The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore - General Discussion

[bluepiano]

Paul Ryan is a schmuck.  He deserves to be the Mad Hatter running that giant Tea Party over there.  Must be nice to get something you overtly deny to others less fortunate than yourself.  And that clip also confirms what I have known for quite some time -- MIka is a waste of space.

 

Have not been a fan of RIcky Velez.  Don't like him on the panels.  And for me anyway, that "RIcky's World" or whatever that was, was a complete waste of basic cable network time.  That's 2-3 minutes that I shall never get back again.

 

Forget basic cable. That "Ricky's World" bit was like something you'd see on a community access show. I have never "gotten" Ricky Velez. As someone else posted, it's like you're supposed to have this preconception that he's hilarious and filter everything through that. I am admittedly way older than him, so maybe I'm not the intended demographic, but to me funny is funny, no matter the age, race, or sex of the comedian. And I have never thought he was funny.

 

Agree you with about Paul Ryan. He is one of many hypocritical Republicans, along with the likes of Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, who benefitted from all kinds of public assistance programs while they were growing up and going to college, but now that they personally don't need any help, want to do away with them.

 

To his credit, I remember Lindsay Graham saying that when he was a kid, Social Security put food on his table, and he wouldn't want to see anyone else have to suffer because of such programs being dismantled. But Lindsay Graham is hardly even in the race. (After Jon Stewart quit, Lindsay lost all his media air time).

[trow125]

Forget basic cable. That "Ricky's World" bit was like something you'd see on a community access show. I have never "gotten" Ricky Velez. As someone else posted, it's like you're supposed to have this preconception that he's hilarious and filter everything through that. I am admittedly way older than him, so maybe I'm not the intended demographic, but to me funny is funny, no matter the age, race, or sex of the comedian. And I have never thought he was funny.

Jessica Williams was younger than Ricky is now when she got her "Daily Show" gig, and she immediately demonstrated a maturity and comic timing that is miles beyond anything Ricky has to offer. And I just checked out his Twitter feed to see if it was as bad as advertised, and yes it is.

"Now cops are beating up female high school students. When will we see video of cops punching baby's in the face?"

"Massage tables should have dick holes in them"

"I just called 7-11 to see what type of slurpee flavors they got... Btw I think there phone number should be 711... Btw I'm stoned "

[brgjoe]

Gawd that stuff is awful.  Then again, I am past my 4th decade of life on this planet, so maybe I am not the intended audience for his..umm..jokes.

 

I'd like to think even if I was impaired in some fashion, those jokes still wouldn't be funny to me.  But we all have our likes/dislikes in that area.  Humor is so subjective. 

 

After all, there has *got* to be a reason why Adam Sandler keeps getting movie offers.  ;)

[bluepiano]

After all, there has *got* to be a reason why Adam Sandler keeps getting movie offers.  ;)

 

That made me think about an old Simpsons episode in which it was revealed that the movie career of Steve Guttenberg, among many other inexplicable things, is the work of a powerful, conspiratorial secret society.

 

Unfortunately, it appears that Larry really thinks Ricky Velez is funny, so he's the one to blame. I'm with him on Bill Cosby and most other things, so I'll try to forgive him this one huge lapse in judgment.

[wknt3]

Jessica Williams was younger than Ricky is now when she got her "Daily Show" gig, and she immediately demonstrated a maturity and comic timing that is miles beyond anything Ricky has to offer. And I just checked out his Twitter feed to see if it was as bad as advertised, and yes it is.

"Now cops are beating up female high school students. When will we see video of cops punching baby's in the face?"

"Massage tables should have dick holes in them"

"I just called 7-11 to see what type of slurpee flavors they got... Btw I think there phone number should be 711... Btw I'm stoned "

 

Jessica Williams is something special and I don't think we can reasonably expect other young performers to be at her level. But it's not unreasonable to expect a greater maturity and a willingness to grow and change and develop your skills and voice. Like Jordan Klepper and other young Daily Show correspondents. I find it impossible to believe that there isn't another young latino commedian out there who could contribute more and be more willing to learn.

