It has been three months since Comedy Central’s untimely cancellation of Larry Wilmore’s The Nightly Show, and it’s hard not to feel robbed. A half-hour panel show that launched in January 2015, The Nightly Show was, alongside the weekly programs fronted by fellow The Daily Show vets John Oliver and Samantha Bee, the rare late night show that qualified as appointment viewing. But Wilmore is keeping busy. He is an executive producer on HBO’s excellent comedy series Insecure—which The New Republic’s Lovia Gyarkye praised as one of the only shows on television featuring “authentic black female friendships”—and will be hosting the National Book Awards in mid-November.

The New Republic talked to Wilmore about Insecure, what he misses about late night, and, of course, the election. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

You have to be pleased with the reception to Insecure.

You are always, always overwhelmed by positive response because you know it can go either way. And so we are very very happy about it. I had to formally kinda step away because I was doing The Nightly Show and I was only involved tangentially last year as a consultant. Issa [Rae] and I co-wrote the pilot episode and I was the consigliere, if you will, during the first season. So it is so exciting to see it come to life and to see people like it and get it. And I am the most happy for Issa. I remember sitting with her in a coffee shop a couple years ago and talking about this project. To see it become a real thing is very cool.

Do you think that this is a transitional moment in television? I think that the two best shows on the air this fall are Atlanta and Insecure, and now critics have turned on Westworld.