Making his latest appearance on CBS This Morning with co-host, devout fan, and Obama friend Gayle King, Nightly Show host Larry Wilmore was serenaded on Monday by King and her fellow co-hosts as a “passionate centrist” who loves President Obama but supposedly mocks politicians on both sides.
Of course, the show mentioned Wilmore’s obsession with race and his upcoming hosting duties at the White House Correspondents Dinner but neglected to cite examples such as suggesting on separate occasions that GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz has mental problems and is a “self-hating dildo.”
King teased Wilmore’s appearance repeatedly during the two-hour show before he finally joined King and fill-in co-hosts Anthony Mason and Josh Elliott with King setting the scene: “The 2016 presidential election season is a gold mine for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Whether candidates are on the left or right, they're at the center of Wilmore’s comedy.”
Throughout the eight-minute-plus interview, King could barely contain her excitement for being in Wilmore’s presence as she shouted, “let’s do this” as he left the green room and proclaimed that he possesses a “unique brand of comedy.”
After some short banter about his reaction to being selected for the lavishly self-indulgent D.C. establishment confab, King lamented that he would have to “take a couple of jabs” at President Obama even though “everybody knows you're an Obama supporter.” Right on cue, Wilmore hyped that he “like[s] Obama a lot” but reminded the table that he “only supported him because he was black.”
Moments later, King informed everyone that she records Wilmore’s show and loves how his program “takes on race and people say, why does he always talk about black people?”
“Why does he always talk about Obama? And I always find your take on race interesting because it's not like you say that you're always pro, that you're always pro-black people and that's what I think is a beauty of what you do,” King added.
Wilmore responded by maintaining that talking about race and racism “has kinda been, you know, my nature and I just like having that conversation and just looking at all sides of it.”
With no sense of self-realization that Wilmore blurted out earlier that he’s a huge Obama fan, Mason complimented him for somehow “vigorously” being “a passionate centrist”:
MASON: I love that you call yourself a passionate centrist.
WILMORE: Yes, yes. Exactly.
MASON: You grab the middle vigorously.
WILMORE: Vigorously and actually, what I always meant is half the time I disagree with myself. That's truly what it means. It's not an ideological stance. It's more of an, okay, if the facts prove me wrong, I have to go with the facts. That’s really what, I mean, so.
As the segment wound down, King even offered Wilmore suggestions for what to talk about on Monday’s show:
KING: Larry, I'm thinking about your show tonight, you've got to — your show tonight, you've got do something with the Beyonce video.
WILMORE: Lemonade. You're a big Bey fan, aren’t you?
KING: I’m a really big B-fan.
WILMORE: I'm afraid of the bat stuff here you were talking about.
KING: Well, just don’t cross me, Larry.
The relevant portions of the transcript from April 25's CBS This Morning can be found below.
CBS This Morning
April 25, 2016
8:32 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Where There’s a Wilmore; Nightly Show Host Skewers Candidates on Both Sides]
GAYLE KING: The 2016 presidential election season is a gold mine for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Whether candidates are on the left or right, they're at the center of Wilmore’s comedy.
(...)
KING: Let's do this! Wilmore brings his unique brand of comedy to Washington, D.C., this weekend as a featured entertainer at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents Association. He joins us again at the table. Welcome back, Larry Wilmore.
(....)
KING: That's the thing. That's what I think is dicey. The President and First Lady are right there. You have to take a couple of jabs at him, or do you?
WILMORE: Of course. You have to. Absolutely
KING: But everybody knows you're an Obama supporter.
WILMORE: Well, I like Obama a lot, but remember, I only supported him because he was black. I can attack his positions all I want.
(....)
KING: What I think is great about your show, Larry — and I do record it.
WILMORE: Thank you, Gayle.
KING: Is that —
WILMORE: I watch your show, too. I want you guys to know.
KING: We thank you. It's one of the few shows that takes on race and people say, why does he always talk about black people? Why does he always talk about Obama? And I always find your take on race interesting because it's not like you say that you're always pro, that you're always pro-black people and that's what I think is a beauty of what you do.
WILMORE: Well, yeah, the take is not about black people.
KING: We make mistakes, too.
WILMORE: Oh, everybody does, yes. I've always been contrary — has kinda been, you know, my nature and I just like having that conversation and just looking at all sides of it. I mean —
MASON: That’s not an easy conversation to have.
WILMORE: Exactly.
KING: It's not.
WILMORE: Hey, let's talk about race. Let’s find some comedy in that. You guys were slaves, right? Oh, okay, that sounds like a good place to start. Right, I mean, who does that?
MASON: So when you talk about —
WILMORE: It's challenging. Challenging, yeah.
(....)
MASON: I love that you call yourself a passionate centrist.
WILMORE: Yes, yes. Exactly.
MASON: You grab the middle vigorously.
WILMORE: Vigorously and actually, what I always meant is half the time I disagree with myself. That's truly what it means. It's not an ideological stance. It's more of an, okay, if the facts prove me wrong, I have to go with the facts. That’s really what, I mean, so.
(...)
KING: Larry, I'm thinking about your show tonight, you've got to — your show tonight, you've got do something with the Beyonce video.
WILMORE: Lemonade. You're a big Bey fan, aren’t you?
KING: I’m a really big B-fan.
WILMORE: I'm afraid of the bat stuff here you were talking about.
KING: Well, just don’t cross me, Larry.