[ganesh]

Disregarding the quality, Sandler's movies are cheap to make and make a profit. There's a built in demo. It's that simple. It's like the Wayans. Their movies made like a billion dollars and cost 50 bucks.

[gesundheit]

I almost feel like I'm not supposed to be laughing at the now-recurring (!) "black-react" joke, but man that gag was hilarious last night. Especially with the contrast of Albanese in the mix.

 

And thank you, Ron Perlman. I, too, want a president that sounds smarter than me!

[Hanahope]

Loved seeing the clip of Obama commenting how ridiculous the GOP is being about the debates.  I just love Obama in fuckit mode.  I can't wait till the general election campaigning starts.

 

And thank you, Ron Perlman. I, too, want a president that sounds smarter than me!

 

I never understood the preference to having a president "one can have a beer with" over someone who's significantly smarter than myself.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Hanahope

[bluepiano]

I never understood the preference to having a president "one can have a beer with" over someone who's significantly smarter than myself.

 

I've always heard that Al Gore lost because he reminded people of the brainy guy in high school who made them feel dumb. So by voting for Dubya, they could feel better about themselves. "Hey, the President's a regular guy, just like me. In fact, I bet I'm smarter than him."

 

I would much rather have had a beer with Gore than Bush. Intelligent conversation is a good thing.

 

At the last debate Ted Cruz said that he was probably not the guy you'd want to have a beer with. That's because even he knows he's an asshole.

 

Edited November 4, 2015 by bluepiano

[possibilities]

I love that Obama is funny as hell and could easily slip into the hosting role for this show, but I think his humor comes from his brains, so I'm still with the "give me a smart president" philosophy. The thing is, Obama is smart and seems like he'd be fun to drink with. I think it's really sad that we are a nation of wounded ego maniacs who want a president who seems dim, but on another level I think it comes from the egalitarian myth we have, that anyone could become president or become rich or otherwise realize their dreams, and that "the elite" are untrustworthy and should be brought down to proper size. If only we applied it to banking and other corporate entities, or used it to actually make socially just policy and provide equal access to resources, instead of only applying it to the desired image of politicians!

[possibilities]

I thought tonight's show was really boring and lazy again, like they figured they would lose audience because people would assume they were in repeats because TDS was, so they just phoned it in.

 

They didn't even bother to look into the facts about the racism on the airplane issue, and just decided to mock it as an obviously false accusation. And they tried to say the "toilet terrorism" issue was BS, but it was pretty weak how they did it. Both Meyers and Cordon did much stronger, funnier, and more insightful commentary on that topic tonight. The panel was all over the place, too, and was back to everyone shouting over each other.

 

I've been defending the show to people who gave up watching it around the same time I did, but who never came back to try it again and see how much it's improved. Shows like tonight's make me hesitate to do that. I start to feel like I'm losing credibility and the people I promote it to are just going to think I'm incoherent and too easy to please.

[brgjoe]

Same here.  I though the racism story and the skit that followed was pretty weaksauce.  And the panels have always been very hit and miss to me. 

 

Was disappointed they didn't cover the Fox Lake policeman suicide (as it turns out) story.  Granted it was huge here in IL.  But I thought this was something that would be right down Larry's alley.  Perhaps he'll touch on it on tonight's show.

 

But yeah, that last episode definitely seemed like it was totally phoned in to me.

[Iboatedhere]

"I look at what's going on between our legs, there's a sewage system and an entertainment complex intermingled." -Neil DeGrasse Tyson is a treasure.

[ganesh]

There is no way in hell that "angry old white men" are voting for Carson. That woman was delusional. Larry needed to make her back that up with something. Because there's no way. 

[LADreamr]

"I look at what's going on between our legs, there's a sewage system and an entertainment complex intermingled." -Neil DeGrasse Tyson is a treasure.

I love him, but that joke is stolen from Robin Williams.

[brgjoe]

I am glad Larry did touch on that Fox Lake cop story.  And his talk about it was very well said.

