As the left and media continue to try to blame President Donald Trump for CBS cancelling Stephen Colbert and The Late Show, one late-night legend is calling out the rise of partisan politics in the comedy shows.
Jay Leno did not address Colbert’s firing directly during a recent interview, but he did not shy away from bemoaning the rise of one-sided political humor at the expense of alienating “half your audience.”
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Victor Davis Hanson, author of The End of Everything, to discuss Leno’s advice and why this current crop of late-night hosts don’t seem to have gotten the message.
Leno’s Lesson
Leno is late-night TV royalty, having successfully hosted NBC’s Tonight Show for more than two decades, and he is apparently no fan of what the category is currently producing.
David Trulio, president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, recently sat down with Leno and noted that his jokes “were roughly equally balanced” between taking aim at Republicans and Democrats. When he asked if there was a “strategy” to that, Leno said it just made sense.
“I love political humor, don’t get me wrong,” Leno told Trulio. “But it’s just what happens when people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other. Why shoot for just half an audience all the time? You know, why not try to get the whole? I mean, I like to bring people into the big picture. I don’t know why you would want to alienate one specific group.”
As he explained, he knew he was on the right track when he would get hate mail from conservatives and liberals alike for the same joke. “I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group,” Leno added. “I’m not saying you have to throw your support or whatever, but just just do what’s funny.”
His philosophy: “Funny is funny,” he said. “I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture.”
Numbers Game
Megyn said Leno’s logic is something those up in arms about CBS’ decision to axe Colbert refuse to understand. “The left continues to cry into their soup about the cancellation of Stephen Colbert… They continue to suggest that this is some sort of a free speech violation; that this is the government making the left bow down to it because he didn’t like Colbert,” she noted. “I really, genuinely, don’t understand the theory… If [Trump] wanted to get rid of late night hosts who hate him, why didn’t he make them fire [Jimmy] Kimmel at ABC when he settled that defamation suit?”
While Colbert fans may be blaming Trump, Megyn said Colbert has no one to blame but himself. “It is Stephen Colbert’s fault,” she explained. “He had no ratings. He had 200 staffers. They earned $100 million but only… netted $60 million, so they were losing $40 million a year on that show.”
For reference, Megyn said The Kelly File, her primetime show on Fox News, had between nine and 12 staffers at any given time and made $100 million a year. “That is how you keep your job in television; the way he did it is how you lose it,” she noted. “It is very simple math.”
Time to Move On?
The Late Show is currently slated to run until May 2026, but Hanson isn’t sure it is going to last that long. “It is very adolescent that Colbert thinks he has a right to make $20 million a year and lose the network $40 million as if they are his parents and he is a teenager,” he said. “Now, he is going on there and trying to deliberately offend his paymasters so that, I guess, they terminate him earlier than their year window and he can be a tragic hero or something… He really is a little kid throwing a tantrum.”
Megyn agreed. “They really should let him go… [but] they are keeping him around for the next nine months as a fired employee and every night he is going out there and railing on them,” she said. “The CBS brass now looks… weak, and feckless, and like they have no balls because they are just allowing themselves to be beaten up, and insulted, and called names every night while they platform this guy.”
“It is ridiculous,” Megyn concluded. “And, truly, I don’t think this can go on much longer.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Hanson by tuning in to episode 1,117 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.