Comedy Central announced Monday it has cancelled The Nightly Show. The series, hosted by Larry Wilmore, will air its final episode on Thursday, Aug. 18.
“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,” the network said in a statement.
The show filled the spot held by The Colbert Report in January 2015 when Stephen Colbert departed to host The Late Show on CBS. The Nightly Show, which initially had a lead-in from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, struggled alongside the Trevor Noah-hosted Daily Show.
“I’m really grateful to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, and our fans to have had this opportunity,” Wilmore said in a statement. “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 Chris Hardwick-hosted game show @midnight will fill in for The Nightly Show.
