Greg Gutfeld will offend you, which is why this Fox News show is great

No one is spared in this late night offering that makes Seth, the Jimmys and Stephen Colbert look like boring nerds.

Greg Gutfeld is a rising star of Fox News and the internet in the lead up to the 2024 Presidental election: Picture: Getty Images

Ever since David Letterman retired, late night TV has turned into something akin to infomercials with hotter presenters.

The format is light, tight and controlled, with little difference to breakfast scheduling. I prefer Natalie Barr grilling a government minister to watching one of the Jimmys out of the US any day.

These saccharine, slick US talk shows are today only remembered for singing karaoke in a car or watching celebrities – who have been briefed and prepped more than the President (not hard, I guess) – tell inane stories about their even more boring lives.

Except for the occasional dance break, courtesy of Jimmy Fallon and some starlet, late nights are probably better spent sleeping.

However if you like your comedy and nights to be edgier than an Ikea coffee table, perhaps you have heard of a guy called Greg Gutfeld?

Or maybe by his stage name “Gutfeld!” – the exclamation mark is deliberate and fitting.

“Here’s some news that’ll make you spit your oat milk latte over an orphan’s face …” Is how Gutfeld opened one of his shows this week before launching into a “bit” about a new study that found muscular men are perceived to be stronger and more conservative.

Gutfeld trash-talked, in ways that would be deemed unacceptable in polite society, a number of high profile “progressives” such as the all-female panel of talk show The View, his competition Stephen Colbert and also made a number of silly (and to be honest, lame and cruel) jokes about others.

But he really nailed the landing.

“You know I hate generalisations and they suck,” Gutfeld said. “It’s been my motto that one must favour individuals over groups. But my impression of the truly fit is that they’re either apolitical or right wing. They’re never outspoken leftists, so why can’t people apply the principles of fitness to other aspects of life if they know that it works? Muscles get better with what you put into them. But that also must make sense for work, education, security, safety, the border, economics. So if you love the gym you might try that mentality elsewhere, because it’s not shocking that a lot of people equate looking strong with behaving strong as well.”

Albeit before making a nasty, closing comment about progressive broadcaster Rachel Maddow.

This is not a show for the lactose intolerant or closed-minded.

Gutfeld is clickbait for news outlets such as CNN who hate-watch his show and his appearance on another panel show called The Five. The result is articles such as: “Fox’s Greg Gutfeld goes on sexist rant, suggests crimes would ‘disappear’ if women went away”. It’s a win-win really. They need the traffic, Gutfeld likes the notoriety. Game on.

Gutfeld was once the editor-in-chief of Stuff magazine. He was fired after a year. Picture: WireImage

I actually watch this show in the same way I watched Sex and The City growing up – alone, late at night and sometimes sitting with my mouth agape at some of the things that are said.

He roasts everything and everyone – including his guests.

He is joined every night by a combination of conservative online personalities, a former champion wrestler, a smattering of former Republican MPs and authors such as Douglas Murray – who each cop it and give it right back.

The refreshing part is, he does it to their faces rather than assuming the usual modus operandi of anonymous keyboard warriors and social media sooks.

But Gutfeld isn’t new to TV or nocturnal pursuits.

His previous stint on air was also on Fox News in the US, with Red Eye – an overnight talk show that he hosted from 2007 to 2015 and even included regular guests such as comedian Amy Schumer.

Gutfeld, unlike former late night greats Conan O’Brien and Jon Stewart, is not a comedian by trade. Instead he cut his creative teeth in publishing and was editor-in-chief of Stuff and Maxim magazines in the UK. He was fired from Stuff after a year. “Work with the belief you should be fired,” he said in 2014. He found his feet again and was hired as a contributor for the Huffington Post where he became renowned for his “inspired, lunatic ridicule of his left wing fellow Huffers” and using all caps.

  “It takes a healthy dose of arrogance to be a winner,” Gutfeld wrote in 1995 in a Men’s Health’s article titled “Be a jerk.”

But Schumer is on the record in a recent New York Times profile of Gutfeld calling him “a nice guy”.

Why would NYT – a publication which is, whether officially or not, on the other side of the political partition to Fox News – bother with its up-late hosts?

Because, like he foreshadowed in the 90s, Gutfeld is winning. Maybe the publication should have replaced its iconic Georgia font with one titled “sarcasm” on this occasion.

The title of the profile was: “How Fox News (Yes, Fox News) Managed to Beat ‘The Tonight Show’.”

Gutfeld and his schtick, something that has been touted as “insult conservatism”, has helped to attract a younger audience to cable news and has also seen him topple Colbert, long the most-watched late-night host in the US.

His show is a hit with the 25- to 54-year-old demographic and regularly rates in the top spots. He also got his own Super Bowl ad this year, the US advertising version of a Gold Walkley and Gold Logie in one 30-second clip.

“After decades of cultural dominance by left-leaning late night – whose hosts ridiculed George W. Bush, riffed with Barack Obama and recoiled at Donald J. Trump – Mr Gutfeld’s striking inversion is a hard-won victory for the right,” NYT wrote.

“Like ‘The Daily Show’ with Jon Stewart at its Bush-era peak, Mr Gutfeld has created a waggish refuge for viewers aghast at the country’s political direction.”

If you know what the acronym, “dilligaf” means (for those who don’t, it means “do I look like I give a f––k”) and you appreciate the looser, laissez faire side of life – tune in.

If not, give it a miss, you’ve been warned.

And don’t come whinging to me – or Gutfeld – if it offends you.

Gutfeld! is streaming now on Foxtel and Flash.
The Five is streaming now on Foxtel and Flash.