Larry Wilmore: A Talented Man

[formerlyfreedom]

Discuss Larry Wilmore in this topic!

[trow125]

I thought I'd throw out there that I highly recommend Larry's book, I'd Rather We Got Casinos (And Other Black Thoughts). It's hilarious.

[ebk57]

I think Larry did a great job tonight at the WHCD.  The room didn't think so, but that's not unusual for that event.  He was sharp, a little mean, but really funny.  I'm sure he'll be raked over the coals.

Obama was fantastic.  I'm gonna miss him.

[HelenBaby]

Honestly, I thought it went badly (the WHCD appearance.) I think I only laughed once or twice. But it's hard to follow POTUS. I laughed a lot at his jokes. 

[attica]

I'm always amazed (and by now I shouldn't be) how thin-skinned the media types are to jokes about them. The level of defensiveness over Larry's Don Lemon jokes was just off the charts.  And really, WHPC, you hire a comic to make fun of you, and then you piss and moan and boo when he does. GTF over yourselves.

On a tangent, I would have sold many body parts and several sexual favors to sit at the table with Biden and Mirren.

[possibilities]

I love the pearl clutching that went on afterwards. So much hypocrisy, so little time....

I hope TNS got some effective publicity and its numbers will rise.

The CNN commentary beforehand, about how they probably didn't ask Chris Rock because he would not be "able to be trusted" to "not go too far" and then the blanched horror of after, with lotsa clucking about how "Wilmore was indecorous" -- well, it's a roast, you know. Don't want to be roasted, then don't invite someone who four nights a week has a show devoted to calling you out. What did they expect? That he would do something other than what he always does?

If anything, I was a little disappointed because I'd heard some of his jokes already. But clearly the people gasping in horror had not.

Here are a few twitter-based reviews:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/black-twitter-doesnt-care-what-white-people-think-of-wilmore-saying-my-ngga-to-obama/

http://www.attn.com/stories/7930/twitter-response-to-larry-wilmore-using-n-word-at-whcd

http://time.com/4313607/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016-larry-wilmore-n-word/

[wknt3]

I think the WHCD was a mixed bag. I think most of the criticism is undeserved, but he wasn't as good as Seth Myers or Stephen Colbert. The biggest problem is following the President. Not only did POTUS have better writers, but the press can't slam him the same way they can slam the comedian who follows him. And of course it's a bit of a perpetial motion machine. The political press focuses on personality, insider BS, faux scandals, and phony outrage instead of issues. The comedian at the WHCD skewers them for that. The next few days are taken up with stories about the personalities involved, the insider BS and faux scandals of decorum breeched, and ginning up phony outrage and debating it ad nauseum...

[pivot]

Whitmore was leaps and bounds above Myers as Myers was horrible. So smug and unfunny.

But, none of the comics over the past 8 years have matched Obama's humor. He really has the timing to be a stand-up comedian and his roasting of Donald Trump while knowing OBL had been found was pretty incredible.

[Princess Sparkle]

On 5/1/2016 at 1:04 AM, ebk57 said:

I think Larry did a great job tonight at the WHCD.  The room didn't think so, but that's not unusual for that event.  He was sharp, a little mean, but really funny.  I'm sure he'll be raked over the coals.

Yeah, I thought he was the best since Colbert (who is my gold standard for the WHCD), and they both have a set of brass ones to do the jokes they did.  I'm still laughing at "The treasury promised to put Harriet Tubman’s face on the 20 dollar bill, but now we have to wait until 2030.  Women haven’t been this deceived by a bill since Cosby.  Oh, like I did it!", and at "Ask one followup question!" 

Edited May 2, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[possibilities]

Obama is funny as hell-- it's not just whoever writes for him, but also his delivery-- so most will suffer following his act. But I thought it was notable that he hugged Larry; he could have gone for a handshake or even just a nod, if he'd been offended. He's shown anger or resentment before when he's been disrespected, and so we know he can do it. Even Don Lemon was making a point of showing himself with Larry after, like they're old pals or whatever and it's all OK. So the morning after tizzy is just a lot of thin-skinned blather.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/don-lemon-jokes-about-the-finger-with-larry-wilmore-at-whcd-afterparty/

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/5/1/1522085/-Was-Larry-Wilmore-s-Performance-Too-Black-for-the-2016-White-House-Correspondents-Dinner?

