As predicted by a trio of bald psychics floating in a tub, Larry Wilmore has decided that he probably shouldn’t call his upcoming Comedy Central talk show The Minority Report With Larry Wilmore. This move, which was reported by The New York Times, is specifically response to the fact that Fox is developing a TV series based on the 2002 Tom Cruise film Minority Report, with Wilmore figuring that it would be confusing for people unless they referred to his show by its full title. After all, both are about comedians hosting Meet The Press-style talk shows while arresting criminals for crimes that they haven’t committed yet. Anyway, Wilmore has officially changed the title to The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore, moving away from the original’s Colbert Report nod and movie title pun in favor of a reverent bow to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show.
Wilmore acknowledges that the change is probably for the better, though, pointing out that “it was never intended to be a show only about minorities.” Instead, he says “it’s a show about underdogs…whether it’s race, gender, or whatever.” Apparently, he also considered calling it The Wilmore-T Report—with “an invisible T”—or Meet The Rest, both of which are terrible.
The New York Times report says that the show will be based around a “scripted comedy version” of a panel-style talk show, with various “players” joining Wilmore in humorously debating things about the news or whatever. There will also be traditional unscripted interviews with “people connected to the news,” but The New York Times doesn’t specify if those will also be funny. Wilmore says he hopes to be able to get guests who aren’t the usual journalists and political figures that (non-comedy) shows like this usually get, suggesting that he could bring on someone like a worker who is actually on strike if he’s discussing labor issues.
The Nightly Show will premiere on Comedy Central on January 19, which is about a month after Stephen Colbert takes one last celebratory lap around his desk. Wilmore’s show will be filmed in the same studio that The Colbert Report currently uses, so that month is all of the time he and his staff will have to build his set and get in some practice shows. Oh, and that New York Times article makes a number of references to all of this being officially announced tomorrow, so try to act surprised.