 

I never understood why people say you are anti-cop when you want to get the bad cops off the street.  Some just blindly support the police no matter what.  And any criticism against one officer is somehow blanketing all cops as bad.

 

This guy clearly was a dirty cop.  Why would anyone disagree with those who say he (and other bad cops) should be held accountable for their actions?

[Iboatedhere]

I love him, but that joke is stolen from Robin Williams.

 

Well now I'm sad.

[attica]

I found it interesting how times have changed. It wasn't really all that long ago that artists and athletes were regularly heard voices in politics. Belafonte, Seeger, Dylan, all the Beatles, Rosie Grier, Olympic athletes like Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Ali, and on and on and on.  I wonder why it now it's like people think it's bad manners or something. Unless, of course, you're a conservative, and then you get ushered right quick into prominence and elected office a la Reagan or Tebow.

[ganesh]

That was a good topic for the panel. I think one of the points was that people don't necessarily think celebs are genuine in their causes. And maybe because we "know" them better nowadays, there's a certain cynicism to it. 

[FartyPants]

I found it interesting how times have changed. It wasn't really all that long ago that artists and athletes were regularly heard voices in politics. Belafonte, Seeger, Dylan, all the Beatles, Rosie Grier, Olympic athletes like Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Ali, and on and on and on.  I wonder why it now it's like people think it's bad manners or something. Unless, of course, you're a conservative, and then you get ushered right quick into prominence and elected office a la Reagan or Tebow.

athletes may not be as active in politics,  but artists (singers (dixie chiks), actors (all of them?), painters (banksy)) seem to be quite active in politics

[FartyPants]

I love him, but that joke is stolen from Robin Williams.

Heard that joke in a different format 20+ years ago. Not sure of the origin.

It goes, Three engineers are arguing about God, Electrical engineer says God must be an electrical engineer .. and gives some reasons

Mechanical engineer does the same

Civil engineer says, god must be a civil engineer, who else would put a recreational area right next to waste disposal?

[wknt3]

Why Ricky Velez why? This wrestling piece should be gold. The piece was still funny thanks to the guests, but if you can't be funny here you can't be funny anywhere. It's time to move on.

[nowandlater]

I just FF'd through Ricky Velez segments, so I really missed a lot of Nightly Show the past two nights.

[attica]

I want so very badly to get an electric car like Bill Nye recommends, but I live in an apartment, so I have no place to plug in. (Although I see my supermarket has installed one lone wee charging station in the very back of their parking lot, but I've never seen anybody using it.) Coincidentally, I saw my first in-the-wild Tesla on the street the other day. It occurred to me that its logo looks for all the world like an IUD. I suspect this is unintentional, but I support it unreservedly.  Anyway, it's a good looking car, whatever the logo.

 

Okay, I'll admit I laughed when Ricky taunted the wrestling crowd with "I'm taking your job! I'm taking your job!" like some Reverse Oprah.

[ganesh]

Hey, Bill Nye, absolutely there needs to be more wind and solar energy, but, sorry not sorry, you're not getting where you need to be with lowering carbon emissions and large baseload power without nuclear. The biggest energy crisis is letting the nuclear fleet phase out. Every plant that closes results in significant emissions increases for each state. 

 

I appreciate that he's promoting science, but that's from advocacy to agenda imo. 

[futurechemist]

So it seems that Larry's Thursday show stole Colbert's Starbucks bit Wednesday night.  Both shows had a silly Paul Blart pun name, and both involved a more biblical Starbucks cup.

 

I still can't stand pretty much any of Larry's correspondents.  Any time he throws to an "interview" like with tonight's coffee cups it's like nails on a chalkboard to me.  They're okay in the panel portion, just not in the scripted bits.

Edited November 13, 2015 by futurechemist

[nowandlater]

I still can't stand pretty much any of Larry's correspondents.  Any time he throws to an "interview" like with tonight's coffee cups it's like nails on a chalkboard to me.  They're okay in the panel portion, just not in the scripted bits.

