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Promotional art for Give 'Em Hell, Kid
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Give 'Em Hell, Kid

Jermaine Fowler

Showtime · 2015 · 56 min

An energetic homecoming set interspersed with family interviews.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Before finding mainstream success as an actor, Jermaine Fowler bet on himself by self-financing his debut stand-up hour to maintain complete creative control. Filmed at the DC Improv (making Fowler the first comedian to shoot a special in the venue’s main showroom), the show is structured as a loose, high-energy homecoming rather than a standard set. He frames his stand-up around a coming-of-age narrative, interspersing the stage performance with documentary-style cutaways and interviews with his actual family and friends. The material is highly personal, centering on his upbringing in Hyattsville, Maryland, and his transition to New York City. Fowler shares stories about his young parents, his twin brother, and a polite reflex that backfires when he accidentally agrees to let an unarmed mugger rob him. He even makes room for Hollywood-adjacent absurdities, including a memorable encounter with Whoopi Goldberg’s high-tech bidet.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Being raised by young parents and growing up with a brother his family thought was mentally challenged

    Explores the family dynamic in humorous detail, accompanied by cutaway documentary interviews with his twin brother, parents, and siblings.

  2. Pranking a white friend in a car

    Driving by and inciting a group of young Black pedestrians using a racial epithet, paired with a cutaway interview with the friend.

  3. A scheme going awry at the local library

    Recounting how a scheme went wrong and got a close friend banned from their local library.

  4. Working at Quizno's

    Reflecting on what he jokingly and seriously called his worst day job ever, alongside an interview with his coworker friend.

How it plays

Tone
Positive, candid, and personal.
On stage
Described as a charmer who brings little onstage exaggeration to his true-to-life routines.
About
family upbringing, youth and young parents, pranks with friends, past day jobs

What the critics said

Praised for its charm and heart, with reviewers noting its unique integration of documentary cutaways reminiscent of Kevin Hart's Laugh At My Pain.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, tv.apple.com, thetvdb.com, pro.imdb.com, thecomicscomic.com, vulture.com, cinafilm.com, imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Conceived as a debut special Fowler envisioned since age 18, dedicated to spreading love and positivity after experiencing the loss of friends and family to illnesses and murders, and naming his production shingle Delores Inc. after his grandmother.

Details

Released
Taped
DC Improv
Runtime
56 min
Where
Showtime
Topics

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