Greg Gutfeld is a pretty funny guy. He’s the late-night host on Fox News, which makes him the most well-watched comedian of cable news. Yours truly has been on the show before, and really enjoyed the opportunity to reach such an audience — on the merits, it’s the biggest audience there is, as far as late night goes.
So, it makes sense that one late-night great would recognize another. To that end, late-night host Jimmy Fallon hosted Gutfeld recently on his show.
Gutfeld is a very funny man, and he’s also successful — which is why Fallon had him on. In fact, Gutfeld bears the moniker “king of late night” because his audience, on the conservative news channel Fox News, is higher than his competitors’. It’s a no-brainer for Fallon to host him, as a kind of friendly mutual promotion.
And yet, liberal mainstream media figures are furious that Fallon did this. Just look at the headlines:
“Jimmy Fallon kisses the conservative ring,” said Vulture, as if bothering to engage a conservative was an explicit endorsement of everything the conservative thinks.
The Daily Beast spun it this way: “Jimmy Fallon Fawns All Over MAGA Late-Night Host Greg Gutfeld in Softball Chat” — as if a humorous late-night show needs to be some vicious skewering of non-liberal perspectives.
And of course, what remains of BuzzFeed was eager to attack Fallon for daring to platform Gutfeld. “This Seals It For Me”: People Are Completely Turning On Jimmy Fallon For His Recent Talk Show Guest, And It’s Not Pretty.”
Remember back when this clickbait tripe actually mattered? When liberals rewarded BuzzFeed-esque content farming with millions of page views? When easily triggered progressives ruled the discourse with an iron fist? Well, those days are over.
Now, no one cares what the pearl-clutching liberals of BuzzFeed have to say. Gutfeld has a bigger audience—and for what it’s worth, good on Gutfeld for being willing to platform alternative voices. They didn’t talk about politics, and that’s OK. Not everything needs to be a political confrontation.
Gutfeld, for his part, was incredibly magnanimous, and thanked Fallon for having the guts to have him on. It seems like Fallon understands that late night is losing ground, and if he wants to avoid becoming unprofitable and unsuccessful and ultimately unemployable, like the perennially unfunny Stephen Colbert, then he needs to innovate a bit. I’m happy to see it, and probably the country’s millions of conservatives were as well. More of this, please!
Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.
