Not Hiring a Woman for Late Night Is "Like Leaving a Bag of Money in the Street": Aisha Tyler's Take Is Everything

"It was such an opportunity to counterprogram" she says of all the recent exits

As David Letterman bows out tonight for good, and we prepare for Stephen Colbert to step in (Sept. 8), we can't help but pause and wonder once again what would have happened if CBS had taken a chance on a new host who looked a little different. Especially after chatting with the funny and talented Aisha Tyler, who believes that hiring a host who is not a white male will of course happen--because it's the smart thing to do. And whose name has come up in the late-night-shuffle conversation for years now.

Of course, everyone knows Colbert is a national treasure, and most likely, he will slay in his new Late Late Show spot, which premieres Sept. 8. But CBS' choice of Colbert also means that the late night lineup remains remarkably homogenous, as it has for decades. In just the past few years, of course, Leno went out. Jimmy Fallon came in. Seth Myers came in. Craig Ferguson went out. James Corden came in. Letterman went out. Colbert came in.

Here's Aisha Tyler's take on the issue, which you can also see in the video below:

"It's been really flattering that friends and the Internet, and also Slate and Vogue and Esquire--a lot of people were mentioning [me for late night]. Honestly, I would love to have that job someday for sure. It's crazy to think a woman couldn't do it and do it successfully. It's madness. Right now I have a podcast called Girl on Guy that's 70 percent male audience and it's raunchy and it's edgy and it's funny. I think it'd translate beautifully into that space. I don't have room for another job right now. My dance card is full. But I'd love to get into that eventually someday.

"And you know what's interesting to me, just completely neutrally as an observer? To me it was such an opportunity to counterprogram late night. Of course it would work. It's about finding the right person. But honestly, when everybody looks the same in late night, and you put up somebody who looks different, you would immediately, immediately just benefit from standing out from the crowd. You wouldn't just bring people who were curious, you'd bring all kinds of people who don't watch late night because they don't see anyone who looks different or appeals to them in a different way.

"So to me it's like leaving a bag of money in the street, honestly. But we'll see. We'll see. I think somebody's gonna do it. And when they do it, everybody else is gonna be like, 'Why didn't we do that first?'"

Thoughts on when someone will pick up that bag of money? Hit the comments...