Lilly Singh is building momentum with her move into late night TV
The latest ratings data available confirms that Lilly Singh is finding her feet with her late night chat show – A Little Late With Lilly Singh. Having debuted in September, the viewing figures for the final week of November have delivered Singh’s highest ratings yet.
The show airs at 1:30 AM each night, Monday through Friday. It’s broadcast on the NBC network.
A Little Late combines pre-taped comedy bits with in-studio interviews. The show has a digital-first strategy, with content playing across a number of social platforms to engage a younger, more digitally focused audience in addition to its on-air viewers.
That digital-first strategy seems to be paying off. Since its premiere in September, the show has amassed 34 million views on YouTube, which ranks it as number one across all new series in that time-frame.
“What’s most interesting – and promising – about A Little Late is how much works because of Singh’s in the moment stage presence…” says Caroline Framke, reviewing the show for Variety. “She’s an engaged interviewer capable of steering the conversation where it needs to go, even when the occasional games she tries to play with guests mostly end up more confusing than entertaining.”
“There are definitely times when her age and advanced knowledge of what it means to Be Online clash with celebrities who are so used to late night softballs from smiling forty-something men.” continues Framke. “But even when the show isn’t totally on point, Singh’s ability to adapt and crack spontaneous jokes should get A Little Late on a steadier track before too long.”
“Like almost every late-night show ever launched, it will need some time to settle into itself, but [what we’ve seen so far] suggests that Singh is charismatic and original enough to pull it off…” says Kathryn VanArendonk, reviewing the show for Vulture. “A Little Late looks like it could be exactly the sort of thing late night needs – a new voice in a medium that’s long overdue for an overhaul.”
“As a South Asian woman, to see Lilly Singh in mainstream American pop culture is huge for me…” says Anushay Hossain, writing for CNN. “I’m sure that I speak for many others when I say it’s invigorating and exciting to watch a woman whose appearance resembles mine on the screen because the sad truth is that even in 2019, it’s still a rare sight. Lilly Singh’s show is more than just another late-night talk show. It’s a tangible, visual reminder of why representation matters.”
Who is Lilly Singh?
Singh was born in 1988, and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. Her parents are originally from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, in India.
Singh attended Mary Shadd Public School during her elementary years, and in 2006, she graduated from Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
In 2010, Singh graduated from York University in Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.
Career
Singh began making YouTube videos, in October 2010, as a way of dealing with depression and anxiety. Her screen-name is IISuperwomanII.
In 2015, Singh moved from Ontario to Los Angeles.
Singh has received an MTV Fandom Award, four Streamy Awards, two Teen Choice Awards and a People’s Choice Award. In 2016, Singh released her first feature film, titled A Trip to Unicorn Island. In March 2017, she released her first book, How to be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, which became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller.
In 2017, Singh was ranked tenth on the Forbes list of the world’s highest paid YouTube stars, earning a reported $10.5 million. In that same year, Forbes ranked Singh first on its Top Influencers List in the entertainment category.
Singh’s YouTube channel currently has over 14 million subscribers and 3 billion views.
A Little Late
In March 2019, NBC announced that Singh would host a new late night talk show for the network. The show debuted in September 2019. A Little Late with Lilly Singh replaced Last Call with Carson Daly. Singh also serves as an executive producer on the series.
Singh is the only woman hosting a network late night show, and one of just a few women or people of colour fronting a late night series anywhere on TV.
Personal Life
In March 2019, Singh discussed her sexuality and confirmed that she identifies as bisexual.
Comments
i have seen clips of the show i must say that lilly is pure electric and knows how to
draft in an audience but the set lets it down that looked very cheap to say for an
multi million dollar network like nbc could have better set design instead it
comes from an low budget review show on cable access tv from the 90’s
and her costume choices needs improvement and some channels over
on youtube thought that the audience laughter was forced everytime
she delivers an monologue the kind of forced laughter you see on
childrens sitcom shows like saved by the bell and wizards on waverly place
but the energie is top notch but the tropes that chat show hosts do has
being overdone to death nothing we haven’t seen about an thousands
times over by better chat show comedy hosts from the last 60 years
of chat show comedy but it’s not an new concept of an indian comic
hosting late night show has being done years before over here in the uk
with the likes of alexi sayle and sanjeev bashkar did during the 80- 90’s
decades with late night comedy store programes featuring upcoming
tallents that had beter colourful sets and an jampacked audience
but this was pure lazy .