Exclusive | Lefty late-night TV hosts targeted Republicans in 87% of jokes about Senate candidates: study

The joke’s not on Dem.

Late-night television continues to be as lefty as ever — with 87% of jokes targeting U.S. Senate candidates directed at Republicans, a new analysis found.

From Sept. 8 through Friday, a whopping 45 of the 52 jokes about the high-stakes Senate races on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” came at the expense of GOP candidates.

Only seven jokes knocked a Democrat, according to a Media Research Center study provided exclusively to The Post.

Fourteen wisecracks were aimed at Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running against Democratic state Representative James Talarico for the US Senate; nine slammed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is trying to fend off Democratic challenger Troy Jackson; and six targeted Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, who is running for an open seat against far-left Dem Abdul El-Sayed.

“This guy is awful,” goofed comedian Michael Kosta about Paxton on the Sept. 10 airing for “The Daily Show.” “Are they really running this charisma black-hole in one of the most important Senate races in the country?”

The study did not include tracking gags against other pols, including President Donald Trump, who continues to be the butt of the late-night TV’s jokes.

The Post previoulsy reported on another Media Research Center report that found 92% of late-night TV jokes targeted the right in 2025 – with a jaw-dropping 7,045 of them slamming Trump. In 2024, late-night comedians targeted Trump 5,980 times.

Reps for “The Daily Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” did not return messages.

“Late-night comedy has become remarkably predictable,” said MRC President David Bozell.

“When the same people are always the punchline, and the same people are almost never the punchline, eventually the pattern becomes funnier than the jokes. Comedy is sharpest when nobody is off limits. Late night should try it.”