Jon Stewart Gives Verdict on Greg Gutfeld’s Fox News Show
The Daily Show host Jon Stewart has explained why he thinks Greg Gutfeld is having such success on Fox News, while also saying conservatives are shooting themselves in the foot by targeting left-leaning media.
On the most recent episode of The Weekly Show podcast, Stewart answered various fan questions, including one about whether President Donald Trump could target TV shows “with a conservative bias.”
“Right now? No!” Stewart said, per Mediaite, before turning his attention to how the current head of the FCC, Brendan Carr, has been “s*** posting” about Stephen Colbert.
Last month, Colbert told his viewers that CBS had canceled The Late Show, which will air its final episode in May 2026. CBS cited financial reasons; however, others speculated that the decision was made due to Colbert’s criticism of Paramount’s recent settlement with President Trump. This comes amid Paramount’s proposed merger with Skydance, which requires regulatory approval from the Trump administration.
“The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing,” Carr posted on X in July. “They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal [Democratic National Committee] spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics.”
Stewart told Weekly Show producer Brittany Mehmedovic that this celebration about the death of liberal media from Carr and others is illogical, noting how the success of conservative voices on TV shows and social media is due to their opposition to left-wing figures.
“That’s how Fox is popular,” Stewart stated. “That’s how any of these people, you know, they all talk about, [Greg] Gutfeld’s the most popular. Yeah. He’s not popular because he’s a both-sides guy. He’s not a fair use, like, the fairness doctrine says, like, he’s relentless. And, you know, after a day of watching Fox News and being bathed in their very purposeful propaganda, it’s a great way to top off the night.”
Despite airing on cable, Gutfeld! continues to dominate the late-night ratings wars, topping its broadcast rivals. For the second quarter of 2025, the Fox News show averaged 3.289 million viewers, compared to The Late Show with 2.417 million, Jimmy Kimmel Live! with 1.772 million, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with 1.188 million.
“The whole thing is f***ing ridiculous,” Stewart continued. “And if you look at the social media profiles of all the people that complain about the left-wing bias, they’re all right-wing influencers. They all make their money, their entire economy is based on how willing they are to attack and defame and to crush liberals.”
As for whether The Daily Show is in danger of a similar fate to The Late Show (Paramount is also the parent company of Comedy Central), Stewart recently said he doesn’t know, but he isn’t worried.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from [Paramount]. They haven’t called me and said, ‘Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart,'” he said on a recent episode of The Weekly Show. “But let me tell you something, I’ve been kicked out of s***tier establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet. I honestly don’t know.”
The Daily Show, Weeknights, 11/10c, Comedy Central, Next-Day Streaming on Paramount+
Gutfeld, Weeknights, 10 pm ET/CT, Fox
Conversation24 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed on this story.
-
G
Jon Stewart, like canceled Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon are all jealous. Each pissed off half of their audiences by their constant, daily Trump bashing. Basketball great Michael Jordan was asked why he did not publicly endorse Obama for president, he said “I’m smart enough to know Republicans buy my shoes too.”
20 17
-
O
Would disagree due Trump being deeply unpopular. I would point to South Park's recent success as evidence of how many Americans want to see Trump taken down.
4
-
-
D
Gutfeld is a prime time show, not late night. It airs at 10pm eastern time. The others air after the 11pm local newscast.
2
-
O
Stewart better rethink what is propaganda! It might 1, 2 or even 3years but when evidence confirms what has been broadcast on Fox the other networks seem to be surprised! At some time he needs to start digging deeper for the truth or he is just another mouthpiece of the left!
2 1
-
S
All you have to do is mention Trump in a headline, doesn't matter if it's left wing or right wing, it draws viewers. Don't believe it, just look at any of the Youtube channels of influencers and late night TV shows, when Trump is in the title they get 3 to 10 times the usual views. Trump creates engagement because we have a constant barrage of things our president says and does. He's providing content to them on the daily. What a guy, lol. Our president has been on blast since 2015 and it's making everyone a lot of money. At this point, who can blame them for bashing or praising him, either makes for engagement and therefore more ad dollars to pay for business expenses. And as mentioned in this article, if one goes away, all that's left is a boring echo chamber. Hello, America, you're two sides of the same coin, and we love to bicker. I have to just comment, loyalists with no expertise in running important organizations are not good for our country, we need expertise first, and this goes for both parties, I don't want Bernie loyalists either, but good thing about Bernie, he wouldn't put in loyalists, he wants to be informed properly, not have his feet kissed.
