When I heard that former Daily Show correspondent Larry Wilmore would be taking over for Stephen Colbert in the 11:30 (pm EST) slot following Jon Stewart's show on Comedy Central, I honestly didn't know what to think or expect. Wilmore was used rather sparingly on The Daily Show, typecast as the show's "black correspondent." So, how was one to really know what to expect of a Monday through Thursday half-hour show hosted by The Daily Show's black correspondent?
While we're just through the first week of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and I'm sure there will several tweaks made in the near and distant future, I'd have to say I'm rather impressed with the show in its early stages.
First off, if you were a die-hard fan of The Colbert Report like I was, try to erase that from memory when viewing this show in order to give it a fair chance. The Nightly Show is drastically different from The Colbert Report. It starts in a similar manner to Colbert's old show, as Wilmore introduces what will be talked about on the episode before breaking to the show's theme song. The Nightly Show then resembles The Daily Show as Wilmore talks about the main topic of the day, cracks some jokes about it, and sometimes introduces a comical guest to join him in the conversation. Following commercial break, Wilmore is joined by four guests at a round-table, and like on Bill Maher's old show, Politically Incorrect, Wilmore discusses the topic of the day with his four guests. The guests typically include at least one comedian and a journalist, along with a show contributor, a politician, and/or an actor. To this point, the guests have been more left-of-center than right-of-center in their ideologies, but conservative guests have appeared on the show. Following another commercial break, Wilmore then plays a game with his four guests, called "Keep It 100," which means, "Keep it 100% real." He asks the four guests some pretty outrageous, yet humorous questions, and forces them to make a difficult decision. If he and the audience feel the guest is being 100% honest, he rewards them with a "Keep It 100" sticker and the audience cheers (well, they usually cheer, unless they really hate the guest's opinion). If he and the audience think the guest is being less than 100% honest, then he hands them some weak tea and the audience boos. After one more commercial break, Wilmore is then asked a "Keep-It-100" question from a Twitter follower and goes through a similar process as his guests.
Overall, the show feels like a hybrid of The Daily Show and Politically Correct. Wilmore has typically been funny in the show's opening segment. The round-table discussions have been a mixed bag, as can be expected from such a format. However, there have been some funny lines thrown in by guests, as well as some interesting back-and-forths from differing viewpoints. The "Keep-It-100" segment may be my favorite part of the show to this point. One has to watch the segment to believe it. The guest's facial expressions when hearing their questions are pretty priceless.
Some of these very questions have been:
- "Are white people tired of black protests?" (asked to the only white guest on the show that day)
- "If Bill Cosby was with some ladies and asked you to join him at a party, would you?" (asked to somebody that seemed to think Cosby was innocent and the women were lying)
- "Knowing President Obama as well as you do, is there anything you could tell us which would seriously damage his reputation?" (asked to Obama's former speechwriter)
- "Was there any point during an interview with the president, where you thought to yourself, 'This guy is being kind of an a**hole'?" (asked to a journalist)
- "Being a Republican woman yourself, as the camera was on you during President Obama's speech where he was talking about equal pay for women, would you have remained seated like your Republican colleagues or stood up?"
If you couldn't tell from the small sample of questions I mentioned, Larry Wilmore has also done something else with his show that few others have, if any have at all - he's gone right after the race issue. Perhaps he can get away with it more since he's African-American himself and is not as uncomfortable or fearful of potential backlash from minority viewers if he discusses such matters in an open manner and even cracks a few jokes and throws a few jabs along the way. In any case, this country has said for a long time, "We need to have a long, healthy discussion about race," yet have simultaneously said, "But now's not the time." Wilmore has decided that now is the time, I happen to think he's right, and hope his show is able to jump-start a healthy dialogue about the touchy subject.
