LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Fox News host and the beloved comedic entertainer Greg Gutfeld accomplished the unfathomable by taking the lead in the merciless race of late-night TV.
The network attempted to attack the previously monopolized pool of late-night shows with their own version of a late-night comedy special dubbed 'Gutfeld!'
It was not just a breath of new air for the country's right wing, but it also delivered something more than strictly political conversation. And it's all because of Gutfeld's sharp wit, which deftly assaults all sides.
'Gutfeld!' broke through the liberal-dominated late-night scene
It is almost unimaginable that late-night shows which have been on-air for years, some even decades, would fall back on retaining their crown as the big names of television.
But Greg Gutfeld took up that challenge and started hosting 'Gutfeld!' in April of 2021.
The show's in-house host and the network wanted to do things differently from other shows during the same hour and on Fox.
"I'm going to be living in their universe, talking about the same stuff but with different people and a different perspective and maybe a more subversive or surprising way of doing it," Gutfeld told USA Today.
A big motivation behind introducing this comedy talk show was to prove that Republicans can be funny as well. In an interview with Deadline, the Fox host revealed that his show was able to prove otherwise.
“We took an insult off the table, which was the right can’t be funny,” he said.
“...The people that were critical at the beginning of the launch have gone away, the alt comics. [They said] this thing’s not going to last. I don’t know where they went, but they sure aren’t talking anymore. What happened was that general comment has been debunked, and I think that’s probably a really big deal,” he added.
It didn't take long for Fox News' attempt to interest its audiences closer to bedtime.
Greg Gutfeld reaches new heights, leads ratings
Gutfeld only needed more than a year to gain the most viewers with his show, compared to the long-running shows of hosts like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon.
Last year in October, it was revealed that 'Gutfeld!' became the most-watched late-night show with 2.5 million viewers after lagging behind Stephen Colbert for months in the second spot.
Gutfeld was able to accomplish this despite the fact that he rarely invited high-profile celebs for interviews, which showed a significant shift in the demographics of the American audience.
Gutfeld told Deadline that he believes his show is for everyone and doesn't restrict itself to a certain political leaning.
“We just want to do a show that is fun,” he shared, “Politics will creep in there. I’m sure that if you’re sitting there with your liberal sister, she’s going to [say], ‘God, this guy is so nauseating.’ But I swear there’s something in that show that will make her laugh," says Gutfeld.
"We try to map out a show that has enough political stories, pop culture stories, silly stories and social interest, and we try and talk about the controversial [stories] in a different way,” he added.
Since Fox News' larger audience is primarily conservative, Gutfeld's show continues to have a purely conservative take. But since he calls himself a liberal, he never fails to question and even insult both sides of politics.
