Larry Wilmore is taking over Stephen Colbert’s late-night spot on Comedy Central with The Nightly Show. Time TV writer James Poniewozik interviewed him for the magazine’s December 29/January 5 issue.

Wilmore described his forthcoming show as a combination of “The Daily Show and Bill Maher’s show. It will be me weighing in, doing the headlines, and then there’ll be a panel aspect.” But Wilmore cited two liberal shows, and then declared he is a passionate Man In The Middle:

TIME: How would you describe your politics? WILMORE: I call myself a passionate centrist. Half the time I disagree with myself. TIME: Are you swimming against the current? WILMORE: It seems like people now seek out voices who are loudly on their team. It’s possible. But you have to be true to who you are when you’re doing a show like this and people are inviting you into their living rooms. A lot of my comedy comes out of me trying to get information as opposed to me trying to force my opinion on you.

That would be dramatically different from the Stewart-Colbert-Maher formula. Let’s see if that actually happens.