Reason.tv: Red Eye's Greg Gutfeld on Media Bias, Intolerant Liberals, The Stupidity of Bill Maher, And Why Drugs Really, Really, Really Need to Be Legal
Before he became the host of Fox News Channel's rollicking late-night show Red Eye in January 2007, Greg Gutfeld had worked at magazines as varied as The American Spectator, Prevention, Men's Health, Stuff, and Maxim UK. And, as the fortysomething California native once told Reason.tv, he applied for-and was rejected with extreme indifference-a job at Reason.
Gutfeld appeared recently at Reason Weekend, the annual event held by the nonprofit that publishes this website, where he was interviewed by Reason Associate Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward on topics ranging from media bias to intolerant liberals to the health benefits of smoking to the reason why the drug war is the dumbest thing imaginable. Next to Bill Maher, that is.
Approximately 30 minutes. Warning for viewers prone to high-blood pressure, heart palpitations, and sour-puss syndrome: Gutfeld mixes humor, outrage and language salty enough to cure a side of bacon. Proceed at your own caution.
Go here for embed code and downloadable audio podcast, iPod, and HD versions.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
He pussed out and apologized to Canada. He's worse than France!
Valuable information and excellent design you got here! I would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts and time into the stuff you post!! Thumbs up
he applied for-and was rejected with extreme indifference-a job at Reason
Can't have guys around here who know the difference between a hyphen and an em dash. That would never do.
Isn't Greg Gutfeld that mind-reading cop on Heroes?
shouldn't that be 'mind-reader'?
Greeat, keyboard uses the ascii dash for the minus sign, too.
Don't you mean mind?reading cop?
(pretend I didn't screw up the joke the first time around 'k?)
I could barely hear her (I could hear him fine though) so didn't watch it.
I'm down with any discussion where the conclusion is that Bill Maher is an idiot.
Isn't Greg Gutfeld that mind-reading cop on Heroes?
Matt Parkman would never allow you to know that.
"I'm down with any discussion where the conclusion is that Bill Maher is an idiot."
I'll go along with that.
99% of his show on HBO consists of sanctimonious liberals trying to out smirk each other
I can't stand to watch more than about 5 seconds of it at a time.
What really pisses me off is the douschebags like Jon Stewart and Maher constantly pat themselves on the back for being cutting edge and couragous when in reality all they do is kiss ass and put out conventional wisdome. Someone like Gutfield is everything they pretend to be. You may not always agree with him. But you have to respect someone with the balls to say things that are so completely at odds with conventional opinion.
I liked Bill Maher's film Religoulous.
i suppose you want a hug for that
I find myself reminding people that these are comedians with a vested interest in boiling anything and everything down to the most absurd and simplest example for the sake of making money. THEY ARE FUCKING COMEDIANS, their commentary should be treated as such.
"I find myself reminding people that these are comedians with a vested interest in boiling anything and everything down to the most absurd and simplest example for the sake of making money. THEY ARE FUCKING COMEDIANS, their commentary should be treated as such."
But it is not. People like Maher and Stewart have a lot of influence over what is mainstream and what is an outlier. By constantly making fun of anything outside the PC mainstream, they make anything not PC an outlier. They are a real threat to freedom and free thought. Worse still, the hide behind the idea that they are "just comediens" as if a joke can never have a point or do any damage to anyone. They are propegandists who use humor. And they should be mercilessly called out as such.
You are on point. Amazingly accurate statement! I only wish more people(followers) would look at these commentators as paid robots to spin any comment made by opposing parties regardless of content. Makes me sick on both sides. George Washington warned this would happen in his farewell address: "It serves to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration....agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one....against another....it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption...thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."
Gutfeld was a riot back when he was on the Huffington Post. There were some very hurt feelings every time he posted.
His stuff is still there, actually.
"Gutfeld was a riot back when he was on the Huffington Post. There were some very hurt feelings every time he posted."
I am sorry I missed him. He seems like a pretty smart guy.
There were some very hurt feelings every time he posted.
The comments were invariably hilarious. Pages upon pages of posts calling for his head, sometimes literally.