Boehner can call Cruz Lucifer and somehow that's OK, so I'm not having any of the outcry over anything that was said at the WHCD.

[attica]

I also think that physically, the Hilton Banquet room is a hard room to play. Not so deep as it is wide, and a bunch of tables are way out of the dais's sightlines. Plus without the raked seats that a theater would have. When audience people are that far away from each other, it's hard to build the momentum of a comedy set.

(I also recall a ton of insider grumbling about Colbert immediately after his appearance, who now are all, oh yeah, best ever. Washingtonians are always quick to follow the conventional wisdom, but not until they know what it is. Heh.)

[stillshimpy]

I don't think there's any way to argue that Larry succeeded with the crowd, but that's because he was -- rightly, I believe -- calling them out continually for doing an absolutely atrocious job of what is alleged to be their profession.  

Like a lot of satire, it didn't have to be laugh aloud funny to be true to an almost surgically precise degree.   So he bombed with the crowd -- and he did, but oh well, sorry they are so sensitive to anyone trying to confront them with how much they almost criminally suck at this point -- but if anything I think the stoney reaction of those present proved how close to the truth the man was the entire night.  

 

Quote

I'm always amazed (and by now I shouldn't be) how thin-skinned the media types are to jokes about them. The level of defensiveness over Larry's Don Lemon jokes was just off the charts.  And really, WHPC, you hire a comic to make fun of you, and then you piss and moan and boowhen he does. GTF over yourselves.

 

Since they've long since veered into actually unethical presentation, I'm unsurprised that being confronted by someone when they aren't in possession (or control) of the way things go from that point forward proved to be so uncomfortable for them.  

All of Larry's material about the racially charged reception of so much of Obama's presidency similarly went over like poison offered at a wine tasting, but it's nonetheless entirely true.  That the room didn't bust a gut over what boiled down to "So you've all been grotesquely racist to one degree or another for the last eight years.  Also, you're almost cartoonishly bad at your jobs and it has contributed to the mess that is the political system.  Thanks fuckers.  And one more thing?  Thank yourselves for this shit-storm that is Trump's candidacy.  May God forgive you, because history won't" just seemed to further underline how true it all was.  It's easy to laugh at the absurd, Larry's material wasn't absurd, it was true.  

No wonder that outraged the journalists present.  They've got a severe allergy to that sort of incisive commentary at this point.  

Every piece I see that talks about the poor reception of his material just further proves how necessary it was.  

Edited May 3, 2016 by stillshimpy

[possibilities]

I guess the more surprising thing is that they invited him int he first place.

I have to think some of the outrage is just theater.

[possibilities]

Here's Larry talking with Terry Gross about the WHCD, among other things (interview is approx half an hour. Highlights are provided in text below, but I thought the audio was worth the time):

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/03/476598311/larry-wilmore-on-breaking-taboos-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner

Also, this:

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/05/02/476460153/was-it-good-bad-or-ugly-takes-on-larry-wilmores-jokes-at-correspondents-dinner

[Kromm]

On 5/1/2016 at 2:04 AM, ebk57 said:

I think Larry did a great job tonight at the WHCD.  The room didn't think so, but that's not unusual for that event.

Didn't the same thing happen with Colbert when he did it?

Of course Colbert didn't use a specific word (well a variant) that makes people uncomfortable at a core level. Larry used it appropriately--as much as such a word can be. It was there specifically to push buttons... and it did.

On 5/2/2016 at 1:03 AM, possibilities said:

I love the pearl clutching that went on afterwards. So much hypocrisy, so little time....

-----

Here are a few twitter-based reviews:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/black-twitter-doesnt-care-what-white-people-think-of-wilmore-saying-my-ngga-to-obama/

I love this bit from that mediaite piece:

Quote

 if Black Twitter is any indication, there is one thing that’s near-unanimous: nobody wants to hear what white people think about it. 

Hah!

