My Essay on CNN Opinion: “Why Lilly Singh Is What Late Night Comedy Needs Right Now”

Ahhh, friends! I can’t believe that I forgot to share one of my CNN op-eds with you! This one is all the way back from the end of March about YouTuber Lilly Singh breaking the glass ceiling of late-night TV. Bye bye, boys’ club!!!

I’ve been forever frustrated by the landscape of late night, haven’t you?? Especially in our current political climate and the #MeToo era, we’re seeing men telling us the news of the day — from their perspective. We’re in an age right now where we need better inclusion and representation when it comes to who is telling these stories, and I’m hoping that Lilly Singh hosting a late night show will be the first in a very long line of glass-ceiling-breaking female hosts.

Here’s an excerpt of the piece, in which I even take the writers’ rooms of late night to task for not employing nearly enough female writers…

It’s easy for someone like Leno, an older white male, to say that late-night comics should stay out of politics, but the fact is it’s 2019 — and it would be tone deaf to ignore the political and social challenges facing Americans. In fact, I would argue that it’s even more critical that Singh have a show, so she can start national conversations around marginalized communities.

Late-night television often provides the fodder for the water cooler (or Slack thread) conversations the next morning. So, Singh will soon have a powerful platform to kickstart a conversation on a host of issues, especially as we near the 2020 presidential election.

You can read the full piece here and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me anytime at mellow1422@aol.com and let’s chat! And of course, feel free to share my essay on Facebook, Twitter or even your local refrigerator. If you share on Twitter, be sure to tag me @melissablake so we can connect! I can’t wait to hear from you! Love you all… xoxo