Words Words Words
Words Words Words refers to both a stand-up comedy routine and the derivative album by American comedian, Bo Burnham. The live performance debuted at the Boston House of Blues on May 21, 2010, and the album is derived from a special live performance of the same set at Carolines on Broadway on June 30, 2010. In addition to the Carolines performance, the album has two studio singles, "Words, Words, Words" and "Oh Bo".
The House of Blues debut performance and the Carolines on Broadway performances were released on DVD and MP3/CD respectively, with the constituent material from the set being generally well received. The album alone charted on four separate Billboard charts, topping out at number one on the Billboard Comedy chart.
Stand-up show
Burnham debuted his stand-up routine, Words Words Words, at the Boston House of Blues on May 21, 2010. This was recorded as the inaugural performance of Comedy Central's "House of Comedy Live from House of Blues" series. Burnham shared his debut evening at the House of Blues with fellow stand-up comedian Myq Kaplan. The one-hour special of Words Words Words aired on October 16, 2010 to over 700,000 viewers, and was released on an unrated one-disc DVD three days later. , Burnham was the youngest artist to garner his own hour-long special on Comedy Central. The DVD is presented in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and has, in addition to the special, two music videos for the songs "Words, Words, Words" and "Oh Bo".In August 2010, Burnham was nominated for "Best Comedy Show" at the 2010 Edinburgh Comedy Awards—"the world’s most prestigious comedy prize" with a £10,000 cash prize—after his performance of Words Words Words at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was instead awarded the "Panel Prize"—carrying a £5,000 prize—for "the show or act who has most captured the comedy spirit of the 2010 Fringe".
Album
Words Words Words was released by Comedy Central Records as a music download on both Amazon.com and the iTunes Store on October 18, 2010, and on a single Compact Disc on October 19, 2010. All live tracks for the CD were recorded at Carolines on Broadway on June 30, 2010.Track listing
- "Words, Words, Words" –
- "Oh Bo" –
- "What's Funny" –
- "Ex-Girlfriend/Racial Humor" –
- "Men & Women" –
- "One Man Shows" –
- "Ironic" –
- "Binary Reality" –
- "Words Words Words" –
- "A Prayer/How Do We Fix Africa?" –
- "Haikus/Sonnet/Shakespeare" –
- "Rant" –
- "Theoretical Dick Jokes/Statistics" –
- "Art Is Dead" –
- "Traditional Stand-Up" –
- "Oh Bo" –
Reception
Allmusic's David Jeffries said of the album, "...if you happen to enjoy the way Burnham turns from erudite to ignorant on a dime, then Words Words Words is the gift that keeps on giving. Things move fast in this act, giving the home listeners a distinct advantage over the audience captured here, who often seem to be laughing five seconds after the fact as they unravel the wordplay. ... Hilarious, plus you get the thrill of feeling smug and horrible at the very same time."
About.com's Patrick Bromley again praised Burnham's dense wordplay and cleverness, but felt that the artist was simply re-treading the same ground without making any significant advances. Whereas Bromley saw Burnham's from-the-bedroom charm as a boon to 2009's Bo Burnham, he opined the re-invention as a self-aware brash wunderkind was not an improvement. In contrast to any perceived deficiencies in the music, Bromley felt the traditional stand-up tracks to be the distinguishing factor of the album.
Chart positions
The Words Words Words album is Burnham's first album to break into the Billboard top 40 charts, and sold over 10,000 copies in its first week. However, on the second week, the album fell 121 places to number 161.Chart | Peak position |
US Billboard Comedy | 1 |
US Billboard Independent Albums | 3 |
US Billboard Digital Albums | 11 |
US Billboard 200 | 40 |