Missing Elderly Person
That is hysterical. Sadly the comments are not there.
I love riling up the the bunny huggers in face to face situations. My wife, however does not share in my belief that such activities are fun and I am relegated to "how about that weather" at all social functions. I break out once or twice a year for some down and dirty liberal poking when I know there is a late night show I want to see and sleeping on the couch is going to occur anyway.
I'd do the same to the bible thumping die hard gay people suck crowd, but they just refuse to get all irate when face to face. The bunny huggers get totally bent.
I used to really enjoy his stuff on huffpo and enjoy what I get to see of Red Eye but never realized he was the same guy. Funny stuff from Huffpo.
And yes Maher is an idiot. It's nice to hear somebody else say it out loud.
hmm,
True story. I live in a neighborhood full of well meaning liberals. Nice people but totally PC uptight white people. My wife throws a cocktail party and the subject of guns comes up. I say in a total deadpan that I own a shotgun that I keep loaded near our bed. And if I am gone and someone breaks in, I expect my wife to shoot them. You should have seen the shocked looks. It was great.
John,
It's clear you don't catch a lot of Jon Stewart or Bill Maher. Peddling conventional wisdom? Are you sure?
Stewart's main shtick is media criticism. If it just so happens that FOX news is some degree more ridiculous than CNN, well boo hoo pissy pants. Maher is one of the few celebrities willing to call himself a libertarian, though when I saw him perform a couple weeks back he made it clear that it's not the same kind of radical quasi-anarchic libertarianism you find here at Reason.
Does Bill Maher know what the word "Libertarian" means?
Great interview! Greg is surprisingly well-spoken, but I guess I unconsciously got used to seeing him in his deliberately oafish role on Red Eye, just as Bill Schulz plays the fop, and Andy Levy brings the straight man. And I really like the strategy of adopting the weirdness (shorty robes, unicorns, Craig T. Nelson fetish, etc.) to confuse and annoy the humorless snobs who don't get it, or perhaps more importantly, to connect with those weirdos who do.
"Maher is one of the few celebrities willing to call himself a libertarian"
If Bill Mahr is a libertarian, then Lone Wacko is a moderate.
I love this guy.
A good egg.
Thanks.
What's weird about a Craig T. Nelson fetish?
Reason, cant you afford a functional mic for that uptight b*tch?
Gutfeld is interesting but doesn't have enough personality to cover BOTH of the people on camera. Maybe Katherine here is a good "Associate Editor" (whatever that means), I don't know. But she has no camera presence and comes across as inorganic, uncomfortable and overly-starched.
I suppose that puts in better balance the cosmic humours from all the creepy stalker KMW comments.
I'm not down with the whole "pot/cocaine/X" side of libertarianism and I think the issue (although admittedly important) does trivialize the movement, such as it is. For me it's all Austrian economics.
But I like this guy. He's smart and fearless.
I expect the mainstream media will try to crucify him within 18 months. I hope he pulls a Dee Snyder and hands them their own asses.
Katherine seems oddly uptight for a Reasonite, but that's probably because the audience is full of equally uptight big donors, who only want to hear about monetary policy.
But yeah, Gutfeld's posts on Huffington are works of genius. I wonder who owns the rights; he should really try and get them published.
I linked to Gutfeld on my blog (*wink* click on my name, Reasonites *wink*) since I first caught RedEye and Reason's naughty rendezvous with this very funny entertainer.
Jon Stewart has become nearly unwatchable. What passes for great political humor now is Wanda Sykes.
I mean, give me a break. Now, my thoughts on this are not original, but humor isn't humor when it comes from the powerful. The best jokes are directed at those *with* power. So I'm here expected to bust a gut at jokes about conservatives, libertarians, and how stupid and clueless everyone is but progressives and Obama. Talk about a lame environment.
It feels like Clinton jokes in the first year of the Bush administration. Still repeating the same tired cliches about sex. Now it's the boring jokes about why Bush is an idiot (BTW: he isn't). Please, leave it be.
For this reason, besides Gutfeld's man-tastic charm, RedEye might be the best political comedy show on television.
