Comedian and former Totally Biased host W. Kamau Bell, recently opened up about the state of late night T.V. Particular the fact that is made up entirely of white men. Kamau recently wrote an article about the issue, titled “The Unbearable Whiteness Of Late Night,” where he spoke about Stephen Colbert replacing David Letterman, adding that Wayne Brady is as good as Jimmy Fallon.
Recently, W. Kamau Bell opened up about the state of late night, in a Buzzfeed article and it will absolutely blow your mind….(OK, that last part was not meant to degrade Bell’s point, but to lampoon Buzzfeed’s use of hyperbole.) In the article, Bell takes stock of the late night line-up:
“Every time a late-night job becomes available, people on social media and websites like this one get to play Fantasy TV Exec! And we toss around overqualified, non-white guy candidates like Aisha Tyler, Maya Rudolph, Wayne Brady, Tina Fey, Margaret Cho, Ellen DeGeneres, and Chris Rock. Occasionally, I even get thrown into the mix. And for a little while it is exciting to think of the possibility of these shows… until we actually hear the announcement.”
Bell went on to discuss Stephen Colbert replacing David Letterman:
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m super excited to see what Stephen Colbert does with The Late Show. He’s unquestionably a comedy genius. But you can’t tell me that Wayne Brady wouldn’t do as good a job as Jimmy Fallon.”
Bell closes out his article by writing:
“Us non-white-dudeish artists have to stop longing to be put in the box of mainstream late-night talk show hosts. Late-night talk is a Johnny Bravo suit if there ever was one. We diverse voices, as usual, have to create our own boxes and continue innovating America’s pop culture… like always. And then we have to try to act not surprised when ‘mainstream’ (read: white and male) steal it… like always.
“Late-night TV is big business and wants the biggest audience possible. And the people who run it believe they have evidence the biggest audience comes with a white guy. And it will probably remain that way… at least until 2042.”
What do you think of Bell’s comments? Let us know what names you would like to see break up the all white late night monopoly in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
