Larry Wilmore’s ‘Keep It 100’ is late night’s new ‘truthiness’

On his very first “Colbert Report,” way back in 2005, Stephen Colbert established that his show would be all about “truthiness,” or something being objectively true because it just feels right.

On the first episode of “The Nightly Show” on Monday, Colbert’s replacement, Larry Wilmore, has established his own standard for the truth, and if it works as he said it should, it will make for some interesting revelations.

The phrase is “Keep It 100” and it means “keep it 100% real.”

As Wilmore asks questions of his panelists, they have to answer as honestly as they can. No squirming out of it. If they respond to the audience’s satisfaction, they get a “Keep It 100” card. If they fail, then it’s a “weak tea” bag from Wilmore.

For the record, the very first “weak tea” recipient was New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) who responded to the question “Do you want to be president” with a not very convincing “No.”

But just to show that we’re all in this together, Wilmore has revealed that the end of each program will have him answering a question he has never seen before in the most honest “Keep It 100” manner possible.

And to make things even more interesting, he’s soliciting nightly questions from the audience with the hashtag “#keepit100.”

The topic for Tuesday night’s program? Bill Cosby.

“Cosby is known among comics as a great storyteller comedian. Who can we give the top storyteller spot to now?” one viewer asked.

Another asked: “How large is your Cosby sweater collection, Larry?”

Combined with @midnight’s nightly Twitter games, your Twitter feed is about to be dominated by late night comedy bits. Prepare accordingly.

Twitter: @patrickkevinday