Comedian Jimmy Fallon surprisingly took aim at Joe Biden’s announcement of the upcoming debate against challenger Donald Trump next month.
On Wednesday’s episode of NBC’s The Tonight Show, the late-night host made a crack about one the Biden campaign’s requirements for the president’s participation.
“Biden and Trump will meet on June 27 on CNN, and one of Biden’s debate conditions was not having an audience, so that explains why it’s on CNN,” he quipped.
The liberal network has struggled to attract viewers and has trailed Fox News in primetime ratings for 39 consecutive months.
NEW: Late night host Jimmy Fallon trolls Biden for being a mumbling mess during his debate announcement, says Biden wants the debate on CNN because they have no audience.
“One of Biden's debate conditions was not having an audience… So that explains why it's on CNN.”
“Another… pic.twitter.com/kCwKVeT22p
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 16, 2024
In April, CNN didn’t even crack the top three cable news networks, with Fox News leading the pack at 1.3 million total day viewers, while MSNBC taking a distant second with 864,000 and ESPN rounding out third with 784,000.
CNN only managed to attract 505,000 average daily viewers and was down 13% in the coveted 25-54 demo with a weak showing of 88,000 average views during the month.
Unsurprisingly, Fox News reigned with the top five most watched shows in April, with primetime powerhouse The Five coming in first with an average 3.03 million viewers.
Jesse Watters Primetime came in second with 2.57 million, followed by Hannity at 2.22 million, while Gutfeld! took in fourth with 2.08 million, despite ranking first with the 25-54 demo, and Special Report rounded out the top five with 2.06 million.
During his monologue, Fallon continued to jeer at the president for the restrictions the Biden campaign has put on the debate.
“Another condition from Biden is that he wants microphones that automatically cut off when a candidate hits their time limit,” he teed up before doing an impression of Trump taking over Biden’s podium.
“Yup — microphones that automatically cut off,” he continued.
“Biden got the idea after his last press conference when his staff was like, ‘We need a microphone that automatically cuts off.’”
According to Fox News, Biden’s campaign demanded that the debate be held in a television studio without a live audience.
“The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home — not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering,” they wrote to the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The June 27 face off will be the earliest presidential debate ever held during an election cycle.
“If we’re being honest, an early bird debate feels right for these guys,” Fallon joked about the the elderly candidates.
Earlier in the week, comedian Jon Stewart targeted Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday night’s episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, accusing Pelosi and other Congress members of exploiting insider information for their own financial gain.
Using the corruption trial of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez (D) as a launchpad, Stewart criticized Pelosi by noting that Menendez didn’t “need to break the law so cartoonishly when the legal corruption in the Senate is so f–king lucrative.”
Stewart played clip from CSPAN, which highlighted that the “average” senator’s stock portfolio outperformed the stock market 12 percent of the time, which was far above the average hedge fund’s 7 percent.
“How do they do it?” Stewart asked rhetorically. “The secret is an understanding of the intricate interconnectivity of global markets.”
“I’m kidding,” he added. “They have inside information.”
He argued that Congress members avoid prosecution because they essentially self-govern by making the laws.
“It’s Congress that has refused to even hold a vote on the bills that have been proposed to ban members of Congress from trading stocks,” he pointed out.
“Because not letting members of Congress insider trade would be un-American! Just listen to one of the biggest beneficiaries of this stock windfall.”
Stewart then showed a video of Pelosi at a press conference responding to a question about whether representatives and their spouses should be allowed to trade individual stocks during their terms.
“This is a free market, and people. We’re a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” Pelosi defended.
Stewart wasn’t convinced, “In a free market, everyone has access to the same information. So unless you’re going to put all of us on the committees, I don’t get it.”