I’ve talked about Bo Burnham’s comedy before. It’s one of those comedians where I enjoyed his early work when I was younger, and enjoy his later work now that I’m older. Despite that being mainly the case, there are still some of his older songs that I really enjoy. In his second to last special; Make Happy, he has a song where he makes fun of rapper Kanye West. The rapper did a rant at the end of his show and Bo does the same here, although his rant is a lot more structured and prepared ahead of time. He makes fun of a few things like the size of a Pringles can before diving into more serious topics like his anxiety and dealing with wanting to please a crowd. There is a little bit in the middle of the story, bridging the more comedic part with the more serious part of the song. And it’s this particular part that I would like to focus on today, as it’s been on my mind again recently.
I went to chipotle, went to chipotle.
Got myself a chicken burrito.
I went down the line, I got like all these ingredients,
And then at the end of the line the guy tried to wrap the burrito.
But half the shit inside the burrito spilled out, and he still wrapped it.
I was like “ Dude, you should have warned me!”
You’re the burrito expert’ you should have told me halfway through–
“ Hey man, you might be reaching maximum burrito capacity here.”
Do you think I want a messy burrito?
No one wants a messy burrito.
Of course, you can simply read this as someone getting a messy burrito and it’s funny that way, but a part of me has always thought there was more behind it. I’ve always seen the burrito as a metaphor for a person’s talents and problems. Bo speaks about the lettuce, cheese and other toppings and it makes me think about how he wants to create his art, he wants to please his audience, he wants to be happy and he wants to make a positive impact in the world. No one likes a messy burrito. There’s too much inside of his person and it’s clashing and causing a mess. He has been very open about his anxiety and experiencing panic attacks on stage. Yet he still performs. There is too much turmoil inside him to stop and that’s causing him issues.
“I wouldn’t have gotten half this shit if I knew it wouldn’t fit.”
This line in particular makes me feel like Bo is talking about how he put way too much on his plate (literally and figuratively) and he’s now regretting it. He shouldn’t have done as much and he should have taken more time to rest up and manage his anxiety. As someone who also deals with anxiety and against better judgment became a teacher – which is definitely a stressful and exhausting job – I understand this feeling very much. I love my job and I want to help these kids and make them enjoy their school life but it’s also too much sometimes and I find myself utterly exhausted at the end of a workweek. I wouldn’t have got the lettuce if I knew it didn’t fit.
Perhaps I’m looking way too much into this silly rant about burritos and pringles cans, but knowing Bo’s style of comedy, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was this deeper meaning behind it. But what do you think? Am I doing that thing my literature teachers do where everything has 12 different meanings and a door can’t just be blue, or am I making a lot of sense here? Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you’re happy.
Opal Kaharis 