“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’s” Larry Wilmore has been tapped to host “The Minority Report with Larry Wilmore,” a new Comedy Central show to air in the 11:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday timeslot currently occupied by soon-to-be “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert.
“The Minority Report” premieres in January and promises to “offer a comedic look at news, current events and pop culture from unique perspectives not typically on display in late night television.” It was created by Jon Stewart and will be produced by Stewart’s Busboy Prods., with Stewart and Wilmore serving as exec producers.
The selection of the African-American Wilmore breaks up the white-male homogeneity to most of latenight TV. The lack of diversity in the latenight talk-variety show arena has been in focus in recent months amid the generational shift of hosts at NBC (where Jimmy Fallon took over “The Tonight Show” from Jay Leno in February) and CBS (where Colbert is to succeed David Letterman next year).
“We are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with Jon Stewart and Busboy Productions, and are looking forward to the world getting to know Larry Wilmore even better. He’s a spectacular talent in front of and behind the camera,” said Michele Ganeless, Comedy Central prexy. “‘The Minority Report with Larry Wilmore’ follows in the Comedy Central tradition – bringing new perspectives to the day’s events and breaking ground in the world of late night television.”