Fox News Channel’s “Gutfeld!” scored its biggest audience ever with liberal comedian Bill Maher among the guests.
Monday’s installment of Greg Gutfeld’s hit show averaged a whopping 2.9 million total viewers with 342,000 in the advertiser-coveted demo ages 25-54.
During the same 10 p.m. ET time slot, MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” reached 2.3 million total viewers and 202,000 in the key demo, while “CNN NewsNight” averaged only 556,000 total viewers and 110,000 in the key demo.
“Gutfeld!” also trounced the liberal late-night shows with CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” averaging just 1.8 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with 1.6 million average total viewers and NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” with 1.2 million.
“Gutfeld!” scored its biggest audience ever with guest Bill Maher. (Fox News Channel)
The HBO star generated headlines with his Fox News appearance. Maher and Gutfeld had a lively debate about former President Trump and the upcoming presidential election, with the “Real Time” host saying that while he and Gutfeld “agree on some things,” they aren’t “exactly aligned on the most important thing.”
“Trump is someone who does not concede elections. It’s the most important thing,” Maher said. “You don’t seem to see it that way. That’s the most important thing that’s going on in this country. He didn’t concede the last election. He’s not going to concede this election.”
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Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld, left, and HBO’s Bill Maher clashed over former President Trump. (Fox News Channel)
Maher did make a concession about Trump’s youthfulness in comparison to President Biden after Gutfeld showed a clip of Trump joking around with the crowd at a recent campaign event.
“But I gotta say what works for him, like when you use the clip you just showed. I mean, look, he’s almost the same age as Biden. But Biden presents as old. Ancient. That does not look old. He does not present as old,” Maher said. “He’s like [the rock band] KISS. He puts on the wig and the face paint, and it’s 1976 all over again.”
“Real Time” host Bill Maher took aim at Biden’s Morehouse commencement speech during his appearance on “Gutfeld!” (Fox News Channel)
Maher also knocked Biden’s racially charged commencement address he gave to Black graduates at Morehouse College, suggesting his comments about racism in America are outdated.
“First of all, it’s anachronistic,” Maher said. “I mean, that speech would’ve made sense some years ago. I think we should acknowledge that racism still persists and we should always be making remedies for it. But we’re not in the past.”
“I always keep saying, let’s live in the year we’re living in. We’re not living in the year where you have to be ‘10 times better’ to succeed if you’re a person of color,” Maher continued. “And in some instances, it’s an advantage. In some places, it’s not an advantage, but we’re not living in that world that he’s talking about. And I don’t think that helps anybody.”
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.