Review: Egghead, Or You Can’t Survive on Ideas Alone | Bo Burnham

This review is spoiler free.

“I love you just the way you are
but you don’t see you like I do. 
You shouldn’t try so hard to be perfect. 
Trust me, perfect should try to be you.”

Published: 2013, by Grand Central Publishing.
Length: 1hr 23mins (Narrated by Bo Burnham)
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Poetry, Humour, Nonfiction, Comedy
Contains: Strong Language, Crude Humour

‘Egghead, Or You Can’t Survive on Ideas Alone’ is a poetry collection from comedian, Bo Burnham. Known for his emotional comedy, Burnham brings his brand to the page in the form of poems, writings and illustrations.

In all honesty, I’m not quite sure how to review this title, completely torn on my thoughts and the way I should be writing this review. However, I eventually came to an understanding; I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t exactly love it either.

As an audiobook, ‘Egghead, Or You Can’t Survive on Ideas Alone’ works incredibly well to a point. Although, some of the poems require you to be able to view the illustrations, Burnham does a grand job of describing them to the listener with humorous comments on the pieces. Even he understands the struggles of turning this collection into audio. Burnham’s delivery of this book was brilliant, adding his quirks and flare to the pages which really brought out the book’s character and humour. It was a joy to have the comedian performing to you, which made this a fun read.

The poems themselves is where my difficulties lie. Some of them are thought-provoking and witty, which can be quite difficult to come by in this genre. Burnham brings up very key issues, such as; consumerism, mental health and relationships in ways that are relatable and funny. However, that’s where my plus points lie. There was a lot of content that simply wasn’t up to my personal preference. I enjoyed the occasional wordplay, yet there was a lot of content that fell quite flat to me, mainly those containing more cruder humour than the rest. Although, that’s simply my own preference, it did hinder my enjoyment of the collection quite a lot.

Overall, I’m a little disappointed by this collection. Although, some of the poems forced a chuckle out of me, the vast majority fell on wasted ears.

2/5