I don’t have cable. I’m too old and have a day job so I haven’t stayed up late to watch talk shows since I was in high school and watched Late Night with David Letterman. I rarely if ever watch TV live. I’m not sure when The Daily Show with Jon Stewart hit my radar, but either Hulu or Facebook had to be involved, and it was probably in 2010. I only watch two other shows that originally broadcast on Comedy Central: South Park and Why? With Hannibal Buress, which may or may not exist anymore, but only had eight episodes.
I first discovered Larry Wilmore on The Daily Show, and when I heard that he would have his own show, I was in. I watched every episode of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which aired from January 19, 2015 to August 18, 2016, on Hulu. The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore introduced me to thoughtful people that I may never have heard of without this show. Wilmore was one of the first talk shows to realize that Bernie Sanders was germane to the political landscape and Trump was a danger to the world.
When I heard that Comedy Central abruptly cancelled The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, I had two reactions. First, who knew that the news network bigwigs had so much pull with Comedy Central after the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner? Second, I am sure that Comedy Central has something better to replace The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore that will bring it more viewers….NOT! The clamor for more improv comedy shows was pretty deafening. Watch the viewership increase exponentially. Definitely put a show called @midnight on at 11:30 pm.
It is one thing to objectively understand that the majority of late night shows are hosted by white men, but if they are funny, I just considered it a part of business as usual. Besides, as I mentioned before, I was no longer going to watch anyway. I theoretically adore David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert, but other than the occasional amusing segment, I did not have time for them anyway so while representation matters, representation among late night hosts was not a high priority for me. (Side note: notice that I did not mention Jimmy Fallon. It was intentional. I’m glad that he laughs at his own jokes so he does not need me.)
I had no idea how much I wanted a black late night talk show host until I had one. While I may not agree with every stance that Wilmore took, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore discussed issues that I cared about, which is more than I can say about most “news” shows. I appreciated his somber moments as well as his funny ones. I actually had friends who saw the show live.
I do not believe that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was perfect the minute that Stewart started hosting on January 11, 1999. Stewart was not even the first host of The Daily Show, but Comedy Central did not take The Daily Show off the air, but allowed it to cook until it became critically acclaimed. It took a long time before Letterman became a beloved of the mainstream. They were unique late night shows that were given the space and resources to become iconic hits.
The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore illustrates an aphorism among black people (and women), “You have to be twice as good as them to get half of what they have.” The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore was not a perfect show. It was still finding its rhythm, and some segments were more of a miss than a hit, but at the end of its run, it was unique. Because The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore did not hit the ground running and was not born perfect, it was not given a chance to grow even though there was nothing else better to replace it with. The abruptness of the cancellation, especially in the context of one of the craziest election seasons in United States history, suggests that a thoughtful and incisive show like The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore made people mad. I suppose that Comedy Central has more in common with MSNBC than I thought.