Bo Burnham's movie "Eighth Grade" was both inspired and fueled by Burnham's anxiety. "I did not set out to write a movie about eighth grade," he told The New Yorker in 2018. "I wanted to talk about anxiety — my own anxiety — and I was coming to grips with that." While onstage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, Burnham had the first of a series of panic attacks that would recur throughout the tour for his comedy show "what." "It's a feeling of riding your nervous system like a bull," he told The New Yorker. "And then being in the real world with anxiety feels like you're riding a bull and everyone else is an equestrian."
Burnham's panic attacks led him to quit standup after his special "Make Happy" in 2016. "It was the roughest time in my life that last tour — the roughest," he told Time in 2018. "It felt like every night onstage there was just a f***ing ax hanging over my head and at any point this thing's going to f***ing drop." The comedian also worried about passing out and being filmed for the Internet to see.
Still, Burnham announced a new standup special, called "Inside," in April 2021. Actor Josh Hamilton, who appears in "Eighth Grade," praised Burnham for his ability to channel anxiety into creativity, telling Time, "His motor thrums at a higher level than most of us."
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
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