Lilly Singh makes late-night hosting debut with musical opener and Mindy Kaling
Lilly Singh has arrived.
The YouTube star made her debut as a late-night talk show host Monday night with the premiere of A Little Late With Lilly Singh on NBC. The titular personality dropped in with a hip-hop musical sketch to announce she’s changing the game that’s been dominated by men for so long and bringing Late Night movie star Mindy Kaling as her first guest.
Jimmy Fallon has The Tonight Show. Stephen Colbert has The Late Show. James Corden has The Late Late Show. Seth Meyers has Late Night. Jimmy Kimmel has Jimmy Kimmel Live. John Oliver has Last Week Tonight. Samantha Bee was holding down the fort for women on Full Frontal for some time, but now Singh comes in to say, “I know you’re used to only Jimmys in the spotlight, but I’mma throw some melanin up in your late night.”
“My writers’ room looks like a mini United Nations, more than 50 percent women and people of all races,” she raps. “And that’s not because I had to, it’s because I could. This is the new standard so take notes, Hollywood.”
“Only for you would I be here at 1:30 in the morning,” Kaling said when she came on for a chat with Singh.
In addition to commemorating this moment that two Indian stars assembled on the NBC stage, the pair continued to talk about The Office and what pop culture moments Kaling would want to incorporate into the show if it were still on the air.
“The thing that I always think about is things that Michael Scott [Steve Carell], who just loved trends and is far too old to do any of them, what would he be into?” she said. “And, to me, seeing Michael Scott dab would be one of my favorites ’cause I feel like he would do it all the time… And also Michael Scott on Instagram.”
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