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| Holly Phillips, Judy Gold, Larry Wilmore, Zooey O’Toole and Mike Yard discuss vaccination. |
Hey, looky here: it’s a BLACK MAN WITH HIS OWN LATE NIGHT SHOW. This hasn’t happened since Arsenio Hall, only this time the man is hilarious and I can’t get enough!
Larry Wilmore started out as The Daily Show‘s Senior Black Correspondent, but he’s even funnier sitting at his own news desk. Everyone, watch The Nightly Show! You can watch full episodes on the Comedy Central website and on Hulu.com.
Unlike Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert who review(ed) recent news stories and interview(ed) people, Wilmore’s show parodies morning round table shows like Meet the Press. He introduces only one topic per show, gives background and comments, and then discusses it with four guests. The wonderful running bit that he uses is a segment called “Keeping it 100.” That means keeping your statements one hundred percent truthful. After the discussion, Wilmore asks each guest a question that he asks them to answer with complete, gut honesty. If they do, they get a “Keep It 100” sticker. If they give a weak response, he tosses them a teabag.
Who hasn’t wished those talking heads would give just one straight, unqualified answer? Wilmore has tapped into that desire and he does it brilliantly. At the very end of the show, he keeps it 100 by answering a question that he doesn’t see until the moment he’s on camera answering it. Where does his question come from? His Twitter followers!
Watch The Nightly Show. Wilmore has some excellent writers that finally broadcast opinions and responses that people of color have been shouting at our TV sets for decades. Start with the very first show which just happened to air on January 19th, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Wilmore has covered topics such as the president’s State of the Union address, Cuba relations, vaccines and he introduced the topic of Bill Cosby by saying, “Tonight we answer the question: did he do it? And the answer will be ‘yes.'”
Plus Wilmore is just funny. One of my favorite moments (so far) was this one from his vaccine show: “We’re all familiar with the term first world problem, right? It’s when rich Americans complain about something that people in other parts of the world might consider a byproduct of luxury. You know, like when I have to turn on the subtitles on Netflix because I’m eating Doritos too loudly.”
Watch The Nightly Show. In over ten years of keeping this blog, I don’t think I’ve ever commanded people to watch a tv show, but this is it. The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore is one of the best things I’ve seen in decades and is the perfect palate cleanser for anyone who has a bad taste in their mouth from Black-ish.
[UPDATE: I’m heartbroken to say that The Nightly Show was cancelled in 2016 as if it weren’t an excellent and sorely needed show! But at least Black-ish, which is still on the air, got better]