User reviews

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.

I was expecting so much from this show. But as other reviews had commented. Larry is a good writer and comedian, he just isn't strong enough for a show of his own. He was so much better on that "other" show.

I must say, I like the guests he has except one VERY IRRITATING person...That would be the Shenaz Treasury one. She is unwatchable. She is cloying and seems like a kiss a$$. She does not have any original thoughts and just laughs at the wrong things and at the wrong times. When she is on I turn off.

If you are going to have regular commentators...Have ones that are strong....Not interns like Treasury...

I doubt this show will last much longer than Jon's. Comedy Central has lost it's two strongest live shows...They will have to scramble to replace them. Without Steven on...I don't watch Jon as much as I used to either.

Larry, You are a really good comedian....your mind is sharp and your fun to watch. You just need a different venue...like ummm..The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

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.

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 think the other reviews of this show are too harsh. It is true the first few episodes needed a little work. The show seems to be growing and figuring out what works best. Larry seems to be getting more comfortable as the host. It is unfair to compare it to the Colbert Show since it is a completely different show. The type of humor is completely different. Larry is not a satirical TV personality like Colbert.

I feel the topics are on point and about important issues in society. Of course they are going to talk about issues important to African Americans as well as other minorities since those voices are blatantly absent from mainstream TV and media. Besides, they should be everyone's issues since we are all Americans and these issues affect everyone even if you're white.

Larry Wilmore is mildly funny but as far as hosting a show, he is absolutely horrible and painful to watch. Also his jokes are very old and played out, mostly revolving around black issues. His guests do not represent an accurate representation of the population. I was a huge Colbert fan and knew that no one else will come close to comparing, but Comedy Central can do much better. I guarantee Comedy Central loses TONS of viewers during this time slot. I would rather watch Tosh.0 which sadly says a lot. "Keep it 100 n Twitter"... are you kidding me?!? And what about the last segment where he answers a question from a viewer- there's nothing at all mildly comedic about his answers.

Colbert is fantastically clever and Wilmore is also great, but they are not the same show. They both are fighting the good fight in trying to bring information and raise interest in politics, but obviously have different approaches.

I see a lot bad reviews for the show on IMDb but I think this show is brilliant. The panel does feel a bit rushed given the short time segment of the show, but Larry Wilmore does a good job of offering comedy and insight while keeping it 100%.

So much talent from the DailyShow. All of these people are greatly appreciated and I wish them all a bright future!

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 admit I had some reservations about this show. Wilmore was often used on The Daily Show for Black comedy and issues. Funny for sure but I wasn't sure about his doing a whole show. I was wrong, he is great. Personable and amusing. He's comfortable and engaging. The keeping it 100 bits are good and having several guests on was a good ideal.

Once Stewart leaves unless they get a really great host for TDS. He'll have to take up some of the slack and I think he's up to the task. Hopefully he will continue to get good guests. I'd love to see Oprah come on for example. His jokes with a Black conservative were priceless. Good luck, Larry!

I've been a loyal viewer of The Daily Show for many years and have really enjoyed all of Jon's correspondents, Larry Wilmore included. But he has big shoes to fill in replacing Colbert.

Colbert always complimented Jon well in that he could make light of many ridiculous topics, especially enjoyable after Daily Show episodes which tend to highlight injustice, partisan politics and other frustrating aspects of our nation. Important topics to discuss, but not necessarily to go to sleep on. Colbert would often lighten the mood by entertaining many topics creatively.

Larry, on the other hand, seems to only focus on the black struggle from his perspective as well as those of his black panel guests (and a couple of token white guests who appear as outsiders with little to contribute). The topic of racial divide is a heated one and not one I'm excited to go to sleep on every night.

For me to continue watching the show I'll need to see some topic diversity.

Random thoughts:

• More monologue, less panel - What's with the inverted map??

