The Tonight Show landed its biggest audience in years as Jimmy Fallon hosted Fox News personality Greg Gutfeld last Thursday.
The episode drew in 1.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day figures. It was the program’s most-watched “regular” broadcast — meaning not airing directly after a major sporting event — since December 19, 2023, when a post-The Voice finale episode attracted 1.74 million viewers.
Some of Thursday’s viewers may be attributed to the night’s lead guest, the Jonas Brothers; however, it’s Gutfeld’s segment that boasts by far the most viewers on the show’s YouTube channel (990,000 at the time of writing).
During the highly anticipated interview, Fallon and Gutfeld steered clear of politics, instead bantering about their first drunken meeting at a bar in New York City.
“This is hilarious — we've met before,” Fallon opened with. “Yes, you have no memory of it. Which is understandable, because we were wasted,” Gutfeld responded before launching into a long-winded anecdote about their meeting.
The host of Fox’s politically charged comedy panel show, Gutfeld!, alluded to his then-upcoming appearance with Fallon last week, saying it would be the “biggest crossover since the Harlem Globetrotters visited the Golden Girls.”
“Unlike the other guys, Jimmy sitting with me proves he’s not afraid of upsetting his peers or afraid of my mesmerizing charm,” he added.
Fallon has shown his willingness to be pragmatic about humoring the right in the past, infamously hosting Donald Trump in September 2016, two months before his victory over Hillary Clinton, and ruffling the New York property tycoon’s blonde hair to check whether it was real.
The gesture alienated some of The Tonight Show’s audience, and Fallon later expressed regret over it, telling The New York Times in 2017: “I didn’t do it to humanize him. I almost did it to minimize him. I didn’t think that would be a compliment: ‘He did the thing that we all wanted to do.’”
Trump himself was angered over Fallon’s “whimpering” attempts to distance himself from the interview, rebuking him on Twitter: “Be a man Jimmy!”
By contrast, Trump has long been a champion of Gutfeld, posting a Fox press release celebrating his high ratings on Truth Social last September and writing in all-caps: “GUTFELD! NOTCHES LARGEST AUDIENCE IN PROGRAM HISTORY WITH NEARLY FIVE MILLION VIEWERS DURING INTERVIEW WITH FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.”
When fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert’s show was axed last month, the president wrote: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”
Gutfeld likewise gloated over The Late Show’s demise, commenting on Fox: “This was an ‘institution,’ and rather than put someone in his place they just said, ‘We’re closing up.’ Imagine being a chef. You’re such a bad chef that they cancel food… It’s so obvious. You can’t do a comedy show and a sermon at the same time.”
Jimmy Kimmel says second Trump term is ‘so much worse’ as he reveals he has Italian citizenship
Stephen Colbert jokes about joining Netflix following The Late Show cancellation
Fox News’ Kat Timpf praised for taking the lead on Gutfeld! in host’s absence
Stephen King reveals his perfect ending to the ‘Trump horror story’
Jimmy Kimmel says second Trump term ‘so much worse’ as he reveals Italian citizenship
Brian Cox on why Donald Trump ‘is a very good example of a villain’
