Larry Wilmore Attempts to Be Seriously Funny
One of the trademarks of Comedy Central’s political comedy has been its insularity. The sets of Stewart and Colbert were safe spaces for liberals to mock the powerful and fatuous, and laugh together through their shared outrage. The chanting and hooting from the studio audience was polite liberalism tapping into its id.
.. Here, Wilmore and the other guests on the panel mostly tried to reason with her, which is more generous, and perhaps even more useful, than simple excoriation or humiliation. But can the search for consensus or good will be funny?
.. Part of the disconnect may be how we’re not used to drama or conflict in this kind of show. The Comedy Central hour has been a liberal refuge, a satirical antidote to the idea that every issue has two sides that must be treated, regardless of their credibility, with something approaching equal respect.