From the WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend.

Today we hear from comic actor and writer Gerard Carmichael, who hosted Saturday Night Live

earlier this month.

He'll go deeper into the secrets he reveals in his new HBO comedy special, Rotheniel.

Secrets about his real name, his family tree, and his sexual orientation.

Also, Songwriter Singer and guitarist Richard Thompson, talks about his formative years.

Before he went solo, he co-founded the band Fairport Convention, which created a new genre, a hybrid of traditional

music of the British Isles and Rock.

His memoir, Beeswing, is out in paperback.

My first guest is comic actor and writer Gerard Carmichael.

My second guest is Janette

Thomas Wilkes.

interacting with the audience, his show starts to look like a hybrid of a comedy show and

a therapy session.

Carmichael has done two other HBO comedy specials, Love at the Store, directed by Spike Lee,

and eight, directed by Bo Burnham.

Carmichael is also the creator and star of the sitcom The Carmichael Show that ran on

NBC for three seasons.

That show portrayed a fictional version of Carmichael's family.

Many episodes were about them disagreeing with each other, uncomplicated and uncomfortable

issues like, is it still okay to enjoy Bill Cosby's comedy?

Is it okay to have a gun in the house?

...