Greg Gutfeld

Greg Gutfeld
Gutfeld in 2019
Born	Gregory John Gutfeld (1964-09-12) September 12, 1964 San Mateo, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley (BA)
Occupation	Television personality
Television	Gutfeld! The Five Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld
Political party	Libertarian
Spouse	Elena Moussa ​ (m. 2004)​

Gregory John Gutfeld (born September 12, 1964) is an American television host, producer, political commentator, and author. He is the host of the late-night talk show Gutfeld! and one of five co-hosts and panelists on the political talk show The Five, both of which air on the Fox News Channel. From 2007 to 2015, Gutfeld hosted Red Eye, a late-night talk show that also aired on the Fox News Channel.

Early life and education

Gutfeld was born in San Mateo, California, the son of Jacqueline Bernice "Jackie" (née Cauhape) and Alfred Jack Gutfeld. He attended Junípero Serra High School and the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in English.

In a 2009 interview, Gutfeld explained that he started to experience a change in his political thinking while he was attending college:

I became a conservative by being around liberals (at UC – Berkeley), and I became a libertarian by being around conservatives. You realize that there's something distinctly in common between the two groups, the left and the right; the worst part of each of them is the moralizing.

Career

After college, Gutfeld interned at The American Spectator, as an assistant to conservative writer R. Emmett Tyrrell. He then worked as a staff writer at Prevention magazine and as an editor for various Rodale Press magazines. In 1995, he became a staff writer at Men's Health. He was promoted to editor-in-chief of Men's Health in 1999. A year later, he was replaced by David Zinczenko.

Gutfeld then became editor-in-chief of Stuff, then owned by Dennis Publishing. During his tenure, circulation increased from 750,000 to 1.2 million. In 2003, Gutfeld hired several dwarfs to attend a conference of the Magazine Publishers of America on the topic of "buzz", with instructions to be as loud and annoying as possible. The stunt generated publicity but led to Gutfeld being fired soon afterward; he then became head of "brain development" at Dennis Publishing. He edited the company's Maxim magazine in the U.K. from 2004 to 2006. Gutfeld's contract expired without renewal after losses in readership under his tenure.

Gutfeld was one of the first posting contributors to The Huffington Post, from its launch in 2005 until October 2008. Frequent targets of his commentaries included Huffington Post colleagues Deepak Chopra, Cenk Uygur, and Arianna Huffington.

Beginning on February 5, 2007, Gutfeld served as host of the late-night talk show Red Eye on the Fox News Channel. The hour-long show initially aired at 2:00 A.M. ET Monday through Saturday mornings and at 11:00 P.M. on Saturday evenings. However, beginning in October 2007, the show began airing at 3:00 A.M. Monday through Saturday mornings while retaining its 11:00 P.M timeslot on Saturday evenings. From 2007 to 2013, Bill Schulz served as Gutfeld's sidekick, and Andy Levy served as the show's ombudsman. Schulz had been Gutfeld's colleague at Stuff magazine, and Levy was a fellow blogger at The Huffington Post. On July 11, 2011, Gutfeld became a co-host and panelist on the Fox News political talk show The Five, which airs weekdays at 5:00 P.M. ET. Gutfeld left Red Eye in February 2015, with Tom Shillue succeeding him as host of the program. On May 31, 2015, Gutfeld began hosting a new weekly late-night talk show on Fox News called The Greg Gutfeld Show; which airs at 10:00 P.M. ET on Saturdays. In February 2021, it was announced that, beginning in the second quarter, the show would move to weeknights at 11:00 P.M. ET. On March 10, 2021, it was announced that the new weeknight show would be called Gutfeld! and premiere on April 5.

Gutfeld has appeared as a guest on Coffee with Scott Adams and The Adam Carolla Show.

Controversies

Apology to Canadians

During a Red Eye segment that aired on March 17, 2009, Gutfeld and his panel discussed Canadian Lieutenant General Andrew Leslie's statement that the Canadian Armed Forces may require a one-year "synchronized break" once Canada's mission in Afghanistan ended in 2011: "Meaning, the Canadian military wants to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants." The comedian panelist Doug Benson added: "I didn't even know they were in the war.... I thought that's where you go if you don't want to fight. Go chill in Canada." Gutfeld also said: "Isn't this the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country? They have no army!"

