Jimmy Fallon Ratings Shocker: Byron Allen’s ‘Comics Unleashed’ Beats ‘Tonight Show’

Byron Allen‘s Comics Unleashed reached a milestone Tuesday night (October 6), beating The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in both total viewers and the coveted 18-49 demographic for the first time.

According to LateNighter, citing Nielsen ratings data, the two back-to-back half-hour episodes of CBS’ Comics Unleashed drew 1.073 million total viewers and 161,000 demo viewers on Tuesday. Meanwhile, NBC’s The Tonight Show drew 1.018 million total viewers and 128,000 demo viewers across its hour.

As LateNighter noted, Comics Unleashed has an advantage by airing two half-hour episodes. Fallon’s hour-long show means his post-midnight numbers pull down his overall average, something that doesn’t affect Comics Unleashed.

For example, when you compare the two shows in half-hour chunks, the numbers look a little different. The Tonight Show drew 1.175 million viewers in the 11:35 pm to midnight section, beating Comics Unleashed‘s 1.073 million. Whereas, from midnight to 12:30, Comics Unleashed beat Fallon by 873,000 viewers to 848,000.

However, in the key 18-49 demo, Comics Unleashed won decisively. Its first half hour drew 161,000 viewers, compared to Fallon’s 128,000, and its second half hour drew 160,000, compared to Fallon’s 129,000.

Comics Unleashed, which replaced The Late Show with Stephen Colbert back in May, posted its best hour-long performance in total viewers and the key demo since its May 22 premiere. This Tuesday’s shows benefited from a strong lead-in from NCIS, which returned with new episodes.

This was up significantly from Monday’s (October 5) episodes of Comics Unleashed, jumping 33 percent in total viewers and 173 percent in the demo for the first half-hour and 42 percent in total viewers and 272 percent in the demo for the second half-hour.

Despite strong numbers for Comics Unleashed, they weren’t enough to knock ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the top spot. Kimmel’s show averaged 2.286 million total viewers and 234,000 demo viewers across its hour on Tuesday.

Even when broken into half-hours, Kimmel’s show still comfortably led its competition. Its first half-hour drew 2.787 million total viewers and 266,000 demo viewers, while its second drew 1.718 million total viewers and 198,000 demo viewers.