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Promotional art for Don't Be Gay
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Don't Be Gay

Jerrod Carmichael

HBO · 2025 · 53 min

Jerrod Carmichael returns to stand-up with a personal, joke-heavy hour.

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Jerrod Carmichael returns to the stage with a title that targets the cardinal rule of his southern upbringing. Taped at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater in New York City, this fourth HBO hour marks a shift back to more traditional stand-up structures following the hushed, therapy-adjacent tone of his Emmy-winning Rothaniel and the intense exposure of his subsequent reality series. Carmichael plays with the friction between his public identity as a gay man and the lingering anxieties of trying to look straight, trying to fit in, and trying to manage a career as a multimillionaire provider for a family that still struggles to fully accept him.\n\nHe spends a significant portion of the set detailing his open relationship—so much so that he banned his boyfriend from attending the taping. He riffs on how his family depends on him so much they should hang his photo by the front door like a patron saint, and touches on unexpected subjects like children’s funerals and the cultural resonance of the singer D’Angelo. Directed by Ari Katcher, the set divided critics, with some weary of his hyper-specific self-scrutiny and others welcoming a return to structured joke-writing.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Seeking Black approval versus receiving white executive approval from HBO.

    Observes that while he wants Black people to like him, one white lady from HBO made him a multimillionaire, framing the tension between financial security and racial validation.

  2. Struggles of trying to be straight around early 2000s music videos.

    Recalls how challenging it was to stay in the closet when D'Angelo's provocative video for 'How Does It Feel' premiered.

  3. Supporting his religious family and the church as a pyramid scheme.

    Jokes about feeling in a battle with God for his mother's soul because he pays for everything while she thanks Jesus.

  4. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Attempting public displays of affection (PDA) with his partner in Paris. closer

    Details his lingering discomfort with PDA and trying to embrace it while abroad.

How it plays

Tone
Hilarious, vulnerable, blunt, celebratory, and disarmingly frank, balancing dark or uncomfortable themes with levity.
On stage
Self-assured, confident, radically honest, witty, and unapologetic; standing on stage dressed in jeans, a white tank top, and Birkenstocks.
Pace
Constantly pacing across a brightly-lit stage; energetic yet matching an underlying nervous anxiety.
About
Internalized homophobia and racism, Online backlash and seeking approval from Black audiences, His open relationship, sex life, and infidelity, His devout Christian mother, family dynamics, and financial support, Coming of age, closeted experiences, and using Grindr, Therapy and masculinity

What the critics said

Widely praised as genius, masterfully written, and refreshingly direct; critics commended Carmichael's vulnerability, frankness about sex, and return to traditional joke-telling, though some noted his persistent self-absorption.

In the room: Receptive but deliberately shown from behind, maintaining a slightly distant dynamic compared to intimate past specials.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: variety.com, vanityfair.com, imdb.com, vulture.com, decider.com, en.wikipedia.org, hollywoodreporter.com.

Backstory

Filmed in the aftermath of coming out publicly in 'Rothaniel' (2022) and releasing the HBO docuseries 'Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show' (2024), reckoning with the public online backlash and navigating life as an out gay Black man in a relationship.

Details

Released
Taped
Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, New York City
Runtime
53 min
Where
HBO
Director
Ari Katcher
Topics
Before
Rothaniel (2022)

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