top of page
Writer's pictureStand-Up Comedy Historian

Bo Burnham's Favorite YouTube Videos

Updated: Oct 10, 2023

Here are all of Bo's favorite YouTube videos for posterity purposes.


Note: While YouTube says Bo chose 29 videos in total, only 24 are still available approximately 15 years later. Not too bad, all things considered!



1. Coffee Jerks (clips of men in ads telling their wives that they hate their coffee) https://youtu.be/VssO5bKFJU0

2. Radiohead live: Idioteque (Bo's favorite band AND the song has "everything all of the time" like WTTI) https://youtu.be/i8M-Moo4imQ


3. the twitter song! (self-promotion for an app he now despises lol) https://youtu.be/yO5vFJLc7M0


4. Meet Karl Pilkington (Bo was a huge fan of Ricky Gervais and The Office UK) https://youtu.be/NQBlZIXu3Yg

5. Welcome to YouTube acoustic cover (Bo left two separate comments for this cover...he must have really liked it!) https://youtu.be/DkTRtTv77cQ


6. Who's on First? (Classic wordplay at its finest) https://youtu.be/sShMA85pv8M


7. Steve Balsamo - Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar - Ahoy, Holland - June 2004 (his white outfit reminds me of Bo during The Chicken and leaving the guesthouse) https://youtu.be/3-rre_BXxC0


8. Corky & The Juice Pigs REMember & Burn Victim Girl (musical comedian Seán Cullen performing an REM parody on MADtv) https://youtu.be/EEKVJZa_gdE

9. MHSDG States Festival Video 2008 (Bo is in this one about his high school drama guild) https://youtu.be/8aLc3cx1IcE

10. Bo Burnham drum cover "Cookout" (Bo commented on this cover, which is pretty much the only way to hear the song now that Bo's deleted it everywhere else) https://youtu.be/Ppv97JOx4KI


11. Tom Lehrer - Wernher von Braun (famous musical comedian; likely inspired Bo's WTTI persona) https://youtu.be/QEJ9HrZq7Ro

12. Zach Galifianakis (Bo's favorite nihilistic comic telling jokes to kids...the chicken running gag makes me sad now after the Outtakes) https://youtu.be/x7ywNaGpqZw


13. Mafia (Derrick Comedy was Donald Glover's comedy group; Bo commented on this video twice—and the "get 'em" reference reminds me of Bezos I lol) https://youtu.be/gyUsta9mzcY


14. Dave Hill - YouTube Stars (16-year-old Bo at 1:00 in!) https://youtu.be/u9bmYsOxA5E


15. MysteryGuitarMan vs Bo Burnham vs ShyaPorn: 2007 Rubix Cube Duel (Bo wins this battle against other YT stars; they misspelled the puzzle in the actual title ugh) https://youtu.be/bY5UvRkrkuQ

16. Flight of the Conchords - Jenny (sigh...my faves 🥰; you can check out more about Bo and FotC here) https://youtu.be/mlYkIJVguCU

17. Mitch Hedberg 5 minutes special (JFL appearance; you can read more about Bo and Mitch here) https://youtu.be/IueXtzdC6kA

18. George Carlin Talks About "Stuff" (Bo's comedy idol; you can read more about Carlin here) https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac


19. Stephen Lynch: "Craig" (one of Bo's favorite musical comics; strongly influenced Sunday School) https://youtu.be/pPdFrW076R0

20. Tenacious D - Explosivo (young PFT introducing Jack and Kyle 🤯) https://youtu.be/H15Zq72lu3k


21. "Ted Haggard Is Completely Heterosexual" by Roy Zimmerman (Bo commented that this is brilliant; there's a syllogism pun like in High School Party; major Sunday School vibes) https://youtu.be/HZmHC75FDqQ


22. bo burnham jamnesty concert - new song (Bo commented that he'd just written the end before he went on stage; clearly an early version of "My Better Half") https://youtu.be/5zbCNnpT5Bg


23. bo burnham jamnesty concert (Bo doing a beat comedy poem about Darfur) https://youtu.be/MuEh9n1Tw4Y

24. Bo Burnham Honda commercial (one of Bo's oldest videos that he filmed in 5 minutes apparently; "my wife's name's Honda!") https://youtu.be/6NA4_IU49bU



bottom of page