Since 2008, two friends have urged me to watch Red Eye on the FOX News channel. I finally got around to it one late night in March of 2009. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Red Eye is hosted by Greg Gutfeld. Greg is so smart he makes Stephen Hawking look like Janet Napolitano at a national security press briefing.

Gutfeld’s sidekick is Bill Schulz. Bill is so funny he could make a femur seem humerus.

And finally, there’s TV’s Andy Levy, a guy so sharp that he blunts the knife in Charlie Sheen’s hand.

Welcome to the world of Red Eye, television’s last best hope for topical late night comedy.

In case you missed it, a report from Mediaite last fall said more people watch Red Eye on FOX at 3 AM than CNN’s prime time show at 8 PM.

“Red Eye averaged 432,000 total viewers and 202,000 in the demo. Let’s deal with the demo first – CNN’s 8pm ET show, hosted by Campbell Brown, averaged 191,000 in the demo. Let’s just let that one sink in – Fox News had more people in the all important A25-54 demographic watching their channel at three in the morning (east coast time) than CNN had for the show that leads off their prime time. This says as much about Fox News as it does about CNN. Wow.”

Wow, indeed. Red Eye goes everywhere late night comedy is supposed to go. A place where few late night comedy shows have dared to tread since a certain inauguration in January of 2009 when Andrew Breitbart wrote:

“In an era of extreme political correctness, when almost everyone is offended by almost everything, and with self-appointed advocacy groups organized to find offense on behalf of almost everyone – offensively, without the majority in the group’s consent – it’s nice to know that there’s a place to go where everyone can be offended almost all of the time.”

Red Eye has a noticeable libertarian streak and according to Wikipedia, Gutfeld, Schulz and Levy are all libertarians. While Wikipedia’s accuracy is questionable, I am absolutely sure that Greg Gutfeld deserves the 2009 award for libertarian quote of the year. During an interview with Reason TV last May, Gutfeld quipped:

“I became a conservative by being around liberals. I became a libertarian by being around conservatives.”

Last week, Greg mentioned that tonight, New Year’s Eve, Red Eye will air a special program at 12:30 am eastern time featuring some of the show’s favorite guests. I’m hoping for a mud wrestling match between S.E. Cupp and Ann Coulter.

I also have a suggestion for a 2010 Red Eye ratings bonanza in eight simple words: Tonight, Red Eye with special guest Charles Krauthammer.

Think of the comedic potential.