Larry Wilmore, born in Los Angeles County and raised in Pomona, has lost his New York gig. Comedy Central canceled “The Nightly Show.”
The New York Times quoted Kent Alterman, Comedy Central’s president, as saying the show “hasn’t resonated.”
“Even though we’ve given it a year and a half, we’ve been hoping against hope that it would start to click with our audience, but it hasn’t happened and we’ve haven’t seen evidence of it happening,” Alterman said.
“The cancellation makes Mr. Wilmore, 54, an early casualty of a television late-night comedy slate that has been vastly reordered over the last two years. With the retirement of David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert’s move from Comedy Central to CBS, a series of new hosts have stepped into the spotlight, including James Corden, Samantha Bee and Mr. Noah. Jimmy Fallon, the host of ‘The Tonight Show,’ has most formidably filled the power vacuum left by his predecessors, with the highest ratings of any late night show.”
Early reaction to Monday morning’s news:
Boy, this is sad. Larry Wilmore’s show was full of good writing & smart commentary. Canceled. https://t.co/qgENlxxlyL
— Kristy Eldredge (@AnnKittenplan) August 15, 2016
hahaha of course Larry Wilmore got cancelled, he was more interesting/funny than Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert combined
— joe.distort (@joedistort) August 15, 2016
My mom is going to be so sad that Larry Wilmore was cancelled. “I just love how he keeps it 100,” she tells me basically every week.
— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) August 15, 2016
Ugh. Very sad to hear Comedy Central is canceling Larry Wilmore’s great show, and before the election! https://t.co/fEiucW3kps
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) August 15, 2016
Lesson of the John Oliver Era” viewers will watch/share explanatory jokes/reporting. Wilmore’s schtick was “you know this already but WTF”
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) August 15, 2016