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.
