Report: Late-Night Hosts Are Partisan Hacks, Not Entertainers

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This combination of photos shows from left, Stephen Colbert on May 1, 2017 in New York, Jimmy Fallon in Jan. 12, 2014 in Beverly Hills, Calif., and Conan O’Brien on May 16, 2018, in New York. Colbert’s “The Late Show” on CBS and Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” on NBC began Tuesday, June 26, 2018, with the taped segment in which the hosts video chatted about comments Trump made about them at Monday’s South Carolina rally. Fallon said he heard Trump said they were “all not talent, lowlifes, lost souls.” Colbert said that was TBS host Conan O’Brien, who appeared while shaving and said he didn’t realize Trump had become president. (Invision/AP Photos)
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What’s worse than being an unfunny late-night television show host? Answer: Being an unfunny late-night television show host who also happens to be a political partisan hack. Unfortunately, this is what American consumers of TV are being fed every night. 

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University released the results of a study finding that late night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon went after President Trump 97 percent of the time in September. The study, which was published on Monday, revealed that the alleged comedians made 455 jokes about President Trump while only poking fun at former Vice President Joe Biden 14 times last month. 

The study did not include an additional 64 jokes about Trump’s family or members of his administration. 

The Associated Press noted that previous research revealed that these comics tend to mock Republicans more than Democrats. But this particular study showed an even wider gap between. During the 2016 campaign, the alleged comedians directed 78 percent of their jokes at Trump while only mocking Clinton 22 percent of the time. 

Robert Lichter, a communications professor at George Mason University explained this new trend to the Associated Press. “When Trump’s onstage, everyone else is blacked out,” he offered. “I think they will find a way to keep making jokes about Trump, even after he leaves office.”

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Of course, none of this is a surprise as progressives dominate the airwaves and entertainment industry. It’s also worth noting that Fallon, in particular, might be going harder at the president because he was lambasted by the left for daring to humanize Trump when he tousled his hair on one of his episodes. 

But it is also important to note another non-surprise: Ratings for late night television have been plummeting over the past few years. In 2019, the Hollywood Reporter noted the downward trend, but they didn’t indicate why this has happened. 

There might be a reason for that. 

Perhaps Americans have grown wear of the constant politicking on their televisions. Politics has crept into so many different types of programming that it would make sense for people to wish for an escape. People cannot even watch their favorite sports team or commentary without the left wokesplaining to them about how horrible they are if they don’t vote for Democrats. 

One would think that declining ratings, which means less profit, would motivate them to appeal to all Americans, instead of only progressives. But it appears that the only thing more important than giving their audience a product they want is pushing a political agenda. 

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