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The Times podcast: Late-night TV fights for its life, again

A man in a blue suit and tie smiling and sitting at a desk against a blue background
Trevor Noah films “The Daily Show” in New York in 2015.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
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For decades, late-night television talk shows were where America snuggled up together and we laughed. The hosts were household names, but also very male and white. Things diversified a bit last decade with hosts such as Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee. But now Bee’s show is gone, and Noah is on his way out.

Today, what’s next for late-night television? It’s a uniquely American genre whose obituary has been written again and again, yet somehow continues to stumble along. Read the full transcript here.

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Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times television critic Lorraine Ali

More reading:

Trevor Noah’s exit won’t just hurt ‘The Daily Show.’ It’ll hurt all of late night

‘Full Frontal With Samantha Bee’ is the latest casualty in late-night TV’s reshuffle

After a major cast shake-up, ‘SNL’ confronts its weaknesses — but can’t overcome them

About The Times

“The Times” is produced by Shannon Lin, Denise Guerra, Kasia Broussalian, David Toledo and Ashlea Brown. Our editorial assistant is Madalyn Amato. Our engineers are Mario Diaz, Mark Nieto and Mike Heflin. Our editor is Kinsee Morlan. Our executive producers are Jazmin Aguilera, Heba Elorbany and Shani Hilton. And our theme music is by Andrew Eapen.
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