It’s Bold of Jimmy Fallon to Bring on a Guest That’s Much Better at His Job

I imagine that Jimmy Fallon wakes up every day in an Uncut Gems level of angst and anxiety. Except, instead of being in the hole for sports betting, the anvil hanging over his head is simply keeping his spot as the host of The Tonight Show. Every day is Groundhog Day, a desperate bid to find success for a show that’s almost certainly losing millions of dollars per year. 

In his desperate bid for relevancy, Fallon is trying out new things on his show — sometimes standing up to Trump; sometimes, like tonight, having on the host of Fox News’ hit late-night show Gutfeld!, Greg Gutfeld. It’s further proof there’s no clear morality driving Fallon’s show, or even a strategy. Just a desperate bid to stay on the air. 

That’s probably why Fallon got cozy with Gutfeld for a grand total of 10 minutes on The Tonight Show. I don’t think Fallon genuinely endorses Gutfeld’s vein of comedy on the Fox News late-night series. It all centers around rehashing Fox News right-wing headlines with a “comedic bent.” You know, jokes about homeless people, grooming children and deportations. I just don’t think Fallon is overly concerned about the fallout of who he has on the show as long as it could help ratings. 

And ostensibly, Gutfeld could help ratings. Of all the late-night programs on air, Gutfeld has more viewers than Colbert, Kimmel or Fallon. In fact, in the second quarter of 2025, Gutfeld had 3.289 million views, nearly triple Fallon’s 1.188 million. The strategy of having a right-wing comedian with a massive audience coming on the show was clearly done in hopes of bringing over some of those viewers to the floundering Tonight Show. Fat chance. 

So what did Fallon get instead? A 10-minute interview showing that of the two, Fallon is the weaker host. Not only is this clear in the gulf between Gutfeld and Fallon’s ratings, but it also came across in who commanded the conversation. Gutfeld, as evil as his particular brand of late night might be, was running laps around Fallon. He practically ran his own interview, barely letting Fallon get a word in edgewise. It made Fallon’s performance feel more stale and rehearsed than even it usually does. 

Fallon barely discussed that Gutfeld! is a Fox News show, and gave the other host plenty of chances to come off as totally relatable by talking about his experiences getting fired from various jobs and losing his mother. In his quest to bring in some of Gutfeld’s audience over to The Tonight Show, at best, Fallon opened a curiosity gap for his own viewers about someone else’s late-night program. At worst, he just showed NBC executives that there are other people out there more capable of helming Tonight — even right-wing cheeseballs. 

It’s okay Jimmy, you’ve always got tomorrow. Or not.