News: Bo Burnham UK Tour Dates

By Bruce Dessau on 10/9/2013
bo burnham

Bo Burnham is to bring his acclaimed show What to London this autumn as part of a UK tour. He appears at the Leicester Square Theatre on Nov 8 and the Kentish Town Forum on Nov 18. This set was one of the highlights of this summer's Edinburgh Festival, with the precociously talented 23-year-old packing out the 800-seater Pleasance Grand with a performamce that mixed music, poetry, smutty gags and a smart postmodern deconstruction of modern comedy in particular and live gigging in general. Here is my review of the show below which first appeared in The Evening Standard. Or just read these two words - "boy wonder". Full UK tour dates below review.

 

It is rare that a comedy gig feels like a Justin Bieber concert but when Bo Burnham danced on and removed his hoodie the screams could be heard in Glasgow. When his trousers followed — relax, he had spares — you may have heard the roar in London. The YouTube prodigy has returned following his acclaimed 2010 Edinburgh debut and remains a big noise.

This is an expertly choreographed show full of gimmicks and postmodern gags subverting the nature of performance. The gangly 22-year-old’s banter is as much about fame’s superficiality as it is about the world. Self-mockery and smutty poetry plus magic and mime has rarely been bettered.

The real highlights, of course, are his songs. Burnham is a terrific wordsmith, weaving complex verbal webs on Hashtag Deep, rhyming “me neither” with “meat cleaver” like a junior Sondheim with catchier melodies. Elsewhere he assumes the perspective of God despairing of homophobic humanity: “I know a million aliens cooler than you.”

His ear for a chorus and a keen satirical eye evokes the spirit of Tim Minchin but Burnham’s high energy physicality adds a further distinctive string to his bow. To the packed house God exists, and clearly goes by the name of Bo.

 

06/11/2013         Brighton Old Market Arts Centre 

07/11/2013         Dublin Vicar Street (Ireland)

08/11/2013         Leicester Square 

09/11/2013         Guildford G Live

11/11/2013         Cambridge Corn Exchange 

12/11/2013         Manchester Dance House 

13/11/2013         Newcastle Mill Volvo Tyne 

14/11/2013         Birmingham Town Hall 

16/11/2013         Reading Hexagon 

17/11/2013         Manchester Dance House 

18/11/2013         London Kentish Town Forum 

 

 

 

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