Newly Out Jerrod Carmichael Was Wonderful on ‘SNL’ Last Night
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Comedian Jerrod Carmichael came out as gay on his new HBO special Rothaniel Friday night and then hosting duties at Saturday Night Live the following day where he was a wonderful breath of fresh air.
Watch his opening below.
In his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, the host and comedian Jerrod Carmichael swore he wouldn’t do it. “I’m not gonna talk about it,” he said. He didn’t even have to say what it was.
But sure enough, “S.N.L.” found several ways to take on the widely discussed incident from last weekend’s Academy Awards, in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock (a former “S.N.L.” cast member) after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
The Slap was addressed most directly in a sketch that aired about halfway through the program, which cast Chris Redd as Smith and Carmichael as a seat filler at the Oscars show who found himself next to Smith in the moments before Rock made his remarks.
Carmichael at first professed to be a fan of Smith’s, saying that he admired his film “The Pursuit of Happyness” and still used his song “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” as his ringtone. He asked if he could take a selfie just as they noticed Rock had come onstage.
Next, we heard the sound of Rock’s voice uttering his now notorious joke: “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”
Redd said to Carmichael, “Hey, I’ll be right back, man,” and strode out of the shot.
Then we heard the slap and watched as the expression on Carmichael’s face changed from delight to bafflement.
As Redd nonchalantly returned to his seat, he asked Carmichael, “Hey, so where you from, man?”
A shaken Carmichael stammered out his response: “Uh, nowhere, man,” he said.
Redd continued to maintain a conversation with Carmichael while occasionally shouting expletive-laden remarks at the stage.
Soon, the two were joined by Kyle Mooney, playing another seat filler who was oblivious to Carmichael’s nonverbal warnings to stay away.
“Oh my God, we’re right next to Will Smith?” Mooney exclaimed. “I gotta tweet this.” He glanced at his phone: “And he’s trending,” he said as he suddenly became unnerved.
Redd, still buoyant, introduced himself to Mooney and asked, “What’s your name?”
“I don’t — they didn’t give me one,” he uncomfortably replied.
Redd said the past two years had been complicated because Covid, Zoom meetings and — his voice trembling here — “Red Table Talk.”
When Carmichael’s phone rang, he tried to stop it from playing “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” but Redd told him not to switch it off. “Don’t answer that, man!” he said. “Let it ring! Everything is beautiful, y’all!”
In the closing moments of his monologue, Carmichael took the opportunity to address former President Obama. “And unfortunately, I have some news for you, Barack,” he said. “You’re not going to like this. We need you back because I think you’re going to have to talk about it. The nation needs to heal.”
