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Larry Wilmore The Nightly Show Review

862 views · Published 27 January 2015 · 2:47 · Indexed 8 October 2026

Channel: Rock N' Roll True Stories · 2015 · Comedy

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"At the start of the second episode of The Nightly Show last week, Larry Wilmore, the host of Comedy Central’s latest creation, made it clear he wouldn’t be half-stepping.

The subject was the multiple drug-and-rape charges leveled against Bill Cosby. “We’ll answer the question, ‘Did he do it?’” Wilmore announced in his brief introduction. “And the answer will be yes.”

He was just as forthright the following night, when the topic was Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address. “I voted for Obama because he was black,” he explained. “I’m just clearing that up.”

There are certain things that certain people can get away with saying and make you laugh. Wilmore, handpicked by Daily Show host Jon Stewart to succeed fellow Daily alum Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report, has quickly warmed to that task. He picks edgy topics of interest to minority communities — the third episode focused on Cuba — and stakes out that plump overlap between comedy and truth. He’s disarming, to both his audience and his four nightly panelists, but he’s never trivial.

He’s also staking out a place in TV history. There have been other black talk show hosts: Arsenio Hall, who genially pulled in ratings (and interviewed a certain saxophone-playing presidential candidate) from 1989 to 1994, was recently canceled after a single comeback season. A certain Oprah Winfrey has also done well for herself.

But The Nightly Show, topical, funny and eager to tip sacred cows of race and politics, is blazing its own trail. The format, a combination of monologue and panel discussion, resembles Real Time With Bill Maher (and its predecessor, Politically Incorrect), but there are big differences. For one, Wilmore, 53, is inherently likable, which is one reason he can push so many boundaries without getting abrasive. He’s a little nerdy. He chuckles at himself regularly and makes his points without resorting to attack mode.

He is also, of course, black, as are many (but not all) of his guests, who have included New Yorker editor David Remnick and independent conservative TV personality Amy Holmes, as well as a rotating cast of comedians. You can find some roots of Wilmore’s comedy in various shows he’s worked on behind the scenes, including In Living Color, The Bernie Mac Show and ABC’s current Wednesday night comedy, Black-ish.

You can also find kindred spirits in younger talents like filmmaker Justin Simien, whose Dear White People, a satire involving a college radio show, posits that there has long been a program called Dear Black People. It’s called American history. (The original title of The Nightly Show was The Minority Report).

The Nightly Show is fueled by a healthy skepticism of the idea we live in a post-racial society. Race matters, the show insists, and it can still be the basis of sharp humor.

But only if you keep it 100, as in 100 percent real. The show closes every night with “Keep It 100,” a segment in which Wilmore asks each of his guests a truth-or-dare type question pegged to the nightly topic. Come correct and honest and you get a Keep It 100 sticker to wear. Waffle a little and you get weak tea: Wilmore hands, or in some cases throws, a tea bag in your direction.

Nobody wants the weak tea. Fortunately it doesn’t appear Wilmore will be brewing it anytime soon." Dallas Morning News

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