Bo Burnham couldn’t let the anniversary of his award-winning comedy special, Inside, pass without acknowledgement. And ambitious as ever, he acknowledged it by dropping a newly edited, hour-plus long addendum to the original: The Inside Outtakes.
Burnham announced the release on social media on Monday, writing, “A year ago today, I released a special called Inside. I’ve spent the last two months editing together material that I shot for the special but didn’t end up using. It will be on my youtube channel in one hour. I hope you enjoy it.”
Some of the footage is true outtakes, edited together as cleverly as one would expect from Burnham. Fans of the chart-topping album can enjoy several versions of the comic all performing familiar hits like “Shit” in unison. Some moments also appear to be genuine bloopers, while others give insight to the behind-the-scenes process of creating the special, which Burnham famously wrote, directed, filmed, edited, and performed by himself.
There are also never-before-seen bits to enjoy, including fresh jokes and several brand new original songs. We didn’t think Inside could get any more inside, but the meta commentary on display in the original is ratcheted up to poke fun at Burnham’s chosen form of delivery for this project, YouTube itself.
There are ad breaks for “jeans” and “camera,” and pop-ups to remind you that “It’s Mental Health Awareness Decade at Kohl’s!” One of the final moments pokes fun at YouTube’s algorithmic suggestions at the end of a video (e.g., a video entitled “They Paid Me How Much?!?!” alongside the Netflix logo).
Anyone who enjoyed Burnham’s trademark self-deprecation or gleefully vicious social commentary will surely eat up The Inside Outtakes. Honestly, the hour is worth it for the playful jab at Marvel Studios and its overlord Kevin Feige alone. But unsurprisingly, there’s plenty to like–and lots to process–from this new edition of the Inside Cinematic Universe (ICU for short!).