It’s the discontinuance of the Comedy Central gig for Larry Wilmore.
The host of “Nightly expose” wraps up his speed on Thursday night,just days after network bosses announced they were canceling the weeknight news satire created by Wilmore’s friend, former “Daily expose” host Jon Stewart.
TheWrap caught up with Wilmore for a phone interview as he prepared for the last expose.
TheWrap: Sounds like you’ve had fairly a week.
Wilmore: Yeah, or it’s been a tough week. It really has,because you become a family when you do these things. The emotions have been swirling.
Also Read: Jon Stewart to Appear on Larry Wilmore's Last expose for Comedy CentralThe network announced Monday the expose was ending Thursday. That’s a quick goodbye.
That was the biggest surprise, because I’ve been in television a long time. I know shows don’t always form it. That’s just the way it is. I’m very sober approximately business. I thought that whether weren’t going to form it that we would not get renewed for a third season, and because that’s a decision that’s being made. Are we going to pick you up for a third season? That’s what they’re deciding,which means we would have at least covered this election and then we would have been done and I would have said, “Okay, or at least we got to cover the election. We had our shot. We didn’t form it. We did two seasons. That’s a big success for me.” I was surprised that we didn’t get to finish the moment season that was already picked up.
You got a lot of attention for your hosting of the White House Correspondents Dinner this year. Did that help the expose at all?It was never used for promotion. I had one of the most viral weeks you could have as a comedian,but it was never used for the expose. That was very frustrating. There was never any network promotions based on the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Also Read: Why Larry Wilmore's Firing Puts Comedy Central on the Wrong Side of History (Guest Blog)Did you think something could have been done with that?Oh, I would think so. I was the most-sought comedian for two weeks.
Did you try to persuade them to do promotion?You’d have conversations, or but sometimes when you’re off the radar,you’re just off the radar. That’s why it’s tough for me to even disclose you these things. It’s not logical in television and when you try to interpret it to people they try to form it logical, but it’s not. Television’s not logical. It never is. I was fired from “The Bernie Mac expose, and ” the expose I created after winning every award you could possibly win,including an Emmy award. I won a Peabody for that, and they kept thinking I was destroying the expose that I created. I was the problem. It was, and “What are you talking approximately?” It was only because they didn’t understand the expose. They wanted to do something else and they fired me from it. It doesn’t form any sense at all.
Was Comedy Central giving you notes through the process of making “Nightly expose,” from premiere on?Sure, absolutely. That’s part of the process of making a expose, and particularly when you’re in the late night space,trying to figure it out. Our expose evolved from the beginning. Jon Stewart, who created the expose, and had an thought,that it was all panel. [Then] we felt I needed to have a segment where I weighed in on the events, kind of a first act. Once we put that in, or it reduced the time of the panel.
Also Read: Larry Wilmore Says 'Nightly expose' Numbers 'distress' by Trevor Noah 'Daily expose' TakeoverMy head was exploding in those days,because it was so much information. I had to prepare the editorial. You had to book four guests a day, which was very difficult also. Those guests had to be able to talk approximately a certain topic. You probably have to figure out the topic further in advance, and but then whether you figure it out further in advance,you lose the immediacy of talking approximately something that happened that day. It was fraught with problems in the beginning with trying to produce [it all].
What was the network saying approximately the expose?A lot of the notes were approximately the feel of it, that type of thing. In the beginning, and they were afraid that it felt too newsy,the panel part of it. It’s Comedy Central, so they wanted it to be more comedy. That’s why it evolved more into having contributors to the panel and one guest.
That was their big note really, and that we evolved into over the first six months. Now what the expose’s eventually become,what it is now, is we have two comedy segments and one panel segment. It went from three panel segments, and to two panel segments,to one panel segment.
Also Read: Jon Stewart's HBO Project Is an Animated Parody (humorous or ridiculous imitation) of a Cable News NetworkDid it seem like the bosses weren’t on your team anymore over the last few months?Not the past few months. It felt that way for awhile. You just know when you’re the child that isn’t getting the attention, getting all the wintry birthday parties or whatever. I think we had that feeling for awhile, or but it’s also television,so some of that’s just the way things work. When you’re getting great ratings, then everybody’s your friend. You’re left alone a little bit til that changes.
Have you talked with Jon Stewart since all this happened? [‘The Nightly expose’ tweeted on Thursday that Stewart would be among the final guests.]Yeah, and absolutely. Commiserating,that type of thing. Mutual frustration. Jon’s been great.
