Larry Wilmore Quotes

Salt Lake City gave me a lot of surprises. How progressive the city actually is, for instance, compared to the rest of Utah - it's like this purple dot in a sea of red. And the government there is kind of a mix of conservative values and progressive ideas.

- Larry Wilmore

We had a segment called Tampon Tuesdays that I was very proud of; that was hilarious because there are a lot of women's issues out there that a lot of people don't know about because they're not women, and they don't have to go through them.

- Larry Wilmore

No matter what his crimes were, Alton Sterling did not deserve to be executed for them. Look, guys, the punishment for resisting arrest shouldn't be death. The punishment for selling bootleg CDs shouldn't be death. The punishment for having a gun in an open-carry state shouldn't be death. The punishment for being a black man shouldn't be death.

- Larry Wilmore

If you look at somebody like Sam Bee, she got to create her own thing without any expectations that there was a show there. That was probably liberating for them.

- Larry Wilmore

I'm actually a big fan of having all the different types of voices on television. I think it gives people a nice little buffet that they can just pick and choose how they want to get their news and entertainment, I guess.

- Larry Wilmore

When you're taking chances, you know it's not going to please everybody.

- Larry Wilmore

I have this rule. It's called 'Top Dog-Underdog:' Underdog gets to make fun of Top Dog, but Top Dog can't make fun of Underdog. But you know what? You get Top Dog, you get to be Top Dog. Congratulations! And that dynamic happens not just in race but in many different ways. It's like the male-female dynamic.

- Larry Wilmore

As a culture, we've all agreed with the opinion that the world should be seen in a certain way, so at 'The Nightly Show,' our chief mission was to disagree with that premise. And to see the world in a way that may not make everybody comfortable. And to present it with a cast of people who don't always get to have a voice on that.

- Larry Wilmore

I love the word 'dearth,' by the way. It's one of my favorite words.

- Larry Wilmore

I don't think I ever intend to provoke outrage, but I don't mind being provocative in content.

- Larry Wilmore

I'm understated in my approach.

- Larry Wilmore

I think the term 'fair reporting' is overused when it comes to journalism. I think saying they want to report evenly is more accurate.

- Larry Wilmore

Any voting group has an interest that they want from politicians. That's why politicians have to talk to different people. But to reduce the black interest to free stuff is so insulting. It just makes me apoplectic.

- Larry Wilmore

My father was in law enforcement growing up. He was a probation officer. And I've always understood the point of view of the peace officer, you know, because of my dad.

- Larry Wilmore

I'm not a homosexual, but if I can be an ally for that issue, I think it's fantastic.

- Larry Wilmore

It was the Cosby issue that made me realize how much I really cared about women's issues and how much I realize it's important for me to be an advocate for issues that aren't necessarily my own, to be an ally for issues.

- Larry Wilmore

My joke is that three black people watch 'The Daily Show' at any given time. So if I'm watching it, that counts, and there's only two left. It's a silly joke, but you know, different types of comedy reach different cultures.

- Larry Wilmore

I'd rather go after the people who are the guardians or what we're doing - the news people and the politicians and that sort of thing. I always feel like those should be my targets, not really entertainers. That's just my personal opinion.

- Larry Wilmore

Every television show is sentenced to death - time and date of execution unknown.

- Larry Wilmore

Many times, when you do what I do or work in journalism in general, people try to not explicitly present their opinions on topics.

- Larry Wilmore

The first show I worked on was 'In Living Color.' I think 'The Daily Show' was the culmination of having that point of view - being able to look at this third rail in our society.

- Larry Wilmore

I really love having conversations and deconstructing things. I don't mind not having a laugh every second. Sometimes things deserve a little more discussion, and then you can have some fun after that.

- Larry Wilmore

I have a lot of passion for a lot of different things.

- Larry Wilmore

I always compartmentalized so many different things.

- Larry Wilmore

When you have somebody like a Donald Trump - he made no bones about trying to disprove Barack Obama's Americanism in trying to make him out to be some foreigner that was born in Kenya. I thought that to be very racist.

- Larry Wilmore

I'm not trying to prove anything for the right or the left. Which gives me freedom to make jokes about either side, too.

- Larry Wilmore

My white counterparts are always pushing the line, and they are fearless, so why can't I do that, too?

