Comedy Central locking in The Minority Report with Larry Wilmore to replace The Colbert Report is a pretty sensible choice given Wilmore’s Daily Show pedigree. However, it’s hard to say what the show will be exactly. Obviously, it shouldn’t be a carbon copy of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Last Week Tonight with another Daily Show alum, John Oliver, has also been described as an extra episode of The Daily Show, making it hard to imagine Wilmore just doing several segments making fun of the news. A recent interview with Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless by Fast Co.Create revealed that the network will indeed be going in a different direction for Minority Report.
Ganeless explained the plan for Wilmore and his show, “The general concept is Larry will be the anchor of the show and the first act will likely be Larry’s take on the news of the day or cultural hot topics of the moment. Then [there will be] a panel. The panel will be the second act, we’ll likely have a guest interacting with the panel in the third act.†There will be more open discussion and The Minority Report will be closer to Real Time With Bill Maher than The Daily Show.
Comedy Central did have a show last year that had a similar model, The Jeselnik Offensive with Anthony Jeselnik, which they canceled after two seasons. Jeselnik would do his own version of taking on the news, then panelists, which were mostly comedians, joined in on Anthony’s darkly satirical take on something topical. It should be safe to assume that Wilmore will have slightly more frank discussions on The Minority Report.
Wilmore will also be a platform for new voices and perspectives on Comedy Central as the show’s title suggests. “It’s giving these underrepresented voices an opportunity to be heard on all issues. That array of voices will be a big part of the show,†says Ganeless. With all of this in mind, Larry Wilmore and Minority Report should stand apart from The Daily Show and is undoubtedly one of the most highly anticipated shows premiering in 2015.
I love Larry Willmore’s segments on The Daily Show. I’d gladly take it over The Jeselnik Offensive. I don’t mind dark jokes, but they were forced. Being dark for the sake of being dark isn’t fun. The Minority Report with Larry Willmore will be dark, but for an entirely different reason.
Where is their freakin site already? TheMinorityReport.com doesn’t resolve for me.
So a truncated version of Real Time?
Well, Real Time itself evolved from Politically Incorrect, which started as a half-hour Comedy Central show.
Did it ever have the post-TDS slot while both were on?
Yes, I’m fully aware of that JJS.
What I’m saying is that Maher comes out, gives his take on the news of the week. Has a second act with an interview of a guest, then the third act becomes him with the panel.
That’s what I was getting at.