Late Night Guests Are Liberal 94% Of The Time, According To Study

A NewsBusters study reviewed the five daily late-night comedy shows since their return from the writers' strike nine months ago to confirm or debunk whether a political bias exists.  

The watchdog recorded each political guest who has appeared on the following programs from October 2, 2023, to June 27, 2024: ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

The results: 94% of guests were liberal. Just eight conservative guests have appeared on any of the five shows since October, compared to 137 liberal guests.

MRC analysts also divided the guests into two categories: partisan officials and then journalists and celebrities. In terms of partisan officials, 34 Democrats to five Republicans.

"Colbert led with the greatest cumulative discrepancy at 14-1. Kimmel’s count was 7-0, Meyer’s was 3-0, and Fallon’s was 1-0. The Daily Show came in at 9-4," details the report.

Credit where it's due, late-night television has actually toned down the disparity in liberal-to-conservative guests compared to last year  – by 1%, that is.

Media Research Center also analyzed each of the 9,518 political jokes told on late-night television in 2023, finding that 81% of jokes targeted conservatives.

Late-night's pivot to overt partisan politics coincided with Donald Trump's first run for president in 2016. The pivot also coincided with rapid viewership declines – which continue today. 

"In 2024, CBS’ "Late Show' is down 8% in total viewers compared to the first six months of 2023 for the biggest decline of the trio, while NBC’s ‘Tonight Show’ is down 12% for the biggest loss among the key demographic ages of 25-54 during the same period," Fox News Digital reported earlier this month.

Moreover, ad revenue for the top five late-night shows is also down more than 60% in 2016, according to Axios. 

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 05:  Dr. Anthony Fauci and Stephen Colbert are seen walking into a Duane Reade Pharmacy on October 5, 2022 in New York City.  (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)

As a result, the long-term viability of late-night television is a question. The programs require hefty investments in talent salaries and production costs, but no longer provide lucrative returns. 

Notably, CBS canceled The Late Late Show last year after a 30-year run as it started to lose, on average, $20 million a year.

Already, industry insiders are looking ahead to 2026 when Jimmy Kimmel's contract expires with ABC. Kimmel, who makes around $15 million a year, told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year he plans to step down from late night at the end of his contract.

A name to watch: Stephen A. Smith.

The ESPN host has openly campaigned to succeed Kimmel. "I am interested in doing late night," Stephen A. told Sean Hannity on Fox News. "I would love to be the heir apparent to Jimmy Kimmel. I believe I could do it.

Could Stephen A. add much-needed juice to late-night television? I am not sure that he's funny enough. Then again, funny is no longer a prerequisite to hosting a late-night television show:

Conversely, Gutfeld! on the Fox News Channel is on track to have its most-watched year in program history by averaging 2.3 million viewers in the last quarter, well outpacing each of the five late-night shows mentioned in the study in viewership.

Gutfeld! recently interviewed Bill Maher as a counter perspective.

Disclosure: Fox News and OutKick share common ownership.