- Larry Wilmore

I set out to have a diverse staff on the 'Bernie Mac Show.'

- Larry Wilmore

I just feel it's important to make sure that behind the scenes is as filled with diverse voices as in front of the scene is.

- Larry Wilmore

One of the missions of 'The Nightly Show' was to have a conversation with America in a sense, and talk about the things that people didn't want to talk about it.

- Larry Wilmore

The thing that's worked for me is having as much of a connection to the material as possible. And sometimes the material requires a more straightforward approach, and sometimes it requires a little more silliness, you know?

- Larry Wilmore

A lot of my family on both sides have worked in education and nursing, and my grandmother was a nurse; my sister is a nurse, and her - my other sister's daughter is going into nursing. There's a lot of that in the family.

- Larry Wilmore

I always said I'm not disappointed with Obama because I voted for him because he was black, and as long as he kept being black, I was a happy man.

- Larry Wilmore

I get recognized by some people in my community, but not a lot. In fact, they would say, 'What do you do?' And I would say, 'Well, I did 'The Bernie Mac Show.'' And they would say, 'Oh, really? Well, do you know so-and-so?' And I'd say, 'Yeah, I hired them. I was the boss!' They don't believe it.

- Larry Wilmore

I didn't even know how much of a feminist I was, and I realized, 'Oh my God, I was raised by a single mom who had to raise six kids. I have three sisters. Larry, you've been a feminist your whole life, and you really didn't know it until you've been presented with these issues.'

- Larry Wilmore

There are tragedies that happen all the time in America, but there are certain types of tragedies that kind of pull us together and make us pause and give us a chance to reflect about where we are, where we're going, and that sort of thing.

- Larry Wilmore

There's something about a new family moving into the White House that's kind of interesting, even if you didn't vote for them.

- Larry Wilmore

I guess I hadn't counted on 'The Unblackening' happening to my time slot as well.

- Larry Wilmore

It used to be that the black comic figure had to have this bravado and always showed strength.

- Larry Wilmore

I do not look to Hollywood to give me character clues.

- Larry Wilmore

In my time, I experienced a black man not being able to be the quarterback of a football team.

- Larry Wilmore

Some things are so tragic that you don't know what's funny in it, and some things are so ridiculous you don't know if it's worth talking about it.

- Larry Wilmore

I was taught from a very early age that I had to work twice as hard to get half as much. That was the world I grew up in - a very strong work ethic.

- Larry Wilmore

I am from Pomona, California. I was born in Los Angeles.

- Larry Wilmore

My parents are from the Midwest. They're from Evanston, Illinois. They moved out to Los Angeles right before I was born.

- Larry Wilmore

I was an athlete, so I hung out with the jocks. I was smart, so I hung out with the nerdy kids. I was also into theater, so I hung out with the misfits... So I was always in different groups, and those groups never quite overlapped. The racial part of it was just another one of those groups, in one sense.

- Larry Wilmore

I really enjoyed being able to be one of the people who weighed in on the events. As hard as it is to do that every day, because it is exhausting, it really is fun to do that, especially when you feel like you really did something well, and it really hit.

- Larry Wilmore

My father had a lot of allergies, and he just didn't like the cold of Chicago, and his father - his parents had broken up when he was young, and his father had lived in Pasadena for a while, and he kind of fell in love with Southern California.

- Larry Wilmore

I thought Sarah Palin was the ultimate expression of comic outrageousness in a person.

- Larry Wilmore

I really don't have a need to be on TV all that much, to be honest with you.

- Larry Wilmore

I don't have that kind of Southern experience of the fire-and-brimstone preacher type of thing. Certainly not in my comedy.

- Larry Wilmore

I would consider myself more a passionate centrist.

- Larry Wilmore

I'm not going to grouse and complain when there's nothing I can do about it. Once you've broken up with somebody, arguing with them is not going to bring them back. You may want to stop their Twitter account or call them up late at night, but they made the decision to leave.

- Larry Wilmore

Writing is the most frustrating, but it's something that I've always done.

- Larry Wilmore

You never want to defend a joke. People get to choose whether or not to laugh and whether or not they think something is funny.

- Larry Wilmore

'The Daily Show,' at its core, is the answer to the nightly news.

