\n<\/p>\n
Jimmy Failla falls to sleep each night watching \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d with Johnny Carson.<\/p>\n
Yes, the late-night legend signed off in 1992, but YouTube and streaming services let fans relive his classic interviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a warmth to it \u2026 it\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m trying to bring back to late-night,\u201d Failla says. And, so far, it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n
\u201cFox News Saturday Night,\u201d Failla\u2019s foray into the late-night market, just enjoyed its best ratings numbers to date after two-plus years on the air \u2014 nearly 1.8 million and 156,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo for the April 18 episode. That topped CNN\u2019s airing of \u201cReal Time with Bill Maher\u201d in that 10 p.m. ET time slot. The latter, according to Fox News, drew 1,081,000 viewers and 97,000 in the 25-54 demo.<\/p>\n
Failla doesn\u2019t hide his right-leaning views, but he\u2019s a far cry from Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and their liberal late-night peers.<\/p>\n
You won\u2019t see Failla bawling during his monologues, for starters. He\u2019ll also take shots at President Donald Trump and other GOP darlings should their behavior warrant it. The focus is on laughs, not talking points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re playing \u2018Steakhouse or Gay Bar\u2019 and keg party crisis management skills [on \u2018Fox News Saturday Night\u2019]\u201d he says, bits that don\u2019t have a partisan bent. Failla adds, \u201cThe growth of the show is reflective of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while Colbert and Kimmel avoid right-leaning guests, Failla welcomes people across the political spectrum to the show, like Fox News pundit Jessica Tarlov, Democratic strategist Kevin Walling, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Viewers may see more of them soon.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a continuation of a mission he started with the \u201cEverybody Calm Down\u201d podcast, which wrapped in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my core, I am a comedian. My reverence is for comedy, to be a source for centrist fun,\u201d Failla says. He refuses to demean liberals or insist on ideological purity.<\/p>\n
Jimmy Kimmel once told a reporter about his right-leaning fans, \u201cnot good riddance but riddance.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Not Failla. He calls himself an \u201cIn-activist\u201d and wants no part of the culture wars.<\/p>\n \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t have to vote a certain way to like the song … I was beating that drum before there was a major market for it,\u201d he says, an approach that \u201cgives you a shot at a much broader target.\u201d<\/p>\n Failla calls the current late-night landscape \u201cpurposeful\u201d comedy, with jokes designed to prop up a narrative or deflect from news that could damage Democrats. Chevy Chase made a career out of portraying President Gerald Ford as a bumbling fool, Failla notes, based on a clip of the world leader stumbling down a stairwell.<\/p>\n President Joe Biden, by contrast, stumbled up<\/i> one repeatedly and late-night hosts either played it down or ignored it. The hosts, Failla suggests, asked themselves how that material could help or hurt their party\u2019s cause.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cause should always be \u2026 funny,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Failla\u2019s red-meat-free approach sometimes comes back to bite him. He recalls one late-night monologue that singed President Trump, and it generated fan blowback.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m never watching you again \u2026 I didn\u2019t know you were a liberal \u2026 RINO!\u201d read a smattering of responses Failla saw on social media. He was heartened by one viewer\u2019s response, though.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump praised the segment, calling him a \u201cvery funny guy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to comedy, he\u2019s the most adult person in the room,\u201d Failla says.<\/p>\n This weekend, Failla is taking his \u201ccan\u2019t we all get along\u201d approach to Saturday\u2019s White House Correspondents Dinner gala in Washington, D.C. for live coverage from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. on Fox News. He previously attended what\u2019s comically dubbed \u201cnerd prom\u201d and yukked it up with the folks from the liberal \u201cDaily Show\u201d and NBC\u2019s \u201cToday.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy show is the \u2018play nice in the sandbox\u2019 show,\u201d he says, adding Fox News will add a live text option so viewers can weigh in during the telecast. \u201cPeople are very receptive to that idea.\u201d<\/p>\n The live-text feature is one way he\u2019s shaking up the staid late-night format.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to give the people at home the highest security clearance they can get and make them feel like they\u2019re at the event,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Now, with his show\u2019s ratings on the rise, Failla wants to expand on his bipartisan approach.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve established that we don\u2019t need to be a viciously partisan show to draw a sizable audience,\u201d he says. \u201cThat allows us to bring on more people you wouldn\u2019t expect to see on the show.\u201d<\/p>\n If that means California Governor Gavin Newsom drops by, so be it \u2014 even if Failla thinks the presidential hopeful is a \u201csociopath.\u201d Prove me wrong, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cFox News Saturday Night\u201d is hardly Failla\u2019s only gig. He hosts the three-hour \u201cFox Across America\u201d radio show, syndicated nationally, and he has a bustling stand-up career, too. The former New York City cab driver has found a system to juggle his gigs without dropping a single ball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s consistency of schedule,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u2019m a 48-year-old man who plays video games. I\u2019m not the model.\u201d There\u2019s still a method to his hard-work madness. He doesn\u2019t inject \u201cdrama\u201d into processes that don\u2019t impact the finished product. Plus, he embraces a \u201cproduction model that makes the same things happen every day at the same time. You don\u2019t feel the weight of doing them.\u201d<\/p>\n That \u201cweight\u201d includes writing his own \u201cSaturday Night\u201d monologues, a task done by more than a dozen scribes in other late-night shows.<\/p>\n He has some unsolicited advice for his fellow late-night talkers. He suggests Jimmy Fallon pen his own monologues for \u201cThe Tonight Show,\u201d leaning into his authentic, goofy self. Colbert\u2019s final show is May 21, but Failla does share a tip for the host of \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cQuit,\u201d he cracks.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <\/i>HollywoodInToto.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood.\u00a0He’s also the host of <\/i>The Hollywood in Toto Podcast<\/i><\/span><\/a>. Follow him at\u00a0<\/i>@HollywoodInToto<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n