Earlier Monday, Comedy Central announced The Nightly Show had been canceled, in part, because of its low ratings. The programme took over from Stephen Colbert’s long-running favourite “The Colbert Report” when the host jumped to CBS, and Wilmore sought to continue in the same vein of political humour, having also been an alumnus of Jon Stewart’s satirical “The Daily Show” from 2006 to 2014.
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It’s official: Comedy Central has canceled “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore”, after nearly a year and a half on air.
The Nightly Show began in January 2015 as a late-night show centered largely on the subject of race. “Really our show was at its best when the news was at its worst. Although on the plus side – I must say – our show going off the air has to only mean one thing: racism is solved!” Despite the struggle, Alterman still praised Wilmore and “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” team for “a great work”, particularly in creative contributions.
Comedy Central’s president Kent Alterman said in an announcement on Monday that ‘The Nightly Show…’ had been invaluable in “crafting a platform for underrepresented voices”. The series, which has aired two seasons, averages a night-of rating of 0.2 in the 18-49 demo.
As Wilmore continued on with Monday’s show, he remarked fondly on numerous show’s segments, including the “final pointless episode” of “Pardon the Integration”.
The topic up for debate was sparked by Wilmore’s widely criticized use of the N-word during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with Mike Yard and Rory Albanese taking turns to argue both the anti and pro N-word sides. It wasn’t about the election; it’s about another year of the show.
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In a statement, Comedy Central credited Wilmore and his staff with generating conversations “by addressing social issues of great importance to the country, always challenging people’s attitudes, perceptions and bias”. My only regret is that we won’t be around to cover this truly insane election. “I guess I hadn’t counted on “The Unblackening” happening on my show”. After Stewart bowed out on August 6, 2015, “Nightly Show’ struggled with the smaller lead-in as Noah took the reins from Stewart”. “We stuck with it for a year and a half but ultimately we didn’t feel that we see enough traction to justify doing another year”, Alterman said via Deadline.
