The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore

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.

This show has potential and Larry Wilmore is OK. I loved his segments on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart but for some reason it is not coming through in his own show. Maybe he is only great in small doses but I have been watching The Nightly Show since it started but it needs to start getting better fast or it could get pulled from the network because looking at these message boards there obviously isn't a lot of love for it.

Tonight's show is a good example (airing January 26 2015 since I have no idea when you will read this), with the topic being American snipers since the huge movie at the time is "American Sniper". The stuff off the top with Larry Wilmore was decent and the highlight of the show. He will get better as time goes on I assume. After that there was a character piece with Shenaz Treasure which was just painfully awful. It was five minutes of one joke (we get it, Bradley Cooper is hot) that she just wasn't delivering right. Not funny at all. I'm not looking forward to any more of her bits. Epic fail.

The panel discussion was OK and again I think they will feel it out over time. Larry wasn't pitch perfect tonight but he's obviously got a talent for heading up this type of panel and other episodes have been better. Part of the problem was tonight's panel, which didn't give him much funny to work with.

The three more serious guests were OK (they were a veterans group representative, a sniper, and the other guy I think was an Iraq War/middle east expert who was very "anti-Bush" in his opinions). None of them were particularly funny but they're obviously not there for that, they have different viewpoints on the week's serious topic and did a fine job presenting that.

Where the panel works or fails is with the fourth panelist who is always a comedian of some sort and they are supposed to bring the funny to the table and give Larry help with that part of the show. Too often (at least so far) this guest hasn't been up to snuff and the show has suffered because of it. Case in point tonight's guest, a Canadian lesbian (not that that matters) named Sabrina Jalees was in that seat and brought almost nothing to the table. I hate to have to say it but the two females on the show tonight were just bloody awful and by far the worst parts of the show, hopefully producers will not let them stop them from booking other females in the future who can actually deliver on the funny. Jaleese barely talked at all and when she did her jokes were awkward and completely unfunny, on top of that they had little to do with the panel's discussion or show's topic. Even her answer to the Keep it 100 question was forced, took way too long and was completely unfunny. The sniper and veterans representative were both honestly funnier in their comments than the comedian tonight, and also the Iraq expert came off a bit too hostile (particularly towards the veterans rep) and seemed sort of jerky for lack of a better word.

Keep it 100 is very hit or miss just like the panel, for the same reasons, but tonight's panel (aside from Jalees) did quite well with it. Wasn't thrilled with Wilmore's answer tonight as it seemed a bit of a pander (saying he'd serve his country any time) but he really didn't have anywhere else to go with it. I get that he doesn't see the question beforehand and sometimes this makes his answer even funnier but they might want to let him pick the questions or at least see them beforehand to come up with great answers regularly.

All in all I will keep watching this show, am still a big fan of Wilmore, and will cross my fingers that they sort this show out soon because I see huge potential and don't want to see it canceled. With such a big part of the show being the panel I hope they'll start booking funnier comedians more regularly. Bill Burr would be great as a semi regular guest!

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.

Larry Wilmore takes over the spot behind The Daily Show after Stephen Colbert leaves for his CBS late night talk show. Eight months after the debut, Jon Stewart leaves The Daily Show and replaced by Trevor Noah. The show is canceled before two complete seasons.

It's surprising that his show got Unblackening before the White House. It's not surprising that the show got canceled eventually. It started off badly. Honestly, I stopped watching after two episodes. I reconnected later on and appreciated its point of view. The Colbert Report is a tough show to replace. The Nightly Show is never going to measure up. I do like this more than Trevor Noah. Wilmore is not a natural performer and his monologue is not the best. His most notable performance may be calling the President n-word. It's the show's black-centric take that gives it its unique flavor.