A Little Late with Lilly Singh

Last Call with Carson Daly aired on NBC since 2002 as the third and final original program of the network's late-night lineup, behind Late Night and The Tonight Show. It was initially formatted as a studio-based talk show, but was later retooled to consist of interview and performance segments filmed on-location. When Daly was announced as the new social media correspondent for Today in 2013, it was stated that Daly would be moving from Last Call to the show.[7] However, Daly would remain as host in a reduced capacity, only providing introductions between the segments.[8][9] On February 12, 2019, NBC announced that Last Call would conclude after its 2,000th and final episode, with Daly citing his desire to focus on Today, The Voice, and other new projects (including a planned series for Golf Channel).[10]

NBC stated that it intended to replace Last Call with a new program.[9][10] NBC's co-chairman of entertainment George Cheeks intended the timeslot to become a "creative playground" for a personality who could be positioned as a "digital" and "relevancy" play, as opposed to a "ratings play".[11] Chrissy Teigen was suggested as a possibility, but she declined. Former Late Night with Conan O'Brien producer John Irwin suggested YouTube celebrity Lilly Singh—noting her ability to perform both serious interviews and comedic material. The Hollywood Reporter also noted that Singh's experience with online video would also bolster the program's digital presence.[12][11]

On March 14, 2019, NBC officially announced A Little Late with Lilly Singh. That night, Singh appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote the upcoming series. Singh became the first woman among the current generation of late-night hosts on the major broadcast networks, and the first late-night host to ever publicly identify as bisexual.[4] The series will be executive produced by Singh and her business partner Polly Auritt (head of development for Singh's studio Unicorn Island Productions), along with John Irwin and others.[2][13] Aliyah Silverstein was named showrunner.[12]

The network agreed to accommodate Singh's other ventures and entertainment projects, primarily by having her pre-record seasons in advance (as opposed to other late-night programs, where episodes are typically filmed the same day as they are broadcast). The first season of 97 episodes was filmed over a three-month span in late-2019.[14][11][12] Due to this filming schedule and the longer gaps between filming and broadcast, the program does not focus on topical subjects (such as news satire) like other late-night shows. Irwin argued that the show was meant to focus more on comedy and Singh's personal experiences, as there were already "a million places" to get "current information".[12]

The show maintains its own YouTube channel, featuring highlights as well as other web-exclusive content. Cheeks explained that the network did not mind if viewers discovered the series via its YouTube content rather on TV (clips of segments from late-night talk shows, including Fallon's Tonight Show in particular, have been major draws on YouTube). Due to its digital presence, Singh thought of each episode "[having] a life for the next 24 hours" after their television premiere.[11][12]

On May 13, 2020, NBC renewed the show for a second season.[14][15] On December 1, 2020, it was announced that season 2 would premiere on January 11, 2021. The series will be filmed at a house in Los Angeles rather than a traditional studio setting. The show also gained a new showrunner and diversified writing staff.[16][17]

The series features a mix of in-studio interviews and pre-taped segments such as comedy sketches and rants.[13]

A Little Late premiered on September 16, 2019, with its official YouTube channel posting the series premiere episode (with guest Mindy Kaling) at 10:00 p.m. ET, in advance of its television broadcast.[18] An hour-long primetime special aired on September 18, 2019, following the season 14 finale of America's Got Talent.[13]

In Singh's home country of Canada, A Little Late was acquired by Global. It airs as a lead-out for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert—airing an hour earlier (12:35 a.m. ET/PT) in the Eastern and Pacific time zones than its U.S. scheduling.[19]

A Little Late premiered its second season on January 11, 2021 (with guest Saweetie).[20]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that A Little Late with Lilly Singh holds an 82% critic approval rating with an average score of 6/10, based on 11 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "The delightful Lilly Singh breathes fresh air into the world of late-night comedy with an energetic new show that's willing to play with the format in ways that will keep viewers looking forward to staying up A Little Late."[21] Aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalized rating of 62 out of 100, based on 4 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews.[22]

The premiere episode also attained steady ratings in comparison to the finale of Last Call.[23] In October 2019, it was reported that the series had an average of 666,000 viewers for the early portion of fall 2019 and a 0.16 rating in adults 18-49 per episode, which were below those of Last Call for the same period (780,000) from a year prior.[24] The Hollywood Reporter later characterized the first season's ratings to been "comparable" to that of Last Call, also noting that the show led all first-year shows in 2019-20 in social engagements.[25]

In a positive review, Shirley Li from The Atlantic opined that while Singh's monologues came off "awkward," she excelled in interviewing the series' guests, during which she delivered "some of her best, off-the-cuff humor."[26] Caroline Framke of Variety also gave the series a positive review and commended Singh as an "engaged interviewer capable of steering the conversation where it needs to go."[27] In addition, the segment "Lilly Is Struggling to Date Women" was nominated for Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode at the 31st GLAAD Media Awards.[28] "Lilly Responds to Comments About Her Sexuality" was nominated for the same award at the 32nd GLAAD Media Awards.[29]

• Official website
• A Little Late with Lilly Singh at IMDb
• A Little Late with Lilly Singh at TV.com
• A Little Late with Lilly Singh at TV Guide