For the men of the late night comedy talk shows, the first half of 2025 was an instance of history repeating itself. According to a NewsBusters study, 99 percent of their political guests were on the left, matching the result for the last six months of 2024.
The grand totals were 106 liberals and Democrats compared to one conservative.
The study looked at the five daily late night comedy shows: ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show from January 6 through June 30.
MRC analysts also divided the guests into two categories: partisan officials and then journalists and celebrities.
When it came to partisan officials, the count was 30 Democrats to 0 Republicans.
Colbert led the way with 14, The Daily Show came in second with 10, Kimmel came in third with four, and Meyers placed fourth with two. Fallon interviewed zero politicians during the study’s run.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett each appeared twice.
When it came to journalists and celebrities, the count was 76 liberals to one conservative.
Colbert again led all hosts with 29, The Daily Show again placed second with 22, Meyers came in third with 14, Kimmel followed up with six (one occurred during actor Diego Luna’s week of guest hosting), and Fallon had five.
American Compass’s Oren Cass’s March 31 appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss President Trump's tariffs was the lone conservative appearance.
MSNBC led all media outlets with nine appearances, parent company NBC was second with eight, and CNN placed third with six. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes was the most frequent guest with three appearances. HBO’s John Oliver, actor George Clooney, The New York Times’s Ezra Klein, comedian Bill Burr, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and NBC's Jacob Soboroff all had two appearances each.
(A complete breakdown can be found here.)
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NewsBusters has been tracking late night comedy guest counts since September 2022, and the cumulative total now stands at 511 liberals and Democrats versus 14 conservatives and Republicans, or 97 percent.
Methodology: Journalists were defined as either liberal or conservative, regardless of the segment’s subject matter. A celebrity was defined as either a current late night host if that host was on to be interviewed, political activist, or anyone famous who discussed politics or a religious project. If a celebrity is known to have strong political beliefs, but did not discuss them, they were not included.
A politician was defined as any currently or previously elected American office holder, White House staffer, cabinet secretary, their spouse, or any of their children who were on to discuss political matters. A politician who has since entered the media is considered to be a journalist.
Notes: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is placed in the journalist/celebrity category because his Daily Show appearance predated his premiership.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is also counted as a celebrity because her Late Show appearance was about promoting her book which detailed her time in politics as a left-wing icon.