October 14, 2024
Provided image/Peter Yang/Comedy Central
Larry Wilmore of 'The Daily Show' fame will bring his touring show to City Winery on Thursday.
Larry Wilmore has always refused to pick a lane. The veteran comedian has been acting on television since the '80s, when he appeared as Officer Ziaukus on "The Facts of Life." But he's also written for or produced hit shows like "In Living Color" and "Black-ish," and created a few, too ("The Bernie Mac Show" and "Insecure," the latter with Issa Rae).
He's skewered headlines as the senior Black correspondent on "The Daily Show" and hosted his own satirical news series "The Nightly Show" and "Wilmore." Now, as his podcast "Black on the Air" wraps its seventh year in production, Wilmore is introducing audiences to a new side of himself: magician.
The multi-hyphenate entertainer will crack jokes and show off his sleight of hand at a Thursday show at City Winery. Though Wilmore has only recently been touring with this evening of "comedy, magic and 'Merica," his interest in illusions goes way back to a childhood YMCA program.
"This guy came up and did a rope trick where he cut a rope in two, tied it together and then pulled the knot off," he recalled. "And I'm like, what? My little brain just couldn't accept it. And I remember going home and just working out a way that I thought it could be done. That Christmas, my parents bought me a magic set because I just showed interest in it, and I've been hooked ever since."
Wilmore stresses that he won't be wearing a cape or making doves appear. His show dabbles in mind-bending and mentalism that thematically pairs with his comedic commentary to make people "think a little differently," he says. One of the effects involves discussion of the U.S. government's research on psychic "remote viewing," which Wilmore then attempts to re-create on stage.
"When you see magic shows, if they're funny, it's funny because they make the tricks funny," he said. "But no one's ever used it to talk about the world, or have broader context. So that's what I'm trying to do in this show, mixing it together. And it really turned out to be kind of interesting and fun."
Wilmore hasn't exactly hidden his magical hobby — he was seldom without a deck of cards on his TV writing gigs, and he's been a member of L.A.'s Magic Castle since the late '90s. But he's used to people only knowing certain pieces of his biography. During his school days, he was a self-described nerd who also did theater and sports. Now, he has fans who only remember his guest appearance on two episodes of "The Office," a show he produced for three seasons.
"If people don't see you on TV, they think you're working at Target, or they start feeling sorry for you," Wilmore said. "Nothing wrong with Target, I love Target. But yes, Larry's been busy. I've been doing a lot of things."
The comedian's last on-camera television work was "Wilmore," a limited talk series that ran on Peacock in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Though he won't be behind a news desk this election cycle, Wilmore has covered the race on his long-running Ringer podcast "Black on the Air" and will continue that thread on his touring show.
The latter gets into the difference between America and 'Merica, the divisive and reactionary minority he identifies as the source of our country's problems. While Wilmore says he "can't imagine" voting for Donald Trump, the comedian also ribs Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz for what he sees as a critical skill issue.
"I talk about politicians lying and it's part of their job," he said. "It's what they do. And I was like, 'Who taught Tim Walz how to lie? A 5-year-old could lie better than him.'
"Kamala knows how to do this properly. They say, 'You were for fracking, now you're against it. Can you explain why you changed your mind?' She says, 'My values have not changed.' That's called a pivot. It's like, 'I ain't answering your question. I'm answering my question, b*tch.'"
For this reason and others, Wilmore has little interest in interviewing politicians. He generally prefers talking to authors and thinkers he can "introduce the world to" and who teach him just as much as his audience — people like historian Yuval Noah Harari and journalist Antonia Hylton, both guests on "Black on the Air." But he does have one high-profile white whale he'd love to interview: Pope Francis.
"There's a lot of questions," he said. "What is divinity? What is infallibility? Why is scripture sacred? I'm a recovering Catholic. I call it Cathnostic. ... I think we really want to believe in our church, and we really want to have a vibrant belief in God. But we've been tainted by the frailties and the inconsistencies. And frankly, a lot of the criminality that's happened within the church, too."
While Wilmore's work often addresses weighty topics like these, he insists his City Winery show is intended to deliver relief from the news of the day. And he's hoping the same people who've followed him for decades — for whatever piece of his résumé they found — will trust him on the magic.
"I will take you by the hand. I'll guide you guys through this," he joked. "Trust me. We'll have some fun, and it'll be a good time."
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