The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore

I tried to watch "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" the other night and I couldn't get through it. The comedy was flat, the presentation lame, and the weird cutaways with the captioned still shots of Larry Wilmore were horribly unfunny.

The other "effect" I found annoying was that the talking head shot during the dialog would switch from full screen to a shot of the host on a monitor. Very distracting. I have no idea what that was supposed to accomplish, but it failed miserably.

Comedy Central raised the bar with informative, energetic shows like Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report. Once viewers have tasted filet mignon they certainly don't want to settle for canned corned beef hash.

I really liked Larry Wilmore's segments on the Daily Show and was looking forward to seeing him with his own show. All in all the show's not bad, but it's not nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be.

In particular, I'm disappointed with the recent spate of "Nightly" reports by Grace Para - they're silly, not at all funny, and pretty much a waste of time. She's an attractive woman and she can be funny - but these segments are simply an annoying distraction from the show itself. Many of the other repeating segments fall into this same category.

What I like best about the show is the roundtable discussion - many of these are thoughtful and they cover some interesting and timely topics. I wish there was more of this and less of the silly segments.

I loved Larry Wilmore on the Daily Show, so I gave him a full week's chance on his own ... but it's not working. The problem, I think, is that Larry isn't a great solo act. On the Daily Show, as the "Senior Black Corespondent," he was bouncing off of Stewart. Maybe that's why they decided to do these panel discussions for a good majority of the show, but I've never found it interesting to watch a group of strangers (or near strangers) chat about a subject.

I don't mind that the show is focused on black issues and concerns, and in fact I was ready to find that spin refreshing. His panels are somewhat racially diverse, so I don't feel left out as a white woman ... I'm afraid I just don't think the format is working, and I'm not convinced that Larry has the right force of personality to make this show work.

The Nightly Show is the filler for the old Colbert Report time slot. I call it a "filler" because that's all it is to me. Not entertainment. Filler.

The show is supported by a backbone of "check out our BLACK host! Look at how black he is!" and, as expected, 90% of Larry Wilmore's humor is race related. I know that currently black people need some support because of the Michael Brown shooting and the Florida police using pictures of black men for target practice, but come on. Bringing up racial issues isn't enough for me to define it as a good show. Lots of black comedians bring up race. In fact it's REALLY rare to NOT see a black comedian joke about race. It's starting to get a bit old.

The previous owner of the Nightly Show's time slot, The Colbert Report, covered a variety of issues per episode, WITH a sense of humor. Stephen Colbert had a personality. he did an excellent job as a parody of cable news hosts, yet was unique and bold enough to define himself as a character. Larry Wilmore doesn't have a personality. He just kind of comes off as a regular guy. I'm not saying he needs to play a character, there's nothing wrong with him just being himself. But the problem is, he's really boring to watch. The only thing that defines Larry is his skin color. Which he throws in our faces quite often.

Larry is also pretty awkward. He will often attempt to improvise and say something funny (usually to his panel during the "Keep it 100" bit) but usually just kind of trails off into nothing as he realizes that the audience isn't reacting. Then immediately changes the subject. It's pretty obvious that a team of joke writers write his jokes for him. We all know that this is what happens on like, every talk show, but it's really not good when it's obvious. He does a pretty bad job at delivering the jokes. Probably because the only thing he knows how to move on his face are his eyebrows, which remain raised throughout the entire course of his speaking. It's like he's a robot. A robot that asks questions and raises its eyebrows while it attempts to say scripted jokes. Another thing that really bothers me is his speech. During the "Keep it 100" bit, while listing the names of his guests, he slurs his speech like he's on cocaine. There is often a short pause after he says someones name before the audience begins to cheer, probably because nobody understood what he said. He'll be like "And our next guest Andrea adsfipofswrwq!" (short pause) then the audience is like "WOOOOOO!!!". Seriously, pay attention to him while he says ANYONE'S name. He starts tripping over his vowels and consonants like his mouth has it's shoe laces untied.

Larry will often bring a single guest on the show and ask them a couple of questions. To which they will recite an obviously scripted response while STARING DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA. Even while Larry is talking to them, they are still STARING INTO YOUR SOUL. Not only does this feel really awkward and unnatural, but these guests aren't funny! You can tell the only reason the audience is laughing is because they are aware of the fact that a joke was just said. Not because it was funny. It's like the whole audience was hired for the show and it is their job to listen for cues to laugh or go crazy.

Then the show's own original bit, "Keep it 100". Once again, the show is throwing it into your face that the host is black. Keep it 100 is a phrase often used by Wiz Khalifa and other hip hop artists. So OF COURSE it's a bit for Larry Wilmore's show. He'll even pronounce it "Keep it a Hunned" which is how it is pronounced by hip hop artists. Really? Larry is one of the whitest black guys I've ever seen. He's a white black man trying to act black. The bit is just Larry asking loaded questions like "if there's a black man on one side of the street and a white man on the other, which side do you walk on" which is obviously a pathetic attempt to make the audience go "WWOOAAHHHH" as if they're shocked or something. There is no humor during the bit, his guests he invites are often just regular people who aren't trying to be funny. Larry throws in a lame joke every now and then, and that's as good as it gets. There will be like 1 comedian on the panel. 1 comedian you've never heard of.

The show just flat out isn't funny. Larry Wilmore is boring, the guests are boring, the jokes are forced, and the topics are stale. If racism weren't a thing, the show wouldn't exist.

It had a rocky rollout, but I think The Nightly Show has pretty much figured out what works and what doesn't.

They largely ditched the "Keeping It 100" shtick; and when they do occasionally allude to it during panel discussion, it's done much more subtly/sensibly/intelligently.

And the produced pieces are very high quality; informative, smart, funny, eminently watchable. The only reason I give the show an '8' is because... well, that's high for a political presentation/talk show, in my book.

I continued watching it because Wilmore is obviously a theater nerd, and I dig that, and I had a hunch we'd see the show evolve; and it has.

Good work!

(& btw, this is an amended review. Below is the original review I posted two or three episodes into the original launch of the show:)

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Original title: "'Keeping It 100'" doesn't keep it 100"

Loved it when it first came on, had high hopes. I'm just starting to get the impression that it's turning out to be (hard to believe) no better than Realtime with Bill Maher. I've sort of gotten objective on the Maher show, and realize that he's a bit of a blowhard and too often tends not to do his job (as moderator) so as to truly maximize his assets.

Well, I'm starting to get the impression that Larry, bless his heart, isn't going to score much higher than Bill on these counts. He's a very funny guy, his opening monologue material rocks, and he delivers it with aplomb... fairly reminiscent of the late departed Mr. Colbert, IMHO. But 50%+ of the show is taken up with the panel. He picks great people, often sitting on opposite ends of sundry sociopolitical spectra... and then he well nigh squanders them. At least with Bill you sometimes get genuine fireworks of repartee. Here, that gets blunted/shortshrifted by Larry, with the icing on the cake being his "Keep it 100" capper that dumps rather insulting loaded questions/scenarios onto his hapless guests. Frankly, I'm more than a little surprised; after Colbert's writers set such a high bar, it's hard to believe this stuff squeaks through.

I give the show a six due to the fine production values, and Larry's wonderful, informative presentations. His guest panel robs away the rest.