HBO Orders Weekly Late-Night Show from Sam Jay

HBO is bulking up its slate of weekly late-night programming with an upcoming series from “Saturday Night Live” alumna Sam Jay. WarnerMedia announced the untitled show on Tuesday.

Per WarnerMedia, the project will be a weekly 30-minute late-night show in which Jay tackles the top trending topics in urban and world culture for the week — including race, politics, sexual identity, science, celebrity, religion, and more — and examines them from her unique and subversive point of view.

The series will be executive produced by Jay, Prentice Penny for A Penny For Your Thoughts Entertainment, Chris Pollack (HBO’s “Pete Holmes: Faces and Sounds” and Netflix’s “Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping”), and David Martin and Kara Baker for Avalon.  Alex Soler also will serve as co-executive producer for A Penny for Your Thoughts Entertainment.

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“I’m really excited to bring my point of view to late-night television and have felt nothing but support creatively from HBO and A Penny For Your Thoughts,” Jay said in a statement. “So everyone wear your mask and vote so I can make my TV show! Thaaaanks!”

Jay’s upcoming show, which does not have a premiere date, will mark HBO’s first female-fronted weekly late-night show (“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” airs on the WarnerMedia-owned TBS and is available for streaming on HBO Max). HBO’s other weekly-late night programming includes “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and “Real Time With Bill Maher.”

The diversity of late night has received a boost recently with the launch of new streaming services; NBCU’s new platform Peacock is the home to “The Amber Ruffin Show,” hosted by “Late Night With Seth Meyers” veteran Ruffin, and “Wilmore,” hosted by long-time late night entertainer Larry Wilmore, who previously hosted Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show” until it was abruptly canceled in 2016.

“Sam is fiercely funny, provocative, and a complete original. Her comedy seamlessly glides between vulnerability and grit, and she always makes you see the world in a whole new way,” Nina Rosenstein, HBO’s executive vice president of programming, said in a statement. “Joining forces with Prentice to bring Sam’s talent to late-night is a perfect fit.”