Late night TV has got to be the roughest gig in mainstream entertainment. Forget the competition between hosts and networks: you can only bloody imagine the pressure put upon the new guys tasked with building upon the work of their predecessors.
Unforch, it doesn’t always pan out. Larry Wilmore’s The Nightly Show was entrusted with the airtime vacated by the legendary The Colbert Report, and had a rough go at attracting the audience Stephen Colbert commanded. Comedy Central made the call to cancel Nightly after an 18-month run.
That doesn’t mean the big players in the genre aren’t all about Wilmore’s work, though. Jon Stewart, the other luminary in the political comedy genre, snuck onto Nightly’s final ep to deliver some heartfelt words to Wilmore, who legitimately did his best to carve out a niche in the scene.
“Do not confuse cancellation with failure,” Stewart offers. “What you, my friend, were tasked to do, you have done and done beautifully. You gave voice to underserved voices in the media.”
Dipping into personal experience, Stewart also lets Wilmore know his collaborators on Nightly will most likely pop up elsewhere and continue “the conversation”, much like The Daily Show’s underlings have done so well.
In a landscape where John Oliver, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah, and even a nascent Seth Meyers are vying for audience attention, it’s a lil’ bit nice to realise the hosts who don’t create runaway successes are still recognised by the greats for their take on the scene:
Source and photo: The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore / Comedy Central.
