Comedian Jerrod Carmichael’s workshop doesn’t work

Comedian Jerrod Carmichael brought his latest project Jerrod Carmichael: Sleepless without Boyfriend to The Heath MainStage at The Den Theatre for five standup performances on April 11 and 13 through 16.

Ticket holders were told to be on time at 7:15 p.m. for the show and were told to check their telephones with Yondr pouches to not leak any information.

Carmichael didn't grace the stage until over 30 minutes later than the proposed start time and sat down throughout his standup act.

He began casually talking to the audience and talked about his regular weekly private therapy sessions. His show quickly turned into one long public therapy session as he spoke of gay men being broken and having sex to forget their problems.

The 36-year-old Emmy winner came out of the closet in 2022 and during this current year clearly displays he has issues to work out. He acted like being gay is provocative enough to captivate people who were given a lesson in patience with long, pregnant pauses throughout the evening.

Carmichael must have forgotten people were still paying to see his performance even though it was a work in progress. The time ran over as he lost the audience's favor by confessing to cheating on his boyfriend and admitting that he is extremely rich. Most people cannot relate to hearing that he never takes out the garbage on a regular basis.

He named dropped the problematic Kanye West and explained that Ellen DeGeneres' bad behavior is acceptable because she is a rich lesbian. Here's the same namedrop for you, Ellen was very rude to me personally way before a scandal was revealed and I don't care how much money she has.

Special guest Jamar Neighbors followed Carmichael's set and didn't know how to wrap up the show. Neighbors joked that he's not gay even though he has a rainbow mohawk and the humor went downhill from there. He used slurs for mentally challenged people to the horror of some in the crowd and then told crude stories of massive past trauma that didn't land even when using a family accented voice. The “broken” person around the venue was not a gay man, but the straight friend that Carmichael asked to join him on this venture. At one point, Neighbors asked Carmichael to come out onstage again and after supporting him by asking a few questions, the headliner returned behind the curtain. Even the main act couldn't finish watching a train wreck happen.

This outspoken duo was both seeking acceptance on the night of April 13 in very different ways. Hopefully, they find the funny in the future and this comedy special will be fiercely edited down for his fans one day. Until then Carmichael has a great deal of homework to do.

The Den Theatre, 1331 North Milwaukee Avenue, continues to book a robust group of performers in 2023. Visit TheDenTheatre.com for the schedule and to purchase tickets.

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