‘After 18 Months, It’s Become Appointment Viewing’

Last week, Fox News Channel’s late night show Gutfeld! marked its sixth consecutive week as the most-watched show in all of late night, beating CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live—with FNC outpacing the broadcast networks even through their fall premieres. So what explains the ratings power of a show that only debuted a year ago?

“I think after 18 months it’s become appointment viewing,” said Tom O’Connor, executive producer of Gutfeld! “Part of the reason for that is the audience has really connected with some of the new guests we’ve introduced them to, but also they’ve gotten to see some FNC stars let their hair down for an hour.”

Wednesday night, one of those stars was Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy, who drew a long laugh and some oooooohs with his joke that Democrats were “haunted by the idea of a red wave, while Bill Clinton is haunted by the idea of a blue dress.”

Night after night, Gutfeld! gives viewers a late night version of The Five with an even more bizarre group of guests, like putting a Fox News fixture like Doocy alongside Fox News contributors Kat Timpf and George Murdoch (better known by his wrestling name, Tyrus), and actor and comedian Terrence K. Williams. This week’s guests even included Jared Kushner, awkwardly casual in a black crew-neck sweater and jeans.

“You see someone like Dana Perino or Brian Kilmeade being funny in their own right, sharing the stage with longtime comedians like Jamie Lissow or Joe Devito, and it just works,” said O’Connor. “And of course the success has a lot to do with Greg, Kat, and Tyrus being unafraid to speak their mind, cause they’ve usually got something unexpected and hilarious to say. In the end, it’s really a testament to Fox News for having the guts to give them, and the show and the producers, that freedom.”

Last week, Gutfeld! was the only late night program on TV to draw an average audience of more than 2 million viewers (Colbert had a total audience of 1.867 million, Fallon drew 1.481 million and Kimmel had 1.3 million). Comedy Central’s The Daily Show was nowhere near, with a total audience of 349,000 viewers.

“Without question it’s a great spot for us writers and producers, to be given the space to take some comedic risks (whether in Greg’s monologues or the skits),” O’Connor said. “Which seems a little more rare these days in traditional late night. I really do think the audience recognizes that and can appreciate it. Whether they like a certain joke or not, they respect that we’re one of the only places doing it.”