I Know Jerrod Was Sucking Toes on Camera, but Hear Me Out
TL;DR: Dialogue is such a powerful tool. So powerful, it almost made me overlook some questionable activities. No kink shame!
Within the first few minutes of Jerrod Carmichael: Reality Show, we see him sucking the toes of a man he invited to “come thru,” and at that point, I was not quite sure what the actual fuck I was about to watch.
But that didn’t stop me from finishing all eight episodes in about two days.
Why? Because I was captured by the rawness.
Say what you want about the show, but it felt real. It showed uncomfortable conversations between people close to him. It showed him being a shitty friend. It showed friendship tension, romantic disappointment, family confrontation, relationship mess, and a lot of the uncomfortable moments that come with simply living life.
On the flip side, it also showed care among friends, the complicated love of family, admiration of a partner, and the desire to unburden yourself by addressing awkward tension, even when you don’t know what the outcome will be.
I think what kept me hitting “next episode” was that this documentary didn’t feel like it was made to be likable. It didn’t feel like Jerrod was trying to make himself look better. I liked that he was inviting us into the complexity of his life because that is not an easy thing to do or capture.
How many people can make themselves the subject of a documentary and be willing to show the not-so-cute parts of their life?
NOT ME!
Anyway, that rawness seems to show up in a lot of Jerrod’s work. I felt it again when I watched Home Videos and Sermon on the Mount. But compared to some of the absurdity of Reality Show, what stood out to me in Home Videos and Sermon on the Mount was how much of that rawness came through conversation alone.
In both films, I was captivated by how informal and full the conversations felt. They did so much of the storytelling, and I didn’t really get a sense of heavy narration. Instead, the stories unfolded through imperfect questions, awkward pauses, and unfiltered responses.
As I continue working on my own documentary, I keep going back to Home Videos and Sermon on the Mount. Not necessarily because of the subject matter, or because I see them as some perfect model. But because they remind me how much work conversation can do.
Through candid, intimate conversations, the films explore topics such as beauty standards, love, infidelity, and family. I’m still trying to learn how to use conversation in that way, where it’s not just part of the film, but what’s actually doing the work of exploration and storytelling.
I’m still checking out more conversation-driven documentaries, but I do have a real appreciation for how Jerrod uses dialogue. Even with all the discomfort his work can bring up, there is something honest happening that I’m a big fan of: he shows the complexity of life in a real way.
Honestly, his work almost makes me want to give the toe sucking some slack.
I said, almost.
One of the reasons I really enjoy docu-series is the opportunity to see life from a third-person perspective. It allows us to experience different viewpoints that I might not have considered before. I like that you used Jerrod’s series as an example. it was fantastic. Although he gives me the ick (a diff story for a diff day), I hadn’t thought about it this way before, which makes me want to explore more stories similar to his. Great read!