Egghead: or, You Can’t Survive on Ideas Alone by Bo Burnham (BOOK REVIEW)

Official Summary: ” Bo Burnham was a precocious teenager living in his parents’ attic when he started posting material on

YouTube. 100 million people viewed those videos, turning Bo into an online sensation with a huge and dedicated following. Bo taped his first of two Comedy Central specials four days after his 18th birthday, making him the youngest to do so in the channel’s history. Now Bo is a rising star in the comedy world, revered for his utterly original and intelligent voice. And, he can SIIIIIIIIING! (Kind of.)

In EGGHEAD, Bo brings his brand of brainy, emotional comedy to the page in the form of off-kilter poems, thoughts, and more. Teaming up with his longtime friend, artist, and illustrator Chance Bone, Bo takes on everything from death to farts in this weird book that will make you think, laugh and think, “Why did I just laugh?” “

I first came to know of Bo Burnham because I saw captions or gifs of his performance on social media sites (naturally). I was intrigued and to my pleasure his comedy special was available on Netflix. “What.” was a heck of a ride. There was dancing, singing, and jokes with deep significant meanings that were a criticism of the world today. I remember thinking on more than one occasion “I can’t believe he just went there.” In all honesty I was a little confused as to how I felt towards it but after time it had warmed up on me.

Then I found out this guy wrote a poetry book and I was like “What.” After I found that out and heard people raving about it I made it my next mission to buy it. Oh Boy was this certainly not a mistake.

This book is a roller coaster ride. It goes from “immature” poo poems, to a critic on American capitalism, to depression, to more poo-isc poems, to some of the most simple and romantic poems I’ve ever read. Just wow.

The drawings are really good. They’re no just good, they’re lovely. The poem and the drawings support each other, compliment each other, and at times the drawings are part of the flow so much so, they are essential in understanding the literature. The illustrator of the book is Chance Bone who is pictured on the right.

I recommend this book 99.9%. For me, I can say it was worth it and will come back to it time and again.