By now, you’ve probably heard that Larry Wilmore, host of “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” ended his set at Saturday’s (April 30) White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner with the following praise for President Barack Obama: “Yo, Barry. You did it, my nigga. You did it.”
But the focus on that gutsy line will likely detract from a brilliant set of jokes that made the predominantly White audience of media elite extremely uncomfortable. From the first line: “Welcome to ‘Negro Night’ … or as Fox News will report it, ‘two thugs disrupt elegant dinner in DC,’” it was clear that not only was he going to skewer members of the audience and their respective employers, but he was not going to speak his truth about about race, too. That room hadn’t seen so much honesty since Wilmore’s Comedy Central predecessor, Stephen Colbert, took on the same job a decade ago.
The audience may have booed at the mirror Wilmore held up to their faces, but Twitter collectively LOLed:
Re-watched @larrywilmore at the #WHCD. Was one of the most hilarious, courageous, uncomfortable, confrontational 30 minutes ever. Loved it.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) May 2, 2016
"Larry didn’t know the room."
OH he knew the room. The room was BLACK TWITTER. #WHCD
— Father Of Draggins (@rodimusprime) May 1, 2016
"President’s hair is so white it tried to tell me all lives matter" #WHCD https://t.co/9ObKKe3fK1
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) May 2, 2016
How I feel about @larrywilmore‘s closing comments at #WHCD tonight pic.twitter.com/fUCDUOM56K
— Black Girl Nerds (@BlackGirlNerds) May 1, 2016
#BlackTwitter collectively watched the #WHCD tonight as a family like pic.twitter.com/ZQ7NrNXWOo
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) May 1, 2016
Live footage of me watching @larrywilmore #WHCD monologue… pic.twitter.com/YBFl08fqkY
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) May 1, 2016
Watch the full set above. And just in case you missed the president’s set—which included the epic mic drop we’ve all been waiting for—you can watch it below.