‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show’ is brutally honest

OPINION: It’s fascinating to watch comedian Jerrod Carmichael try to get into a relationship with his best friend, Tyler, the Creator.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

Ever since Jerrod Carmichael came out, his career has shifted from performing comedy to just being himself. Nowadays, he gets onstage, sits down, symbolically opens up a vein and gets as truthful as he possibly can. It’s not always funny, but it’s absolutely compelling. His new show on HBO, “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show,” is right in that vein. It gives us Carmichael both onstage and moving through his life. It feels like an honest look into Carmichael’s life without artifice. It feels messy the way life is messy. 

A camera crew has shown up to document Carmichael’s real life. As opposed to most reality shows where the crew is invisible, on this show, they’re part of the act. We see them, and we hear discussions of what it means for them to be in the room. The making of the show is part of the show and when Carmichael is kissing multiple guys he met hours before on Grindr, the fact that he’s touching and practically juggling men in front of HBO’s cameras is, uh, touched on.

Also part of the show is Carmichael’s mother’s struggle to accept his homosexuality. This, of course, is not neatly resolved by the end of the episode. That wouldn’t be truthful: this issue has been going on between them for a while. Things like that don’t get neatly tied up. But, like life, nothing on this show gets resolved, not even the main thrust of the episode: Carmichael has fallen in love with his best friend and, being truthful, he lets his best friend know. He then lets us see all the stress and anxiety that accompanies opening up to someone like that and waiting to see how they respond.

Of course, Carmichael’s best friend is Tyler, the Creator, and if you know anything about Tyler then you know he’s not going to make this easy for Carmichael. 

I love the idea of them having a close relationship — they’re two Black, cool, brilliant, rich, hypercreative artists. I’d love to be in a group chat or a live conversation with the two of them whether they’re friends or dating or whatever. 

But anytime someone is trying to move a relationship to a romantic level, things can get awkward. And Tyler seems to love the awkwardness. They have a conversation about Carmichael’s feelings but it doesn’t really conclude. Tyler says he doesn’t know how to respond. It’s clearly not the end of the discussion. It’s powerful, it’s sad, it’s relatable, it’s real. It’s amazing TV.

But it is not totally honest about one aspect of that attempted love connection. There’s one layer they don’t touch, at least not in episode one. Tyler has said before that he dates white men. I am not going to criticize Tyler for loving snow bunnies exclusively. To each his own. But I can say this: I know how Carmichael feels when he finds someone who won’t date him because they prefer white partners. That’s a deeply painful microaggression. To love a Black person who rejects you because they prefer white partners can make you feel insignificant. It’s a unique racist experience that I don’t recommend. Zero stars out of 10.

But, after watching one episode, I see Carmichael’s show is powerful, subtle, smart and real to the bone.  I generally hate reality shows, but I love Carmichael and his approach is fresh. I can’t wait to see what mess he gets into next time.

Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of Masters of the Game on theGrioTV. He is also the host and creator of the docuseries podcast “Being Black: The ’80s” and the animated show “Star Stories with Toure” which you can find at TheGrio.com/starstories. He is also the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is the author of eight books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter.

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