 

Yeah, not only can I not stand the correspondents, but I can't stand the way Larry throws to them. The premises are obviously fake, but it just doesn't work like it does on The Daily Show. I also don't like the correspondents when they're on the panel.

[Hanahope]

So it seems that Larry's Thursday show stole Colbert's Starbucks bit Wednesday night.  Both shows had a silly Paul Blart pun name, and both involved a more biblical Starbucks cup.

 

IKR, its was like deja vu.  The Cosby jokes are always good.

[ganesh]

Do they know that the Paul Blart guy is just trolling on purpose to make fun of the evangelicals? He's not actually serious. The more salient point is that people actually ran with this off that. 

[Kromm]

Wow, I only JUST saw the Nov 2 Soul Food thing with Rand Paul.

 

I have to contrast it with the earlier one with Bernie Sanders. Sanders seemed to "get it". He played along with the joke. Paul didn't. He just came off like a huge stupid idiot.

[trow125]

Do they know that the Paul Blart guy is just trolling on purpose to make fun of the evangelicals? He's not actually serious. The more salient point is that people actually ran with this off that. 

I don't think he's trolling... or if he is, he's playing a long game, since according to the Washington Post, Joshua Feuerstein "has been at this for years, posting hundreds of videos of himself screaming mini-sermons into his Iphone camera... One of his more popular videos was from May 2014, garnering almost 2 million views for a nearly five-minute take down of evolution."

 

BTW I think @Midnight ALSO made the exact same Paul Blart joke, so it's not just Colbert. (Someone on imgur at least threw Fred Durst into the mix!)

 

I was catching up on Thursday's shows this morning, and after what happened in Paris yesterday, all of the Starbucks cup/Baby Hitler stuff seemed even dumber. It reminds me of all the "summer of the shark" stories that were all over the news right before 9/11. I think Monday's late night shows will have quite a different tone.

[ganesh]

I'm surprised the panel turned out so well. "Radical islam" isn't something I thought the show would be good at. I tend to think they're correct in saying that removing 'islam' from IS is the right move. I've said before, this isn't a war that's going to be won with force of arms. It's information and intelligence. It seems silly to parse words, but I think it's the right strategy. 

[possibilities]

I was so disappointed in Larry when he seemed to be making light of the problem of Islam being slandered. It has real implications for how these issues get perceived and handled, and is exacerbating problems for the vast majority of Muslims who are not terrorists. So I was glad the panelists seemed to have a good grasp of the issues and managed to turn Wilmore's thinking a bit. I was especially glad to see them talk about the Beirut attacks, and how ISIL should not be seen as representative of Islam, and Paris should not be remembered as its only target. Plus: white guys and Christians not having to apologize or take heat for crimes committed by other white guys and Christians.

 

"Random attacks were carried out in downtown ____ today. A white Christian male extremist has taken responsibility. Candidate ___ has said that we should not allow more whites, males, or Christians into this country, especially not those of the particularly dangerous white Christian male combination variety. If he is elected, he promises to take care of the white Christian male problem and to make sure they are dealt with so that our country can be great again. "

 

And if white Christian males are not doing the raping, who is? We should definitely do extra screening on them, at every movie theater as well as in alleys and fraternity houses and parks! We must have surveillance at all their places of worship, and on every street corner, to protect the public!

 

Another white, Christian male has shot up a theater/school/Church/workplace! We must be vigilant against this terrorist element among white, Christian males!

 

While the vast majority of white, Christian males are not terrorists, we are at war with white, Christian males who are, and must be vigilant against the dangerous white Christian male terrorist presence.

 

Larry frequently disappoints me when he speaks from his gut without actually looking deeper. But at least he is willing to entertain arguments and evidence when people feed it to him. He has an open mind, he just doesn't always exercise it before airtime.

[DeLurker]

I was so disappointed in Larry when he seemed to be making light of the problem of Islam being slandered. It has real implications for how these issues get perceived and handled, and is exacerbating problems for the vast majority of Muslims who are not terrorists. So I was glad the panelists seemed to have a good grasp of the issues and managed to turn Wilmore's thinking a bit. I was especially glad to see them talk about the Beirut attacks, and how ISIL should not be seen as representative of Islam, and Paris should not be remembered as its only target. Plus: white guys and Christians not having to apologize or take heat for crimes committed by other white guys and Christians.