[Princess Sparkle]

I debated whether this was more appropriate in the media thread, but since we'd been discussing Larry's WHCD hosting here, I thought it fit it here nicely: New York Magazine had a really nuanced take of the "MN" controversy.

[Kromm]

5 minutes ago, Princess Sparkle said:

I debated whether this was more appropriate in the media thread, but since we'd been discussing Larry's WHCD hosting here, I thought it fit it here nicely: New York Magazine had a really nuanced take of the "MN" controversy.

I'm conflicted on this. The early reports were all about what WHITE people were upset about this. This one is about what BLACK people (mostly journalists being cited here) are. So it's far more relevant reactions.

That said, the article is also about how the writer thinks these people are wrong (and so do I). The article is all about the challenging of a status quo. For me it's simpler. It's context. I can never get away from the history of this event as one where they invite these comedians to host, to sling barbs at them. and then act like stuffed shirts if the barbs actually hit too hard. So for me the context of this venue has become challenging those stuffed shirts, and that's exactly what WIlmore did. Obama--who apparently has much more of a sense of humor than any of them--didn't care, wasn't distressed by this. And even the black journalists who went on about now never appearing on Wilmore's show, or otherwise discounting him ultimately showed that all they cared about was how it reflected back on their interactions, their climb for respect, with their WHITE peers. It was ludicrous. 

Honestly this whole thing has made me like Larry even more--and I already liked him for the most part. He's a comedian first and a fake newsman second. Everyone should realize that.

[wknt3]

Not quite sure where to put this, but like the previous post said we've been discussing the WHCD here and this about Larry NOT being in the media so I'm going to put it here.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/mediaite-exclusive-cnn-cancelled-larry-wilmore-appearance-in-retaliation-for-white-correspondent-dinner-jokes/

Wow. If this is true it's terrible. When Don Lemon has better judgement than your network execs you know you're in trouble.

[trow125]

Nice piece by Larry eulogizing Muhammad Ali and his "unapologetic blackness."

[trow125]

Larry is scheduled to be a guest on "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" next week, Sept. 1.

[ALenore]

Larry was the emcee of the National Book Awards last night.

Quote

 

Larry Wilmore’s closing remarks as the emcee of last night’s National Book Awards, held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, could have sounded in isolation like a simple affirming joke: “This concludes, ‘BET presents the National Book Awards, with special guest Robert Caro.’”

The line was a nod to the fact that three of the four category prizes went to black writers — Colson Whitehead for fiction, Ibram X. Kendi for a history of racism, and Congressman John Lewis for co-writing a trilogy of YA civil-rights comics, The March.

 

http://www.vulture.com/2016/11/resiliency-at-2016-national-book-awards.html

[wknt3]

Larry just announced a new deal with ABC studios for future projects. Good for him and nice to see ABC appreciates talent.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/larry-wilmore-inks-deal-abc-studios-950721?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR Breaking News_2016-11-28 11:30:00_lgoldberg&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_breakingnews

[possibilities]

I've been missing him so much the past few weeks.

The article says he's  mostly going to work on scripted stuff, but I'd like to see him doing commentary. If Jimmy Kimmel ever leaves, maybe ABC can give their late night slot to Wilmore.

Edited November 30, 2016 by possibilities

[The Crazed Spruce]

Larry's new podcast, Black On The Air dropped last night. Doesn't have the same comedy bits as The Nightly Show, but he does share his thoughts on the James Comey situation, and he has a great interview with Norman Lear. Can't really post a link to it here, but if you search "Larry Wilmore" on your podcast app, you should be able to find it easily.

[Hanahope]

Thanks!

[possibilities]

Why can't we post a link?

[TVcritic]

10 episodes so far. Please take a look here:

https://art19.com/shows/larry-wilmore

I like that show.

[GHScorpiosRule]

FYI:

Larry will be on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight at 10:00pm EST. On the panel and not the mid show guest.

[ebk57]

27 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

FYI:

Larry will be on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight at 10:00pm EST. On the panel and not the mid show guest.

As much as I love Larry, I'm not sure I can watch Real Time...  I'll read the forum and decide.  

 

Larry was featured on a short segment of last week's The Big Listen on NPR - a podcast about podcasts.  

Edited January 20, 2018 by ebk57