Much to the chagrin of its establishment media competition, Greg Gutfeld’s late-night show, “Gutfeld!” has been dominating in the ratings department.
When something works that well, everyone wants to know why — especially the competition.
So in what some might call a “tell-all” interview on Friday, Newsweek caught up with Gutfeld and asked him to explain the secret sauce for his ongoing success.
Gutfeld was even kind enough to offer some advice to Sunny Hostin, one of the co-hosts for “The View” after her blunder regarding conservative politician Nikki Haley and her decision to not use her Indian name given at birth.
Gutfeld believes it’s important to explore cultures and ideas that are outside of a person’s immediate experience or circle of friends. He believes “living in a bubble” is what caused a problem for Sunny Hostin.
“The reason Sunny Hostin on ‘The View’ made fun of Nikki Haley’s name is because she didn’t realize she was walking into a trap. She didn’t know it would rebound on her. Her name, ‘Sunny,’ is a nickname, and Nikki’s name is on her birth certificate.
“If she’d have lived outside her bubble, she’d have seen around that corner,” Gutfeld said.
Newsweek asked Gutfeld why he believed his cable show was beating out Colbert, Fallon or Kimmel, which are on free broadcast TV.
“We’re funny and unpredictable and we’re not interested in lecturing or indoctrinating, just entertaining,” Gutfeld said.
Do you tune in to Gutfeld’s show?
Gutfeld also pointed out that his show is the least political of competing top shows.
“We have five blocks, three are cultural, one is political and one is a crossover. I try to structure it like, if you’re watching with your sister and she’s a liberal, she might laugh,” he said.
While Gutfeld doesn’t shy away from politics in the least, he isn’t afraid to take on liberal hot-button topics.
“We’re just playing a game with rules set by liberals, who think everything is political,” Gutfeld said.
He added, “If I have a common-sense opinion about something, it’s not my fault it’s political, it’s the fault of liberals. I’m not trying to be political when I say something about biology. If that’s suddenly political, that’s not on me. I haven’t changed; they changed.”
When Newsweek asked for an example of “something about biology” that liberals have made into politics, Gutfeld was quick and happy to get specific.
“It’s not political to think that there are males and females,” Gutfeld said.
“It’s not political to think that maybe you shouldn’t be operating on children who are confused about their gender at age 5 or 7.”
Gutfeld said those types of things aren’t political stances, but the left turns it into political stances.
