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Note: I'm looking for fact-based answers based on sources, not opinions here.

In the recent Stephen Colbert YouTube clip Prominent Republicans Speak Up About Vaccines As Delta Infections Soar the talk-show host, comedian and political commentator says the following about the spread of the delta variant of SARS‑CoV‑2 in the US:

The rising cases are being fueled by vaccine hesitancy, which itself is being fueled by a dangerous pathogen scientists are calling the Republican Party.

I don't watch or own a television but I check out several late night talk show and comedy show clips on YouTube and the ones Google's AI finds for me are uniformly strongly anti-Trump and generally anti-Republican Party of late.

I'm curious if late-night network television in the US is at least mostly if not uniformly strongly anti-Trump and generally anti-Republican Party these days, or if it's just selection bias from google.

So I'd like to ask the following:

Question: Are late-night network talk show hosts and comedy shows mostly if not uniformly strongly anti-Trump and generally anti-Republican Party these days?

Please cite sources rather than relate personal experience or opinions in your answer. This is a billion dollar industry and subject to government regulations, so I'm certain there will be substantial scrutiny and analysis that can be cited.

Incomplete list of late night talk shows and comedy programs on US network broadcast and cable channels from Wikipedia's List of late-night American network TV programs; Current. My subjective impression is that nearly all of these are disproportionately critical of Trump and the Republican Party these days, which is motivating me to ask for a fact-based answer.

