The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

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. Obj...

While I often times criticize conservative media outlets for appearing to have amnesia with regard to facts and the more nonpartisan media outlets for fearing to be perceived as biased by simply telling the truth void of the opposite (and inaccurate) viewpoint, I also find myself coming after liberal media outlets for their tendency to sometimes overreact. Last week, I wrote a blog with regard to some liberal media outlets overreacting to Stephen Colbert's interview with Donald Trump on The Late Show . No, Colbert's questions weren't quite as hard-hitting as they had been with Ted Cruz the previous night, but they weren't softballs either. In fact, the slowest softball Colbert threw at Trump was a question pertaining to whether or not the GOP front-runner thought President Obama was born in this country, to which Trump refused to respond. Also, let's keep in mind how difficult it would be for an interviewer to bait Donald Trump into saying something most rational-...

Following Jon Stewart's final show as host of  The Daily Show on Thursday, #JonVoyage trended on Twitter, and I felt the need say my goodbye as well to the late-night legend. I've been a long-time viewer of The Daily Show . Jon Stewart, along with George Carlin, Stephen Colbert, Jerry Seinfeld, and my parents, has been one of my biggest influences as far as my humor and writing (satire) go. He brilliantly combined humor with fact to illustrate the level of ridiculousness often times spouted by politicians and members of the news media. He held people accountable regardless of their party affiliation. Whether it was George W. Bush, Barack Obama, CNN, Fox News, or himself, he'd call people out on their misstatements, and even apologize if he accidentally misspoke, and I respected that. He'd often times tell his viewers and other members of the media, "I'm not a newsman; I'm a comedian first and foremost." Yet, as sad as he may think it is, many, myself...

I've been a long-time viewer of late-night shows on Comedy Central, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report  in particular. When news broke of Stephen Colbert leaving Comedy Central to replace David Letterman on CBS and that The Daily Show contributor Larry Wilmore would be taking over, while I was saddened, I also thought I'd give Wilmore's The Nightly Show a chance. To this point, I've watched each and every episode, and like with The Colbert Report in its early going, The Nightly Show has come across as a show still trying to figure itself out, continually tinkering with its format, hoping to be given enough time to fully adjust and produce a long-term success on Comedy Central, just like its predecessor. While I was a bit critical of the show's early format, where just one of its three portions focused on Wilmore's comedy and two of the three focused on panel discussions, I've liked the changes the show has made since that point - going to a 2 and 1 fo...

After announcing he'd be leaving The Daily Show  after 16 years as the show's host, there was much debate and speculation on who would replace Jon Stewart. Former Daily Show correspondent and short-term host John Oliver was mentioned, as were several other of the show's correspondents, such as Aasif Mandvi, Jessica Williams, Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, not to mention actress and comedian Tina Fey, as well as comedian and right-wing commentator Dennis Miller, among others. So it came to many's surprise to hear that the only recently added correspondent Trevor Noah was named as Stewart's replacement. To this point, Noah has only done three segments on The Daily Show  and with mixed results. While his first appearance came across as both humorous and witty, his second bit was much less so, and his third segment was a mix of the two. So just from a performance angle, to this point I have found Trevor Noah to have potential, but also believe that his history is too minima...

CNN contributor Tara Setmayer introduced herself to me last night courtesy of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and even though I haven't researched the matter, I have a feeling her middle name might be WTF. Setmayer is a Republican commentator, an African-American, and yes, a woman. That information will be relevant later in this post. For those whom haven't tuned in yet to The Nightly Show , host Larry Wilmore starts each show much like The Daily Show 's Jon Stewart, as he pokes fun at politicians to induce laughter. This is Comedy Central after all. However, unlike Stewart, Wilmore's show tends to focus on one central topic each and every episode, and following Wilmore's 5-10 minute opening monologue and a commercial break, he's joined by four guests at a round table where they all discuss that very topic. After a second commercial break, Wilmore then asks each guest a rather awkward-and-difficult-to-answer question in a segment called "Keep It 100...

On The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore last night, he and his guests discussed a rather sensitive issue for a lot of people - obesity. The majority on the show seemed to believe that while obesity is often times disabling, it in and of itself is not technically a "disability." The majority also seemed to believe that what kinds of foods a person consumes is their choice and that it's wrong to discriminate against obese individuals. Writer and "fat-acceptance" defender, Marianne Kirby, appeared to be in the minority on a number of these topics. Ever since accepting herself as an "obese" woman, she's staunchly defended people like herself, in trying to garner more widespread acceptance of obese individuals. She seemed to scoff at the idea that diets or lifestyle changes ever work, seemed to ignore the common health risks associated with obesity, and even when asked by host Wilmore in his segment Keep It 100 if she'd want to switch places with a...

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 t...

I don't often times share video clips on here, but after seeing a segment on The Colbert Report  last night which had me in tears, I was laughing so hard, I felt the need to do so this time. The video is called, "Say Yes to Rick Scott," and is about the GOP's sad recent attempt at appealing to women voters. Enjoy! http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/akzlpt/say-yes-to-rick-scott

So I got into a discussion with a guy at a bar this past weekend. He asked what I did, and I responded with, "I write - freelance and books, as well as appear on radio shows every now and again." When he asked what I wrote about, I simply responded with, "Satire," to hopefully ward off the potential for a political debate. When he then said, "Oh, political satire," I decided to be fully honest, and said, "Yes. I write satire on pretty much everything, but politics is my central focus. I'd say George Carlin and Jon Stewart are two of my biggest influences." Then that's when things got interesting... Upon hearing what I had just said, he went into an incredibly long tangent. He started off by talking about how great George Carlin was as a comedian, and that he likes intelligent humor. From there, he segued to how he enjoyed Dennis Miller's humor - that some people just don't "get" his humor, which is why they don't f...