‘Lately’: Larry Wilmore Late Night Comedy in Development at ABC

Lisa Lagace January 26, 2023, 9:16 pm

Comments

Larry Wilmore at an event — Robin L Marshall / Getty

Larry Wilmore knows late-night comedy. First playing the ‘Senior Black Correspondent’ on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart before moving on to his own Comedy Central series, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, he has years of experience in the unruly world of late-night comedy. He also followed The Nightly Show with Wilmore, a weekly streaming talk show for Peacock.

So it is no surprise then, that Deadline announced he will take those skills to Primetime, with a new ABC series based on his talk show experience, called Lately.

Larry Wilmore in 'The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore'

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore (Credit: Bryan Bedder / ©Comedy Central / courtesy Everett Collection)

Wilmore will serve as executive producer, writer, and star on the series, which is described as “a behind-the-scenes look at the upstairs-downstairs dynamics of the people who work at a late-night talk show.”

Wilmore has an overall deal with Universal Studio Group, and Universal Television will produce the show. Tamara Gregory, who works for Wilmore’s Wilmore Films, will also executive produce.

Wilmore previously helped launch massive successes Black-ish and Grown-ish for ABC. Lately will mark his return to the network.

Larry Wilmore: Jon Stewart Is 'Combination of Walter Cronkite, Jesus and Johnny Carson'

Currently, he can be found taking up podcast hosting duties at The Ringer Podcast Network, with Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air. He also starred in the recent Paramount+ film Jerry and Marge Go Large, and helped co-create Insecure with Issa Rae. He also created and executive produced The Bernie Mac Show, which won him an Emmy in 2002 and a Peabody in 2001.

This won’t be the first series to take on the underbelly of late night, but it is the most notable series since the critical darling The Larry Sanders Show, which aired from 1992-1998. Audiences are ready for a new look inside the wild world of late night, so the timing is perfect for a show like Lately. Stay tuned for details on the project as it takes shape at ABC.