Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel

I've never felt so opposed to the majority critical opinion, but there's a first time for everything, I guess. To start, I didn't laugh *at all* during Rothaniel. One joke about his gramma wondering if he'd be a "top" made me smile, but that was it. The crowd, on the other hand, was laughing at *everything*. I can only assume it was a crowd of his fans (given the back-and-forth with the crowd, that's a very safe bet). It was apparent that the crowd really wanted to laugh because they were laughing at even the most mundane remarks, many of which were just factual recollections that barely rose to the level or mildly amusing. This special is obviously not merely a comedy special, though, since Jerrod (or should we now call him Rothaniel?) used it to come out as gay. The whole special is in the context of his upbringing and his family. I've seen plenty of comics talk about their life in ways that made me laugh, but this was so matter-of-fact that it just felt like I was watching a self-conscious therapy session. There are so many pregnant pauses where Jerrod puts his head in his hand or his hand on his neck, it started feeling contrived. I get that he feels the need to express himself and gain acceptance, but it felt like he tried to shoehorn that desire into a comedy special, and it just didn't work for me. I suppose if you're really into him and are really curious about his life, this will work for you, but if you aren't already a fan, it's hard for me to imagine what the appeal would be.