News / TV

Larry Wilmore talks about his surprising cancellation by Comedy Central

Larry Wilmore built his Nightly Show on Comedy Central around the concept of “Keeping it 100,” and in the final week of shows on TV, Wilmore has made that even more evident — not only by ditching the idea of producing new segments Tuesday night (joking that he and his staff got into all of the wine gifted to them by fellow Daily Show alum Samantha Bee), but also by talking about the abruptness of it all in separate interviews with Charlie Rose and with Vulture.

Wilmore told Vulture’s Jesse David Fox that he had no idea Comedy Central was even considering cancelling his late-night satire and talk show after only 20 months. “They had not really been in communication, so I didn’t know what they were thinking,” Wilmore said.

But as he also said in both interviews, he’s grateful to even have had the opportunity to host a late-night TV series.

Wilmore also discussed the difficulty of moderating an effective roundtable discussion in only five minutes (versus 40 minutes for Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time), but on the flip side, the honor of bringing new and different perspectives to television. “I am the most proud that we set out to do a show to present voices that rarely get a chance to be heard on television, people who don’t get to be seen all the time, and to take the underdog perspective a lot of the time, and to tackle tough issues like race or even class when there are so many people who are feeling left out in the country right now. And gender. That’s one of the most important issues right now. Who would’ve thought that we’d be talking about who could use what bathroom these days.”

Here’s the full segment of Wilmore with Charlie Rose on Rose’s talk show last night:

Here was Wilmore’s full opening of Monday’s show:

 

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore airs at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central. Its final broadcast airs Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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