Did Bo Burnham go to college?

Did Bo Burnham go to college?

Here we will see about did Bo Burnham go to college ? Robert Pickering Burnham, also known as Bo Burnham, is a well-known comedian, screenwriter, musician, actor, editor, film director, and singer. Born and raised on August 21, 1990, in Massachusetts, U.S. His career took off in 2006 when he uploaded a video titled “My family” to YouTube making the video go viral. As of now, the video has almost 12 million views. 

Does Bo Burnham apply for college?

Burnham did apply for college and was successful in getting accepted into Brown, New York University’s experimental theatre program, and Harvard. He settled for NYU’s program but ended up postponing it so that he could go on tour for his new album. And then later eventually never attended college as his professional career took off. 

Bo Burnham’s Childhood

Bo Burnham was born to hospice nurse Patricia and business owner Scott Burnham. He has an older brother named Pete and an older sister named Samm, both working for their father’s company. 

Bo was enrolled in a private, all-boys Catholic school at St. John’s Preparatory School. He was an active member of the theatre program and even partook in the Massachusetts High School Drama Guild.

Steppingstone of his career

YouTube was introduced in 2005. Back then it wasn’t the popular media platform that we all know today. It was simply a medium for people to upload content they can share with family. 

Burnham had written some parody songs at the age of 16, which he was eager to show his brother. He used the video-sharing site to upload the videos unaware of the popularity it would soon receive. 

Career taking flight

Out of the content, he uploaded, one video called “My family” piqued interest in the eyes of the public and went viral on YouTube and Break.com, garnering over 25,000 listens in a day. 

“My family” gradually gained even more views as time went on and currently has close to 12 million views on YouTube. 

Burnham’s first album

As Burnham steadily raked in a larger following with more musical comedic content, he was scouted on YouTube by an agent’s assistant at the end of 2007. 

At the young age of 17, he flew out to London in January 2008 to record a segment for Comedy Central’s “The World Stands Up”. He had also recorded a CD for them.

On the day of Burnham’s EP release, “Bo Fo Sho”, he uploaded a new music video called “I’m Bo Yo”. His comedic and pun-packed rap and lyricism appealed to fans and non-fans alike leading it to be one of his biggest hits on YouTube. As of April 2022, it has over 34 million views. 

Bo Burnham College vs Career

After getting accepted into NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Burnham decided to delay attending for at least a year but eventually decided to not attend at all. Instead, he went to focus on his professional career.

Around the end of 2008, Jude Apatow writer-director saw the growing potential in Burnham and hired him to write an anti-high school Musical screenplay. There was a lot of buzz surrounding Burnham’s potential to breakthrough into the writing-directing industry. Unfortunately, the screenplay never went into production.

Acting, Writing and Directing

As time went on, Burnham continued to do live performances and soon after released 2 albums. A self-titled full-length album in 2009 (Bo Burnham) and a critically acclaimed album called “Words, Words, Words” in 2010. His popularity grew with every release and performance.

In 2010, Burnham played the role of Zach Stone for MTV’s show “Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous”. Sadly, in June 2013, MTV canceled the show.

Burnham did continue to take acting roles in shows such as:

  • “Parks and Rec.”
  • “The Big Sick”
  • “Rough Night”
  • “Promising Young Woman”

He went on to make Netflix Specials and even finished writing and directing his first-ever feature film, “Eighth Grade”. 

Conclusion

Bo Burnham, seeing the success and fruits of his potential and hard work, proved that he has far more intelligence than one would think. There are many misconceptions surrounding TV personalities regarding their intelligence. But time and time again many celebrities like Bo Burnham have proved that they can get into an A-list college just like any other student can, most just choose to focus on their budding careers.

Frequently Asked Question

Does Bo Burnham have any plans on attending college?

Burnham has not spoken on the matter after deciding to focus on his career.

Does Bo Burnham suffer from mental health problems?

In 2018, Burnham mentioned suffering from anxiety and panic attacks in an interview for the Off Camera Show. “I’ve had ten panic attacks my life, nine on stage and one on a train between shows.” He said on the Off Camera Show.

Did Bo Burnham drop out of college?

Bo Burnham never attended college, to begin with. He decided on being a full-time comedian, writer, and director, popular amongst the youth.