As the only LGBTQ woman of color with a late-night show in 2019, Lilly Singh is kind of a big deal.
Late-night television has long been plagued with the same old exhausting issue — it’s overflowing with bland cis straight white men telling their overworked, hacky jokes. While Stephen Colbert brings a dorky flair, it’s still mostly the same boring garbage that we have seen for decades.
Buckle up, bros, because the tides are finally changing. YouTuber Lilly Singh is knocking down walls with her new late-night television series, A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Singh is currently the only LGBTQ woman of color with a late-night show. Previously, Wanda Sykes had a late-night show on FOX from 2009-2010, but it was cancelled after one season. So help me, if NBC tries to pull the same crap…
For those not in the know, Singh originally came to prominence thanks to her YouTube channel, ||superwoman||, which mostly featured comedy videos. Usually they were parodies of her parents, and life as an Indian woman. She still updates her channel, which to date has over 14 million subscribers and over 3 billion views.
She’s kind of a big deal.
“An Indian-Canadian woman with her own late night show? Now that is a dream come true,” Singh told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m thrilled to bring it to life on NBC, and I hope my parents consider this to be as exciting as a grandchild.”
Singh takes over the show and the 1:35 am time slot after Late Night with Seth Myers from previous host Carson Daly. The show premiered last Monday with first guest Mindy Kaling of The Office fame, and is starting off well so far, holding steady from Carson Daly’s previous ratings and scoring high marks in reviews for the show’s first week.
Not too shabby for coming full circle.
A Little Late with Lilly Singh airs Monday through Thursday nights at 1:35am on NBC.
