Chocolate News, which premieres tonight at 10:30 on Comedy Central, has two vague promises. On one hand it seems to be a response to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report with a specifically black perspective, targeting current events and humor with equal effort. And on the other hand, it's the return of David Alan Grier, who was one of the best things about In Living Color in its heyday 15 years ago.
Sadly, Chocolate News fails on both of those counts, and can't live up to even the loosest measure of "current" or "funny." Based on the clips we've already posted to the site here, and the first episode I saw on Monday in New York, Chocolate News is more like Grier's opportunity to let us laugh at him and bask in his comedic genius, years and years after he ran out of ideas.
I really don't think this is a black vs. white thing, though I'm sure some people will paint it this way. Some of Grier's jokes are funny-- his version of Maya Angelou's speech in the event that John McCain gets elected president, and the idea of a rapper being told to create a song promoting No Child Left Behind. But these are only single-concept jokes, and once the basic premise has been established, the joke has nowhere else to go. It's funny to see schoolchildren react in horror and, in some cases, excitement when they see scantily-clad women shaking booty with a rapper, but after a minute or so, it's time to move on.
Chocolate News may need some time to get on its feet and have the confidence to really tackle more interesting topics. But it's almost shameful when a show about the news from a black perspective barely mentions Barack Obama, and doesn't make a single joke about at his expense. There's room for a show like Chocolate News on Comedy Central's airwaves, but Chocolate News, as it is now, doesn't deserve the airtime.
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Last night Grier insulted and besmirched John McCain. Saying the reason to vote Obama was because the Republicans had "a prisoner" as candidate. Here's one Navy veteran who was shocked and enraged beyond belief. Grier owes me a new television. I hope this piece of crap show (I wasn't too thrilled with the first episode either) gets the boot.
So far, the episodes I've seen basically suck.
I mean he is putting effort into it, and I don't want to bag on a comedic genius...
but his voice gets extremely annoying.
Every sketch he does, he sounds the same. The jokes are low-quality. Some are ignorant.
He simply is not funny to me. Hes acting stupid. African Americans deserve better.
He sounds like his impression of Maya Angelou in every impression he does.
This show is terrible. As stated, the material is old and stale. Some jokes have decent premise but go on for way to long, and this dude gets on my nerves. How dare anyone compare this to Chapelle's show.
I totally disagree. Grier is genius and while the first few episode were drab, he has started to come into his own. He should get more correspondents and stop faking the interviews.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 13:23
Last night Grier insulted and besmirched John McCain. Saying the reason to vote Obama was because the Republicans had "a prisoner" as candidate. Here's one Navy veteran who was shocked and enraged beyond belief. Grier owes me a new television. I hope this piece of crap show (I wasn't too thrilled with the first episode either) gets the boot.