Just like it did with Stephen Colbert nine years ago, Comedy Central and Jon Stewart have gone to the bench of correspondents on The Daily Show to find a host for the post-Daily Show 11:30 PM slot. Senior Black correspondent Larry Wilmore will host a new nightly program, The Minority Report, which will launch in January 2015, following the end of The Colbert Report. (Colbert will be departing Comedy Central at the end of his contract in December to prepare for taking over CBS’ Late Show from David Letterman.) Wilmore also is attached as showrunner of ABC comedy Black-ish, which was just picked up to series. He is expected to complete his obligations, get the show off the ground and help with the transition before segueing to The Minority Report.
Like with The Colbert Report, The Minority Report was created by Jon Stewart and will be produced by his Busboy Prods., with Stewart and Wilmore serving as executive producers. The move, with Stewart continuing to produce both The Daily Show and its companion program, will likely help keep the comedian in the Comedy Central fold when his contract comes up next year.
The Minority Report With Larry Wilmore will be a comedic take on the day’s news. It will feature a panel of voices, which Comedy Central says, as the title suggests, “are currently underrepresented in comedy and television.” Said Stewart: “While Larry Wilmore is a brilliant comic and showrunner, this is all just a complicated ruse to get him to move to New York and turn him into a Knicks fan.” Responded Wilmore, “I love the city of New York and promise to only wear my Laker t-shirts when I’m layering.”
Larry Wilmore is coming to my TV? Bring it on.
Smart move, Jon.
Larry Wilmore is funny, but he’s a smug douche. He’s one of the cadre of morons who seriously bungled the 2007-2008 WGA negotiations and strike (lock-out). First they promised the members that DVD residuals were the number one priority, then they gave up on that instantaneously and said EST residuals were the key. Then they bungled that too, declared victory anyway, and since then not one studio has reported revenues from EST, and the membership has gotten nothing.
Thanks, Larry. Well done.
Think we’ll see a lawsuit with 20th over the name?
If so, they could go with “The Wilmore Report” (but do a silent T like they did for the Colbert Report.
Good news for alternative voices.
Fantastic!!!!!!
I thought he was set to showrun Black-ish? He Can’t do both.
They’ll probably either just let Kenya do it, or give it to someone with an overall at ABC Studios (my money would be on David Hemingson).
Either him, or Jonathan Groff. Both have a lot of experience running other people’s shows.
Wilmore’s good but with Oliver gone, Asif Monvi is my favorite correspondent. He and Oliver together were an exceptional team.
Leaving too. He’s in The Brink on HBO (which he’ll also write for).
It would be nice if you would properly spell your favorite correspondent’s name.
Fantastic news. Did stand-up with Larry and his brother Marc back in the day, and always smart-funny and great guys.
I’m really happy to hear this! I always love Larry’s segments on TDS.
He’s a highlight of The Daily Show. This is great news.
Wilmore is one of the most underrated talents in the business – black or white ! I remember when he got shafted by the FOX (or was it UPN?) network after he virtually created The Bernie Mac Show and was told after the first season that he was too militant … CODE: He was making the Mac character ‘too black’ for white audiences to embrace. Smart move by Stewart and CC as they needed some additional minority voices on the network after Chappelle left a HUGE void. Hopefully Herzog and company won’t ask Wilmore to ‘tone it down’ for the Tosh 2.0 demo !
He DID create The Bernie Mac Show (it’s a common misconception that Bernie Mac created it), it was indeed Fox, and it was after the second season. He also had problems with Mac himself. As a white guy, I happen to think the first couple of seasons were some of the best TV ever made. Louis CK largely ripped off what Wilmore created.
Oh why can’t this be shot in LA? Darn!
Kinda wondered that myself since Wilmore lives on the West coast. Hence, his infrequent appearance on The Daily Show. Pretty sure he didn’t take a coast to coast flight just to do 10 minutes with Stewart. That said, there must be more to this than meets the eye.
I also don’t know why Comedy Central didn’t consider Amy Schumer for this spot.
Finally!!! Larry is brilliant, this will be a perfect showcase for him, smart play all around.
And it’ll definitely be better and more appealing and technically more compelling than MARON.
It’s apples and oranges. Why are you comparing a nightly comedy show to a weekly single-camera sitcom that runs 10-13 eps a year?
I think the point was personalities as Maron is unappealing to watch which is why he’s not a star just interviews them.
Huge respect for Wilmore. HUGE. This is great news. Kudos to Comedy Central.
He may be a great writer – I don’t know. But he is terrible on-air. Unwatchable.
Yes, he’s so “unwatchable” they gave him his own network show.
Comedy Central will do anything to make Jon Stewart happy. This is really about getting JS to extend his contract.
I’m SO happy for Larry — one of the smartest, funnest, most thoughtful people I’ve had the opportunity to work for. Larry is a star and a class act! Always has been. Great choice!!
Great news – Wilmore wasn’t on my radar, as I had seen he was show-running. He needs to be in front of the camera. Don’t like the panel aspect – it’s too hit-and-miss with the talent.
Sorry Larry, a lot of people love you but I’m not one of them. I don’t think you’re that funny so I guess that makes me a racist. But good for you, they are giving you this chance to succeed and prove me wrong.
As if he NEEDS to prove ANYTHING to YOU. GTFOH!
We’re not calling you a racist because you don’t think Wilmore is funny. We’re calling you a likely racist because of your suspiciously condescending tone and compulsion to trollishly bring up race in the first place.
He’s not funny. He’s just not ethnic.
Try making sense.
best part about this? the host they chose wasn’t a woman! lol! that’s a smart move, because women suck at the late night game. never hire a woman – that’s always the wrong thing to do. hire men, and men alone!
A very pleasant surprise and an excellent choice. Replacing the show Colbert did, is/was going to be the most difficult of the moves replacing Letterman and Oliver going to HBO. This is certainly giving it the BEST shot, while still keeping the strong team of correspondents and writers that Stewart has!
Two back to back hate comments compete with race baiting and written by the same person. How miserable is your life.
It might last six months. Maybe.
Well, if it were a white guy. He will get more time to not have people watch. Then the hand-wringing will take place about how awful this country that made Dr Dre a billionaire is.
The only thing “obvious” about your comment is that you are an idiot.
Having seen the Showtime specials he tends to be more cerebral than funny, pulling punches and more of a wit than a comedian, but this can still work with strong writing and the same elements that made the Daily Show soar which is to surround him with colorful and emerging talents, as well as old pros like Lewis Black was on that show, so that the perspective is fresh and unique. The timing will be interesting as Obama heads into the last years of his term and with an election that will be pivotal and heated.
Let Kenya run his own show!