Lilly Singh was one of the last women to have her own late-night show.
A Little Late with Lilly Singh aired for two seasons on NBC with 177 episodes between September 2019 and June 2021. The show succeeded Last Call with Carson Daly and aired at 1:37am.
Four years on, Singh is reflecting on her experience in late-night and said that she was “set up to fail”.
Speaking to SiriusXM’s Julia Cunningham, Singh said that filming 96 episodes in three months was not the “cutest schedule”.
“I don’t think anyone intentionally was like, We’re gonna set her up to fail’,” she said. “But… I don’t think any part of it was set up to really be successful. Late-night shows are supposed to be timely and season one, when those 96 episodes were releasing, of course a global pandemic hit, so now I’m the only show that has a live audience. I’m talking about traveling. I’m talking about parties during the late-night episodes and people are like, ‘What’s going on?’. Then the second season also released during the pandemic, so it was Zoom interviews. So, I had two pandemic seasons of a late-night show, half the writer’s room of everyone else, and half the budget and honestly, I’m so grateful because I feel like I can do any schedule and I learned so much, but yeah, it was really tough.”
She added that it was “one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done in my life”, adding that she doesn’t see herself doing another late-night show.
“But if any show that’s like a daily type of show would come up to me, I would be better equipped to ask better questions. Talk to me about the budget. Talk to me about the schedule. Talk to me about like any contingencies, any plans, like there was just so many questions I would’ve asked,” she added.
Since the show ended, Singh has had roles in animated movie The Bad Guys and is a guest star on ABC comedy Shifting Gears alongside Tim Allen and Kat Dennings. She also co-wrote and produced sex education comedy Doin’ It.