Comedy Central cancels ‘The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore’

Comedy Central has canceled “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” after a year and a half on the air. The last episode of the show will air Thursday.

“We thank Larry and ‘The Nightly Show’ staff for their tireless efforts across the past two years and the conversations the show generated by addressing social issues of great importance to the country, always challenging people’s attitudes, perceptions and bias,” said Comedy Central in a statement.

The late-night program debuted on Comedy Central in January 2015 in the time slot previously occupied by “The Colbert Report.” Hosted by longtime “Daily Show” contributor and prolific writer-producer-comedian Larry Wilmore, the series focused on topical comedy and, in particular, issues of race. (The original title of the show was to have been “The Minority Report.”)

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Instead of interviews with high-profile guests, “The Nightly Show” often featured roundtable conversations. In what might be the show’s most celebrated regular feature, “Keeping it 100,” Wilmore rewarded panelists who answered his provocative questions in an authentic manner.

The cancellation will leave “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah as the only black host in late-night comedy, a circumstance Wilmore addressed in a frank statement:

“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.”

The show has languished in the ratings and also lagged behind its competitors on social media, an increasingly important metric. Wilmore garnered more attention, though not of the entirely positive kind, for his set at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April, where he mercilessly skewered the Washington, D.C., press corps.

While the abrupt cancellation is certainly not good news for Wilmore, he has other projects to keep him busy. He co-created “Insecure,” a comedy starring Issa Rae, which premieres on HBO on Oct. 9 and is already generating positive buzz. He is also an executive producer on the ABC sitcom “black-ish,” which was recently honored with an Emmy nomination for comedy series.

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