Carmichael moved to Los Angeles at the age of 20 to pursue a stand-up comedy career, despite never having tried it before. His first time doing stand-up was at an
open mic night at
The Comedy Store in
West Hollywood. Working his way up through the comedy clubs, he appeared in the "New Faces" showcase at the 2011
Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. He appeared on the show
The Goodwin Games (2013) His first
HBO stand-up comedy special,
Love at the Store (2014), was directed by
Spike Lee and filmed at The Comedy Store. Carmichael's second stand-up comedy special,
8 (2017), was directed by friend and fellow comedian
Bo Burnham and filmed in the Grand Lodge Room of New York's
Masonic Hall. Carmichael next co-created, co-wrote, produced, and starred in the semi-biographical
NBC sitcom
The Carmichael Show (2015–2017), which was well-received and was notable for broaching topics including the
Black Lives Matter movement,
LGBT issues, gun rights, politics, and the reality of being black in America. He also served as an executive producer for the
Fox sitcom
Rel (2018–2019) and directed
Drew Michael's stand-up comedy special
Drew Michael (2018), which was acclaimed for its "unusual style". Carmichael made an appearance on rapper
Tyler, the Creator's album
Igor (2019), narrating the album using short phrases to find logic in the
title character Igor's state of mind. That same year, he was hired by
Quentin Tarantino to co-write a film adaptation based on the
Django/Zorro crossover comic book series. He created, directed, produced, and starred in the HBO autobiographical documentaries
Home Videos (2019) and
Sermon on the Mount (2019). His feature film
directorial debut,
On the Count of Three, competed in the
U.S. Dramatic Competition at the
2021 Sundance Film Festival; Carmichael directed, produced, and starred in the film. His third HBO special,
Rothaniel (2022), was also directed by Burnham and earned Carmichael the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. Two days after the release of
Rothaniel, Carmichael hosted
Saturday Night Live for the first time, for which he was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He also won the
Writers Guild of America Award for
Best Television Writing in a Comedy/Variety Specials for his work writing
Rothaniel. That year, he also appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Poor Things'' alongside
Emma Stone. In 2024, he starred in
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, an
HBO documentary series revolving around his life. The series screened at
South by Southwest on March 10, 2024, before being released on HBO 19 days later. On May 24, 2025, his fourth special ''Don't Be Gay'' premiered on
HBO's streaming service
Max. == Influences ==