A reluctant farewell to the nuanced late-night talk show we all needed
The Show: The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore, Season 2, Episode 147 The Moment: The host’s farewell In the final minutes of his final show, host Larry Wilmore explains why the world map on his studio wall is upside down.
“Upside down is just an opinion,” he says. “If you’re floating in space, the Earth can take any orientation.
“But as a culture, we agree with the opinion that the world should be seen a certain way,” he continues. “So at The Nightly Show, our chief mission was to disagree with that premise and to see the world in a way that might not make everyone comfortable, and to present a cast of people who don’t always get to have a voice on that. On that front, I believe we’ve been successful.”
Neither Bruce Springsteen nor hordes of politicos sang out Wilmore, as they did Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Given the speed of Wilmore’s cancellation, it’s amazing he had a finale, period. (He was informed on Aug. 11 that his final show would be Aug. 18.)
Wilmore went out as he came in, attempting to engage the audience with an idea.
It wasn’t low ratings that killed him. It was, in network terms, lack of social media engagement: viral bits, à la Jimmy Fallon’s lip-synching contests. But Wilmore didn’t do bits. He did discussions. Discussions about topics too nuanced and troubling (systemic racism, gun violence) for 140 characters.
I wish Comedy Central had seen the value in — the acute need for — a show that offered that, social media be damned.
Instead we’ll get more celebrities bumping each other in sumo suits. Sigh. The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore aired on the Comedy Network. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop-culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.