One of the driving minds behind Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show is attempting to break into the world of late-night television. While Dave Chappelle continues his stand-up love affair with Netflix, writer and comedian Neal Brennan may have another show on the way via Fox in the form of a late night program. The series, which is presently untitled, just had a presentation shot last week and is under consideration for a potential release in the spring of next year.
The news comes from Variety, who reported the potential series would be a weekly gig with Neal Brennan serving as the host/writer/executive producer. As far as what the show is about, the potential series will focus on cultural and political subjects with sketches and "man on the street" segments. The presentation was ordered by Fox who has not attempted a late-night format show since 2009's The Wanda Sykes Show. With late night shows grabbing headlines for their gimmicks and political shows doing the same, it appears Brennan is attempting to kill two birds with one stone with Fox and attempt to serve both.
It's not an unprecedented concept as HBO has found great success and an Emmy win with Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. Neal Brennan's project sounds similar, although sketches and man on the street segments give Chappelle's Show vibes that surely could deliver a different feel than John Oliver's show. In addition to Chappelle's Show, Brennan was also the writer of the film Half Baked, and has writing credits for comedy programs like The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, and All That. With a resume like that, it isn't hard to see why Fox executives were willing to take a shot on the comedian and see what he can do with this potential project.
Should Neal Brennan's late-night project get ordered to series, it will put Fox among the competition with the other big networks for late-night television. That said, that competition will be measured as CBS, ABC, and NBC all air their late night programs on a nightly basis and not just once a week. Should the project go to series, it will be interesting to see which night FOX would plan to add it to its lineup and whether or not it would choose to compete with the other currently airing late-night shows.
As mentioned, the currently untitled Neal Brennan project is just in development at the moment, but if it gets picked up for a series it could see a spring release. For more on upcoming television, be sure to head over to both our fall premiere guide and midseason premiere guide for a list of programs to be on the lookout for. For a list of shows that were canceled in 2017, visit our cancellation guide.