The Nightly Show is still in its very early stages, but to this point, I'm impressed by the show's set-up, how it's combined comedy with serious banter, and how, finally, a show has the cojones to discuss racial issues. Hopefully that doesn't decrease the shows viewers, helps make us more cognizant of these matters, and more willing to openly discuss them with others.
My Grade (through the first week): B+
While we're just through the first week of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and I'm sure there will several tweaks made in the near and distant future, I'd have to say I'm rather impressed with the show in its early stages.
First off, if you were a die-hard fan of The Colbert Report like I was, try to erase that from memory when viewing this show in order to give it a fair chance. The Nightly Show is drastically different from The Colbert Report. It starts in a similar manner to Colbert's old show, as Wilmore introduces what will be talked about on the episode before breaking to the show's theme song. The Nightly Show then resembles The Daily Show as Wilmore talks about the main topic of the day, cracks some jokes about it, and sometimes introduces a comical guest to join him in the conversation. Following commercial break, Wilmore is joined by four guests at a round-table, and like on Bill Maher's old show, Politically Incorrect, Wilmore discusses the topic of the day with his four guests. The guests typically include at least one comedian and a journalist, along with a show contributor, a politician, and/or an actor. To this point, the guests have been more left-of-center than right-of-center in their ideologies, but conservative guests have appeared on the show. Following another commercial break, Wilmore then plays a game with his four guests, called "Keep It 100," which means, "Keep it 100% real." He asks the four guests some pretty outrageous, yet humorous questions, and forces them to make a difficult decision. If he and the audience feel the guest is being 100% honest, he rewards them with a "Keep It 100" sticker and the audience cheers (well, they usually cheer, unless they really hate the guest's opinion). If he and the audience think the guest is being less than 100% honest, then he hands them some weak tea and the audience boos. After one more commercial break, Wilmore is then asked a "Keep-It-100" question from a Twitter follower and goes through a similar process as his guests.
Overall, the show feels like a hybrid of The Daily Show and Politically Correct. Wilmore has typically been funny in the show's opening segment. The round-table discussions have been a mixed bag, as can be expected from such a format. However, there have been some funny lines thrown in by guests, as well as some interesting back-and-forths from differing viewpoints. The "Keep-It-100" segment may be my favorite part of the show to this point. One has to watch the segment to believe it. The guest's facial expressions when hearing their questions are pretty priceless.
Some of these very questions have been:
- "Are white people tired of black protests?" (asked to the only white guest on the show that day)
- "If Bill Cosby was with some ladies and asked you to join him at a party, would you?" (asked to somebody that seemed to think Cosby was innocent and the women were lying)
- "Knowing President Obama as well as you do, is there anything you could tell us which would seriously damage his reputation?" (asked to Obama's former speechwriter)
- "Was there any point during an interview with the president, where you thought to yourself, 'This guy is being kind of an a**hole'?" (asked to a journalist)
- "Being a Republican woman yourself, as the camera was on you during President Obama's speech where he was talking about equal pay for women, would you have remained seated like your Republican colleagues or stood up?"
If you couldn't tell from the small sample of questions I mentioned, Larry Wilmore has also done something else with his show that few others have, if any have at all - he's gone right after the race issue. Perhaps he can get away with it more since he's African-American himself and is not as uncomfortable or fearful of potential backlash from minority viewers if he discusses such matters in an open manner and even cracks a few jokes and throws a few jabs along the way. In any case, this country has said for a long time, "We need to have a long, healthy discussion about race," yet have simultaneously said, "But now's not the time." Wilmore has decided that now is the time, I happen to think he's right, and hope his show is able to jump-start a healthy dialogue about the touchy subject.
The Nightly Show is still in its very early stages, but to this point, I'm impressed by the show's set-up, how it's combined comedy with serious banter, and how, finally, a show has the cojones to discuss racial issues. Hopefully that doesn't decrease the shows viewers, helps make us more cognizant of these matters, and more willing to openly discuss them with others.
My Grade (through the first week): B+
Comments
Post a Comment