Vince Vaughn is sharing his thoughts on late-night talk shows and explaining why he thinks ratings are dwindling.
During an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast, the Psycho actor said that he thinks late-night shows have become “agenda-based.”
“Podcasts have gotten so much more popular with less production, less writers, less staff,” Vaughn said, noting that audiences have taken to them because they want “authenticity.”
Vaughn then said, “I think that the talk shows, to a large part, became really agenda-based. They were going to evangelical people to what they thought. And so, people just rejected it because it didn’t feel authentic. It felt like they had an agenda. It stopped being funny and it started feeling like I was in a f***ing class I didn’t want to take.”
The actor said that the industry wants to blame technology but added that “the reality is it’s the approach,” saying that with podcasts people feel like they are in the middle of a real conversation.
“But if you look at what happened to the talk shows and why their ratings are low, it’s got only to do with the fact of what you just said, why is they all became the same show,” the Wedding Crashers said. “And they all became so about their politics and who’s good and who’s bad. And it’s like, imagine sitting next to someone like that on a f***ing plane.”
When it comes to politics, Vaughn identifies as a Libertarian, and the former MTV star asked the actor whether he ever felt ostracized by Hollywood for his beliefs.
“I got along with people for the most and always was, you know, always try to be honest about who I am,” he said. “But yeah, there’s times you felt like it would have been easier. It’s almost like a career move. You know what I mean? But I was always the other way too. Like I’m not jumping on 100% this or this because I have opinions on both sides. There’s s**t I don’t agree with at all and then there’s s**t I don’t agree with at all.”
Watch Vaughn’s full interview in the video below.