Jerrod Charmichael: Rothaniel on HBOMax

[+ Lucky]

Jerrod Carmichael hosted Saturday Night Live last week and I saw his monologue, where he talked about his HBOMax show, mentioning that he came out as gay in the show. So I watched it tonight. It's called Rothaniel. If he explained why, I didn't get it.

The show is not a comedy performance. It's more akin to what happens in a psychologist's office, where the audience is the psychologist and Jerrod the patient, talking at length about his life trauma. His father and grandfathers were serial philanderers. It was sad to hear of the conflicts he felt about this.

Then the coming out is more about those who didn't accept it rather than those who did. His mother is a Christian and can't really accept it. His father says now they both were screwups. It goes on, but there are many long pauses. The audience occasionally plays their role, chipping in with appropriate psychologist questions.

So I watched it all but never really liked it. The use of the n-word is quite common, which I don't understand, but then I guess I don't have to.