-
C
I'll just leave this here, and you can squirm and stutter and try to come up with some nonsense to tell me what a good person Garfield is.
3 3
-
P
So what? Cause he got an award for 9/11 that makes him a middle of the road guy. What’s your point
1
-
-
G
"all the people that complain about the left-wing bias, they’re all right-wing influencers. They all make their money."
And he makes his money complaining about the right and the normal. People in glass houses, right, Stewie?
But the one thing everyone gets wrong is that Greg is on at 10:00. That's prime time, not late night, unless you call Hill Street Blues, ER, and Falcon Crest late night shows as well.
10 10
-
O
The difference is Jon Stewart has gone after Democrats too. It's not his fault that the overabundance of material to mock is coming from the Republican party and they're such fragile little snowflakes that they would make it a pre-requisite to approve a merger to have the company fire one of their top performers because they didn't like what he said. It's not for economic reasons and Brendan Carr is well aware of that fact and is practically gloating about it. Jon Stewart does have a valid point though. If Trump's FCC eliminates all the "liberal media", then the right will be left with NOTHING. Unlike Stewart, their entire existence is based on tearing down Democrats and people who they don't agree with. You take away the common enemy and all you're left with is an echo chamber. Look at X and Elon. When they don't have "the other" to hate on, they end up turning on each other. Personally, I can't wait for that moment.
12 5
-
B
Respectfully, I think you are missing his point. He’s not saying it’s bad to go after left-leaning influencers. He’s saying that, if that’s why you are popular and you censor them and kick them off the air, you are hurting your own ratings because their won’t be anyone to go after.
2 1
-
O
Stewart has been critical of folks like Obama in the past, and when Fox brought it up previously, Stewart replies by telling Fox that this is what it is to be fair and balanced (Fox's tagline).
2 2
-
-
P
The truth is not "propaganda." Jon, doesn't understand no one wants to listen to the Democrats lie to our faces. It is over.
12 14
-
O
You are right, propaganda is not about the truth. That is why lies are the weapon of choice in creating propaganda. Right wing media's entire focus is to dismantle the truth to win over as many people as possible, and it works. In a country that has always run on more truth than lies it's an easy target to tear down. "It's way easier to kick down a barn then it is to build one".. and too many people don't realize that the right have no plans to build anything, their only plan is to control of everything.
10 11
-
-
R
The sheer glee you express trying to own the left. Cruelty towards fellow Americans as well as painting all immigrants as murderers and rapist and standing by as Trumps Gestapo grab then at immigration court and Home Depot. Cruelty to take away SNAP and Medicaid. USAID need I go on. You worship cruelty and hate.
10 12
-
O
Exactly!!! History will show this to be one of the most horrific displays of insensitivity that the world has ever seen. Just the idea of food sitting there and rotting on a dock somewhere only miles away from children starving to death basiclly says it all.
1 3
-
-
C
Gutfield is successful because old people tend to be conservative. Old people tend to watch a lot more broadcast and cable TV than young people. Even the 30-somethings who watch Colbert probably watch his stuff on YouTube not on TV. YouTube advertising is not going to pay network television rates. CBS is losing so much money in late night that it would be better off running infomercials.
6 9
-
O
Colbert average viewer is 68 years old. His guests are news anchors and cable guests frequently.
3 1
-
O
Old people can stay up long enough to watch Gutfield? Please.
1
-
P
Totally false. You need to look at the. Nielsen ratings and demographics
1
-
R
Old people need to go into the light where Jesus can dispel all of that Faux News delulu.
2
-
-
P
You are jealous because gatfield has ratings.
8 13
-
B
It’s Garfield dummy!
5 1
-
O
That's something Greg GUTFELD's mother would say. You know, you would be more credible if you could actually spell the name of the man you're so vigorously defending. I'm willing to bet you've never watched GUTFELD's show and probably don't even know who he is. All you need to know is he's from Fox News and a right-wing commentator and immediately you get the Bat Signal to troll the comment boards.
2 2
-
B
Yes, it’s jealousy. Not the fact that the US Government is censoring network TV shows it disagrees with. Imagine if Obama put a news censor on Fox News.
6 5
-