‘The Nightly Show’ recap: ‘Anthony Anderson’

The May 18 episode of The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore opened with a small homage to Mary Anne Noland, whose recent obituary stated that she would rather die than see Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump as president.

After tipping his hat to the humor of that obit, the first segment began.

This time, Backlash 2016: The Unblackening centered on Donald Trump’s recent interview with Megyn Kelly from Fox News. Kelly, who was very critical of Trump in the early stages of his campaign, invited him back for a second interview. Instead of a similar critique of Trump, however, Kelly apologized and stuck to simple, non-campaign related questions. Additionally, the interview came off as unintentionally suggestive, with Kelly and Trump discussing their “relationship” throughout. Overall, Wilmore appeared disappointed with the interview, expressing that he wished Kelly had stuck to her original guns.

The second segment of the show, a news piece, covered basketball player Steven Adam’s recent transgression in a Thunders vs Warriors game. In a quick interview with ESPN’s Chris Broussard, Adam’s referred to the other team’s guards as “quick little monkeys,” seemingly unaware of the racial implications. He issued an apology, stating that it had been a “poor choice of words,” not understanding the differences in dialect between America and New Zealand.

At that point, the show comically cut to a skit featuring contributor Mike Yard, who played a racial sensitivity teacher, demonstrating his lessons on “how not to get beaten within an inch of your life” to Wilmore through his student, Dimitri, an ambiguous foreigner. The lessons featured etiquette concerning watermelon, fried chicken, asking for directions and the n-word. At the mention of the n-word, Wilmore quickly cut off Yard’s lesson.

Finally, the panel featured Holly Walker, Ricky Velez and special guest Anthony Anderson. Once again, conversation turned to Adam’s racial error towards the Warriors’ guards. The main topics covered during the talk were whether it was necessary for Adams specifically to apologize, whether his statement was racist or just plain awkward and if there was no intent of malice in a statement, whether an individual should apologize. Debate derailed frequently, however, with the panelists finding themselves unable to resist cracking jokes. In a light-hearted manner, the panel eventually came to a close.