The segment was posted to YouTube three days after the reported deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, prompting widespread outrage. Canada had then been in command of the NATO mission in the Kandahar Province, the birthplace and the former capital of the Taliban, for three years. Along with the Helmand Province, it was "home to some of the fiercest opposition to coalition forces" and reported to "have the highest casualty rates per province."

Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay called on Fox to apologize for the satirical comments and described the remarks as "despicable, hurtful and ignorant." Gutfeld, while maintaining that the show is satirical and irreverent, offered the following apology: "The March 17 episode of Red Eye included a segment discussing Canada's plan for a 'synchronized break,' which was in no way an attempt to make light of troop efforts. However, I realize that my words may have been misunderstood. It was not my intent to disrespect the brave men, women, and families of the Canadian military, and for that, I apologize."

Ground Zero mosque

On August 9, 2010, Gutfeld stated that he planned on constructing New York City's first Islamic-friendly gay bar next to the Park51 Islamic community center.

2020 election

After Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Gutfeld supported Trump's unproven claims of voter fraud and advocated for an audit and investigation into voting in some states, stating:

That's why you have to do the recount. And all of the irregularities going one direction. We were told that there was no evidence, and now that there is evidence, now we are being told, well, yeah, there is evidence, but not enough evidence. [...] So it's not about fraud, it's about trust. [...] So we can't trust the media. We can't even trust the FBI. We can't trust anybody.

After Trump supporters protested at the United States Capitol in January 2021, Gutfeld argued that Trump supporters' “distrust of government institutions” was justified:

And you have people who feel like there is no hope. I think what we’re seeing here is a lot of people with no hope. There is no way to turn this back. You have millions of people who do not trust their institutions, and you know what? They are justified. You can’t trust the media, because they lie to you. You can’t trust the elections, because there is fraud!

Gutfeld went on to condemn the attack on the US Capitol and the associated violence and stated that non-liberals are "supposed to be the gate against the barbarians, but yesterday, we looked like the barbarians."

Personal life

Gutfeld is a registered member of the Libertarian Party.

As of 2018, Gutfeld resides in New York City with his wife, Elena.

Gutfeld was raised Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy. He describes himself as an "agnostic atheist".

A fan of hard rock and heavy metal music, Gutfeld has spoken on-air about being a fan of many bands, including Power Trip. Gutfeld paid tribute to Power Trip's singer Riley Gale after his death in 2020.

Books

Gutfeld at a book signing for his book Not Cool (March 2014)

• The Scorecard: The Official Point System for Keeping Score in the Relationship Game. Henry Holt and Company. 1997. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-8050-5450-7.
• The Scorecard at Work: The Official Point System for Keeping Score on the Job. Henry Holt and Company. 1999. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-8050-5865-9.
• Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings. Simon & Schuster. 2008. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-84737-066-2.
• The Bible of Unspeakable Truths. Grand Central Publishing. 2010. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-446-55230-1.
• The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whiners in the Age of Phony Outrage. New York: Crown Forum. 2012. p. 256. ISBN 978-0307986962.
• Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War on You. New York: Crown Forum. 2014. p. 272. ISBN 978-0804138536.
• How To Be Right: The Art of Being Persuasively Correct. New York: Crown Forum. 2015. ISBN 978-1101903629.
• The Gutfeld Monologues: Classic Rants from the Five. New York: Threshold Editions. 2018. ISBN 978-1501190728.
• The Plus: Self-Help for People Who Hate Self-Help. Threshold Editions. 2020. ISBN 978-1982149918.

See also

• New Yorkers in journalism

Sources

• Robertson, Campbell (April 10, 2007). "At 2 A.M., Dark Humor Meets the Lights". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
• Whitehouse, David (June 16, 2007). "News crash!". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved August 17, 2008.

External links

• Greg Gutfeld archives at The Huffington Post
• Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld at Fox News Channel
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Greg Gutfeld on Twitter
• The Daily Gut (blog site)
• Greg Gutfeld at IMDb