Red Eye for the Straight Guy
Greg Gutfeld has been fired or kicked upstairs in most every job he’s had. Will he be able to make Fox News safe for the squeamish New York media elite?
“I’ve got tits. I’ve got fucking tits.”
Greg Gutfeld, host of Fox News’ bawdy, blogger-friendly 2 a.m. chatfest Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, was smoking outside the Landmark Tavern in Hell’s Kitchen on a recent Sunday night and talking about the changes wrought on his physique since his TV show debuted in February.
“I’ve completely stopped exercising,” he continued. “I have not thought about going to a gym. My diet has gone to hell; I smoke more. I don’t think my drinking has gotten worse; it’s just more intense. I need it—and I’ve never needed it. The one thing I hate about it is, the people around you, who you love, you end up being kind of mean to them. Because you feel they don’t understand. And it’s a very wrong kind of thing.”
Back when Mr. Gutfeld, 42, was editing Men’s Health (fired), Stuff (kicked upstairs) and Maxim UK (contract not renewed), he’d get up at 5:30 a.m. and work out. “You could be as vain and self-absorbed as you wanted,” he said. “I had like 2 percent body fat. I was insane, and I realized I just wasn’t happy. Or something.”
Mr. Gutfeld had been drinking beer since 3 p.m. and had moved on to vodka. Behind his black-framed glasses, his blue eyes were bloodshot. Soon he’d be going home to his two-bedroom co-op and his wife, Elena Moussa, a 25-year-old Russian beauty he met in London.
If Red Eye isn’t quite Fox’s answer to The Daily Show—that distinction belongs to Fox’s truly awful The ½ Hour News Hour—the show’s giddy roster of New York–area media stars and camera-craving bloggers, who are probably unknown and unattractive to the vast majority of Fox viewers, is evidence that Fox wishes to make itself a respectable place to do business for the next-generation New York media elite.
While the show runs largely on jokes, riffs and loopy news bits, it’s prevented from relaxing too much into apolitical anarchy by the hand of Fox News president Roger Ailes, who dropped sultry conservative Toronto Sun columnist Rachel Marsden smack in the middle of the merry band of pranksters to make it clear that politics with a rightward bent is still the Fox brand, particularly if it arrives on long legs.
So far, about 300,000 viewers are tuning in to the show, which is taped at 8:40 p.m. and airs at 2 a.m. The format is unscripted. In the studio with Mr. Gutfeld are his sidekick, Bill Schulz (a Muppet-like fellow that Mr. Gutfeld described as “the funniest person I’ve ever met in my life”); the coltish (and Coulter-ish) Ms. Marsden; and guests, who recently have included gadfly Christopher Hitchens, comic Jackie Mason, blogger Rachel Sklar, Fox News correspondent Laurie Dhue and redneck comedian Larry the Cable Guy. The topics whiz past—most segments barely last a minute. Mr. Gutfeld has a stack of blue cards with things written on them such as “woman’s severed finger found in purse,” and he’ll toss the conversational ball around.
“I feel like I’m a lion tamer holding chain saws,” Mr. Gutfeld said. “Because I want to say something funny, but I’m too busy going, O.K., what do I do next?” The surreal feeling of the show blends into the type of commercials running at that insomniac hour—Vermont Teddy Bears, adjustable beds, giant tomatoes.
“It’s somewhat similar to somebody who’s lost his mind,” Mr. Gutfeld said. “Because I’m a complete maniac. You may disagree with me, but you can’t stop watching …. I don’t even think you have to like the show to get sucked in.”
“You almost feel like you’re going out and not going out,” said VH1 contributor Michelle Collins. “It’s like being at a bar with your friends and hearing all their opinions—while laying in bed eating Snackwell cookies.”
While Mr. Gutfeld tries to keep the show from idling too long on partisan territory (“They get that 23 hours a day”), his own politics are fairly at home on Fox. He dismisses liberalism as “romantic notions that are false, based on the idea of making yourself look good to other people. That’s why most men—Bill Clinton is a good example—are liberal, because they need to get laid. If you look at most left-wing guys, they’ve made a deal with the devil. They don’t really believe that shit—they’re going against their own innate nature, because liberalism is anti-man. If you believe that peace and love work, you’re not a man, because this world works on war. The only people who respect you are people who are scared of you—and that’s why Reagan was a great President. And the idea that you can negotiate with people who want you dead is a complete lie. That’s why the left is the most self-absorbed, vanity-driven enterprise. These are people who would rather feel good about themselves at a cocktail party that actually protect people’s lives. If you’re at a party and you say, ‘The war on terror is the most important thing in the world’—you won’t get a nod. But if you say, ‘Global warming is the biggest threat,’ you will get laid.”
Jon Stewart?
