Larry Wilmore
“The Oscar nominations came out, and they’re so white, a grand jury has decided not to indict them,” joked Larry Wilmore in the first moments of his new Comedy Central show.
The same could be said of the late-night landscape before The Daily Show’s “Senior Black Correspondent” premiered The Nightly Show in the sweet spot after Jon Stewart’s.
Taking over the old stomping grounds of Stephen Colbert’s innovative Colbert Report is no easy task, but Wilmore comes armed with an entirely different vision — one that fills a glaring hole in the late-night lineup.
“I couldn’t have started the show at a better worse time,” Wilmore told Entertainment Weekly before his show’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day premiere. Given 2014’s racially charged controversies, including former NBA team owner Donald Sterling’s racist remarks and a number of police brutality incidents, Wilmore is savvy enough to address touchy subjects while keeping in mind that The Nightly Show is on Comedy Central.
This has resulted in Wilmore’s funny, cutting and surprisingly earnest approach to his show in its first few episodes. Like his predecessors, Wilmore begins with a graphics-infused rundown of relevant events, and so far, he hasn’t pulled any punches, delving into topics such as the Oscars’ lack of diversity, the effect of protests in the United States and the Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations.
Wilmore finds a striking balance between these heavy topics with a genial conversational style, punctuated by his distinct and dulcet voice. But Wilmore’s greatest weapon is his dedication to “keeping it 100,” or as honest as possible, an idea he uses for a later segment on The Nightly Show. In the Cosby discussion, Wilmore bluntly condemned the comedian over the allegations (even letting a second tick off a countdown while considering the validity of the claims), and he later admitted to voting for President Obama because he was black. In only a week on the air, Wilmore has made clear his dedication to openness and transparency.
This has carried over to The Nightly Show’s panel segment, in which guests range from journalists to comedians, liberals to conservatives, all from myriad racial and ethnic backgrounds. The panelists, who in week one included comedian Bill Burr, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and of New Yorker David Remnick, weigh in on Wilmore’s nightly topics, aiming for stimulating debate. The panel approach allows for an openness hardly seen on late night, where viewers are often treated to celebrities shallowly promoting upcoming projects.
Perhaps Wilmore’s most ingenious bit so far has been the aforementioned “Keep it 100” segment, in which he asks each of his guests a tricky question in the hopes of getting an honest answer. Not only does this represent The Nightly Show’s modus operandi, but the punishment for a perceived insincere response results in getting assailed by a teabag, “weak tea,” a gimmick that will never grow tired.
Take last Monday’s premiere installment: After rewarding Burr, who is married to a black woman, with a “Keep It 100” sticker for honestly responding that he’d prefer to raise a white child over a black child, Wilmore asked Booker if he wanted to become president. Booker sheepishly denied it and the audience booed, so Wilmore pelted the senator with teabags. Where else can you find that on television?
And therein lies the promise of The Nightly Show: It bears little resemblance to Stewart or Colbert’s iconic platforms, which means it can carve out a niche for itself. The show could use a little more structure in the debate segments and some nuance from night to night, but these are kinks that can be smoothed out over time.
What’s most impressive about The Nightly Show is it already knows what it wants to be, and to this point, it has achieved distinction with the help of a likable, bespectacled, candid host at the helm.
