Jimmy Fallon was accused of “groveling to the MAGA media machine” for interviewing Fox News wiseass Greg Gutfeld on “The Tonight Show” last week.
Now Fallon and the NBC talk franchise might also be accused of making a shrewd move.
The episode from Thursday averaged 1.71 million viewers, the most for a regular “Tonight Show” episode since Dec. 19, 2023, LateNighter reported off the Nielsen ratings. (That number has been surpassed in that time period by episodes that follow football games on the network and the Olympic opening ceremony.)
The audience represented a 57% increase over its 2025 average, according to the Nielsen data reported by Fox News.
LateNighter surmised that the controversial “Gutfeld!” host “brought his Fox News audience with him.” It noted that while fellow guests the Jonas Brothers might have also contributed to the viewership, watchers increased during Gutfeld’s segment.