“His show is an arena built on self-congratulation,” said Mr. Gutfeld. “He meets his audiences’ assumptions, and that makes them feel good. And I think that’s weak. At times he’s funny, but that’s the easiest job in the world—to show up and have people kiss your ass.” Next Page >
300,000 seems very low for such an entertaining show! Since it is in the middle of the night VCRs/Tivos/etc. are not counted...where did George get his numbers www dot LetsMakeUpANumber dot com?
great show, bye
Red Eye comes on at 11 pm in sunny CA, and after I stumbled upon it by accident, I try not to miss it.
To Lambcannon; Some of us don't care what a person's sexuality is, if they are truely funny, make us laugh, what else is there we have to know about them?
I hope Red Eye is a success. Give it time. It is a acquired taste. Like Sushi. Flo
Match Made in a Bizarro Heaven? Fox News is the only Cable News network carried by "SKY ANGEL", which is a fundamentalist right-ish wing Christian satellite TV network.
"Sky Angel" supposedly carries only "wholesome, family friendly" programming, as an alternative to the evil, evil, mainstream TV. I wonder what Sky Angel viewers think of the "Red Eye" show on FoxNews, & of all the stripper poles & sexual content on Fox Cable news shows!
Right winger conservatives sure are confusing: the top 2 Prez. candidates are an old lecherous geezer, Fred Thompson the actor, whose wife is 25 yrs. younger than him, & looks like his daughter; & Rudi Juliani, whose new "trophy wife" is the mistress he was committing Adultery with while Mayor of New York City.
Wow... you people are so dumb it's unreal. I also love people who can't even spell a presidential candidates first name correctly that only has four letters... Pure Genius! Just like your self-absorbed, socialist culture, you tree-hugging morons. Get a brain or get real facts. Wait, that doesn't make sense... Liberals don't have brains, so they can't process truth. I forgot! Sorry!!!
And Flo, you may not be on my side (which is the correct one, I might add), but I agree with you 100%. It is an acquired taste, but it also takes an I.Q over 85 to enjoy it. These people just don't have that ability.
Oh yeah... 1. "Global-Warming" is a crock. 2. You're a complete and total puppet if you believe Michael Moore. 3. MoveOn.Org are a bunch of Socialist Morons who want to take your freedon away. 4. The ACLU cares more about child rapists than they do someone that saves a child from rapist. 5. If you like what "Dingy Harry" and "Miss America" Plastic Pelosi are doing in Congress... Stand up, Ok, now go put your pants on (after you shave your palm and put on your coke bottle glasses), walk down the street past your 25 neighborhood Starbucks, and go to the hospital and get a CAT scan.
Morons.
Red Eye is freakin' awesome.
Michelle Collins's comparison, watching "Red Eye" as an 'out of body' get-together with friends, is on target.
Including familiar FOX reporters; unique guests; transitional format; Andrew Levy's reports; the opening 'Gut Feeling'; call to Mrs. Gutfeld AND the wonderful wit of Mrs. Gutfeld ever so rich; intermittent re-introduction of guests; Greg's edgy figurative speech; media inserts; open expression; timely/global topics; liquid humor; and Greg's tone-appropriate responses to viewers' mail collectively create, many times, the brightest hour in my day...
...and I'm much appreciative!
This show is spot-on! It is refreshing to watch a conservative based program that rivals the "other" liberal late night shows. This show is a keeper, and the only one I will watch.
I love this show! Two nights ago, they had Johnny Rotten on and it was the best episode yet; witty, fast-paced and quite funny. And as for Bill Schulz, Gutfeld is right-Schulz is the funniest person around-even when he is just sitting there, with that grin on his face.
Wake up in the AM, get coffee, watch Red Eye, thank you Direct TV for my Tivo
Red Eye is Z-best
RedEye is the best non TV on TV.
I don't get to see Red Eye when it airs, but I read his Greg-alogue nearly everyday and watch the highlights on foxnews.com, and I almost wish they would release it on dvd, I think he's effin' hilarious. I would've loved to have seen the episode with Johnny Rotten, I bet it was absolutely brilliant. I used to have abs before I discovered Greg, now I have gotten rid of them because I realized I didn't want them, society told me I needed them, and yes, I did care about them more than my girlfriend. So I dumped both of them, now I'm pudgy and single, thanks Greg!
i watch redeye everynight. ive seen every episode!!
The best new show to come along in a long time. The first time I saw it was when it woke me up at 2AM. I couldn't believe what I was watching, and on Fox.
Keep it up, Greg.
Redeye Rocks and if liberals (like the author seems to be) cannot take a break from their "Conservative Fox News-hating lives" and laugh at themselves I will happily do so for them. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Call it a 'public service' that this country oh so desperately needs!
Lighten up folk. The show is FUNNY :)
Shane
Red eye is fine. It breaks news monopoly of the MSM at 11 out West.
