Over 30 years into reality television’s existence, it’s rare that the form offers much in the way of innovation. Ever since The Osbournes, it’s even rarer that it offers much in the way of reality.

Sometimes, though, you can be surprised. A MAFS participant once told this masthead that there were benefits to seeing one’s worst moments projected on screen for the judgment of random onlookers. “Occasionally, you’ll confront a hard truth about yourself,” he said. “It’s sort of interesting to see how you’re perceived and gives you a bit more self-awareness when you don’t really expect it.”

Comedian Jerrod Carmichael appears to have landed on the same train of thought with his new eight-episode series Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show. In it, the 36-year-old – a stand-up since 20, but perhaps better known for hosting the Golden Globes in 2023 and, more recently, as Emma Stone’s cruise buddy in Poor Things – turns the cameras on himself and his loved ones in episodes that unflinchingly confront his sex addiction, adultery, shame over coming out as gay (which he did in his 2022 Emmy-winning special Rothaniel), and familial strife.

In its brazenness, it’s the most uncomfortable reality show yet. Carmichael has called the series an attempt to “self-Truman Show” his life, but this skews closer to the reckless soul-bearing of cult filmmaker Caveh Zahedi. It’s funny (eg, Carmichael’s line about his ageing dad: “He walks with a hunch now. Nothing’s wrong with him, it’s just the weight of his sins”), but also upsetting in its candid rawness – so much so that his “anonymous” friend (clearly a masked-up Bo Burnham, Carmichael’s longtime collaborator) regularly pops up to caution Carmichael about parading the most private parts of his life onto “a conveyor belt to hell”.

The first episode, which aired last week, set the stakes with lingering scenes of Carmichael sucking the toes of hook-ups he’d just met on Grindr; the scenes felt like a private provocation to those who won’t accept his sexuality, such as his own devoutly Christian mother.

In other scenes, he’s shown micro-dosing mushrooms on the way to the Emmys, then vomiting profusely once the night is done, which is just a fun thing to know about award-winning celebrities.

The episode’s most uncomfortable scenes, though, involved Carmichael admitting his unrequited crush to a friend who turns out to be renowned rapper Tyler the Creator. Tyler, a provocateur since his OddFuture days, refuses to play along for the cameras – he’s brusque, cold, so indifferent to Carmichael’s tortured confession that at one point he even leaves the room to fart – which has led some to believe the series is playing with reality TV conventions, a Larry David-meets-Nathan Fielder excursion blurring the lines of what’s real and what’s not.

But upcoming episodes prove that’s not the case; this show’s too horrendously real to be false.