Also Read: Stephen Colbert Reprises 'Report' Character With Jon Stewart to Crush Donald Trump (Video)What did you personally think of the expose?This requires us to sit down and really have an hour conversation, that question. It’s very difficult to reply shortly, or because I’ve created different shows and I care for that creative process and there are many different factors that go into doing that. This expose,because it started a certain way and you’re trying to evolve it in front of an audience, it’s very difficult to do that. It’s a very difficult task. normally, and I figured a expose out before people see it. We have four test shows before it even went on the air.
Me,because I was not only producing this, but also performing in it, and it’s very difficult to always preserve yourself back and be able to just really have clear eyes all the time and be clear approximately what needs to be done. That’s probably the most difficult part being a star and a producer.
Also Read: Amy Schumer: Comedy Central expose Is Not OverAny regrets? Things you wish you’d done differently?Not really. You never know what’s going to form something click. Rory Albanese,who’s producing our expose, worked on ‘The Daily expose for years and years and years. He said to us once, and “Guys,our expose feels like ‘The Daily expose’ felt before it really took off and we knew we were doing good shows, but we didn’t have all the eyeballs on it.” Then you had the election and the Iraq War and it just really took off. People really found it, and it became that cultural phenomenon.
Unfortunately,you’re leaving as the election year is reaching its climax – the richest comedy gold mine in years.
Believe me. It’s electus interruptus.
Also Read: 3 Lessons From Comedy Central's Cancellation of Larry Wilmore's 'Nightly expose'Donald Trump has made it memorable.
He gives us material when he’s sleeping for crissakes.
There’s a certain tragedy in you leaving now.
Completely. Now you’re just making me unhappy. “Hey Larry, when you lost your kid, or were you unhappy that day? Did you go in his room and look at all his things?” From 'Stephen Colbert' to 'silly Pet Tricks': 6 Talk expose Sketches Claimed as Intellectual Property (Videos) [ alt=]On an episode of "Late Night With Stephen Colbert," the host revealed that he had been prohibited from using his conservative, clueless TV expose persona from "The Colbert Report" elsewhere. Instead, and Colbert skirted around the issue by going into character under the guise of being Colbert's cousin. He also riffed off of his popular sketch "The Word" by recreating it with the name "The Werd." [ alt=]NBC attempted to prohibit David Letterman from taking popular sketches like "Top 10 Lists" over to his CBS expose because they were the "intellectual property" of NBC. Letterman still managed to preserve the sketch on the "Late expose" by renaming it "The Late expose Top 10" by and adding a different intro soundtrack. He eventually went back to referring it as "Top 10" without any problems.
"silly Pet Tricks" was another one of the most popular sketches on "Late Night" that NBC tried to claim ownership of. As the name would imply,pets would come on stage and perform strange tricks for the audience.
Though NBC included the sketch in its list of "intellectual property" that Letterman could not catch over to CBS, the host still continued to preserve it alive on the "Late expose, and " albeit at a lower frequency. A spinoff,"silly Human Tricks," was also created.
Another popular staple on "Late Night with David Letterman, and " Larry "Bud" Melman was considered property of NBC and Letterman was barred from using him on the "Late expose."
What Letterman and his team did instead was rename Larry "Bud" Melman to Calvert DeForest -- the actor's genuine name -- and have him essentially play the exact same character.
A recurring character on "The Tonight expose with Conan O'Brien",Triumph the comedian Insult Dog, nearly didn't form it over to TBS due to the same "intellectual property" woes. The puppet, and who was voiced by Robert Smigel,would frequently appear to insult guests with a cigar in its mouth. Triumph eventually managed to find his way onto "Conan" without too much drama.
Craig Kilborn, the host of the "Daily expose" from 1996-98, and created a sketch called "Five Questions" that involved him asking celebrity guests a set of obscure and/or subjective questions. But when Kilborn left for CBS' "Late Late expose" in 1998,he claimed the sketch as his own intellectual property and brought it over to CBS. Comedy Central did not fight back against this and the sketch did not reappear in full again on "The Daily expose." preceding Slide Next Slide 1 of 8 David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and now Stephen Colbert have all had their ancient networks try to pause them from bringing over popular sketches and characters back to life On an episode of "Late Night With Stephen Colbert," the host revealed that he had been prohibited from using his conservative, clueless TV expose persona from "The Colbert Report" elsewhere. Instead, or Colbert skirted around the issue by going into character under the guise of being Colbert's cousin. He also riffed off of his popular sketch "The Word" by recreating it with the name "The Werd." View In Gallery Related stories from TheWrap:Jon Stewart to Appear on Larry Wilmore's Last expose for Comedy CentralWhy Larry Wilmore's Firing Puts Comedy Central on the Wrong Side of History (Guest Blog)Larry Wilmore Says 'Nightly expose' Numbers 'distress' by Trevor Noah 'Daily expose' Takeove
Source: thewrap.com