They are a real threat to freedom and free thought.
Don't be a moron, John. I hate Bill Maher and can't stomach the sound of Jon Stewart's voice, but the real threats to freedom and free thought aren't people who are SAYING THINGS. The real threats are the people who listen to them, believe them, and do something about it. "Threat to freedom and free thought" by expressing opinion, albeit shitty ones, you gotta be fucking kidding me.
I have recently found Red Eye and enjoy how he ends every "Greg-alogue" rant with a "and if you disagree with me, then you sir are worse than Hitler!"
I also enjoy the the NYTimes puppet with the Thurston Howell III voice.
Very funny.
Now it's the boring jokes about why Bush is an idiot (BTW: he isn't)
Yes, he is. I expect my president to be at least a B student. Sorry, if I can be an A student and do mindless publishing work then the leader of the free world can fucking well be an A student.
"I find myself reminding people that these are comedians with a vested interest in boiling anything and everything down to the most absurd and simplest example for the sake of making money. THEY ARE FUCKING COMEDIANS, their commentary should be treated as such."
Maher may consider himself a comedian (although I've never seen any actual evidence of him saying anything funny) but his HBO series is not a comedy show - at least not an intentional one. He has a bunch of supposedly serious guests and they all purport to be engaging in serious commentary. Although as I said before, most of it is actually nothing more than a bunch of liberal smirking.
FINALLY SOMEWHERE TO SEE OPINIONS THAT DIDNT ACT LIKE THEY ARE SO pc! i LIVED IN bERKLEY, ca AND SUFFERED THE LACK OF FREE SPEECH DUE TO THE LIBERALS THAT ARE CONVINCED THEY ARE TOTALLY CORRECT EVEN IF THEY ARE ALL STONED OUT OF MAKE SOME SENSE. bILL m IS SO BORING, SMUG AND SO IS THAT RACHEL CHICK ON MSNBC. iT WOULDN'T BE SO BAD ITFF THEY
greg, i love you because you loathe the same (P.C.) fakers i do. Bravo for having the guts to expose the Emperor's new clothes today.
NB: kindly inform Ms.Katherine Shakespeare wrote: "In my heart of heart," Not 'in my heart of hearts.' check it out.
Tony | May 18, 2009, 10:44pm | #
I expect my president to be at least a B student. Sorry, if I can be an A student and do mindless publishing work then the leader of the free world can fucking well be an A student.
----
It is impossibly frustrating when the points being made are absent accurate facts. Fortunately, the posts on this site appear to be in line with them for the most part. Tony, get your facts right: Kerry had a GPA of 76 in four years at Yale, while Bush had a GPA of 77 in three years at Yale. Who did you vote for?!
Prohibited drugs harm human's health. It should never be legalized fore it will just add burden to the government. Build America Bonds are tipped to be hot sellers. Build America Bonds, part of President Obama's infrastructure overhaul, are high interest government bonds that are issued by state and municipal departments. It's an investment in American infrastructure, and therefore American commerce; it would be worth short term loans to pick a few up. The series of bonds issued by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has only about $250 million worth left, out of about $3.5 billion worth of bonds they had to begin with. They are selling like hotcakes, and investors are scrambling to get their hands on safe investments and debt relief through wise trades like Build America Bonds.
Wow, Tony, wow. I've heard the paleos say Reason isn't libertarian enough...but on the other hand...this?
I mean, you're being sarcastic, right, Tony? Quasi-anarchic?
Apologized to Canada?!!! He's worse than Hitler!
"Yes, he is. I expect my president to be at least a B student. Sorry, if I can be an A student and do mindless publishing work then the leader of the free world can fucking well be an A student."
About the only thing you could ever get an A in is potty training - maybe.
Greg! The nightmare of the groovy set! You're the best.
Yes, he is. I expect my president to be at least a B student. Sorry, if I can be an A student and do mindless publishing work then the leader of the free world can fucking well be an A student.
Please post Obama's transcripts. Oh, that's right, you can't. Because he's neither a B nor an A student, but and AA student.
