Nick Cannon is the next famous name planning to launch a talk show in 2020, joining Drew Barrymore in the quest to become the next big thing in talk.
Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury is co-producing the show with Cannon’s production company NCredible Entertainment, the companies said Wednesday.
Related: Drew Barrymore Shooting Talk-Show Pilot with CBS Television Distribution
Last winter, Cannon appeared as a guest host on Debmar-Mercury’s Wendy Williams and drew attention for the ratings he garnered. He served as the host for NBC’s America’s Got Talent for eight seasons and returned to primetime as the host of Fox’s The Masked Singer, which was last year’s number-one new series on broadcast TV with more than 17 million viewers tuning in across platforms.
“After leaving America’s Got Talent, I wanted to focus on developing my own talk show. I’ve always dreamed of a platform where I can speak to America and discuss pop culture, as well as the topics on everyone's minds," said Cannon in a statement. “When I had the opportunity to guest host at my good friend Wendy Williams’ show this year, I experienced the energy and excitement of a daytime talk show and instantly knew I found my audience.”
“We are excited to be able to announce this collaboration with Nick, who has proven himself to be such a dominant creative and entrepreneurial force across film, primetime TV, music, comedy, stage and online platforms,” said Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus in a statement. “The daytime audience got to see that firsthand earlier this year with his stellar performance guest hosting The Wendy Williams Show. Now we can’t wait to see Nick put his own unique stamp on talk and add daytime to his impressive list of accomplishments.”
The announcement comes as the 2019-2020 syndication season is just getting started, with the debuts of NBCUniversal’s The Kelly Clarkson Show and Judge Jerry, Disney’s Tamron Hall, Sony Pictures Television’s The Mel Robbins Show, and Fox’s 25 Words or Less all premiering, along with several new court shows such as MGM/Orion’s Personal Injury Court and Trifecta’s Protection Court. Kelly Clarkson’s premiere week at 1.6 in households, according to Nielsen, was the best opening since Katie Couric in 2012.
Related: Syndication Ratings: 'Kelly Clarkson' Makes Best Debut Since 2012
This summer, Debmar-Mercury partnered with Funny Or Die on a three-week test of Jerry O, starring Jerry O'Connell, across Fox Television Stations in Wendy Williams' time slots. Debmar-Mercury is shopping that show to stations for national syndication in 2020 as well. Fox just renewed Wendy Williams through the 2021-22 TV season.
Besides hosting America’s Got Talent and The Masked Singer, Cannon for 13 seasons hosted and produced a show he created, MTV’s Wild ‘N Out, which the network has ordered through season 16. Cannon has turned that show into a broader business, running live tours across the country featuring comics from the show in 2017 and 2018 with a third planned in March. He also is opening a chain of restaurants based on the show, starting in Miami and then going to Hollywood this fall and San Diego in 2020.
Additionally, Cannon has hosted such specials as Fox’s Teen Choice 2018, Nickelodeon’s Lip Sync Battle: Shorties and its Halo Awards, which he created and executive produced.
He releases music via his NCredible label, and in 2018 released his own full-length album, Model Music, on Republic Records. He also has a partnership with T-Mobile for NCredible headphones, which have sold more than $80 million in retail to date.
In July, Cannon launched a morning drive-time radio show on Power 106 titled “Nick Cannon Mornings.”
