Meet the man who will take over for Stephen Colbert.
Last Friday, Comedy Central announced that “The Daily Show” correspondent Larry Wilmore will premiere a new 11:30 p.m. show in January called “The Minority Report.”
The show is described as a “comedic look at news, current events and pop culture from unique perspectives not typically on display on late night television.” The series was created by “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, and he will serve as executive producer alongside Wilmore.
Wilmore is well-known to the “The Daily Show” audience, having joined the late-night show in 2006 as its “senior black correspondent.” As he prepares to take on his own show, here are 10 things to know about “The Minority Report” host.
He began his career as an actor and stand-up comic
Wilmore appeared in small roles as a police officer in “The Facts of Life” and a bus driver on “Sister, Sister.”
He was a TV writer in the early ’90s
Wilmore segued to writing, working on “In Living Color,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.”
He co-created “The Bernie Mac Show”
Wilmore co-created “The Bernie Mac Show” with the late Bernie Mac, which aired on Fox from 2001 to 2006. Before that, he co-created the animated show “The PJs” with Eddie Murphy, which aired for three seasons on Fox and The WB.
He has won an Emmy Award
Wilmore won the Emmy in 2002 for outstanding writing for a comedy series for his work on “The Bernie Mac Show.” He also won a prestigious Peabody Award for the comedy.
He is an alum of “The Office”
Wilmore was a consulting producer on the NBC comedy, even appearing in a few episodes as Mr. Brown, a sensitivity trainer who visits Dunder Mifflin to present a seminar on diversity.
He is a published author
His first book, “I’d Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts,” was released by Hyperion Books in 2009. According to his website, the book covers “why black weathermen make him feel happy (or sad) and why brothas don’t see UFOs to his search for Black Jesus or his quest to replace ‘African-American’ with ‘chocolate.’ ” He is currently working on a second book.
He starred in his own Showtime special
Wilmore headlined “Race, Religion and Sex” on Showtime in 2012. Filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah, the special was part stand-up, part town hall meeting. According to his website, he is currently working on the next installment.
He has a new show on ABC next season
ABC just picked up Wilmore’s comedy “Black-ish” to series, which will premiere in the fall. The sitcom stars Anthony Anderson (“Guys With Kids”) as an upper-middle-class black man who struggles to raise his children with a sense of cultural identity despite constant contradictions from his liberal wife, old-school father and his own assimilated, color-blind kids. Wilmore serves as executive producer and showrunner, though he’ll relinquish the latter title when he moves to “Minority Report.”
He is a family man
Wilmore is married to actress Leilani Jones and has two children. They live in California, though he will relocate to New York for “The Minority Report.”
He is a huge Los Angeles Lakers fan
In making the announcement, Stewart commented, “While Larry Wilmore is a brilliant comic and showrunner, this is all just a complicated ruse to get him to move to New York and turn him into a Knicks fan.”
Wilmore responded, “I’m beyond excited to have this chance to continue my relationships with Comedy Central and the brilliant Jon Stewart. I love the city of New York and promise to only wear my Laker T-shirts when I’m layering.”