"I expect my president to be at least a B student. Sorry, if I can be an A student and do mindless publishing work then the leader of the free world can fucking well be an A student."
What kind of grades did Obama make? Or is that still not being released for the public to form an opinion of their own...
Gutfeld slams "liberals" ("the left") as not being open-minded except to their own views.
Way to be open-minded, Greg!
Mind-numbing idiocy from the guy with the worst show on TV.
Obama an AA student? What are you doing smoking his left over crack? He refuses to release his student records, transcripts and grades as he refuses to release his original birth records, and has spent well over 1 million dollars in legal fees to continue to restrict access.
Gutfeld is at least new & refreshing. Stewrat and Mumbles Maher are stale and predictable.
Uh, Chiron, I think AA=Affirmative Action is PR's point here. That's how I read it, however it could easily be American Airlines or Awfully African or Amazingly Astounding. It's not entirely clear from the context.
"Obama an AA student? What are you doing smoking his left over crack?"
ok, see, if the "AA" remark is prefaced by: "Please post Obama's transcripts. Oh, that's right, you can't. Because he's neither a B nor an A student, but an AA student." that should serve as a clue...
then you can stop and think (as long or as hard as necessary) what in the world "AA" might stand for as it pertains to Obama... and at some point, the words: "Affirmative Action" might come to mind...
oh well, PR, I thought it was funny.
Chiron
Which other candidate has released his or her academic transcripts or original birth records?
Exactly what is it that you expect to discover?
"Exactly what is it that you expect to discover?"
Pay attention, Abner. Tony thinks Bush is a moron because he got B's at Yale. What does that mean for like-minded Messiah voters if it turned out Bush got higher grades? The fact that we don't know what Obama's grades were while we know Bush's means that navel-gazing lefties can post stuff like Tony did because it fits his narrative and any contrary evidence will never surface (hopefully).
But if it did? We know the answer. Somehow Bush got what he didn't deserve and Obama's professors didn't realize that Obama walked on water to get to class.
Of course, the fact that Tony got A's and chooses to work at a mindless job he apparently hates should tell us that A's don't indicate what Tony thinks they do. His post is a stunning example that Bush is likely more qualified than Tony to do anything. Tony's A's from long ago only hide that fact from Tony.
Abner,
I believe both Bush and Kerry's academic records were released.
Greg Gutfeld is freaking awesome! In today's media world, countless pundits, "reporters", "journalists", bloggers and the like do nothing more than hide behind the shield of political correctness. This is destroying our society and our national dialogue.
Greg Gutfeld, as one of the few with the balls to challenge the pc ruling class, is perhaps society's last hope. Please keep fighting the good fight, Greg. BTW he's fucking hilarious!
I think Mahr has alot of people fooled still. He called himself a Libertarain until Obama took office. His Libertarianism was just in opposition to Bush. The only Libertarian thing I think he is honest about is drug policy. In addition you really cant blame Mahr for being a complete fucktard, anyone who would date Ann Cunnter must be fucked in the head already.
Art-P.O.G.
Usually when the discussion of Libertarians comes up among Paleoconservatives it just boils down to "that Libertarians are just modified Liberals" or to quote Joahn Goldbergh "closeted gays who want to smoke pot". I dont think Libertarians really care what Paleos think of them since Paleos for the most part are still stuck in the Cold War.
Quote:
John | May 18, 2009, 4:37pm | #
"I find myself reminding people that these are comedians with a vested interest in boiling anything and everything down to the most absurd and simplest example for the sake of making money. THEY ARE FUCKING COMEDIANS, their commentary should be treated as such."
Gee, and here I was thinking comedians were supposed to be, at minimum, you know, funny.
Bill Maher is a lot of things, but none of them is funny.
Applause to Greg for the smack down of the despicable and hateful Bill Maher.
Is Greg Gutfeld the guy that played the kid from "The Wonder Years?"
Bill Maher isn't funny and he IS a punk.
Gutfeld is good at pretending to be a libertarian, but at the end of the day he's just another neocon asshole.
The vid will not play at the moment so I shall return later.
