Last Thursday night showcased the final episode of Larry Wilmore's The Nightly Show on Comedy Central. While I didn't find The Nightly Show nearly as humorous as its predecessor, The Colbert Report, I still felt it was an incredibly important show - especially at this time in our country's history.
Let's think back to all of the late-night talk show hosts over the past ten years: David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Bill Maher, John Oliver, Carson Daly, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel. What do they all have in common? They're all white guys. If it weren't for the recent additions of Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee, white guys would have temporarily held a monopoly on late night talk shows. While Ms. Bee is a woman and Mr. Noah is a black man, neither delved into topics pertaining to the African-American community like Mr. Wilmore did. Objective #2 for Larry Wilmore and The Nightly Show was to prompt laughter. Objective #1 was to bring attention to racism in America, and through that increased awareness, decrease racism in this country. Unfortunately, I feel that was both the making and breaking of the show.
It's easy to laugh at slapstick or to even laugh at a politician making a grammatically incorrect statement. However, when it comes to having this country's racism continually displayed before us, it can be a tough pill to swallow, especially when viewing this on a late-night comedy show. With The Nightly Show, that's exactly what happened. Ratings wise, it was a difficult balancing act from the show's inception. Here they were attempting to appeal to a wide audience, yet continually showcasing racist acts committed by whites (65% of the population) against blacks (13% of the population). In the end, denial and the ignorance-is-bliss mentality won out, unfortunately.
The Nightly Show may not have been as humorous as its predecessor, The Colbert Report, but it was still an extremely important late-night show. Only Larry Wilmore continued to shed light on what many black Americans have to go through on a regular basis - from being followed at a grocery store to being assaulted and/or killed by authority while unarmed to being the victims of vandalism and insults all due to the color of their skin and beyond. Larry Wilmore brought to light many issues we've tried hiding under the rug for the past several years and told us loud and clear, "This sh*t is real. This sh*t is happening. We need to deal with it." The Nightly Show and its cancellation I think goes to show where we are as a society with regard to racism: While many of us will admit it still exists, we'd rather pretend it doesn't than deal with it, and instead watch reruns of Full House. Thanks for the all the laughs and bringing attention to some very important issues and causes, Larry. Best of luck with all your future endeavors.
Let's think back to all of the late-night talk show hosts over the past ten years: David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Bill Maher, John Oliver, Carson Daly, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel. What do they all have in common? They're all white guys. If it weren't for the recent additions of Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee, white guys would have temporarily held a monopoly on late night talk shows. While Ms. Bee is a woman and Mr. Noah is a black man, neither delved into topics pertaining to the African-American community like Mr. Wilmore did. Objective #2 for Larry Wilmore and The Nightly Show was to prompt laughter. Objective #1 was to bring attention to racism in America, and through that increased awareness, decrease racism in this country. Unfortunately, I feel that was both the making and breaking of the show.
It's easy to laugh at slapstick or to even laugh at a politician making a grammatically incorrect statement. However, when it comes to having this country's racism continually displayed before us, it can be a tough pill to swallow, especially when viewing this on a late-night comedy show. With The Nightly Show, that's exactly what happened. Ratings wise, it was a difficult balancing act from the show's inception. Here they were attempting to appeal to a wide audience, yet continually showcasing racist acts committed by whites (65% of the population) against blacks (13% of the population). In the end, denial and the ignorance-is-bliss mentality won out, unfortunately.
The Nightly Show may not have been as humorous as its predecessor, The Colbert Report, but it was still an extremely important late-night show. Only Larry Wilmore continued to shed light on what many black Americans have to go through on a regular basis - from being followed at a grocery store to being assaulted and/or killed by authority while unarmed to being the victims of vandalism and insults all due to the color of their skin and beyond. Larry Wilmore brought to light many issues we've tried hiding under the rug for the past several years and told us loud and clear, "This sh*t is real. This sh*t is happening. We need to deal with it." The Nightly Show and its cancellation I think goes to show where we are as a society with regard to racism: While many of us will admit it still exists, we'd rather pretend it doesn't than deal with it, and instead watch reruns of Full House. Thanks for the all the laughs and bringing attention to some very important issues and causes, Larry. Best of luck with all your future endeavors.
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