7 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Larry Wilmore

By Patrick Kiger, May 14, 2014 01:21 PM

If you watch The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, you already know Larry Wilmore as its "Senior Black Correspondent." But when Comedy Central picked him to host a new show of his own, The Minority Report With Larry Wilmore, which will replace the departing Stephen Colbert in the 11:30 p.m. slot in January 2015, the 52-year-old actor-writer-producer expressed surprise at getting the opportunity - not because of his race, but because of his age.

"I've been in the business for a while," Wilmore recently told the New York Times. "I really thought the window was closed ..."

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Here are seven things you probably didn't know about Wilmore:

He studied theater at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona before dropping out to pursue an acting career.

Wilmore got his start in television in the 1990s, working as a writer on shows such as In Living Color, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The Jamie Foxx Show.

In the early 1990s, he was a contestant on Star Search as a standup comic. Here's a rare clip of one of his comedy club appearances:

He is the co-creator of two TV series: The PJs, an animated comedy in which he teamed with Eddie Murphy, and The Bernie Mac Show, for which he won an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series in 2002.

In addition to working as a writer and producer for The Office, he appeared as Mr. Brown, the diversity trainer.

He authored a 2009 book of humorous essays titled I'd Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts.

Before he was offered his own program by Comedy Central, Wilmore was set to be showrunner for a new ABC comedy series, Black-ish, featuring comic movie actor and former Law & Order star Anthony Anderson. "I couldn't believe it came from [ABC parent] Disney, of all places," he told the New York Times. "But then I thought: I guess Mickey Mouse is black, when you think about it."

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Photo: thelarrywilmore.com

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