Way to have an open mind, Metal Messiah.
Am I too late to join in on the Bill Maher hating?
Self-righteous smug liberal automoton. The only unPC thing he ever said was that the terrorists are brave. And it was only radical for a few months after 9/11, after that it has been the hard liberal talking point.
I find the Greg Gutfeld love here appalling. When did News Corp (well, at least it wasn't NBC) assimilate Reason? He's just another republican hack with his head up his ass about everything from science to his precious Jesus.
Bill Maher can be entertaining (watch Religulous [though it really isn't innovative, just a ~110 minute joke]), but yes, he's a liberal punk. He was libertarian about 15 years ago, which means nothing now (don't get me started on Jon Stewart; I'd rather watch Hannity and Olbermann yell at one another for a week and a half...with Ace of Base playing in the background).
Nothing to see here. Libertarianism is cool now. Everyone wants to be one (See Paul, Ron). Yippee.
I believe Gutfeld also supports the Iraq money sinkhole, which, as far as I'm concerned, negates anything he has to say about fiscal responsibility (and to a lesser extent, free markets, though that applies more to his thoughts on the Cuba embargo).
At 13:52 it suddenly craps out and you can't see the rest of the clip. 🙁 Can you get it fixed?
srnty, would you rather al Qaeda come over here and blow us up? Put up or shut up. You're the one with your head up your rear. Keep living in your dream world.
al Quaeda may very well come to blow us up whether or not we "occupy" Iraq and Afghanistan. The only way to make ourselves entirely safe from them is by killing them all. To ensure that we kill them all, it would be necessary to figure out a large area in which they may live...and simply destroy all life in these areas, which I believe is a war crime.
We're screwed either way.
Gutfeld is a coward and a jealous little prat. He is no where near as funny as Maher and Stewart so all of that nonsense comes off as sour grapes.
He insulted all Canadians when he ignorantly made fun of our soldiers on a day when 4 of them were killed in combat in Afghanistan, the place we sent troops so the US government could send troops to the ill-conceived war in Iraq.
Yes yuked it up good, but when he found out how upset Canadians were, he issued a non-apology apology ("I'm sorry you were insulted") then chickened out of a gig in Edmonton Alberta a week later. Have I mentioned that Edmonton is the home of 3 PPCLI, a unit that has taken the most casualties in Afghanistan?
He's a goddamn prig and a coward. He isn't funny (as typical for conservatives). He's no libertarian, he's a fascist. If he wasn't for drug legalization would he even have been invited to the event?
He needs a good punch in the throat.
... bit of a douche...
Sorry, watched the whole thing. I take it back - he's all douche...
Oh my god, I love Greg Gutfeld. I don't always agree with everything he says, but I'm glad he says it anyways.
I love Redeye, have been watching it for almost 2 yrs, & think Gutfeld's hilarious. However, I disagree with his "stances" about half the time. The absurdist quality of the show, his wonderfully innate silliness & intelligence, & the fact that he surrounds himself with some dissent (via Bill/Pinch & some guests) & an Ombudsman, make the occasional Fox political grandstanding bearable. Notsomuch with Father whatshisname & recent pandering to Catholicism, but I digress...
OK, I've watched the whole thing: got a reactionary vibe, Gut.
You hate "health magazine editors" cuz you worked for some who were pricks. Don't quite get the "equal & opposite" reaction that "corporations" & "pharmaceutical companies" are altruistic & only want "to help" us. Had you worked for dickish Corporate or pharmaceutical bosses would you be giving a different speech...?
The Animal House (a movie I hate: it's overrated, formulaic, predictable, boorish in a bad way, Belushi notwithstanding) analogy doesn't quite gel. Isn't the Dean the bad guy cuz of his anti-drug/anti-alcohol stance? Isn't he an evil academe?
Something about this guy pisses me off. He's not as funny as he thinks he is, and that's really grating to try to watch.
Maher is one of the few celebrities willing to call himself a libertarian
In a related story, a ham sandwich is willing to call itself a kosher lunch.
