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Jerrod Carmichael begins his second HBO hour with a deep sigh, a long silence, and a simple question for the crowd: “Are we gonna be OK?” Released in March 2017 and directed by Bo Burnham, the special works at an incredibly deliberate pace, letting the quiet moments hang in the air until the tension becomes a part of the performance. Carmichael taped the show in the round at the Masonic Hall in New York City, creating a highly theatrical yet intimate atmosphere with moody, dim lighting. At the time, Carmichael was running his NBC sitcom, The Carmichael Show, but on this stage, he works without a cast to balance his perspective. He offers thoughts on Donald Trump’s election, the reality of supporting the troops, and why he finds Jay-Z more personally influential than Martin Luther King Jr. Other bits touch on climate change through the lens of how future children will view Tony the Tiger once real tigers go extinct. Some viewers at the time found the deliberate pacing too slow, comparing the hour to a therapy session rather than a stand-up show, while others praised the willingness to sit in silence and force the crowd to live with difficult questions.