UPDATE: After watching the show for awhile now I can say that topic diversity didn't help. The show is boring, plain & simple. I've officially stopped watching it. Wilmore is not great on his own, he has little in his comedy toolbox.

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 show got cancelled in Aug 2016 and that's a bloody shame.

Just like The Daily and Colbert Report did The Nightly Show taught me a lot and without knowing it the show has changed my perspective on a few things, and I'm grateful for it.

I love Stewart and Colbert but their clever, witty show styles can be and is copied now that big media realized its a cash cow (look at Full Frontal and The Democracy Handbook which I also love). But the Nightly has more soul and a great team that focused on race more than other shows and was a tad more serious and challenged the norm (like Wilmore's speech at the WHCD) which ultimately lead to its demise (which I believe is a very short-sighted decision by CC).

I'm sure Yard, Albenese, Walker, Veles, Ramsey, Parra, Carlos, and Wilmore along with the Trump character and Felonious Munk will get jobs very easily after demonstrating the huge talent they are.

I really, _really_ wanted to like this show, as a longtime TDS/Colbert viewer who generally enjoyed Wilmore as the TDS "Chief Black Correspondent". I think at this point it's fair to say I've given Wilmore's show more than a fair shot, but here's the problem: He just doesn't have today's mandatory combination of comedic brilliance, broad-based political gravitas and plain old charisma to pull off a show of his own in this genre. Granted, the Stewart/Colbert/Maher/Oliver axis have set the bar for this kind of host extremely high. However, the fact remains that Wilmore was a poor choice to fill Colbert's old time slot, as he simply isn't broadly-based or, well, funny enough to carry it off. This fundamental weakness is exacerbated by the fact that his writers and panel guests (who are all too often the same people) range from tiresome to downright terrible, and the sameness of the show's content ("Black issues! Finally, we're getting a vehicle with which to give them the attention they deserve!") is so oppressively (sorry) relentless, day in and day out, that the end result is unwatchable. At least in its current incarnation, this is essentially a predictable, one-note show, hosted by a guy who, while clearly a talented writer, just doesn't have enough scope to fill the suit here. I really wish he was better at what he's trying to do than he is, because the truth is, we could really do with the perspective of a truly sophisticated black comedian/writer who genuinely is in the same talent stratum as Stewart/Colbert/Maher/Oliver; it would be refreshing and necessary. Trouble is, Wilmore ain't that guy. Now, I've seen some people jump in here in a very reactionary way, complaining about the torrent of negative reviews, with the basic thesis of "stop criticizing Larry, it's early days, give him time! Look how Stewart was in the beginning!" Sorry kids, but this doesn't hold water. Stewart was indeed a bit awkward at the start, but the evidence of his brilliance and sharp intellect was there from the beginning, despite the ill-fitting suits. Wilmore, however, has far more fundamental deficiencies, and sadly, they're of the sort that can't be fixed with superficial mid-season tweaks.

It's amazing that, after 200 years of political, economic and social dominance, white people in America will take to the internet in droves to complain about feeling excluded by a TV show. I didn't know how Larry Wilmore would be as a host after watching him as a correspondent on the daily show. They're two very different tasks. His introductory monologues are great and delivery of the news is often funnier than Colbert, Oliver or Stewart. His panels don't work for me but... I often turn off shows when the interview/panel sections come on so I won't hold that against him. I sincerely hope that Comedy Central doesn't let the ignorant part of its audience take this show off the air. It seems like white people can only handle black hosts when black folks make fun of black folks (however smart the commentary is, IE Chappelle/Key & Peele), on a daytime talk show or on game shows past their prime. Real talk regarding real issues is hard, even when it's funny. We'll come around to things, it will just take brave networks doing the right thing for a while.

This show is not even remotely close to the quality of The Daily Show and Colbert Report. Nobody wants to hear Wilmore whine for thirty minutes about whatever controversial issue needs fixing. I have watched the show three times, never even cracking a smile once. This is on comedy central, but there is little to no comedy. Any other show would be better for this time slot, such as Jeselnik or just South Park reruns. I don't want to be laying in bed at 11:30 and learn about racial injustice; I want to laugh and to be entertained, and this show fails miserably at it. I don't see this show lasting much longer. The time slot could be put to a much better use.

