DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Larry Wilmore became known as the senior black correspondent. That was his role on "The Daily Show." Now it's on to "The Nightly Show," that's the name of Wilmore's own program, which debuts tonight on Comedy Central. It's replacing "The Colbert Report." Wilmore becomes late-night TV's only African-American host. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans tells us about his plans.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Larry Wilmore has a theory about why he can joke about race in ways his white counterparts can't.
LARRY WILMORE: There's a top-dog-underdog rule. Underdog gets to make fun of top dog, but top dog can't make fun of underdog. It happens in gender, race, class - every situation. If you're underdog, you get to make fun of top dog. Top dog, you can't make fun of underdog. But guess what? You get to be top dog. Congratulations.
DEGGANS: That approach shines through in his work on "The Daily Show," criticizing top-dog, conservative pundits commenting on rioting in Ferguson, Missouri.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE DAILY SHOW")
WILMORE: You know, I have a dream, Jon, that one day the actions of a few [bleep] white people will been seen as discrediting their entire race.
(LAUGHTER)
DEGGANS: Here he is discussing his new "Nightly Show" with "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart. "The Nightly Show" was Stewart's idea.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE DAILY SHOW")
JON STEWART: I'm excited about "The Nightly Show."
WILMORE: Oh, thank you.
STEWART: I'm excited - I'm excited about that.
WILMORE: "The Nightly Show," when does that start?
STEWART: I believe actually January 19.
WILMORE: Oh, yes, Martin Luther King Day. I have a job.
(LAUGHTER)
DEGGANS: Wilmore's one of the few TV writers who can deftly joke about race with white audiences. And he isn't disappointed his new show had to change its name from the original title, "The Minority Report," after Fox decided to make a scripted TV series with the same name. Wilmore says the new title also reflects an important idea, that non-white hosts don't have to primarily talk about race.
WILMORE: I may be talking about Obama's boring budget speech, you know? (Laughter) Now I get to talk about that, so the show's not marginalized where I can only talk about a black thing or "The Minority Report" thing.
DEGGANS: Of course explaining what the show is before it debuts may be Wilmore's toughest job, and there's a lot of that going around right now. Over at CBS, British comic James Corden will start hosting "The Late, Late Show" in March. He told NPR last week he still has no idea what his show will look like.
There's probably some strategy here, too. No one wants to tip the competition or spoil the surprise for audiences. Wilmore does reveal how his show will start - with him sitting behind a desk commenting on the day's news, perhaps featuring field reports from contributors, before moving on to an unscripted panel discussion. Tonight's panel features Senator Cory Booker and rapper Talib Kweli.
WILMORE: I look at it as, who do I want in my barbershop talking [bleep] with? That's the big group of people we're collecting for the show, who you'll see on the show. Who's our Andrew Sullivan? Who's our, you know, that type of person that is going to be our "Nightly Show"-type of guest?
DEGGANS: Having a panel makes "The Nightly Show" a loose parody of "Meet The Press" or "This Week," in the same way "The Daily Show" is a loose parody of a daily newscasts.
WILMORE: Where "The Daily Show," its cousin is the nightly news, it's going to be reporting on things and reporting and reporting. So that's why they have the senior White House correspondent reporting on something, Jon, reporting.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE DAILY SHOW")
STEWART: For more, we turn to senior White House correspondent Jordan Klepper.
WILMORE: Ours - our cousin is a discussion show. So we're going to have a conversation about something. So my relationship with the audience is I'm opening up this conversation. I'm looking at this in a different way.
DEGGANS: And how Wilmore manages that role as a moderator will be what distinguishes his program. A talk show basically has two parts, the format or structure of the program and the way in which the host slowly inhabits that format. Former "Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver's HBO show began as a clone of his old employer, but it evolved as Oliver expanded his newsy rants and added original reporting.
The real thrill of watching a new show like "The Nightly Show" is seeing how Wilmore turns its format into a uniquely personal program, as he begins the tough task of succeeding Stephen Colbert. Looks like the underdog gets a shot at being top dog after all. I'm Eric Deggans.