Katie Nolan Is Finally Back on Television and Everything Is Better

Always Late with Katie Nolan finally made its debut on ESPN2 and the world is a happier place for it

KATIE NOLAN IS FINALLY BACK ON MY TELEVISION AND EVERYTHING IS BETTER. It’s been a couple years, but Katie is back.

Okay, fine. Technically Nolan was already sort of on television — if you count streaming. Always Late with Katie Nolan debuted one year ago on ESPN+, the sports conglomerate’s standalone streaming service. And it was great but always impossible to find. ESPN buried it behind an endless stream of SEC softball games, ping-pong reruns, and Kobe Bryant Detail videos. Maybe I’m just old, and I realize we stream everything now, but it’s good to have Katie Nolan back on real, actual, I-can-set-my-DVR-for-it, live television.

Always Late made its real-deal ESPN debut Thursday night, or maybe Friday morning, depending on your time zone. Season 2 premiered at 11:30pm CT Thursday on ESPN2, then re-aired overnight on ESPN News at 1:30am, then again at 4:30am back on ESPN2. And yeah, you’re darn right I DVRed and then watched all three of them, #fortheratings. Everyone does their part.

This was the first time Nolan’s own show was back on “real” TV since February 2017, when Garbage Time was prematurely canceled because Fox Sports sucks. RIP, Garbage Time. It was a great show and one on which Nolan won a Sports Emmy in 2016, a fact which she gleefully (and rightfully) reminds viewers of often so we can celebrate with her.

Nolan was brilliant on Garbage Time. She’s funny and sharp-witted, edgy and smart. Katie Nolan is fierce and awesome and a voice we need on television. She is an important woman’s voice in sports, but you know what else? She’s an important voice in sports, period. No modifier needed.

Katie tells it like it is and says things others won’t. Nolan called out the Dallas Cowboys when they kept Greg Hardy around after he assaulted his ex-girlfriend. Then she was one of the most important voices in the Ray Rice saga when she said this — seriously, stop reading and watch:

Nolan didn’t waste any time jumping into things in Season 2. There was the usual opening monologue with a flurry of jokes. We got an Emmy reference, a Rex Ryan pun, even a load management joke — though I don’t think we got any Urban Meyer in this episode. Come on, Katie.

And then Nolan got into the meat of her show. Much like John Oliver on Last Week Tonight, a big chunk of Nolan’s show typically goes to one main topic for the week, and she usually doesn’t mess around. For the Season 2 premiere, it was alcohol and sporting events, two things Nolan is certainly no stranger to. But it’s a different story than you’d expect, and like Oliver’s weekly rants, it’s both edgy and edge-ucational. You learn something every week from Katie, and it’s something that matters.

And of course you have a little fun. Almost the entire B-block Thursday was a live-action Mario Kart race with several of Katie’s ESPN friends, including the wonderfully talented Mina Kimes who coasted her way to a win as Luigi. Amin Elhassen finished a distant third as Bowser. Jeff Gordon ain’t walking through that door, Amin. Richard Petty ain’t walking through that door.

Nolan’s show obviously has commercials now, but I think it’s better that way. This is a little more bite-sized, and the occasional cutaways help break up Katie’s segments a bit. We got a late segment comparing random news headlines to sports stories, including Jaguars defender Jalen Ramsey being compared to a woman biting a camel’s testicles. Obviously. As always, Nolan carefully cozies right up to the line… then tiptoes smugly past it with that guilty kid-in-the-cookie-jar look on her face and moves on to the next joke.

If all that’s not enough, never forget that a 10-year-old Katie Nolan won a gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1997 Junior Olympics. It’s true, and it has absolutely nothing to do with anything — I just thought you should know.

Katie Nolan is back on television, and our lives are already better for it.

Always Late with Katie Nolan airs Thursdays at 11:30pm CT on ESPN2. Next week it also re-airs overnight at 1:30am on ESPN2 and at 2:30am on ESPN News. Set your DVR for all three and keep Katie on the air this time.

Every week, Nolan ends her show with a little moment of zen. Mine got cut off on all three DVR recordings, the way Dennis Miller ought to.

2019 is ridiculous and weird and often terrible.

Katie Nolan, you are our weekly moment of zen. Welcome back. ■

This is not the first time I’ve written about Katie Nolan, and it won’t be the last. I stan. Follow Brandon on Medium or @wheatonbrando for more sports, television, humor, and culture. Visit the rest of Brandon’s writing archives here.