I am in rank admiration of the artists who managed to create something despite the enormously disruptive and devitalising Covid-19 lockdowns. Doubly so, those artists that created something that was a product of the lockdowns. These geniuses not only kept working, but used the dire situation to their advantage and created something that could not have existed otherwise. For me, there were three high points in this category.
First, and greatest, Bo Burnham's Inside. Bo Burnham was one of the first viral YouTubers, making cheeky musical comedy videos from his bedroom at the age of 16, way back in 2006 when YouTube was new. He parlayed his success into stand-up tours and TV specials of exceptional quality, proving his talent ran remarkably deep. This winning streak came with its pressures, and culminated in a mental breakdown - he sang about his fragile mental state in this 2016 song which makes me cry every time despite the fact that it's mostly about burritos.
He temporarily retired from the stage to make Eighth Grade, which is a masterpiece of realist teenage awks, and one of my favourite films. Then, after five years of dodging the limelight, he decided he was ready to tour again, only for the coronavirus pandemic to put the kibosh on his and everyone else's plans. But he would not be vanquished. Instead, he challenged himself to make a TV special within the constraints of lockdown, stuck in his studio and doing everything himself - filming, lighting, sound, editing, and a presumably hilarious string of unusual Amazon orders for all the comedy props.
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| We named our kitten Bo Burnham |
The result of his efforts is one of the funniest, saddest, scariest, most cutting and most important things ever committed to the small screen. Not only does he capture the ennui of lockdown perfectly, but he satirises and dramatises our Internet-driven culture in a frighteningly prescient way. In a world where we are constantly bombarded by too much, very few artists have captured that dangerous and disorienting "funny feeling" so well.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, video calls went mainstream as the only way to keep in touch with friends and family. I often ended up spending all day on a computer screen working remotely, followed by an evening on a computer screen socialising remotely. For whatever reason the app of choice for video calls was new kid on the block, Zoom. Director Rob Savage decided that having actors forced to isolate shouldn't stop him from making a horror film, so he made one based on a Zoom call.
One of the things that makes Host so much fun to watch is the chemistry between the actors. Having been brainwashed to socialise on Zoom, it felt like I was participating in the call myself, and I loved spending time with these people. Which made it even more terrifying when an unseen supernatural force started picking them off one by one... Brilliant.
Lastly, British comedy institutions Michael Sheen and David Tennant found the West End play they had been rehearsing for cancelled by Covid - at least, that's how the story goes - so instead they filmed a lightly fictionalised version of themselves bickering about what creative endeavour they should undertake instead, aiming to rise above all the other suddenly-out-of-work actors who had allowed themselves to be defeated by the pandemic.
The result, Staged, is hilarious. The two of them clearly have great affection for each other, and once again the Zoom call format makes you feel part of the banter. Granted, the second series was not as good, but the first six episodes are comedy gold. It's also fun to get a glimpse inside the homes of these familiar and beloved actors (kudos to David's wife and Michael's girlfriend for getting involved too). Perfect lockdown telly, that will still be a joy to watch long after the pandemic is but a distant memory.
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