Let's get to it.
In the midst of the twin controversies over ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and CBS late night-host Stephen Colbert and their ad nauseam attacks (and bald-faced lies) against all things President Donald Trump and conservatives and most recently, Kimmel's demonstrably false claim that the alleged assassin of Turning Point USA co-founder and CEO Charlie Kirk, was a MAGA Republican — NBC's "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon claimed on Tuesday, "We hit both sides equally."
Yeah, no. Sorry, Jimmy — we have the receipts to prove otherwise.
During an appearance on CNBC’s "Squawk on the Street" to hawk his new reality show, "On Brand," co-host Carl Quintanilla asked Fallon to share his thoughts on the current state of late-night TV:
Jimmy, It’s been a really eventful couple of weeks in late night. I thought you were so eloquent. In the wake of Kimmel's suspension. I am wondering how you're thinking about what you can put in a monologue. What it's like being on an FCC-licensed avenue of broadcasting right now.
To be sure, in both cases, the ending of Colbert's show and the temporary suspension of Kimmel were never about "free speech" or FCC Chair Brendon Carr.
Fallon responded (emphasis, mine):
You know, our show’s never really been that political. You know, we hit both sides equally, and we try to make everybody laugh. And that's really the way our show really works. I mean, our monologues are kind of, you know, the same that we've been doing since Johnny Carson was doing "The Tonight Show."
So really, I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny. I have great writers, clever, smart writers, and we just. Yeah, we're just trying to make the best show we possibly can and entertain everybody.
In Fallon's defense, he has been far less political than Colbert and Kimmel, and even when he does go political, he doesn't do so with anger and bitterness.
However, concerning his claim about hitting both sides equally, the numbers say not so much.
In 2023, a NewsBusters study revealed that 66 percent of Fallon's political jokes targeted conservatives, increasing to 70 percent in 2024. And in 2025, with cognitively vacant Joe Biden no longer president, the figure has continued to rise.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Nosedive! Jimmy Kimmel's Ratings Plunge to the Bottom of the Ocean After Return From Suspension
Colbert's Unfunny 'Act' Is Moving to a Prime Time Crime Drama, Where He'll Play a Fake Talk Show Host
As a wee lad — OK, I was "a bit" older than that — I religiously watched "The Tonight Show" when Johnny Carson was the host. Johnny was not only funny, night after night, but he was also not political, and neither were his guests. In fact, the tens of millions of Americans Carson entertained likely had no idea about his political views, as it should be.
As my colleague Brandon Morse wrote on Saturday, Carson, then in retirement, said of comedians:
When a comic becomes enamored with his own views and foists them off on the public in a polemic way, he loses not only his sense of humor but his value as a humorist.
Amen.
And when a comedian becomes riddled with Trump Derangement Syndrome to the point of anger and bitterness, night after night, he or she intentionally assumes the risks — and the consequences that follow.
You know: play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
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