“That Funny Feeling” Hasn’t Faded: How Fan Rewrites Take a Stance

In 2021, comedy musician Bo Burnham released the song “That Funny Feeling” as a part of his Netflix comedy special Inside. The song is a satire on the strange, unsettling state of the world at the time of the release, pointing out humorous, light-hearted things happening, such as James Cordon’s Carpool Karaoke series and the Pepsi Halftime show, right alongside more serious topics, like the quickly approaching countdown to when climate change is deemed irreversible, or mass shootings at malls. He uses humor and makes light of the severity of the issues, chalking what everyone is feeling as it happens as “that funny feeling,” as there is no real term that can be used to describe the strange discomfort. The song did not just disappear after it was released, though. Since then, many different people have taken it upon themselves to rewrite Burnham’s song, changing the lyrics to put in different situations and issues that have come up since the initial release, like a reflection on the recent results of the 2024 election or the hypocrisy seen when religion is brought into politics. Through a careful analysis of both the original song, numerous rewrites since 2021, and other online forums, I look at how these politically charged rewrites help the young adult audience of the song cope with the crumbling political state of the country because young people’s voices matter too, not just the old ones running the country.