'The Nightly Show' Comedy Central
Talk turned to Trump when 'The Daily Show' correspondents reunited during the last week of Wilmore's late-night show. "The Republican party let itself be destroyed by him because they wanted, as the media did, eyeballs," said Black.
Larry Wilmore invited an old friend to his second-to-last Nightly Show on Wednesday: Lewis Black.
Black and Wilmore were both past correspondents on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, with Black known for his "Back in Black" segments and Wilmore as the "Senior Black Correspondent."
"I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather have on," said Wilmore of Black.
The actor and comedian appeared in the half-hour late-night show's final segment for a panel, along with Nightly Show contributors Ricky Velez and Rory Albanese. Though he was offered to partake from a bowl full of mini bottles of booze — a gift from fellow late-night host, Stephen Colbert — Black didn't need any liquid courage to share his thoughts about the current political landscape.
When asked what he thinks about the election, Black laid into Trump and the Republican party with fanfare.
"At some point it has to stop," he began. "We would be better off as a people if there's Donald Trump as a duck, and you heard quacking, and Clinton as a chihuahua, and you heard barking (mimicking the animal sounds for both) — it's senseless!"
Belaboring how the election news cycle has eaten up his summer months — "It's not just summer for kids! Give me a new recipe for ribs, that's what this time is about," he said — he described the moment that he feels was the beginning of the end with Trump.
"The Republican party let itself be destroyed by him because they wanted, as the media did, eyeballs," he said about the GOP presidential nominee. "We want as many people watching as possible, so we're going to bring him in — that was the beginning of the end."
He continued, "As soon as he said, 'Mexicans...borders...pillaging...they're eating all the avocados and there's no shrimp dip!' — as soon as he said that, any party with any moral compass whatsoever would say, 'You can run, you just can't run as a Republican.' That was the moment in time people began to watch thinking, 'Oh this'll be great, this'll be f—ing fun to watch."
After getting saucy off last night's "basic-cable wine," a gift from Full Frontal's Samantha Bee, Wilmore opened Wednesday's show by declaring his intentions to be clear-minded.
"I was going to do the show sober," he said, after the crowd was done chanting his name, "but then Colbert sent this."
The Comedy Central host then showed a photo that he posted earlier on Instagram of himself surrounded by mini bottles of alcohol, a gift from The Late Show's Colbert, which he brought out for his show guests.
'You gotta step it up Last Week Tonight — daddy needs more juice," he added about John Oliver's HBO series.
A photo posted by The Nightly Show (@thenightlyshow) on Aug 17, 2016 at 3:06pm PDT
Wilmore then launched into talking politics, race and a segment of Tampon Tuesdays surrounding Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui talking about her period during an interview at the Rio Olympics.
There was one person in particular, "something dear to my heart," that Wilmore made sure to touch on: Bill Cosby. He also addressed the day's headline news on former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and Trump.
Comedy Central announced the cancelation of The Nightly Show on Monday. The series, which has aired for two seasons, averages a night-of rating of 0.2 in the 18-49 demo.
On Monday, the host addressed his show's cancelation by joking, "Our show going off the air has to mean one thing: Racism is solved."
The last episode of Nightly Show will air tomorrow, Thursday, with Chris Hardwick's game show @Midnight sliding into the 11:30 p.m. slot as a temporary replacement.
Larry Wilmore
