Greg Gutfeld

Gutfeld was born in San Mateo, California, the son of Jacqueline Bernice "Jackie" (née Cauhape) and Alfred Jack Gutfeld.^[3] Raised Catholic, he attended the all-boys Roman Catholic Junípero Serra High School^[4] and the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in English.^[5][6]

In a 2009 interview, Gutfeld explained that he started to experience a change in his political thinking while he was attending college:^[7]

I became a conservative by being around liberals, 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

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.^[8] The stunt generated publicity but led to Gutfeld being fired soon afterward; he then became "director of brand development" at Dennis Publishing.^[8] He edited the company's Maxim magazine in the U.K. from 2004 to 2006.^[6] Gutfeld's contract expired without renewal after losses in readership under his tenure.^[9]

Gutfeld was one of the first posting contributors to

Beginning on February 5, 2007, Gutfeld served as host of the late-night talk show

By the end of 2021, the combined viewership for Gutfeld! and The Five averaged over five million viewers.[16]

Gutfeld has appeared as a guest on

In late 2021, Gutfeld was named the 12th-most influential person in American media by the Mediaite website.^[16]

Controversies

Apology to Canadians

During a Red Eye segment that aired on March 17, 2009, Gutfeld and his panel discussed Canadian Lieutenant General

The segment was posted to YouTube three days after the reported deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, prompting widespread outrage.^[21][22][23] Canada had then been in command of the NATO mission in Kandahar Province, the birthplace and former capital of the Taliban, for three years.^[24] Along with Helmand Province, it was "home to some of the fiercest opposition to coalition forces" and reported to "have the highest casualty rates per province."^[25]

Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay called on Fox to apologize for the comments and described the remarks as "despicable, hurtful and ignorant."^[26] 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."^[26][27]

Russia's invasion of Ukraine

After

Gutfeld said that he voted by mail in the 2016 presidential election, but The Washington Post could find no evidence in voting records. Gutfeld thinks it is possible that he missed the official deadline.^[16]

As of 2018^[update], Gutfeld resides in New York City with his Russian wife, Elena Moussa. He met the photo editor in London, where he lived for three years.^[7][31][16]

Gutfeld was raised Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy.^[32] He describes himself as an "agnostic atheist".^[31]

A fan of hard rock and heavy metal music, Gutfeld has spoken on-air about being a fan of many bands, including

Gutfeld is also a self-described libertarian.[35]

Books

• The Scorecard: The Official Point System for Keeping Score in the Relationship Game.
  ISBN 978-0-8050-5450-7
  .
• The Scorecard at Work: The Official Point System for Keeping Score on the Job.
  ISBN 978-0-8050-5865-9
  .
• Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings.
  ISBN 978-1-84737-066-2
  .
• The Bible of Unspeakable Truths.
  ISBN 978-0-446-55230-1
  .
• The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whiners in the Age of Phony Outrage. New York:
  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:
  ISBN 978-1501190728
  .
• The Plus: Self-Help for People Who Hate Self-Help.
  ISBN 978-1982149918
  .

• New Yorkers in journalism

References