The premiere of Larry Wilmore’s “The Nightly Show” tackled Ferguson, the death of Eric Garner, the subequent NYPD protests, all right off the bat on Monday night.
“Something about this just doesn’t seem right. Are we protesting too many things here?” asked Wilmore, a longtime “senior black correspondent” for “The Daily Show” before scoring his own show this year. Wilmore show replaced Stephen Colbert’s on Comedy Central after the faux conservative host accepted a job as the new host of CBS’s “Late Show.”
“Yesterday in Oakland people were protesting police violence and even as I speak tonight, there’s a protest going on in Grand Central Station,” he said.
“Because there’s no better way to win the hearts and minds of white people than making them miss their train to Connecticut,” he said. “They hate that shit.”
Wilmore had some good words to say for climate change protestors who marched in September, connecting it to the accord signed by the U.S. and China a few months later.
“I mean, that’s pretty good, right?” Wilmore said.
“More power to these folks, because if we don’t figure this out, then it won’t just be black folks saying ‘I Can’t Breathe,'” he added, to groans from the audience.
Watch the clip, courtesy of Comedy Central:
Love the upsidedown globe in the background.
I thought Wilmore’s best moment was when he focused on the mug shots of young black men which the Miami police were using for target practice. Wilmore said he wasn’t surprised. Paraphrasing slightly, he said “Like I’m not surprised when Kobe hits a jump shot. That’s why you practice.”
Wilmore also spent some much appreciated words dismissing the value of having Sharpton sticking his nose into every gol durn dispute concerning minority Americans.
There are many many articulate people capable of defending the right to protest and free speech, Sharptons time has passed, he needs to find a few younger folks to nurture by sharing his experience, his errors and his dollars.
Instant classic.
Good luck Larry!! good start!