I'm a bit lighter on Larry's position as what had to be addressed was a BFD and I don't expect a host of a Comedy Central show to get it pitch perfect when it is such a horrendous issue.  He did seem to be listening to the guest panelist and not rigidly moored to his initial posture.  I really enjoyed all 3 panelists.

[ganesh]

I didn't see Larry making light of the issue. He's kind of obligated to throw in some quips here and there, but he mostly got out of the way and let the others talk. Even the muslim guy was making a bit of a joke.

[Hanahope]

The Halloween hunger strike/protests things reminds me of when I was in college a few decades ago, and the school administration forbid fraternities and sororities from having any "themed" parties if the "theme" could be traced back to any specific race, culture, country, etc. Most of the frats had a specific theme party they were no longer allowed to have.  One had a mexican theme (viva zapata), another an irish theme (st. patty's day/wake the dead), another a german theme (octoberfest), etc.  A few sororities had hawaiian themed parties that they had to change to "island" party.

[Muffyn]

Last noght's eopisode really showed the problem with these panels. It had Jonathan Butler who is very articulate and thoughtful trying to make reasoned arguments, Grace Parra saying nothing of much value, going for laughs, and Jadakiss seeming almost unwilling to speak. I wish Larry had interviewed Jonathan rather than subjecting him to a panel. 

[ganesh]

The whole bit about Carson being stabby was funny though. 

 

Did they just do a panel on emojis?

Edited November 19, 2015 by ganesh

[attica]

I agree there are better topics for panel, but I'd be lying if I didn't chuckle at Rory's "I'm privileged -- I've always had emojis!"

[shok]

I didn't watch the show last night (rarely do) but had it on as background noise. The volume was so low that I couldn't even hear the words being said but all I could hear was this constant incredibly annoying guffaw laugh. I have no idea who it was because I didn't look at the tv to even see who the panelists were but whoever was braying like a crazed donkey was...well...an ass.

[walnutqueen]

I am so very tired of Larry Wilmore talking with food in his mouth.

[AmandaPanda]

Last noght's eopisode really showed the problem with these panels. It had Jonathan Butler who is very articulate and thoughtful trying to make reasoned arguments, Grace Parra saying nothing of much value, going for laughs, and Jadakiss seeming almost unwilling to speak. I wish Larry had interviewed Jonathan rather than subjecting him to a panel. 

 

Agreed. I really wanted to hear what Jonathan had to say. Larry did really well with interviewing the boy who got arrested for bringing the clock to school and the mom who wanted the history textbook changed. Jonathan should have been in a one-on-one segment where they could actually talk about the history behind everything going on at Mizzou and what made him take up this cause. Grace Parra just kept hijacking the conversation with insipid nonsense.

[Hanahope]

Mike Yard's NHL experience was so much more enjoyable than the wrestling one that Ricky Valez did.

[jaytee1812]

Everything Mike Yard does is more enjoyable than Ricky Valez.

[ganesh]

All of Yard's on-location pieces have been really good. 

[possibilities]

Yard is good on the panels, too.

[formerlyfreedom]

Hey, since we do seem to talk a lot about the contributors, here's a topic where we can rant OR rave about them!

[nowandlater]

Hey, here's a vacation week question: How do you feel about all the bleeped profanity?

 

I usually don't mind it. But when it's done so often, it loses its impact.

[nicepebbles]

The hubby and I love some Mike Yard. He's the best followed by Holly Walker and Rory (blanking on his last name).

 

The panel on Islam was the best. Probably the best ever.

 

I can't believe they did 2 segments on emojis. Kind of makes them look like what Webster's (whoever) did with picking crying laughing (or whatever) over refugee.

[ganesh]

I hope Fiorina gets so much flack over screaming about baby parts on a *faked video* and deliberately misleading people that it forces her to drop out of the race.