"Nerds" from what. is one of my favorite songs that he has performed. It's so wickedly powerful, while simultaneously being just awful. It's particularly harsh because the homophobia and misogyny are so front and center, yet so essential to what he's trying to do.
We're not supposed to cheer along, but we do. How can we not, when so many of us so viscerally can feel the message that is simultaneously sympathetic and cruel?
"At three P.M. I pause." {Bell Rings} "That shit sounds like applause."
Yeah, I think this is an essential part of early Burnham. And I think a lot of the disillusionment came from realizing that people were laughing at his jokes for the wrong reasons. But I also think the power of Burnham is in the tension that you're describing. It's offensive and cruel and vile, but it also describes something very real and relatable. And it's a kind of tension that's become increasingly anathema to popular culture.
Burnham was actually the first canceling I was aware of, though we didn't have that term for it back then. Well, aside from when my university disinvited Desmond Tutu over the complaints of donors. But Burnham got disinvited from most colleges he was set to perform at due to people believing he was basically a nazi. This was in the years between Words Words Words and what.
I think that also had a big impact on where his career went.
"Nerds" from what. is one of my favorite songs that he has performed. It's so wickedly powerful, while simultaneously being just awful. It's particularly harsh because the homophobia and misogyny are so front and center, yet so essential to what he's trying to do.
We're not supposed to cheer along, but we do. How can we not, when so many of us so viscerally can feel the message that is simultaneously sympathetic and cruel?
"At three P.M. I pause." {Bell Rings} "That shit sounds like applause."
Damn.
Yeah, I think this is an essential part of early Burnham. And I think a lot of the disillusionment came from realizing that people were laughing at his jokes for the wrong reasons. But I also think the power of Burnham is in the tension that you're describing. It's offensive and cruel and vile, but it also describes something very real and relatable. And it's a kind of tension that's become increasingly anathema to popular culture.
It's a great example of one of the reasons why cancel culture really scares me.
Burnham was actually the first canceling I was aware of, though we didn't have that term for it back then. Well, aside from when my university disinvited Desmond Tutu over the complaints of donors. But Burnham got disinvited from most colleges he was set to perform at due to people believing he was basically a nazi. This was in the years between Words Words Words and what.
I think that also had a big impact on where his career went.
"Fame kills empathy. Humor is the death of empathy." Duly noted.