The Soup' After 22 Years

E! to Can 'The Soup' After 22 Years

11.18.2015

After 22 years, E! is cancelling its late-night comedy talker, The Soup, which has been hosted by Joel McHale for the past 12 years. The series will come to an end on Friday, Dec. 18.

"We are incredibly proud of the long-running success of The Soup," said Jeff Olde, E! executive vice president of programming and development. "The Soup has delivered countless laughs and unforgettable episodes, and we are grateful to the talented team's fearless wit and clever approach week after week. Joel took the show to new heights for more than a decade, and his irreverent humor and unique brand of comedy as captured so perfectly on The Soup will be missed."

The Soup, which skewers pop culture with a mix of humor and sarcasm, launched in 1991 with Greg Kinnear, who went on to movie-star fame, hosting until 1995. John Henson took over from 1995 to 1999, and then Hal Sparks came on board from 1999-2000. Aisha Tyler, who now stars on CBS' The Talk, hosted from 2001-2002 and was the show's only female host.

The show then ended, and was revived in 2004 with McHale. In all, there have been 3,324 episodes of The Soup. The series' end seems to be coming a little soon, considering that in October 2014 McHale signed an extension that was to have him continue hosting the show through 2016, reports Variety, which also said that McHale's reps hadn't yet commented on the change in plans.

That same pact also had McHale's Free Period Productions developing unscripted series for E!, including last summer's The Comment Section.

McHale also starred on NBC's Community, which was canceled in 2014, and then moved to Yahoo for one season. McHale is scheduled to appear in Fox's reboot of The X-Files and expected to be in demand this pilot season, reports The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story.

The Soup is produced by Wilshire Studios with Joel McHale, KP Anderson and Ed Boyd serving as executive producers.