Jon Stewart Explains ‘Relentless’ Greg Gutfeld’s Success Over Liberal Late Night Shows
Jon Stewart broke down why he believes Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld is topping late-night shows in the ratings while arguing conservatives are shooting themselves in the foot by targeting left-leaning media.
On the latest episode of The Weekly Show, Stewart answered some fan questions, including one on whether President Donald Trump could target shows “with a conservative bias.”
“Right now? No!” Stewart said, shocked.
The Daily Show host noted that the current head of the FCC, Brendan Carr, has been “shit posting” about Stephen Colbert, whose show was axed by CBS earlier this month.
Colbert’s cancellation was announced shortly before Paramount (which owns CBS) and Skydance got final approval on their merger. Colbert supporters have tried tying Colbert’s cancellation to the merger, as well as a settlement Paramount reached with Trump after he sued them over CBS’s reporting.
Trump celebrated Colbert’s pink slip. Paramount claimed the decision came down due to costs.
“The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing,” Carr posted to X. “They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal [Democratic National Committee] spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics.”
Stewart told his Weekly Show producer Brittany Mehmedovic that right-wing influencers celebrating the end of liberal media they’re opposed to is illogical since the popularity of many conservative pundits and influencers is based on the outlets and liberal figures they opposed. Stewart used Gutfeld and his success as his prime example.
“That’s how Fox is popular. That’s how any of these people — you know, they all talk about, Gutfeld’s the most popular. Yeah. He’s not popular because he’s a both-sides guy. He’s not a fair use, like, the fairness doctrine says, like, he’s relentless. And, you know, after a day of watching Fox News and being bathed in their very purposeful propaganda, it’s a great way to top off the night,” he said, busting out a Jay Leno impression to contrast the typically non-political comedian with Gutfeld.
Gutfeld benefits from an earlier timeslot — 10 p.m. E.T. — than network late-night shows, but his ratings also run far ahead of other evening talk shows. Colbert saw a bump in the ratings after his cancellation announcement, pulling in 2.4 million viewers just days after, a healthy bump from an average that was sitting around 1.9 million. Gutfeld, however, also saw ratings gains in the same period and drew 3.1 million on Colbert’s 2.4 million night.
“The whole thing is fucking ridiculous. And if you look at the social media profiles of all the people that complain about the left-wing bias, they’re all right-wing influencers,” Stewart said. “They all make their money, their entire economy is based on how willing they are to attack, and defame and to crush liberals.”
Stewart revealed on a recent episode of The Weekly Show that he has confidence in the future of The Daily Show, but he’s also heard nothing solid amid Paramount’s merger. Paramount is also the parent company behind Comedy Central.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from them. They haven’t called me and said, ‘Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart,'” he said. “But let me tell you something, I’ve been kicked out of shittier establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet. I honestly don’t know.”
Watch above via The Weekly Show.
