Jerrod Carmichael on Truth in Comedy, Coming Out Late & Religion

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

News Commentary, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kara Swisher sits down with Emmy-winning comedian Jerrod Carmichael for a raw and revealing conversation about truth, family, faith — and the art of standup. They dig into Carmichael’s work, including his deeply personal special “Rothaniel,” his genre-bending documentary “The Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” (which he describes as a sitcom), and his latest special, “Don’t Be Gay.” The two of them talk about class in America, the fears that kept him closeted, the role of religion and spirituality in his life, and why standup must evolve or die. Plus, why he’s the son his mother deserves, what he’s learned from artists like Jay-Z and Spalding Gray, and why he wants to “remove hyphens” from his name and focus on stand-up comedy. Happy Pride — and happy listening. Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I do a lot of comics, and so I'm very excited to have you.
0:03.5	Who's been your favorite?
0:04.8	Oh, don't do that to me.
0:05.4	I'm competitive.
0:19.9	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:21.1	This is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:24.1	My guest today is Emmy Award-winning stand-up comedian, writer, and director, Gerard Carmechle.
0:29.6	Gerard has been making comedy for nearly 20 years.
0:32.1	In 2014, his first stand-up special, Love at the Store, was directed by Spike Lee.
0:37.1	From 2015 to 2017, he wrote,
0:40.1	produced and starred in the NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show. He has executive produced,
0:45.0	directed, and acted in TV and film, including the Oscar-winning romp, Poor Things.
0:49.2	And despite having mind his personal life for comedy for all of those years, his 22 HBO special,
0:55.1	Ruthaniel, was full of secrets he hadn't revealed before, his families and his own, including
1:00.3	that he's gay. It was stand-up as therapy, and it won him an Emmy. But Gerard didn't stop there.
1:06.6	Last year, he came out with a Gerard Con Michael reality show, an eight-episode series documenting his attempts to come out to his friends, make peace with his father, and find common ground with his deeply religious Southern Baptist mother and her notions of heaven, hell, and unconditional love.
1:21.3	It's also about trying to be in his first open relationship without falling back into those lies.
1:26.1	It turns out to be harder than it looks.
1:28.4	Girard's latest stand-up special, Don't Be Gay, came out last month, and I thought it was
1:32.9	fantastic. He's really mining a lot of his personal things, but it's actually still funny.
1:38.0	I like a storyteller more than anybody, more than stand-up that just goes for joke after
1:42.8	joke. So he's incredibly thoughtful in the genre of a lot of comedians today
	...

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