Two new segments graced May 19’s episode of The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore. And hilarity ensued.
Wilmore opened the show with his first new segment, Larry’s Dank News Stash, which took place in three parts. First, Wilmore covered the substance abuse policy against medical marijuana in the NFL, particularly how Eugene Monroe of the Baltimore Ravens was working to change it. After his obligatory jokes were covered, Wilmore questioned what the NFL was so afraid of in allowing their players access to medical marijuana.
The second part of the segment covered the largest growing demographic of pot smokers in America, seniors over the age of 55. Wilmore found this fact hilarious, noting it was also the age to receive the senior discount at Denny's.
The third part of the segment centered on a scholarship being developed in Colorado, designed for high schoolers who intended to attend college locally. The gimmick with the scholarship, however, was that it was being paid for by marijuana taxes. Essentially, pot smokers were working to send kids to college.
From here, the segment cut to a short skit, featuring Ricky Velez as Slade High School comptroller, Slade Kinnebrew. Satirizing one of the officials working to send kids to college with marijuana taxes, Kinnebrew was openly high in his office, too messed up to actually accomplish anything. Instead, he had smoked all of the profits, which he relayed to Wilmore in hysterics.
The second segment of the night was inspired by the news that the federal court had ordered Cleveland and Mississippi to segregate their schools on the east and west sides of the railroad track. Sensing something was off, Wilmore initiated Hang on a Minute News, This Don’t Sit Right in My Bones. After more research, Wilmore discovered that the issue with the schools on the west and east sides was not segregation, rather the uneven pooling of resources. While the schools on the west side contained both black and white students, schools on the east side were predominantly black. And unfortunately, schools on the east side received significantly less resources than those on the wes. Wilmore criticized the media for their misinformation and for failing to point out the real problem.
The night’s panel featured contributors Mike Yard, Ricky Velez and special guest Mike Scheer.
Backtracking a bit, the conversation centered on senior citizens growing as frequent pot smokers nationwide. The main questions addressed during the talk were whether it was okay for seniors to be smoking so frequently, whether marijuana should be considered a gateway drug, what the big societal issue with marijuana was and whether it should be allowed for NFL players to use. Though the discussion got mildly off track often, with the panelists frequently making drug-related jokes, the conversation served as a satisfying end to the night’s show.