Fox News' new comedy show bombs on Twitter but draws strong ratings

Fox News' new late-night comedy show may be getting brutally mocked on the left, but based on its debut ratings, it seems the network might have the last laugh.

This week, Fox debuted Gutfeld!, a comedy talk show hosted by The Five's Greg Gutfeld. The reception on Twitter, let's just say, hasn't been universally positive, with comedians in particular panning it.

"Just because something has the cadence of a joke does not make it a joke," Sasha Stewart, a former writer for The Nightly Show, told The Daily Beast. "I'm sorry for the five staffers who make up the laugh track."

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But the show had a "strong" start in the ratings, Mediaite writes. The first episode drew 1.69 million viewers and 318,000 in the 25-54 demographic, beating MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Brian Williams and CNN's CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, Deadline reports. Additionally, The Wrap reports that the show "topped most of the broadcast late-night shows' year-to-date averages so far" with the exception of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, though Deadline notes this isn't an "apples to apples" comparison considering Gutfeld! airs at 8 p.m. on the West Coast.

Gutfeld! seems to be the latest attempt at a major, conservative version of a show like The Daily Show, so could Fox have something with this one? Either way, don't expect the show's liberal critics to stop throwing virtual tomatoes on Twitter anytime soon.