Wanda Sykes takes on Saturday night

In the history of television, almost all of the late-night hosts have been white males.

Oh, there have been exceptions. Like Arsenio Hall or Joan Rivers. But they were exceptions to the rule.

Wanda Sykes will be an exception to two rules when her show premieres Saturday night on Fox (10:30 p.m., Ch. 13). She's not white, and she's not male.

And she does have an opinion about why there haven't been more people of color hosting late-night talk shows.

"White people," she deadpanned. "There's too many of you."

"Not that we don't love you, though," interjected "Wanda Sykes Show" co-executive producer John Ridley. "Not that we don't love you."

(Co-executive producers have to be more diplomatic than comedians.)

But Sykes did admit that it has been somewhat frustrating that the genre has remained so white and so male.

"Yes, but I believe that eventually the cream rises to the top as long as you don't keep stirring the cup," she said.

"The Wanda Sykes Show" won't be going to head-to-head with Jay or Dave or Conan or Craig or Jimmy or the other Jimmy. A once-a-week show airing Saturdays, the idea is that it will be sort of a week-in-review.

"Well, we will be going over the week, basically," Sykes said. "I'm your wrap-up of what happened during the week, but from my point of view."

And as anyone who has ever seen Sykes' stand-up act can tell you, she definitely has her own point of view.

"I tend to say things that we think, but we won't say out loud," she said. "So maybe I don't think it's inappropriate. Maybe it's just honest, authentic."

This is not her first foray into talk shows. Sykes was a regular on "The Chris Rock Show" on HBO.

"We had a blast on that show," she said. "It was just so refreshing. And, of course, we were on HBO, so we did have the chance to say and do whatever we wanted to do and to be current.

"And I miss that. I miss that that's not out there now."

(The new show won't employ the same language. Yes, "Wanda" is on Fox and it is in late-night, but even Fox doesn't allow the f-bombs that fly on HBO.)

Sykes was not, however, out there pitching a talk show to the various networks. Fox — which was looking for something to replace the canceled "MAD TV" — pitched the idea to Sykes.

"I didn't really want to do a talk show. I didn't want to get back into that, because I was busy doing other things," said Sykes, who remains a regular on the CBS sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

Her initial reaction to Fox's pitch was, "That's not what I want to do right now," but she changed her mind during the 2008 election campaign.