Donald Trump slams Jimmy Fallon’s ‘dying’ Tonight Show amid late night show cutbacks
Donald Trump has once again hit out at “unfunny” late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, claiming that their talk shows are “all dying.”
The former president, 78, made the disparaging remarks at his latest Pennsylvania rally on Monday (September 23).
Trump showed a clip of his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris discussing fracking during a 2020 appearance on Fallon’s Tonight Show. In the video, the comedian joked: “Mamala Kamala just don’t give a frack,” leading Trump to quip: “He’s not very funny.”
He went on to argue that Fallon, Kimmel and Colbert “are being blown away by [Fox News’] Gutfeld!.”
“When I first ran in 2015 or was thinking about running I went on [Jimmy’s] show, The Tonight Show, which is dying. They’re all dying,” Trump added. “Where is Johnny Carson? Bring back Johnny. It made you appreciate the greatness of Johnny Carson. These three guys are so bad.”
Trump’s comments about Carson have since gone viral, with a number of people wondering if he was speaking literally about bringing back Carson, who died in 2005.
“I mean maybe we could have a seance for [Carson],” The View co-host Joy Behar quipped on Tuesday’s episode.
Trump demands that NBC bring back Johnny Carson. "Where's Johnny? Bring back Johnny." Johnny Carson died in 2005. pic.twitter.com/XVB8d2Q3Dg
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 24, 2024
His remarks about the state of late-night television come weeks after NBC announced it would be scaling back Falon’s Tonight Show from five nights a week to four, with reruns airing on Friday nights.
Months earlier, the network also made the decision to eliminate the house band from Late Night with Seth Meyers due to budget cuts.
Elsewhere during the rally, Trump admitted: “I don’t like anybody that doesn’t like me.
“I’ll be honest, when they don’t like me, I don’t like them. Ok? Sounds childish… That’s the way it is. Call it a personality defect.”
The Republican candidate has a history of sparring with talk-show hosts.
He most recently ripped into Bill Maher over the comedian’s discussion about his “antisemitic” rhetoric.
Last week, the Republican nominee spoke at a summit billed to be about tackling antisemitism. There, he claimed to the audience of prominent Jewish Republicans that if he loses the 2024 presidential election, “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with that.”
“Whenever the autocrat starts blaming the Jews, I think it’s a great sign because when has that ever turned out badly,” Maher joked on his Real Time with Bill Maher talk show.
Trump later addressed Maher’s comments on his Truth Social media platform, writing: “The ratings challenged Bill Maher, on his increasingly boring show on HBO, is really having a hard time coping with TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.
“He is a befuddled mess, sloppy and tired, and every conversation, with B and C list guests, seems to start with, or revert back to, ME!”