W. Kamau Bell Returns + ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show’
The Last Laugh
The Daily Beast
4.6 • 661 Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2024
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been six years since W. Kamau Bell’s last special ‘Private School Negro’ premiered on Netflix. And after hosting CNN’s ‘United Shades of America’ for seven seasons and directing two hit documentaries, he’s not totally sure that he should still be considered a stand-up comedian. In his third appearance on the podcast—taped in-studio in his native Oakland—Bell speaks frankly about his ambivalence around pursuing the life of a comic right now and why he keeps finding himself on stage, especially as the 2024 election heats up. Bell discusses comedy’s role in the Biden vs. Trump rematch, why comedians like Joe Rogan have embraced third-party spoiler RFK Jr., the fallout from his ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby’ docuseries and a lot more.
But first, The Daily Beast’s Allegra Frank joins host Matt Wilstein to answer some burning questions about the first episode of ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show.’ How real is it? Is the identity of the anonymous masked man supposed to be so obvious? And why do we find this deeply sad show so funny?
Follow W. Kamau Bell on Twitter @wkamaubell and Instagram @wkamaubell
Follow Matt Wilstein on Threads @mattwilstein
Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod and Threads @lastlaughpod
Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the Last Laugh. I'm Matt Wilson from The Daily Beast, and today on the show we have our first in-person interview since before the pandemic with my fellow Bay Area resident W. Kamau Bell, who was returning to the podcast for a third time. But first, I am so excited to introduce my friend and fellow editor at The Daily Beast |
| 0:24.4 | who is going to be joining us at the top of every episode starting this week. |
| 0:28.6 | Welcome to the podcast, Allegra Frank. |
| 0:30.9 | Hello, thanks for having me. |
| 0:32.9 | Yeah, this is so exciting. |
| 0:34.1 | You know, I think listeners may know you from one of our year-end funniest performances |
| 0:40.0 | episodes that we've done in the past. |
| 0:41.5 | But yeah, you and I talk about comedy so much in our actual lives at The Daily Beast that |
| 0:46.4 | I thought it would be fun to have you on and start, you know, talking about some stuff that |
| 0:50.8 | we don't always get to talk about on this show. |
| 0:53.8 | And, you know, I think we're |
| 0:54.6 | both such big comedy fans with some of the same interests, some different interests. So yeah, |
| 0:58.4 | this is just, it's very fun to have you here. |
| 1:01.3 | Cool. Yeah, I'm excited. So you help run our obsessed section. So I thought it would be apt to |
| 1:07.8 | start by talking about the show that we are both most obsessed with right now, |
| 1:12.3 | I think, which is Gerard Carmichael Reality Show, which just premiered its first episode |
| 1:17.4 | on this past Friday on HBO. I think we're going to try to keep our conversation mostly to the |
| 1:22.0 | first episodes, so we don't spoil anything beyond that. But I will say that you and I have both |
| 1:27.2 | watched all eight episodes, |
| 1:29.1 | you because you had to review it or got to review it. And I, because I got the screeners and |
| 1:36.1 | just couldn't stop. Yeah. I mean, again, we will not toil it, but I feel like it just |
| 1:41.3 | kind of builds. And the first episode is so grabby that you |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Daily Beast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Daily Beast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.