‘boffin’ which is also the equivalent of calling someone a ‘nerd’ – this is quite a
clever play on words on Bo Burnham’s behalf – the title of the book itself easily
explains the types of poems and subjects you expect to find in the book without
actually having to open it.
Bo came up with the poetry when he was still writing for ‘Zach Stone is gonna be
famous’ – his MTV reality show – he’d go to a coffee shop and write whatever
came to mind, he had a large collection of poems and after sorting through them,
picking out the ones he thought would attract or would be worthy of the publics
attention, he transferred them in to a book of poetry – which is Egghead, he
mentions that he hopes ‘it’s a fun, weird and whimsical collection of things which
are hopefully reflective of things people enjoy in my act…’