It’s ironic. Singh’s background as a popular YouTuber—someone used to delivering funny commentary and making viral videos for nearly 15 million subscribers—should have translated easily to the current model of late-night TV: gimmick-driven clips, lighthearted games, and deep dives. But even though her monologues cover the same topics she addressed on her channel, these brief meditations on relationships, aging, fashion, and the like come off awkward in a live-TV setting. (A set about Raya, the celebrity dating app that’s been around since 2015, felt especially stale.) Singh has made it clear that she won’t be talking politics; the goal is “to be a little more personal, a little more based in her experiences,” the show’s producer, John Irwin, told The Hollywood Reporter. But these evergreen musings feel more like rejected bits from a stand-up set than refreshing, fully formed segments that can hold an audience’s attention in the middle of the night.

As the author of the memoir/self-help guide How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, Singh champions female ambition, so most of her shorts revolve around the idea of being a #girlboss. That’s a positive, largely inoffensive message, and some sketches—like the one on the wage gap set in an ’80s workout video—are clever. But the ethos of leaning in is well-trodden territory in comedy, and too many of Singh’s filmed segments rehash the idea without delivering a punch line or a fresh take.

Once Singh is sitting opposite a guest, however, she seems much more comfortable with the gig. Behind her desk, which is adorned with a picture of her dog and a stock photo of french fries—“my son and my love, together,” she explained—Singh gets a chance to cut loose and build a dynamic rapport with her guests. In these chats, Singh delivers some of her best, off-the-cuff humor. In one episode, when the comedian Chelsea Handler asked what to do with a prop during a segment, Singh responded, “You smoke it,” prompting a giggle from the usually stoic Handler.

Another night, the comedian Jim Gaffigan mentioned how clean he found Singh’s home country. “I’ve never even seen a wrapper on the street in Toronto,” he said.

“Well,” she deadpanned, “we have Drake.”

In fact, the episode with Gaffigan presented an unusual challenge for Singh. Gaffigan had been paired with Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski, but even with two guests promoting different projects, sharing the couch and the conversation, Singh thrived, proving herself a rather adept moderator who could riff with Gaffigan on his parenting skills but also grill Porowski on how he finished his latest cookbook.

Of all the skills she developed from her YouTube days, her conversational tone made the leap to television most successfully. And even though much of the chitchat has been preplanned, as is customary with talk shows, Singh is still witty. That makes her disarming to her guests, most of whom are more used to older men in suits posing the questions in a staid atmosphere. Opposite Singh, guests are kept on their toes , but they also feel relaxed enough to settle into the couch. The actress Anna Faris even kicked off her heels as soon as she sat down.