Comedy Central star on his way to Eau Claire

Comedian Bo Burnham to perform in Zorn Arena in February

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Photo by Lauren French

Senior Stephanie Schenk is a psychology major at Eau Claire, and plans to buy tickets for Burnham’s show.

Story by Lauren French, Copy Editor

UW-Eau Claire students with the winter blues may just need more laughter in their lives, and they can get exactly that right here on campus.

By popular request, musical comedian and actor Bo Burnham will perform Feb. 12 in Zorn Arena.

The University Activities Commission released a poll on Facebook last semester to determine the most popular candidate for a spring show.  Bo Burnham, Dan + Shay and G-Eazy were the top three performers.  Burnham took 223 of the 597 total votes.

Nicole Rindone, the coordinator for student activities at UAC, said their Facebook announcement for Burnham’s performance generated over 17,000 views.

“Everyone is excited,” Rindone said.  “We’ve had the highest amount of social media activity around this event than we’ve had the past few years.”

Student tickets went on sale Wednesday in Zorn Arena, and senior Stephanie Schenk said she planned to be there early.

“He’s hilarious,” Schenk said.  “I’ve been a fan of his for four or five years, but I haven’t had the chance to see him live.”

Burnham started his career as a 16-year-old on YouTube in 2006. At 18, Burnham released his first of two comedy specials on Comedy Central and was the youngest person to do so.  His second comedy special, “what.,” is available on YouTube and Netflix.

Burnham won the Edinburgh Comedy Awards panel prize at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  He also won Malcolm Hardee’s “Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid” Award.

In 2013, Burnham published his first poetry book called “Egghead: Or, You Can’t Survive on Ideas Alone,” and released the MTV show he starred in and co-wrote called “Zach Stone is Gonna be Famous.”

Junior Nicole Brandon, communication sciences and disorders major, said she is excited to share Burnham’s live performance with her friends.

“He has a unique sense of humor,” Brandon said.  “My boyfriend and I have been watching Bo for a while now, and it will be cool to share the experience with him.”

UAC hid three pairs of free Burnham tickets around campus on Monday, and released three clues to help students find them.  Students found all the free tickets by Monday evening.  The secret locations were under a piano in Davies, inside the book “Words Words Words” in the lobby of McIntyre Library, and under a table in Schneider lobby.

Burnham’s show comes with an adult content and humor warning, and advises only mature audiences attend.   Tickets cost $15 for students and $25 for the general public.