Late Night Has Abandoned Conservative Guests And Viewers
Late-night television has abandoned right-leaning guests. The programs have dissociated with one-half of the country.
A NewsBusters study this week scoured over the guest lists of the following programs:
And it turned out that the liberal bias across the genre is more prevalent than even critics declare.
From Labor Day through Jan. 31, the above six late-night programs featured 93 liberal guests to just 1 conservative guest.
93 to 1.
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell was the sole conservative to make the cut. Lindell recently appeared with Kimmel in a claw machine while the host derided him for his commentary on the 2020 election.
Jimmy Kimmel on ABC.
Not once since at least September has a Republican politician appeared in late-night. Yet, their Democrat counterparts have done so 27 times.
Johnny Carson and Jay Leno and David Letterman instilled late-night comedy into the fiber of the entertainment industry. Viewers never knew their politics. They didn't care. They stayed up late for a laugh, witty coverage of the news, and appearance from A-list celebrities.
Today, the genre is a shell of its former self. The current batch of hosts are hardly distinguishable from anchors on CNN and MSNBC.
Now, perhaps the politicized climate has made it difficult to ignore political discourse. But adopting such a staunch liberal bias remains a questionable approach.
Traditional late-night programs are in a rat race to maximize one sole demographic, leaving a notable niche uncatered.
Half of America is that niche.
The abandonment of non-liberal viewers has propelled "Gutfeld" to the No. 2 program in late-night, despite airing in far fewer homes on cable. (Fox News Channel and OutKick share the same parent company.)
The below chart ranks the programming from Jan .30 to Feb. 5:
Elsewhere, "SNL" has also disregarded those who are of an ardent liberal worldview.
Last week, OutKick reported that "SNL" is refusing to make fun of Joe Biden. The Biden character has appeared on the show just once during the current season, which debuted on Oct. 1, 2022.
The sketch "comedy" show is instead focused on Donald Trump, Kari Lake, Fox News, and George Santos.
The program has yet to even parody Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents. Note: the show found time to include Trump's handling of classified documents during several cold opens last year.
Of course, it did.
So, Colbert, "SNL," Fallon, and the other lackeys are far from comedic figures. They are left-wing propagandists.
They are predictable, hyper-partisan, not all that bright, and certainly not humorous.
Such is a shame because the current state of American culture provides endless fodder for satire. Both the right and the left have become content gold.
However, there's an evident fear to satirize the wrong person or group in our hyper-sensitive culture.
As we wrote in a column titled "American Culture is Satire and We Aren't allowed to Laugh" last fall:
"American society has become satire. The word “woman” is in dispute. A term called “equity” has become a tool to ooze racism against white people. A hack bureaucrat uprooted the country on the basis of a virus he likely helped fund.
And yet, there’s a growing scarcity of shows and personalities willing to parody the insanities of our culture.
The comedic industry is fearful — fearful of sparking outrage. The industry at large has preemptively succumbed to the mob.
“Performers used to clap themselves on the back for that killer joke that drew “oohs” from the crowd. Today, they just hope no one in the crowd calls them bigoted on social media."
https://twitter.com/burackbobby_/status/1577685890050170883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1577685890050170883%7Ctwgr%5Ef3071ec3d2cd8d6e13c57f0f6a9c946f2b54eb25%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outkick.com%2Fsnl-is-afraid-to-satirize-biden-remains-focused-on-trump%2F.
Never before has there been more material for comedy. Yet there's never been fewer voices willing to satirize the oddities of society.
Shout out to former Biden nuclear official Sam Brinton, a real-life, living "SNL" character.
Ultimately, late-night television would rather appease critics and activists than amuse the general public. Thereby most so-called comedians focus merely on Donald Trump, white people, and Karens.
No has ever been canceled for insulting said figures.
The consequence of such cowardice is a 93-1 liberal guest advantage. And the following. Whatever the following is:
"Comedy."
Late-night television has abandoned conservative guests. As well as conservative viewers.