President Trump might not be a fan of The Tonight Show and its host, Jimmy Fallon, but Trump’s favorite late-night host just helped Fallon secure his strongest ratings since 2023.
On August 7, Fallon welcomed Gutfeld! host Greg Gutfeld to the show alongside the Jonas Brothers and musical guest Good Charlotte. While some criticized Fallon for the timing of Gutfeld’s appearance on the show, the move seemed to pay off nicely for NBC and The Tonight Show. In fact, Gutfeld helped Fallon land his best ratings since December 2023.
As first reported by The Wrap, the August 7 episode of The Tonight Show drew 1.7 million viewers which is the most-watched episode of the show since December 19, 2023 when guests Bradley Cooper, Martha Stewart, and Rufus and Martha Wainwright dropped by. The highly-rated episode helped to lift The Tonight Show’s overall average for the week of Aug. 4 to its most-watched week since May 19, 2025.
Despite airing on cable, Gutfeld! has been outpacing The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, with the Fox News late night program averaging almost three times the number of viewers The Tonight Show averaged in the second quarter of the year (3.289 million vs 1.188 million).
President Trump has been a vocal supporter of Gutfeld!, most recently writing that Gutfeld “is better than all of them combined,” referring to Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel. While he hasn’t weighed in on Gutfeld helping The Tonight Show land its strongest ratings in over a year, we imagine when Trump finally catches wind of the news he’ll certainly have some thoughts.
Greg Gutfeld says it took guts for Jimmy Fallon to invite him onto The Tonight Show
Speaking of thoughts, Gutfeld shared his thoughts on his Tonight Show appearance and it seems he enjoyed the chance to appear on NBC’s long-running late-night show.
“I brought fun by the gallon to our pal Jimmy Fallon,” Gutfeld joked as he reflected on his Aug. 7 appearance on the show.
While many expected that the appearance would not go well, Gutfeld was quick to point out that “it was nothing like what the critics predicted” which in his words was for “‘Mr. Evil Fox News’ to attack Jimmy Fallon.”
Gutfeld explained that he agreed to appear on The Tonight Show for the same reason he started his Fox News show, because late-night needs more fun. He went on to praise Fallon for having the guts to invite him on the show and took a jab at Colbert in the process.
“I went on the show for the same reason why I started this show, late night needs more fun. I was a gracious guest to a nice guy, and if you expected me to tear into Jimmy, then you’re as clueless and boring as Stephen Colbert interviewing Kamala Harris,” Gutfeld joked. “It takes guts for Fallon to have me on the show, not only because he risked criticism from the Left, but it exposed his audiences to his handsome, witty, muscular, competition.”
Regardless of their views, it seems Gutfeld and Fallon hit it off and the Tonight Show appearance certainly had benefits for both hosts, with Fallon enjoying a nice ratings boost and Gutfeld reaching a new audience via the appearance.