7 Comedians Who Need Their Own Late-Night Talk Shows
News broke on Monday that The Soup, the late-night E! talk show formerly hosted by Joel McHale (and Greg Kinnear before him, if your memory stretches back that far), would be revived with Brazilian-born comedian Jade Catta-Preta as host. Catta-Preta will helm the show as a weekly half-hour, putting to use her experience doing stand-up in Los Angeles and guesting on everything from Modern Family to The Jim Gaffigan Show.
The Soup announcement got us thinking: What other comedians do we want to see host a show? Late-night comedy is still overwhelmingly straight, white, cisgender, and male, but the future of comedy definitely isn’t. Things are improving somewhat, with Lilly Singh having taken over for Carson Daly, but the cancellation of Busy Philipps’s talk show Busy Tonight proves we still have a ways to go. Below, find a by-no-means-exhaustive list of comedians we’d love to say hello to every weeknight.
Jenny Slate
She might have been summarily dismissed from Saturday Night Live before she even got a chance to prove herself, but Slate has emerged as one of the funniest comedians working today, as evidenced by her brand-new book and Netflix special. Frankly, it’s long past time for her to stage her triumphant return to late-night.
Catherine Cohen and Pat Regan
Two of the funniest voices to come out of the podcast boom, Cohen and Regan cohost Seek Treatment with verve, gut-busting hilarity and an endless supply of crush stories. Cohen is also an old-school cabaret queen, and we’d love to see her patter with Regan on the air, bringing their signature question for guests—“Are you mad at me?”—to TV.
Ali Wong
Anyone who’s seen Wong’s stand-up special Baby Cobra or taken in her Netflix rom-com Always Be My Maybe will have no doubt about her comedic chops. Wong was also a writer on ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat; hearing her take on the day’s news would be consistently unmissable.
Jaboukie Young-White
Fans of Big Mouth, American Vandal, and The Daily Show should already be familiar with the kinetic voice of Young-White, but if you’re not, his Twitter is a must-read—it’s tough to get through without bursting out laughing, even in public:
Ayo Edebiri
Any comedian who can delve into the depths of stan culture as efficiently as Edebiri does on Iconography, her podcast with Olivia Craighead, deserves a wide late-night audience. Edebiri was also a writer for the canceled-too-soon sitcom Sunnyside, so she clearly knows how to craft a joke.
Patti Harrison
One of the brightest spots of Hulu’s pretty-damn-bright series Shrill, Harrison got her start doing improv and has appeared everywhere from The Tonight Show to comedic gem I Think You Should Leave. In case you were wondering whether her bandwidth expands to well-crafted filth, Harrison—like Young-White—was a writer on the third season of Big Mouth.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
