Comedy Central has cancelled The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, the New York Times has reported.
The Nightly Show premiered on Comedy Central in the post-Daily Show time slot on January 19, 2015, almost exactly a month after the final episode of The Colbert Report aired. Hosted by longtime Daily Show correspondent Larry Wilmore, The Nightly Show stood out from the political comedy pack because of its focus on black and minority issues. It’s disappointing to lose that perspective as the election enters high gear, a sentiment Wilmore addresses in a statement provided to the Times:
“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.”
Ratings are to blame. The Colbert Report averaged 1.7 million viewers in the 11:30 PM timeslot in 2014; The Nightly Show had fallen to about 775,000 viewers a night so far in 2016.
The show’s last episode airs this Thursday. Comedy Central hasn’t announced what will be taking the time slot full-time, but the comedy game show @Midnight will temporarily air after The Daily Show starting next week.