Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous

Wonderful show. If you are a fan of Bo Burnham's material, then you know what to expect. A great, well thought out idea, expertly executed that will have you laughing one moment and feel sad the next. Witty, funny and still full of emotion and meaning. There isn't really anything like this show out there. Well done, well done! Even if this show was made 8 years ago, it is still just as relevant. If not more so.

This is BY FAR the funniest, smartest and most self-aware show ever offered to the Millenial set. By a million miles. Even as a huge fan of Bo Burnham (confession: I may have at some point had some of his YouTube raps memorized), the quality of the writing and Burnham's acting is astonishing.

He plays a recent high school graduate who forgoes college to instead spend all the grocery store wages he has saved on a camera crew. They film his entire life, ostensibly for some nebulous TV show, with the end goal of making Zach famous. Any nature or degree of fame will suffice. The gimmick is believable mainly because Zach Stone is so delusional that he really would want cameras there all the time. His quest for fame motivates everything (well, almost everything) in his life, and he is willing to do anything to make it to stardom.

It's easy to compare it to "The Office", and fitting that it is premiering within a month of that show's series finale. Both of them are ostensibly behind-the-scenes looks at the making of two documentaries that will surely never been made. Both handle moments of quiet And they both turn out to be showcases for movie-star-level character acting and charisma. That was certainly the case for Steve Carell as Michael Scott. And Burnham was much closer to being a movie star than we know. He was reported to be developing a "High School Musical" parody for Judd Apatow (at the peak of Apatow's box office success).

Burnham decisively satirizes the MTV generation--the show's premise explores the idea that all you need to be famous is a camera crew. But his character is so likable and non- threatening that the satire might as well be delivered wrapped in marshmallow. (I don't mean to say the satire isn't dead on or cutting--it is.) And if you're familiar with Burnham's previous work, the character is even more clear-cut. He has always exhibited an overblown and carefully-crafted sense of egomania. There's more than a little bit of YouTube era Burnham in Zach Stone, but with the real Burnham (who has shown incredible depth in songs like "Welcome to YouTube" and "I Am an Artist") running the show.

Everyone involved with this show has major cojones, especially the MTV execs who put a show on the air that could possibly have alienated most of its audience. They shouldn't have to worry, because Burnham plays Zach Stone remarkably likable and sympathetic. But great shows struggle for viewership all the time, so I might as well start the plea now. PLEASE watch this show to make sure it gets a second season. This show has the potential to be one of the best on television.

How's this for irony? If you're looking for the smartest voice of our generation in television, it's on MTV.

Let me preface this review by saying that Bo Burnham is my favorite comedian. "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous" is a hilarious show that makes me laugh every time I watch it. There is tons of humor, and a lot of heart as well. Every episode has a bit of drama as Zach Stone tries to find his place in the world. The humorous situations find meaning in Zach's quest to become famous, but it also has a great deal of depth in his interpersonal relations, especially with his family and his best friend/love interest Amy. Though Zach can be flippant and immature, he always comes to realize a greater message through his family's support, and his antics serve to show how his family and friends love him no matter what. It's a great show with a lot of heart, and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a fun situational comedy, as well as fans of Bo Burnham such as myself. 10/10

When I looked up Zach Stone (after falling in love with Inside, of course) I saw nothing but glowing reviews. Seriously. Amazon was overflowing with 5-star reviews.

When I watched the show, I found out why.

Zach Stone is one of the funniest TV shows I've ever seen. It's The Office's ADHD child. The stripped down nature of the show makes it feel intimate, like you really are watching this kid make his own TV show and annoy his family to death. And then he makes mistakes that feel all too human and relatable.

One minute, Zach is rapping at a funeral and making you laugh while cringing into your seat, the next minute he's doing a hysterical impression of Gordon Ramsey. The jokes in the show are as hyper as Zach himself, flying at you a mile a minute. You'll be cracking up over what just happened, while trying to keep up with the punch line of the following joke, only to end up dying over the next joke. This show doesn't hold your hand either. It throws media references at you, occasionally dropping an introspective comment on whatever celebrity fad Zach is trying out today, then hitting you with a Justin Bieber joke for viewers that might not get the deeper humor. And there is plenty of easy humor. If you just want to have a good time, Zach's got you covered. If you want to think a little deeper, Zach's got that too.

A show this funny has no right to make me cry as much as it did. Which is why Zach Stone fits perfectly into the body of Bo Burnham's work. To loosely quote Bo, he likes to point out how stupid comedy is while making you laugh and pulling on your heart strings. (A very simplified, Bo-like way of describing the emotional power of his comedy.) And in Zach stone, he has plenty to say in between the lines. Society tells Zach to go to college, but he rejects it in pursuit of his own happiness, even if he has no idea what he's doing. Zach's desire for fame seems foolish, but could it be he's figured out something the rest of us haven't? Then there's the added layer of how meta it is. As far as I've read, Bo chose to perform stand-up instead of go to college, and a few years later he wrote a show about Zach who's so determined to become famous that he skips out on college to do so. So is Bo making fun of himself? No idea, but I love trying to figure it out.

It seems like a show that's actually about Bo's life, right? Except it's not. Bo is not playing himself here, or acting in his stage persona. He's playing a wildly different character than himself, a kid with ridiculous energy who's simultaneously the most annoying teen you know and a spotless ray of sunshine.

This show also achieves the rare feat of having a strong narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. It's an actual story with an actual ending. You'll leave the last episode totally satisfied (and then fall into a depression that there isn't more because MTV was too dumb to see the magic happening right in front of them.)

For anyone wondering about the adult content, the show's humor is fairly edgy but curses are bleeped out. Episode 4 leans towards an R rating but the rest of the show is comfortably PG-13.

I'm glad this show exists. Hopefully you'll feel that way too.

I had never heard of this little gem until it popped up on my Netflix page. Seeing it starred Bo Burnham I was intrigued. I had no idea this was something he did almost a decade ago.

I loved this show so much. Seeing a young, semi-manic Bo allows the viewer into his head somewhat. ZSIGTBF shows the beginnings of the genius he becomes in his stand up and specials. He's a genius to say the least. This show could have been made today and it would be relevant. A teen who wants to be famous but has nothing to offer for that to happen is literally the Instagram and TikTok of today. The difference is that this show is funny, smart, and tender at times. It looks like MTV did a poor job of promoting this show when they had it. Ironic since the theme is insta-fame via in your face media.