Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell

Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell is an American stand up comedy television series that premiered on FX on August 9, 2012, starring comedian W. Kamau Bell. On stage, Bell did mostly observational comedy on recent news stories and current events. After an opening PowerPoint monologue, the program usually cut to a segment filmed outside of the studio. Additionally, since all of the show's writers were stand-up comedians, many often appeared as correspondents who performed monologues. As the last segment of the program, Bell interviewed a celebrity guest. In order to ensure the show's topicality, most of the show was taped on the day that it was broadcast. In the first episode, Bell interviewed Chris Rock, who was also an executive producer of the show.

Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell
Genre	Comedy Satire
Written by	W. Kamau Bell Ethan T. Berlin Chuck Sklar Frank Conniff Janine Brito Hari Kondabolu Danny Vermont Kevin Avery Kevin Kataoka Louis Katz Dwayne Kennedy Aparna Nancherla Eliza Skinner Guy Branum Brian McCann
Starring	W. Kamau Bell
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	64
Production
Executive producers	Chris Rock Ethan T. Berlin Chuck Sklar Keri Smith Esgula
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	CR Enterprises FX Productions
Original release
Network	FX (2012–13) FXX (2013)
Release	August 9, 2012 (2012-08-09) – November 14, 2013 (2013-11-14)

It was announced on November 13, 2013, that Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell had been canceled, and that the final episode would be broadcast the next day.

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired	Network
1	26		August 9, 2012 (2012-08-09)	June 20, 2013 (2013-06-20)	FX
2	38		September 4, 2013 (2013-09-04)	November 14, 2013 (2013-11-14)	FXX

Season 1 (2012–13)

Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell season 1 episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Guest(s)	Original air date
1	1	Chris Rock	August 9, 2012 (2012-08-09)
2	2	Rachel Maddow	August 16, 2012 (2012-08-16)
3	3	Alex Wagner	August 23, 2012 (2012-08-23)
4	4	Kevin Powell	August 30, 2012 (2012-08-30)
5	5	Issa Rae	September 13, 2012 (2012-09-13)
6	6	Janeane Garofalo	September 20, 2012 (2012-09-20)
7	7	Tom Morello	October 11, 2012 (2012-10-11)
8	8	David Webb	October 18, 2012 (2012-10-18)
9	9	Neil deGrasse Tyson	October 25, 2012 (2012-10-25)
10	10	Chris Hayes & Ted Alexandro	November 1, 2012 (2012-11-01)
11	11	Lewis Black	November 8, 2012 (2012-11-08)
12	12	Wanda Sykes & Hannibal Buress	November 16, 2012 (2012-11-16)
13	13	John Oliver	November 29, 2012 (2012-11-29)
14	14	Matt Taibbi	January 17, 2013 (2013-01-17)
15	15	George Takei	January 24, 2013 (2013-01-24)
16	16	Dave Zirin & Reggie Watts	January 31, 2013 (2013-01-31)
17	17	David Alan Grier & Reggie Watts	February 7, 2013 (2013-02-07)
18	18	Hannibal Buress, Rob Cantrell, Nikki Glaser, and Sara Schaefer	February 14, 2013 (2013-02-14)
19	19	Don Cheadle	February 21, 2013 (2013-02-21)
20	20	Melissa Harris-Perry	May 9, 2013 (2013-05-09)
21	21	Aisha Tyler	May 16, 2013 (2013-05-16)
22	22	Wyatt Cenac & George Takei	May 23, 2013 (2013-05-23)
23	23	Jim Norton, Lindy West, Doug Benson, and Mike Lawrence	May 30, 2013 (2013-05-30)
24	24	Doug Benson, Unlocking the Truth, and Vernon Reid	June 6, 2013 (2013-06-06)
25	25	Trevor Noah and Eddie Pepitone	June 13, 2013 (2013-06-13)
26	26	Billy Porter and Zach "MC Mr. Napkins" Sherwin	June 20, 2013 (2013-06-20)

Season 2 (2013)

Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell season 2 episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Guest(s)	Original air date
27	1	Jim Gaffigan	September 4, 2013 (2013-09-04)
28	2	Tracy Morgan	September 5, 2013 (2013-09-05)
29	3	Chris Rock	September 9, 2013 (2013-09-09)
30	4	Jamie Kilstein and John Fugelsang	September 10, 2013 (2013-09-10)
31	5	Laverne Cox	September 11, 2013 (2013-09-11)
32	6	Sarah Silverman	September 12, 2013 (2013-09-12)
33	7	Kristina Wong	September 16, 2013 (2013-09-16)
34	8	Gilbert Gottfried	September 17, 2013 (2013-09-17)
35	9	Michelle Buteau	September 18, 2013 (2013-09-18)
In lieu of an Interview comedian Michelle Buteau performed stand up at the end of the show.
36	10	Dave Zirin	September 19, 2013 (2013-09-19)
37	11	Jeffrey Wright	September 24, 2013 (2013-09-24)
38	12	Tim Wise	September 24, 2013 (2013-09-24)
39	13	Van Jones	September 25, 2013 (2013-09-25)
40	14	Big Freedia	September 26, 2013 (2013-09-26)
41	15	Edward Wyckoff Williams and Aton Edwards	September 30, 2013 (2013-09-30)
42	16	Jesse Ventura	October 1, 2013 (2013-10-01)
43	17	Hannibal Buress	October 2, 2013 (2013-10-02)
44	18	Calise Hawkins	October 3, 2013 (2013-10-03)
45	19	Stephen Rannazzisi	October 14, 2013 (2013-10-14)
46	20	Alison Stewart	October 15, 2013 (2013-10-15)
47	21	Colin Quinn	October 16, 2013 (2013-10-16)
48	22	Death	October 17, 2013 (2013-10-17)
49	23	Jay Smooth	October 21, 2013 (2013-10-21)
50	24	Keith Knight	October 22, 2013 (2013-10-22)
51	25	Henry Louis Gates	October 23, 2013 (2013-10-23)
52	26	Josh Gondleman	October 24, 2013 (2013-10-24)
53	27	Judy Gold	October 28, 2013 (2013-10-28)
54	28	Alex Wagner	October 29, 2013 (2013-10-29)
55	29	Penn Jillette	October 30, 2013 (2013-10-30)
56	30	Touré	October 31, 2013 (2013-10-31)
57	31	Soledad O'Brien	November 4, 2013 (2013-11-04)
58	32	Gregg Deal and Andy Thundercloud	November 5, 2013 (2013-11-05)
59	33	Bill Burr	November 6, 2013 (2013-11-06)
60	34	Maria Bamford	November 7, 2013 (2013-11-07)
61	35	Baratunde Thurston	November 11, 2013 (2013-11-11)
62	36	Kathleen Hanna	November 12, 2013 (2013-11-12)
63	37	Yaba Blay	November 13, 2013 (2013-11-13)
64	38	Jim Norton	November 14, 2013 (2013-11-14)

Production

On September 18, 2012, FX ordered an additional seven episodes of Totally Biased that premiered on October 11, 2012, at 11:30 PM ET. Episode 12 ended up airing at 12:00 AM ET on November 16, 2012, because Brand X with Russell Brand had been extended to an hour. On November 27, FX announced the series would have an additional 13 episodes in the first season beginning on January 17, 2013. After a short break during the 2013 portion of season 1, episodes resumed on May 9, 2013, and continued until the season 1 finale on June 20, 2013. With the launch of FXX, the show would air daily at 11:00 PM ET and began its second season on September 4, 2013.

Reception

The premiere episode received mixed reviews. The A.V. Club gave it a B+ and called it "a much better version of Chocolate News, which drops the sketch comedy bent for more explicit social commentary that blends The Daily Show with what Russell Brand wishes he could get on Brand X". The Los Angeles Times also compared Bell and the show favorably to Brand X, saying that "there is a voluble sweetness to his manner that should prove a tonally better companion" to preceding programs. The San Francisco Chronicle applauded the show's edginess, saying that "it makes The Daily Show look like something your dad watches." Newsday gave the show a B− and was more critical, saying that "Rock may want to light a fire under this act sooner than later." The A.V. Club reviewed the first cycle of season one, giving it a B and stating that it has "positive progress to build on going forward. I's certainly in better shape than Brand X, especially when it just lets Bell do his thing in the opening segment. But the longevity of the show will depend on the star finding a way to shape the out-of-studio segments into something more compelling and growing as an interviewer."

See also

• List of late-night American network TV programs

External links

• Official Website
• Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell at IMDb
• Audience Tickets