-jcr
Greg Gutfeld has earned the respect of this conservative, and I supect of many others Unlike most public gay men he doesn't suck up to the anti-American, Bush-o-phobic, pro-Islamo-fascist left.
He understands that the Christian Right, dumb as it is, is enlightened and progressive compared to even mainstream Islam, much less the extreme wing of that psychopathic collectivist cult. In a word, Greg, unlike most entertainers, is possessed of common sense.
Greg understands that gay people have a better chance of survival with a German Shepherd like Dick Cheney on guard than with a bunch of yipping liberal Chihauahaus.
A's on a report card have nothing to do with determining a person's leadership abilities. Studies have shown that the vast majority of successful executives and entreprenuers were only average students in grade school and college.
The only people still concerned about GPAs after college are people who've never truly succeeded in life.
And just in case your wondering, I was an "A" student my entire life. In college, I graduated near the top of my class. I'll also add that I'm neither an executive or entreprenuer 🙂
Just post the transcript, already. Am I supposed to read the moderator's lips?
Who is it that is keeping illegal drugs illegalagain? Which group of people continues to fight against decriminalization and legalization?
Yeah, those bad old liberals...try 'n' lock you up for every old thing...
For singles .... I found a hot place where you can find your rich and sexy partner...
Try your best to enjoy life..[========SugarBabyMeet.com ======]
HOPE YOU CAN FIND YOUR LOVE
"He's not as funny as he thinks he is." Exactly. He's a conservative or libertarian Bill Maher. How this no talent ass clown keeps getting gigs, I'll never understand.
Mike: "If he wasn't for drug legalization would he even have been invited to the event?"
This is something I've been saying for years. Many people who call themselves Libertarians are just Neo-Con Republicans who support drug legalization. But smoking pot is "cool," so anything attached to it is "cool" too. Even Neo-Fascism.
I hope this guy's kidneys get pig flu and explode.
anybody else think Katherine is pretty hot?
I do think it does show his conservative side when he said Glenn Beck is and Bill Maher isn't a libertarian. I mean I'd say there about the same. Though to a certain extent, I don't think we should rebuke them because they might be able to turn some people onto it.
Gutfeld is great.....he's right in the eye of you leftist blowhards. Geeez, I'd love to buy you snooty bastards for your ACTUALLY worth and sell you for what you THINK your worth. That would be a profitable business transaction and I know you lefties hate "business" and "profits".
Good interview. Gutfeld is very bright personality. He expounds his ideas very expressly, correctly. Sense of humour is wonderful. I agree with opinion, but there are some moments which I would contest personally
Political party system is nothing more than propaganda, jargon and hate speech. Don't take my word for this assessment. Our first president warned political parties will be harmful to this Country.
"It serves to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration....agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one....against another....it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption...thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another." George Washington
I recognized the names of the first dozen or so that posted and a few scattered between, I think I've seen Emily play here before, but then it got . . . weird. Epi, did you invite some people over? And by people, I mean bots?
And I don't mean that accusation to be disparaging but some of those post look semi-sentient and you program neural nets, so . . . friends of yours?
Lots of interesting points, especially on drugs and the drug war. But come on, Glenn Beck is a libertarian?? Big corporations are only try to help us?? He's funny, but he clearly has a lot of axes to grind, and he's mostly a right-wing conservative with a few libertarian positions.
How come no one talks at all about how obviously gay Gutfeld is. In my neighborhood he'd be called a 'flamer.' It is so frickin' obvious, but no one even brings it up. Why is that??? And BTW I don't care who's gay or not. You're born a way and that's it. Live and be free.
I know, I know, he's married. That is a 'beard' if I ever saw one. Greg and his weird snarling face is as gay as the day is long.
I think Greg Gutfeld just was joking 🙂
Gutfeld was joking and that's all
With many new announcement about the wizard of oz movies in the news, you might want to consider starting to obtain Wizard of Oz book series either as collectible or investment at RareOzBooks.com.
Red Eye is the most entertaining program on television. Gutfeld is a genius. He was a terrific editor at Stuff magazine; his book is hilarious, and right on.
___
toys