The advice Bo Burnham gave Jerrod Carmichael that inspired Rothaniel
"Have somebody remember something about this set."
GQ: Jerrod Carmichael's 12-Step Truth Program.
Bo Burnham, Rothaniel’s director and Carmichael’s close friend, didn’t mince words about the failed field test. “Oh geez, it's crap,” Carmichael recalls him saying. “Let's go on the road and you'll figure it out and whatever.” Burnham, who had just created his own acclaimed special with the Netflix pandemic hit Inside, thought it would take about a year’s worth of road tests. Carmichael cracked the code on the second try. “I found what was true, I guess. I was able to just be honest. We did it at Flappers, and before the set at dinner Bo told me to just have a memorable set—just like, have somebody remember something about this set. It was very vague advice. But I did a set around not wanting to go home for Christmas. And from there, just being able to find that true emotional range and be myself on stage…it was my first time really doing that. But then I couldn't do anything else. After that December show, we taped right after Valentine's Day.”
What I like about Bo’s “be memorable” advice is how it opens up your goals beyond just getting laughs. Awkwardness, discomfort, vulnerability, and so many other things are on the table when the target shifts from “be funny” to “be memorable.” I often describe the perfect joke as one that gets laughs in the moment and also reappears later on in the listener’s head because it’s also an intriguing/surprising/unique idea. The downside to this advice is it can lead to overindulgence and one-man-showiness. It all depends on your goals.
Carmichael also talks about how this special is an evolution in his comedy.
Rothaniel is an evolution even just of my own personal comedy. My material was very much from a mountaintop: I feel this way about this and this and this, and blah, blah, blah. The comedian as philosopher kind of thing. Now I'm on the battlefield. Rothaniel is like, I'm pulling up to the beach at Normandy. The explosions are around me. It's of great personal consequence.”