Sometimes it funny but it's amusing on bad days, it still is better then
SNL. The comment about the half-hour show was just rude and off topic.
There's enough pretty chics on it to fit in with Fox's crew. Grades better
then the cardboard of CNN, hacks of CNBC & the robots found on Headline
News. Still waiting for CBS to shut down the discredited news department.
They should stick to fiction -- like Dan Rather.
Tsk. It's so sad to see the majority of people simply resorting to derision because they have little other means of getting their point across. "uralldouchebags" -- I am fairly liberal but I'm definately not a socialist. I mean, if you want to play at that game, I could certainly just say, "Oh, all conservatives are obviously gun-flourishing freaks who put burning crosses on people's lawns in their spare time," ... but I don't believe that, and I'm sure no one else conceiveably could either.
Besides that, you have a complete double standard here, you know, calling liberals "self absorbed" and yet refusing to awknowledge anyone else's opinions aside from your own.
1. If global warming "is a crock," then what about the scientific community and their findings? Let's ask ourselves, who had more credibility-- the politicians (likely endorsed by corporations that would be hurt by awknowledging global warming) or people whose entire career revolves around the very topic that we are debating?
2. I don't believe Michael Moore. I find him to be annoying and self-righteous, in addition to his sloppy presentation of what's fact and what's fiction.
3. MoveOn.org, when you look at their page, has about 4 donate now signs blaring in your face. I don't take them seriously. They have a political agenda that doesn't entirely coincide with my own, and therefore I have no reason to support it.
4. ...Wow. Non sequiter at its best.
5. Cool your rage, man. (:
If Gutfeld was a cereal I would eat him and lick clean bowls after him. If Gutfeld's humor was a luffa I would let him touch my private parts. If Red Eye was at 11 instead of a scarface I wouldn't mind getting some Pink Eye everyday.
i watch this show everynight and i even record it how pathetic, but i love the way he introduces his guests! he makes it sound dierty but that is only if you have dirty mind.
This show is so far the best show ever! unlike every news you see on tv everyone is so serious n that look on their faces, Greg tries to immitate them by using his serious face but it only makes it funnier than it is and also that deep voice!
REDEYE........The BEST program hands down. I am
amazed at how good it is...I want FOX to return
Mr.Gutfeld back to his 2:ooam time slot.
Since I have to record it to watch it, it doesn't make any difference at all to me whether it's on at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. Except to my DVR, which I had programmed to record every episode based on the network-supplied data. Now I gotta f#@%$!'n manually set every episode, which my DVR thinks is "War Stories with Oliver North" or "Special Report with Brit Hume" or something like that.
But this left-of-center, gay, black former American Spectator subscriber who's way out of Gutfeld's target demo at 49 gets him -- and his show. It's the closest thing to anarchy on TV, which is one of the things that makes it brilliant. If Gutfeld's humor were a tough cut of meat, I'd pound him until he was all tender and bursting with juices.
Great damn show and Greg is hilarious. Give it a chance you left-wing wackos!
this show is funny. bill schulz is a funny guy. julie banderas is gorgeous. that's all i've got.
When I saw the 1st episode of Red Eye,I said how could Fox News put such a piece of crap on the air.....2 weeks later I said this is ther best freaking show on TV.....it is on in prime time tonight...gotta love it!
Greg Gutfeld is straight? Are you sure? Is he sure? And he has a (female) wife? Really? Wow! I thought he was Michael Musto's long-lost right-wing twin or something.
So how did he get girls to go out with him when he "reads" so gay?
Gutfeld and his house boys in the basement talk hints on child molester sickko shit gutfeld sucks
Gutfeld and his house boys in the basement talk hints on child molester sickko shit gutfeld sucks
The politics of Red Eye and Greg Gutfeld are irrelevant to the show. It is fresh, it is funny and it is fearless. I am delighted by the wide range of unpredictable guests and opinions on the show. Red Eye has the added virtue of refusing to take itself seriously – this last virtue being one which is sorely lacking nearly everywhere in the contemporary America. Having read the entire article on Greg Gutfeld and all the posted comments, I suggest that those critical of the show ask themselves if viewing comedy requires a political perspective. Expecting a specific ideological perspective in comedy is undesirable. This was, and is, a defining characteristic of Left AND Right wing dictatorships everywhere.
This "show" is pathetic, it really is.... completely robotic scripted spewage, delivered thru an often tongue-twisted unfunny (and many times disgusting) Gutfeld.... with his gay sidekicks, and scriptingly laughing guests. WAKE UP AND RECOGNIZE THE ERROR FOX... AND GET THIS CLOWN OFF THE AIR!!
I need the entertaining info and laughs before going to sleep. But they should change the name to "BROWNEYE W/Greg & Friends".
And the NY media can go to H E double hockey sticks if they don't like it.