Yesterday, Comedy Central made the tough decision to cancel The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, a relatively new series that had been set up to replace The Colbert Report within the schedule. At the time, the network said that after 18 months it just couldn't make the series work, but according to Larry Wilmore, he's a little bummed about the timing of the cancellation for one big reason: He won't get to bring his brand of comedy to the upcoming election proceedings. Here's how Larry Wilmore feels about The Nightly Show getting cancelled...
I'm really grateful to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, and our fans to have had this opportunity. But I'm also saddened and surprised we won't be covering this crazy election or 'The Unblackening' as we've coined it. And keeping it 100, I guess I hadn't counted on 'The Unblackening' happening to my time slot as well.
The soon-to-be former Comedy Central host actually seems to be handling his exit pretty graciously and with a hint of humor, which is rather refreshing. However, Larry Wilmore's comments to THR do make a valid point. He won't get to be around to skewer the debates in the coming months and he won't get to make pithy comments as President Obama hands over the reigns to someone new.
It's not as if the market doesn't have other comedians who are willing and able to cover the election, though. For the past several months, most of the late night hosts have gotten in a joke or five. Plus, over at Comedy Central, The Daily Show is still alive and well with Trevor Noah as its host. Former Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee has also been doing her own thing over at TBS, and her new gig has also entailed plenty of election coverage.
Still, The Nightly Show absolutely offered its own perspective on Comedy Central. It also employed more than 100 people and gave Larry Wilmore a platform to be a star in his own right, rather than just a correspondent on another series. While The Nightly Show never picked up in the ratings as much as the cable channel had doubtless hoped, there will be plenty of reasons to miss the series, especially with the election coming up.
Staffers were only told on Monday that the show would be ending, but Comedy Central did give Larry Wilmore and co. a few more episodes to wrap things up. The last episode of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore will air on Thursday night at 11:30 p.m. ET, only on Comedy Central. After the show's final bow, @Midnight will move into its timeslot, which is all sorts of confusing. Here's what else TV has coming up.
