-Our first guest tonight
is an Emmy Award-winning writer and comedian
you know from "The Carmichael Show"
and films such as "Neighbors" and "Poor Things."
New episodes of "Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show"
air Friday nights at 11:00 on HBO and stream on Max.
Let's take a look. -I'll meet him.
Why you get quiet when I say I'll meet him?
-Oh, I mean, you know, I don't think you really --
I don't know if you have, like, a real --
I think you would do it.
I don't think you necessarily want to.
I think, I mean, that's nice, you know, but --
-You want to see a picture of him?
-You got one of him?
-That's him out the shower the other day.
-Please welcome back to the show
our friend Jerrod Carmichael, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back. -I'm happy to be here.
This -- You make this very comfortable.
-I'm glad to have you. -Yeah.
It's the most comfortable version of an insane thing.
This is insane.
I forget, like, oh [bleep] y'all are here.
Fred is here, so it's a special day.
Hi, Fred. -Hi. How you doing?
-I was trying to think of names for the truck.
-I know. It's hard.
A lot of times Fred comes up with ideas
that are very hard to put a name on.
-Yeah, yeah. You know what's funny?
I was watching the show, like, in the dressing room.
It was on mute.
And so I was guessing a lot of things.
All I saw was a picture of Clarence Thomas.
Then I blinked, then I saw an Oreo,
and I was like, "Oh, man, Seth's really going for it tonight.
Like, Seth's really, like --"
I was like, "Wow!"
-Based on that, we're gonna have to start putting signs up
in the greenroom that said, "No blinking."
-Yeah, yeah, I was like,
"Man, I don't know where this Oreo came from,
but I can't wait to hear it."
-You have a very exciting announcement.
You just finished watching "The Sopranos" for the first time.
-Yeah. You heard? -I heard.
-Oh, yeah. Yeah.
-And you have so much going on.
It's very impressive that you fit that in.
-It's the greatest show. I don't know if y'all watched.
It's the greatest thing that's ever happened in the world.
[ Cheers and applause ] It's like -- Yeah.
Give it up for "The Sopranos."
-Isn't it exciting that you could wait that long?
And many would think,
"I feel like I missed the 'Sopranos' train,"
but it is one of those shows you can go back and watch.
-No, it's like reality to me.
Like, it's, like -- It's so --
'Cause I think anything well-done is like a documentary.
-Sure. -So, like, this is like
a documentary of an Italian family in New Jersey.
-Yeah.
-And it's so rich and entertaining.
It was actually one season where Steve Buscemi was in it,
and I was like, "Man, I hope they kill him,
'cause he's taking me out of the documentary."
Like, I know Steve.
-Oh, you were like, "I don't like when I see an actor --"
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, no, get back to the doc.
Like, I love "The Sopranos." -I have to ask.
So the ending, had the ending been spoiled for you?
Because I think that a lot --
That's maybe one price you pay for watching it later.
-Yeah. I remember my manager Lou Anselmo --
I worked at a shoe store in North Carolina
25 years ago.
Like, he was just, like -- like, just pissed off.
-About the finale. -Yeah, about the end.
But I actually really loved it. I thought it was great.
I thought, I mean, this spoils nothing.
It, like, actually puts you in Tony's shoes.
The scene is so well done. I loved it.
-So basically for 25 years, all you knew about the finale
is it made your manager Lou Anselmo mad?
-Yeah, yeah, he was mad. He came back.
He was like, "What the [bleep] was that?"
He was, like, mad.
[ Both laugh ]
-This is amazing, because the last time you were here,
we were talking about "Rothaniel,"
which is an incredible stand-up special,
a very confessional, very raw, very, I don't know, authentic.
And yet now you have a show
which maybe even goes a little bit farther than "Rothaniel,"
the "Jerrod Reality Show."
Tell us a little bit about what made you think
this was the next step in your progression of,
I guess, honesty, right?
-Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Well, I'm needy,
and I really want to be seen and accepted,
but I also have a deep fear of that.
So I made a reality show because it's the fastest way to --
Like, I'm afraid of heights, so I went skydiving.
-Uh-huh. -And so I'm afraid
of being seen, so I made a reality show.
The clip that you saw, this episode,
I went on a road trip with my dad,
and, like, my dad's from the South,
and, like, he's got a gay son, whatever, you know.
Like, in the episode, it's going to seem like elder abuse
'cause my dad's old now.
Like, you're going to --
It's going to seem like I'm Tony and my dad's Uncle Junior,
but emotionally he's Tony and I'm AJ.
-Yeah. Oh, I see. Gotcha. Good to remember.
-Yeah, but I wanted him to meet my boyfriend.
My boyfriend's going to get pissed when he sees this
'cause, like, he never asked
and, like, you know, they don't really talk about me being gay,
so, like, I just showed him a picture of my boyfriend
fresh out the shower,
and, like, my dad's just, like, 65.
He don't know what to do with that.
Like, he's just, like, looking.
The whole episode is pretty fun.
Like, it's --
-It does sound like elder abuse.
-Yeah. Yeah.
-Because I'm wondering, right, like, so your --
you know, your dad is processing having a gay son,
and you're like, "You want to see a picture of my boyfriend?"
And, like, I feel like you probably have some pictures
where he's not fresh out of the shower,
so you make a choice there, right?
-That's what my boyfriend said. He was like, "Of all the --"
I actually thumb through, like, just fully clothed.
I was like, "No, no, he's hot here.
I'm gonna show you."
I just want to show my dad why I fell in love.
-Well, there you go. You were being honest.
-But I am needy. I do want to be seen.
