My wife and I have a 5-minute rule on comedians. I have turned off Fred Armisan. Jerrod is hilarious, but in a twisted way.

He has a really good idea of how we should be presented a show on screen. You can see that he's acknowledged this is obviously going to be a different experience from watching it in person.

Too many specials just put you in the seat of the audience while you watch what happens on stage, cut to audience laughing, back to stage etc. While still looking similar to these other, more traditional, stand-up shows, Burnham manages to add something new to the visual experience. I feel a greater sense of humanity and meaning behind the specials he directs. These are feelings which I think exist when watching a show like this in person, but fail to translate to screen under poor direction. The start of the show, the point where the show ends, the camera angles and especially some great closeups make together the core reasons, for me, that this will be a unique (and better) experience to a viewer at home.

I enjoyed the writing of the show as well, some parts I related with a lot, and there was a few good laughs. The only problem I had was a couple times he would say something that doesn't apply to me/I don't agree with, which would be fine usually, but the whole point in these jokes is that we're supposed to be on the same page as him. This made for a couple chunks of the show with less laughs than I would have liked.

Jerrod Carmichael's 8 is a brilliant and honest special. The surreal take of direction by Bo Burnham is striking and intelligent. The jokes that Jerrod delivers seems like he is doing it on the spot, like he is talking to the audience. And the camera angles chosen for this special helps the Illusion that Jerrod is talking to us. Its is one of the best comedies I have seen in a long time.