NBC’s host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon, stopped by CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on Tuesday to promote his new On Brand. While there, co-host Carl Quintanilla naturally asked about the state of late night, especially in the aftermath of ABC’s brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. Fallon insisted that his show isn't that political and contrary to all evidence, that “we hit both sides equally.”
Quintanilla began by praising his guest, “Jimmy, It’s been a really eventful couple of weeks in late night. I thought you were so eloquent. In the wake of Kimmel's suspension. I am wondering how you're thinking about what you can put in a monologue. What it's like being on an FCC-licensed avenue of broadcasting right now.”
Fallon’s response to Kimmel’s suspension wasn’t to talk about what he actually said, but to play the role of a subservient comedian who only said things that President Trump would want to hear.
Nevertheless, here, Fallon responded, “You know, our show’s never really been that political. You know, we hit both sides equally, and we try to make everybody laugh. And that's really the way our show really works. I mean, our monologues are kind of, you know, the same that we've been doing since Johnny Carson was doing The Tonight Show. So really, I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny. I have great writers, clever, smart writers, and we just. Yeah, we're just trying to make the best show we possibly can and entertain everybody.”
In 2023, a NewsBusters study found that Fallon still told 66 percent of political jokes about conservatives. That rose to 70 percent in 2024. Now that there is no longer an old, gaffe-prone, mentally-not-all-there Democratic president, that number has risen even more dramatically in 2025. It is true that Fallon is the least political of the current crop of late night comedians, both in terms of tone and quantity of political jokes, but that says more about the others than it does him.
Here is a transcript for the September 30 show:
CNBC Squawk on the Street
9/30/2025
10:54 AM ET
CARL QUINTANILLA: Jimmy, It’s been a really eventful couple of weeks in late night. I thought you were so eloquent. In the wake of Kimmel's suspension. I am wondering how you're thinking about what you can put in a monologue. What it's like being on an FCC-licensed avenue of broadcasting right now.
JIMMY FALLON: You know, our show’s never really been that political. You know, we hit both sides equally, and we try to make everybody laugh. And that's really the way our show really works. I mean, our monologues are kind of, you know, the same that we've been doing since Johnny Carson was doing The Tonight Show. So really, I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny. I have great writers, clever, smart writers, and we just. Yeah, we're just trying to make the best show we possibly can and entertain everybody.