Ekadh Singh - Reinstate Monica
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uhoh
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    Does the number of shows matter or their cumulative audience? I'm pretty sure Fox has some shows too... Hannity, Tucker Carlson etc. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/06/media/tucker-carlson-sean-hannity-fox-news/index.html – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 00:56
  • @Fizz would they be considered "talk show hosts" or their shows considered as "comedies"? If so, then I think there might be some basis for an answer there. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 01:01
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    If you've talking abut the trope that there are no good right-wing comedians, that's a slightly different matter, which may more true https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2015/02/why-theres-no-conservative-jon-stewart/385480/ ; https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septoct-2012/why-arent-conservatives-funny/ but I think you're blurring some issues here. The matter is whether you agree with the assessment that the Fox shows are unfunny by putting too much emphasis on politics instead of the humor aspect. – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 01:22
  • @Fizz I don't think the question as written is blurring anything, but it's possible that some readers may. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 01:23
  • Maybe you can explain how the/your grouping "late night talk show and comedy show" is important then. – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 01:27
  • @Fizz why is "importance" important to you? The genre grouping is a) large in terms of both show number and audience volume, and 2) appeared to me to have a strong bias. That led me to wonder if it was just my impression, or google-bias, or if it could be established to some reasonable extent in a well-received Stack Exchange answer. Beyond that, it should not matter here. This is Stack Exchange; on-topic questions, and good answers to them. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 01:31
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    Because e.g. one can more easily find out that Hannity and Limbaugh had the top-2 radio talks shows (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sean_Hannity_Show). If you're saying that humor is not the factor here, then why late night TV? Maybe the Republicans are all/mostly asleep by then... – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 01:33
  • @Fizz "So if you're saying..." comments won't get replies. I'm saying the things that I've written here and I'm not saying things that I have not written, and in this case I've posted a question. I don't think your comments are leading to any further clarification of my question, so probably unproductive. If you have an answer that would like to highlight selection bias, such as "Perhaps, but if you cast your net differently and include radio..." I would welcome that answer and it could be voted on. This is Stack Exchange and comments are not for conversations. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 01:36
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    @Fizz Late night shows distinguish themselves by having a combination of standup and guests, broadcast in the (late) evening. The Fox shows you're describing are more like Rachel Maddow's show and the morning shows. Those shows are not aimed primarily at entertaining, the late night shows are. – JJJ Sep 06 '21 at 02:18
  • @JJJ thank you for articulating that; yes, late night talk shows generally have self-described comedy and entertainment aspects. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 05:00
  • The are some viewership preferences by political inclination in LA Times "Liberals like Jon Stewart; conservatives pick college football", but it's not by hour-slot, and it's also pretty dated. Chances are Republicans were watching some other kind of show at the time in that slot, not necessarily political. Unfortunately asking about R vs D TV viewership patterns got a lot of DVs, so I'm not gonna bother anymore with this topic. – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 07:29
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    FWTW, looking though a PhD thesis written more than a decade ago, similar shows back then that had the most audience like Leno's & Letterman's were actually much more broad-appealing. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3263&context=gradschool_dissertations – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 07:46
  • @Fizz are there other time slots where you think they are watching talk shows and comedies? If it's just a question of time slot bias then that would make for an illuminating answer. update: and that sounds informative as well! If this is a recent trend and wasn't so pronounced in the past, that would make for a helpful answer as well. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 07:47
  • They don't (or didn't) have to watch political comedies. The were plenty of comedy shows not on political topics. LA Times mentions the “Rules of Engagement” sitcom as being watched by "mild" conservatives. – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 07:52
  • @Fizz so my question asks about the shows and their hosts, not about audiences, though of course it's a business so there is a correlation. A counterexample to the trend I thought I might have seen would be a late night talk show or comedy that "went the other way". Even one or two counterexamples would be good enough to defend a position in an answer that "It's not as one sided as it seems". I have not asked about potential reasons, only about the apparent trend to one side. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 07:56
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    N.B. according to that 2007 PhD thesis, it was The Daily Show that debuted this enhanced focus on politics for this kind of show, although Leno's show had some tendencies in that direction as well (albeit not so liberal). – the gods from engineering Sep 06 '21 at 07:57
  • I vtced this as needs details or clarity because you don’t define “talk show host” in your post. – Ekadh Singh - Reinstate Monica Sep 06 '21 at 13:52
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    @EkadhSingh-ReinstateMonica that seems an arbitrary, contrived and in-genuine reason to vote to block other users from posting answers, considering there are two good ones already which demonstrate full understanding of the term. "Talk show" and "host" are common English words. We will all understand a talk show host to be the host of a talk show. Clearly it's being understood by others, as it should since it's a common, everyday word. – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 15:15
  • @uhoh the English definition of talk show host isn’t definitive (some people could legitimately disagree on what is considered a talk show host, while both abiding by the definition), so if you’re using the common English meaning then this is opinion-based instead. Also, having answers doesn’t make a post on-topic (otherwise closures would be far rarer). – Ekadh Singh - Reinstate Monica Sep 06 '21 at 16:45
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    @EkadhSingh-ReinstateMonica the question is demonstrably clear – uhoh Sep 06 '21 at 19:21
  • TBH you've got mainly "promotes or discredits" close votes. I'm guessing it's because your Q seems similar to the Trump-camp complaint that most of the mainstream media is against them. I was hoping/suggesting you could add some explanation why your criterion (late night etc.) is important to dispel some of those [potential] concerns. I think I understand what you're asking pretty well [now], but not so well why you're asking this. Of course, it's up to you to add such an explanation... or not... since you've got some answers already, but don't be surprised if the Q also gets closed... – the gods from engineering Sep 07 '21 at 07:28
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    @Fizz If people insist on seeing something that's not there, there's no amount of additional writing that will suddenly cause that not to happen. With 300 views there are going to be some drive-by folks who take their cues from comments because they're shorter/easier reading than the posts. – uhoh Sep 07 '21 at 11:09
  • Any modern anti-vax politician is worthy of ridicule -- if the Democrats were to champion anti-vax dogma, it's likely they too would be universally mocked on those same late night shows. This Q. leads with an example of bandwagon politicians, but the partisanship could be coincidental. (There's nothing specifically Republican about playing the part of an anti-vaxer, anymore than wearing a red necktie is innately Republican.) – agc Sep 08 '21 at 03:20
  • FWTW, Trump himself complained about this very issue https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2019/03/13/trump-cites-jay-leno-decrying-one-sided-hatred-tv-comedy/3148850002/ – the gods from engineering Sep 08 '21 at 03:27

2 Answers2

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Yes, there are many left-leaning late night shows in the US. Nevertheless, there's one popular right-leaning late night show: Gutfeld! According to Bloomberg, on the show's move to a late night slot:

The Rupert Murdoch-controlled network is moving its in-house political satirist, Greg Gutfeld, over to an 11 p.m. weeknights slot where he can go joke-to-joke with other late-night hosts, including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, who start about a half-hour later.