This may not hold much appeal for those who live in an exclusively white environment, because Wilmore's refreshingly broad perspectives go beyond the suburbs. I envision an international and cross-cultural audience.

It's like a bigger Maher show.

Minorities and indigenous peoples often have to learn the cultural bilingualism that whites can't notice. Just as whites are afflicted with a sense of superiority when hearing a person speak with a hispanic-type of accent, they sometimes imagine that their perceived representatives hold the title to political humor/satire.

I have been a long time fan of the daily show and Colbert report, and I wanted so badly to enjoy the nightly show, but it is just bad. The show isn't funny, and is incredibly biased. Larry isn't so bad but his "comedian" round table guests are unwatchable and some have expressed some extremist views that I found unacceptable. I can't remember his name but there is one particular guest who is on the show quite often who has said some disgusting uninformed statements. There has also been a few religious leaders on to spew their rhetoric. My biggest issue with this show by far though, is the vilifying of white Americans..and I'm not some southern redneck I am an all American far left open minded liberal, and I cringe at some of the views expressed towards white people on this show. I'd say you gave it a good shot, but this show isn't working, and it's time for a replacement.

Could this show be any worse? What bothers me more than even the complete boredom is that Comedy Central picked a clear racist to host a once great show. I enjoyed Stephen Colbert and Jon Steward. They brought biased humor but it was almost always poking fun at a serious subject or showing how absurd Americans can be (the NFL and deflategate were ROTF funny).

Now we are being subjected to race baiting and hatred. Why? Is it political correctness CC is now after? Or have they run out of talent?

Comedy Central here's a clue: We want humor and Larry is NOT funny. I have tried to watch this show several times. Each time I think to myself "this can't be the REAL replacement for SC. It has to be temporary." Here's to hoping its temporary.

When Colbert left the Report, Comedy Central was left with a series of big decisions to make. The Report had taken a certain kind of political satire pioneered by The Daily Show and given it a clever twist, in doing so gaining a good following and appealing to a fairly broad demographic for CC. It would have been a mistake for the network and show creators to try for something too similar to either the Daily Show or Colbert. Neither does The Nightly Show veer too far from the style of humor on those shows, but its new format with multiple guest panel members and greater focus on social issues outside of electoral politics is refreshing and entertaining. I'm not a liberal and have found certain positions taken on all three aforementioned shows obnoxious at times, but I don't need to watch my views being echoed on a political satire show to enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, the fact that the Nightly Show has frequently featured multiracial panels and delves into racism on an arguably deeper level than Colbert or Stewart generally did upsets, bores, or just doesn't sit comfortably with Comedy Central's core audience of young white bros. Hopefully given some time for the show to develop a more comfortable dynamic between audience, writes, guests, contributors, and Wilmore and find its audience, ratings and viewership will improve and the Nightly Show will have a long streak on CC.

Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut???????? Giving Larry Wilmore poor ratings? Oh come on people! This man is brilliant and getting better with every show. Give it more time and don't expect to see the same "demographics" of other shows formerly in this time slot. Does he talk a lot about black issues? Hmm...I wonder why? And is this not a GOOD THING???? It is about time. As an old white broad, I do not feel left out. I feel that my genuine and deep concern of the issues presented are finally put out into the light---I cry, I laugh---and more, I see that I am not alone. What happened to the idea that "The Oppression of One is the Oppression of ALL?" That old protest refrain has never been more timely. And I, for one, can barely wrap my brain around daily news without the brilliance of logic, humor, compassion and courage that this show presents every night. Please keep this show going and if you like it--write a review and tell others. Larry, Larry, Larry!!!!!!! I am one loyal and grateful follower.Thank you!