Global Indian of the Year: Lilly Singh

This viral YouTube star is systematically dismantling the all-white world of suits that anchored late-night television. Vogue plays the proverbial fly-on-the-wall as the NBC newcomer and first Indian-origin female host on broadcast television in America shares a freewheeling chat with Netflix’s most woke export of Indian origin, Hasan Minhaj, to discuss comedy, culture and what it means to be a second-generation immigrant

- Hasan Minhaj

Lilly Singh: Hey Hasan!

Hasan Minhaj: Hey Lilly, this is super early for you, huh? I can totally tell by the baritone.

LS: Yes, a hundred per cent.

HM: So how are you?

LS: I’m good, really good.

HS: Firstly, congratulations! I’m so proud. Your show premiered this September. Okay, I want to know—how did you pick the title?

LS: Titles are big, so we had a whole Excel Sheet—free for all—and I was like, Guys, hit me with some options. Some were really bad. One that was particularly terrible was that since my name is Lilly, and ‘little’ starts with an L, so why don’t we interchange those two words.

HM: Like A Lilly Late With Lilly Singh? Or A Lilly Late With Little Singh? I’m so glad you didn’t choose that title.

LS: Yeah, I love the way A Little Late With Lilly Singh sounds. It’s kind of a cool double meaning, a little late as in time but it’s also like a little late time with me.

HM: I like the alliteration, the LLL. You also dropped a video introducing your writers. You worked with Sean O’Connor, whom I know very well. Tell me about the staff.