Premiering on Comedy Central on July 29, 2019, the series featured discussions on popular culture topics between Spade and a rotating panel of guest comedians, as well as other filmed segments.
[1] The series was scheduled as a lead-out for The Daily Show; since the conclusion of The Colbert Report, the timeslot had seen several short-lived attempts at Daily Show spin-offs focusing on other cast members, such as The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, which both faced low viewership.
[3][1] Network president Kent Alterman argued that viewers were being fatigued by the extensive focus on politics and the Trump administration on other late night shows, with Spade saying that his show would focus more on "cultural events and some Hollywood stuff, [and] weird stories in the news" rather than primarily focus on political humor.
[2] On August 14, 2019, Spade brought in comedian Lara Beitz to do the first stand-up spot on the show after watching her perform in Los Angeles, which took the place of his closing monologue.
On April 3, 2020, Comedy Central announced that they would not renew Lights Out, but that it was open to selling the show to another network; the program had only been able to retain roughly half of its audience from The Daily Show (which, as a partial replacement, began producing expanded 45-minute episodes beginning April 27).