- Larry Wilmore

I like 'The Nightly Show.' People ask me what it is, and I say, 'If you're watching 'The Daily Show,' and it feels like it's getting a little darker, you're probably watching 'The Nightly Show.''

- Larry Wilmore

We will see about Obama's legacy. I still think the historical nature of his candidacy will be the biggest part of his legacy.

- Larry Wilmore

Doing a TV show is different because it's more of a TV version of something. A more focused take on things.

- Larry Wilmore

You never know in TV - sometimes you're on at the wrong time at the wrong place. Sometimes you don't get a chance to catch on.

- Larry Wilmore

You are always, always overwhelmed by positive response because you know it can go either way.

- Larry Wilmore

Richard Pryor was my hero. Richard Pryor was keeping it 100.

- Larry Wilmore

Sometimes I'd say what's bad for the country is good for my business, unfortunately.

- Larry Wilmore

All writers have a love-hate relationship with writing. Performing is fun, too, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite. But the most fulfilling is producing.

- Larry Wilmore

You have to stay alert. You've got to keep raising your game.

- Larry Wilmore

Remember, MTV would only show white videos for a long time. Can you imagine that? That was the '80s when that happened. It's hard to even think of that now, you know?

- Larry Wilmore

The business part of it can be very vexing. You always have to keep certain metrics and everything. Because all I can do is make a good show.

- Larry Wilmore

I've always watched the political shows.

- Larry Wilmore

I think the biggest thing is voice. Whose voice is it? Who gets to control the narrative?

- Larry Wilmore

Even though you're in charge, you're not completely in ownership. You know, the audience takes a huge ownership of your show. Look at comments about shows and tell me if I'm wrong. Look at shows like 'The Walking Dead' and the ownership that the audience has of that show.

- Larry Wilmore

As long as you say I'm the guy who's real about it, I have no problem being the person who people look to to talk about race.

- Larry Wilmore

Maybe I'll write an episode of 'Black-ish' about a guy being fired in late-night.

- Larry Wilmore

Police have to have one of the most difficult jobs in society today. But at the same time, I think, a person in that position - their responsibility has to be high as well.

- Larry Wilmore

The fact that we live in a world where black people have to strategize so they're not brutalized by police is insane.

- Larry Wilmore

I don't take pleasure in anyone's demise, really.

- Larry Wilmore

MSNBC got rid of so many black people, I thought Boko Haram was running that network.

- Larry Wilmore

The last thing I would ever do is try to become a network programmer.

- Larry Wilmore

I've pitched many things that have not gone, but every year, I'm in that pilot game like a lot of other writers in Hollywood.

- Larry Wilmore

When most people become president, even if you disagree with their ideology, you can still agree that they would have the competence to run something... With Trump, I do not have the confidence of that at all.

- Larry Wilmore

I'd love to set up shop somewhere and develop projects - film, TV, digital would be a fun thing to do.

- Larry Wilmore

People aren't autonomous creatures. They're under a lot of pressure themselves.

- Larry Wilmore

It's really not my thing to go after what comedians are doing. Because I always feel like we're jesters at the end of the day.

- Larry Wilmore

It's a challenge to do satire when the thing you're satirizing is almost beyond satire, but I think that's a challenge for everybody.

- Larry Wilmore

Whenever I did sitcoms, that always happened on your show. Once the show was on the air, it takes on a life of its own. It develops, and it becomes something else.

- Larry Wilmore

Not everybody's gonna get your vision.

- Larry Wilmore

'Westworld' is bizarre. I don't know what to think of 'Westworld.'

- Larry Wilmore

I'm too tired most of the time. Why do I have to take a stand on everything? Sometimes, I'm just not mad at it.

- Larry Wilmore

I'm not the type of person to have a schadenfreude.

- Larry Wilmore

When you use the word 'fair' in television, you're already in a fantasy world. Nothing is really fair in television.

- Larry Wilmore

I'll stop talking about race when people stop being racist.

- Larry Wilmore

I didn't get into comedy to talk about violent death all the time.

- Larry Wilmore

In my career, I'm always trying to do something different.

- Larry Wilmore

I have a free voice. I have a free mind. I have freedom of expression.

- Larry Wilmore

I really love storytelling.

- Larry Wilmore