Hollywood-based Lilly Singh is a YouTube star in India
A Little Late with Lilly Singh started a second season early this morning on NBC, the U.S. TV broadcast network. It is indeed a little late - a late-night talk show which airs at 1:35 am local time, from Monday to Thursday.
Singh, 32, who is 5’ 5”, displays her Punjabi and Indian heritage, including using Punjabi and Hindi phrases in her shows. In the first episode that aired this morning, Singh plays Kamala Harris, the vice-president-elect of the United States. In one segment, Singh wonders if, as in some Indian families, Harris faced comparisons to more successful cousins.
As part of the promotion for her current NBC series, Singh published a video on YouTube showing her home in Los Angeles where the new episodes are being filmed. One room has a swing and a bar, with a large sign with the words Chak De, raise the roof in Punjabi, behind the bar.
Singh shows the pool and a tree house in the yard. While describing the basketball court, she makes a sexual joke that, during the current isolation due to COVID-19, the court offers the only chance “to get it in.”
The first series was promoted by other NBC hosts, including comedian Jimmy Fallon on his Late Night Show. The second season is being similarly promoted on other NBC TV shows.
The episodes from the current season may soon also be shown in India. In September 2019, Singh’s first season was aired in India about a week after its debut on NBC in the U.S. NBC, Disney and other American media companies view India as the biggest potential market for many of their shows. The bulk of viewers for Singh’s videos are from India.
During the first NBC season, which had 97 episodes, Singh’s guests included actors Mindy Kaling and Charlize Theron and social activist Malala Yousafzai. She filmed the episodes over a three-month period, at times shooting two episodes a day to make time for her other creative ventures.
Singh has her own YouTube channel with 15 million subscribers. Several of her videos are viewed by millions. For instance, her video Back to School Shopping with Cheap Parents, has gotten 22 million views. Earlier in 2014, she launched a YouTube series Giving Back Glam.
In 2017, Singh published a book, How to be a Bawse: the Guide to Conquering Life, which was a bestseller. A year later, she released her first feature film A Trip to Unicorn Island. Earlier, she acted in the film Dr. Cabbie. She is also a rapper.
In 2019, Singh tweeted that she is bi-sexual. “The very next meet-and-greet that I did after coming out was in India, and I would say 50 percent of people in that line came out to me. To me, that is a success,” Lilly said.
Celebrity gossip sites report that she once dated Yousef Erakat, a Palestinian-American who collaborated with her on some YouTube videos. Epic Valentine Day’s Rap Battle, one of their rap duets, has gotten over 9 million views.
Singh’s net worth is said to be over $20 million. She was born in Scarborough, a town near Toronto, Canada. She was raised as a Sikh by her parents, Malwinder and Sukhwinder Singh, who emigrated from Hoshiyarpur, Punjab. Lilly has a BA in Psychology from York University.
In a video tweeted last week to her 5.5 million followers, Singh says she had to deal with frustration, “low esteem” and other personal problems. She then lists five changes that helped her “be a happier person.” They include the simple mantra, chant, “Take control of your life by asking What kind of life do you want to live?”