Like, you know, even with the show,
what's been cool about showing something that's so, like,
such an X-ray and, like, showing the true --
I hate the expression "warts and all,"
but I am showing really embarrassing,
uncomfortable things in my life on the show,
and it makes me feel confident 'cause, like,
if I can show that, like, there's nothing to hide.
I have nothing to hide from anybody ever now,
like, out in the world.
So I feel really happy with that.
But it's hard, like, week to week,
like, to have to, like, relive some of these moments.
-Well, that's interesting you say that,
because you're not sitting in the edit, right?
So you're kind of -- when you see the episode,
it's really for you
maybe only the second time you're seeing it,
when you lived it and then seeing how it cuts together.
-I stay out of the editing room
'cause I'll take out all the good stuff.
Like, I'll be really precious and go,
"I'll take out the things that make me look bad,"
but that --
The show wouldn't be good. You know what I mean?
-So it's interesting. You had an interesting sort of --
The vanity goes two ways.
One, if you actually saw it, you'd cut it out.
But you also want your show to be good.
So you want to leave it in.
Who convinced you, like, don't go to the editing room?
-Honestly, Bill Cosby.
[ Laughter ]
It was advice I got from Bill Cosby.
He said, "Stay out of the editing room."
He told me that, and then I never talked to him again.
[ Laughter ]
I think he went to jail or something, but whatever.
[ Applause ]
-Oh, man, I definitely wasn't expecting that one.
-Yeah. No, no, I didn't want to lie.
But, no, it's hard because it's all the uncomfortable things.
-Yeah. -It's really hard
to say uncomfortable things.
Like, now I'm, like, trying to warm up to this interview.
Like, I don't want to go over time,
'cause these things --
Like, again, you make me feel comfortable,
but, like, usually I want to say something,
I'll say something inappropriate, you know?
And, like, I'm trying to be appropriate here.
-I mean, I feel like you crossed that Rubicon.
I think do whatever you want. -Well, no.
Well, honestly, I'll tell you a quick story.
-Okay, great. -Okay, 'cause, like,
I be wanting to talk about sex all the time,
and the show is a lot of sex,
and the Internet's responding in a way
that's just like, "Oh, my God."
Like, I got, like, somebody's foot in my mouth,
and, like, people are just like, "Jesus."
There's a lot of -- It's a lot of sex.
And, like, I remember doing --
I did the last season of "Ellen."
-Uh-huh. -Y'all remember Ellen?
-Yeah. -Yeah. No.
Of course you remember.
Like, it was the last season before she got mean, too.
-Yep. -Yeah. It happened.
Like, the Internet found out
a 60-year-old lesbian wasn't always nice.
-They didn't know what to do with it.
-Yeah, they didn't know what to do with that.
They were like, "What?" Yeah.
But I was so excited to do "Ellen"
'cause Ellen meant a lot to me growing up,
'cause Ellen came out at a really, really difficult time.
-She sure did. -Like, in the '90s.
And she lost everything.
And then she fought back, got a new show.
And my mom played her,
and that was a form of acceptance.
Like, my mom allowed Ellen into the home.
So I felt really excited going onto her show
'cause I have so much admiration for her.
And she's also an incredible comic and, like, really funny.
So I was really, really excited.
So I'm doing "Ellen," and, you know,
it's the studio audience like this,
and, like, you know, you're there.
And I'm trying to be comfortable in the moment.
And I'm talking to Ellen, and it's mostly --
I'll give the abridged version.
It's like, you know, "Blah, blah, blah, blah, gay."
And the audience is like, "Aww."
And Ellen's like, "Blah, blah, blah, yeah, I'm gay."
And the audience is like, "Yeah."
And everyone's just -- It's so warm and fuzzy,
and like, I'm feeling more and more comfortable.
And I was, like, again, being seen.
I, like, want to talk about things.
And I was talking about being in therapy
and how, like, I'm exploring a lot of things in therapy.
And Ellen was asking about my love life,
and she asked if I was seeing anybody,
and I thought it was a good time to make a joke.
-Uh-huh
[ Laughter ]
-So I was like, "You know, Ellen,
it's funny you mention that
because I actually recently realized in therapy
that if a guy doesn't somehow remind me of my mom,
I can't get [bleep]"
[ Laughter ]
Nothing. The audience went silent.
The boom mic operator pulled the mic away from my face.
I looked over to Ellen for support.
She was just like, "Jesus Christ."
And then it got cut out of the show.
-Sure. Yeah, yeah.
-We'll see if it makes it in this.
I don't know. -It'll definitely make it.
It is funny when I think about,
like, how many moms were in that Ellen audience.
-Yeah, yeah.
-A lot of them were doing math.
-I realized it was 2:00 in the afternoon in Burbank,
and I was like, "Oh, this has no place."
But it's hard to talk about.
-Well, it is.
I mean, I have a real appreciation for you
because, you know, again, I'm --
That show for me is conversations
I've never heard people having.
-Yeah.
-And I've always liked that about, you know,
from your sitcom to your specials to this,
it's been an incredible progression of, like,
how open you've been.
So I really feel like a beneficiary of it.
I appreciate you in a way that Burbank audience didn't.
-Hey, I hope y'all watch the show.
-It's really something. -It's on Fridays.
We got seven more weeks of it.
It's on HBO, the same channel as "The Sopranos."
-Yeah. Lookit. -Yeah.
-Callback.
Thank you, buddy. Great to have you.
That's Jerrod Carmichael, everybody.
"Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show"
airs Friday nights at 11:00 on HBO and streams on Max.
We'll be right back with Stephanie Ruhle.