Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for Rothaniel
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Rothaniel

Jerrod Carmichael

HBO · 2022 · 55 min

Jerrod Carmichael comes clean about his family, his name, and himself.

Watch on HBO(opens in a new tab)

Jerrod Carmichael spends a significant portion of this hour sitting quietly on a stool, letting long, heavy silences stretch out until audience members feel compelled to call out and break them. It is less of a traditional stand-up set and more of a conversational reckoning. He starts with a secret about his own name—revealing that his first name is actually Rothaniel, a portmanteau of his grandfathers’ names that he spent years bribing yearbook editors to leave out. From there, he details a history of family secrets, eventually sharing the one he had spent his life keeping: that he is gay.

Filmed on a snowy night in February 2022 at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, the special was directed by Bo Burnham, who frames Carmichael in tight close-ups. At this point in his career, Carmichael had already created his own NBC sitcom and directed his debut feature film, but this project shifted his public persona entirely. He discusses the fallout of coming out to a religious family, noting how his mother views his sexuality as a sin, and how his father, who had been caught cheating, seemed relieved that his son’s news would redirect the family’s shame.

The special received widespread critical acclaim and won the 2022 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. Rather than building toward punchlines, Carmichael relies on a therapeutic back-and-forth with the small crowd, treating comedy as a space to finally speak without a script.

The set list

5 bits

  1. His given first name Rothaniel

    Explaining that Jerrod is his middle name, while his real first name combines his grandfathers' names and sounds less like an elegant name and 'more like … Toyotathon.'

  2. Family infidelity and double lives

    Unpacking his paternal grandfather having around 23 children outside of marriage, cracking that 'there's no easy way to say your grandma was a sidepiece.'

  3. Coming out as gay

    Stating simply 'I'm gay' after letting the silence hang, followed by reflecting on his fear that he would rather die than confront the truth.

  4. Support for the Black family versus gay Black sex

    Solemnly affirming support for Black men marrying Black women and having babies, before pivoting to note that gay Black men should sleep with whoever they want because there are no consequences or babies resulting from his sex.

  5. His mother's rejection and avoidance of his sexuality

    Grappling painfully with his mother saying she 'can't go against God,' remarking that even hate would feel better than silence because hate is acknowledgment, and looking directly into the camera lens.

How it plays

Tone
Vulnerable, heartbreaking, melancholic, intimate, and soul-searching, mixed with pointed humor.
On stage
Quiet, vulnerable, searching, candid, and seated throughout the set in a red collared shirt, wavering between discomfort and deep honesty.
Pace
Slow, quiet, and deliberate, featuring titanic silences, long pauses, thoughtful hesitations, and moments where he trails off to reflect in real time.
About
coming out as gay, family secrets and infidelities, masculinity and shame, his relationship with his mother, acceptance versus conditional love

What the critics said

Universally lauded by critics as a vital, astonishing, and deeply moving masterwork that breaks conventional stand-up boundaries through raw intimacy and emotional courage.

In the room: Deeply intimate and supportive, functioning like a collective therapy session or family gathering, with stunned silences, applause, and spontaneous dialogue from the crowd.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: variety.com, themoviedb.org, newyorker.com, www-s1.npr.org, vulture.com, nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, en.m.wikipedia.org, npr.org, indiewire.com.

Backstory

Carmichael publicly comes out as gay for the first time while grappling with personal trauma, family silence, and his mother's religious resistance, amid a wider wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the United States.

Details

Released
Taped
Blue Note Jazz Club, New York City
Runtime
55 min
Where
HBO
Director
Bo Burnham
Honors
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety SpecialWriters Guild of America Award for Best Television Writing in a Comedy/Variety SpecialsBlack Reel Awards nomination for Outstanding Variety, Talk or Sketch – Series or Special
Topics
Before
8 (2017)
After
Don't Be Gay (2025)

More from Jerrod Carmichael

If you liked this