Fox executives are hoping he can do for late-night TV what the channel did in news: create a conservative alternative to the other middle-of-the-road or liberal-leaning networks. It’s certainly worked for Fox News, which has been the most-viewed cable news channel for 19 years running. Gutfeld, in an interview, said he sees the same scenario playing out.

According to Wikipedia, it's one of the most popular by number of viewers:

In August 2021, Gutfeld! overtook The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the nightly ratings, becoming the highest-rated late-night talk show in the United States. It averaged 2.12 million nightly viewers, more than The Late Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

While I haven't studied it extensively, it reminds me of a similar question about TV channels in the US: Why is Fox News the most viewed news channel in the US?. As Brythan wrote in an answer to that question:

Because there is only one Fox News and there are multiple competitors. Overall, CNN and MSNBC together are watched more than Fox (source). But they split the liberal viewership. So if they get 34% and 21% of overall viewership and Fox gets 45%, Fox is the most watched single network even as it is a minority of the overall market.

I think the parallel holds quite well. Gutfeld! is a show on Fox, while the shows you mention are on left or center wing TV channels. Fox isn't the only right wing channel in the US, but I'm not aware of popular comedy shows on those other channels.

JJJ
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    I think it should be noted that left leaning shows still attack the left when they see the need. – Joe W Sep 06 '21 at 00:44
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    @JoeW that's not really relevant to the way I read the question. I think it asks about right wing oriented late night comedy. The same might be said about right leaning shows going after right wing personalities. To be honest, I only knew about this show because it was mentioned on Maher's show. ;) – JJJ Sep 06 '21 at 00:55
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    The way I see it is that they are not anti trump/republican party but more targeting ideas themselves though those ideas tend to be on the right wing side. – Joe W Sep 06 '21 at 01:46
  • @JoeW you can look at the world from different positions to get a different perspective. Not sure how to explain it in a comment but the closest English term seems to be perspective taking. As an example, a Chinese comedian will have different material when compared to American humor. The same holds if you compare comedy today with comedy two centuries ago. To a lesser extent, I think people in the same country can perceive the world differently as divided by political leaning. In turn, that changes what jokes they like. – JJJ Sep 06 '21 at 01:56
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    @Fizz There's a standard joke writing technique that most late night comedy shows use. From the few minutes I've seen, I think Gutfeld uses it too, but it's not perfected. One reason may be that we're not the intended audience; we don't recognize all the talking points which their viewers do. Another reason is that he might be overeager to link political talking points, making it too blunt for our taste. It's like Hannity, but Gutfeld is trying to make jokes (and it resonates with enough viewers). – JJJ Sep 06 '21 at 17:07
  • Mebe, the situation seems similar in the UK https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/sep/01/rightwing-comedians-not-funny-enough-for-bbc-shows-says-insider Apparently one solution proposed was to change the audience bussed in for the laughs... – the gods from engineering Sep 07 '21 at 21:19
  • @Fizz come to think of it, most Dutch comedians (mostly doing stand-up in theaters) are also left wing. I think it's an interesting political question why that is. As for bussing in audiences based on political leaning, that seems quite complicated. Are right wingers equally interested in attending such productions? And what prevents left wingers who want to attend from saying they are right wingers (to increase their chances if most applications come from left wingers)? Another option would be to invite right wing politicians as guests, HIGNFY does that successfully, I think. – JJJ Sep 07 '21 at 21:36
  • It's probably less of a political Q than sociological or phycological... – the gods from engineering Sep 07 '21 at 21:38
  • @Fizz yea, it's a sociological question but there's a lot of interplay with politics. I think it's a lot like the demographics tag we have already: cultural demography is a sociological concept but it influences political decision-making. Personally, I'd be happy to entertain such questions (including this one) on our site, but it seems the community disagrees. – JJJ Sep 07 '21 at 21:50
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You are seeing a small section of what is happening.

https://deadline.com/2021/08/bill-maher-afghanistan-terror-attack-joe-biden-hbo-1234823636/

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jun/12/bill-maher-rips-liberal-progressophobia-belief-in-/

https://deadline.com/2020/11/bill-maher-rips-democrats-for-lack-of-common-seanse-1234615803/

On of your examples Real Time with Bill Maher is known for attacking pretty much everyone and does not pull punches with anyone.

Joe W
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