Jerrod Carmichael

Jerrod Carmichael (full name Rothaniel Jerrod Carmichael, born April 6, 1987 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and filmmaker. He grew up poor, a frequent topic in his stand-up work, and graduated from Robert B. Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, in 2005. He later moved to Los Angeles, where his career began in the early 2010s comedy club scene, performing his first stand-up at an open mic at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood.

Carmichael has released four stand-up comedy specials on HBO: Love at the Store (2014), directed by Spike Lee; 8 (2017) and Rothaniel (2022), both directed by Bo Burnham; and Don't Be Gay (2025). Rothaniel won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Television Writing in a Comedy/Variety Specials. He co-created, co-wrote, produced, and starred in the semi-autobiographical NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show (2015-2017).

He made his feature film directorial debut with the dark comedy On the Count of Three (2021), which competed at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. In 2022, two days after Rothaniel's release, he hosted Saturday Night Live, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2023, he hosted the 80th Golden Globe Awards and appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Poor Things alongside Emma Stone. In 2024 he was the subject of the HBO documentary series Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, which premiered at South by Southwest.

His early comedic influences were George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, and Sinbad. Carmichael lives in New York City and came out as gay in his comedy special Rothaniel (2022).