David Alan Grier: The Carmichael Show is Blacker Than Black-ish

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If there was a debate over which network sitcom is stronger when it comes to dealing with race issues, David Alan Grier is picking the one that he works on, The Carmichael Show, over ABC’s Black-ish. 

Grier plays Joe Carmichael on the series, father to Jerrod Carmichael who plays a fictitious version of himself on the sitcom that he created along with director and producer, Nick Stoller, (Get Him To The Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Lego Batman Movie). Grier was speaking at a mixer in West Hollywood when he said, “Our show is just, I call it, it’s not ‘Black-ish,’ it’s black-er. There’s no ‘ish’ to it. It’s just fun to play and to talk about the real world,” according to Anita Bennett from the LA Daily News.

He added that while Black-ish, starring Anthony Anderson and created by Kenya Barris with showrunner Larry Wilmore, also tackles topics like race, LGBTQ issues and police brutality with its comedy, The Carmichael Show always takes those subjects one step further. He said, “We talk about the use of the N-word. But this is why I said our show is black-er, because I know that ‘Black-ish’ talked it, but no, we dig in. It’s not the conversation of ‘how could you call me that word? Don’t use that word’ … It’s like for real shit.” Grier was referring to an upcoming Season 3 episode of The Carmichael Show which plans on using the slur about a half a dozen times in a half hour.

One controversial topic that won’t be covered in Season 3 according to David Alan Grier is President Trump. He said the show has been there and done that. However, that doesn’t mean that he’s done talking about the 45th President himself. Grier feels Trump in the White House is something that the country brought upon itself. “Maybe this is the cleansing and the wake-up call that we needed as a populace,” he said. “This is what happens when you don’t vote. This is what happens when you want the agitator to come. We all had a dinner party and said, ‘Oh, I want crazy Donnie to come.’” Even after saying that Donald Trump is not his President and pointing out that he is doing everything he said he would do and now “people are freaking out”, he did offer some reassurance saying “Here’s the hope: It can only last eight years”.

The Carmichael Show starring Jerrod Carmichael, Loretta Devine, Amber Stevens West, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish and David Alan Grier is back for Season 3 with the premiere episode on Wednesday, May 31st at 9pm on NBC.

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Ernie Tripper
Ernie Tripper