Before the news was announced that Jerrod Carmichael’s The Carmichael Show was canceled by NBC this week, HipHopDX caught up with the stand-up comedian on the red carpet at the Chicago premiere of Transformers: The Last Knight on June 20. Carmichael spoke to DX about the significance of his show and its “N-Word” episode.
Based around Carmichael, and his relationships with his family and girlfriend, it’s one of the many episodes from the semi-biographical comedic series that tackles real life. Carmichael previously called out NBC for pulling an episode based on mass shootings earlier this year and scoffed at them for extending a “disrespectful” offer.
This particular episode aired the n-word six times, uncensored, in various scenarios. And yes, both the “a” and “er” versions were used.
“The entire episode is about the expansion of consciousness,” Carmichael told DX. “It’s about being beyond a certain amount of pain, being beyond certain rules that kind of dictate some of our lives and things we adhere to unnecessarily. I think it’s a great conversation and I hope that people really enjoy, and I hope it sparks deeper conversation in everyone’s personal life.”
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The laid-back role Carmichael plays on this show is in stark contrast (albeit still humorous) to his role in Transformers as Jimmy. Running around, unhinged and scared of getting caught up with the TRF for helping Cade Yager played by Mark Wahlberg. When asked what drew him to this role in particular, he says it’s a role he and the film’s director Michael Bay worked through together.
“Truthfully, I just wanted to work with Michael Bay,” he admits. “We kind of filmed the role as we did it. It was a thing that came from a meeting with him and I wanted to work with him because he’s such a distinct visual director that I thought it would be fun and it was a huge learning experience. So, that’s why I signed on to be honest. ”
Despite The Carmichael Show ending after three seasons, the show’s star remains at work and is set to be featured in the 3D animated film Ferdinand as the voice of Paco, which is scheduled to hit theaters on December 17.
