Comedy Central Cancels NIGHTLY SHOW WITH LARRY WILMORE

By: Caryn Robbins Aug. 15, 2016

Variety reports that Comedy Central has cancelled the NIGHTLY SHOW WITH LARRY WILMORE. The half-hour late night show that replaced "The Colbert Report," premiered on January 19, 2015. For the immediate future, the cable network will air Chris Hardwick's "@Midnight" in the 11:30 p.m. slot.

Comedy Central president Kent Alterman told Variety that the decision was based on the show's failure to deliver solid ratings in the young adult demographics. "We hold Larry in the highest esteem, personally and professionally," said Alterman. "He brought a strong voice and point of view to the late-night landscape. Unfortunately it hasn't resonated with our audience."

He added, "We've been monitoring it closely as for a year and a half now and we haven't seen the signs we need in ratings or in consumption on digital platforms. We've been been hoping it would grow."

In a statement, Wilmore shared his disappointment in the cancellation news: "I'm really grateful to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, and our fans to have had this opportunit. 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."

Alterman revealed that a new program would most likely not debut in the time slot until early 2017. "The next step is to open our doors to aggressive development in late night," he said. "We're open to novel, creative, interesting ideas. I wouldn't anticipate it being a scripted show. It needs to feel a part of our late-night landscape. But we're very open and excited by the idea of someone we're not even thinking about coming in the door. We're really just trying to be open-minded about all possibilities."

Images courtesy of Comedy Central