Watch out, Larry King and Anderson Cooper -- the anti-celebrities are at the gates. Heck, inside the gates.

Should Anderson Cooper and Larry King be worried? Seems their news-celebrity status hasn't been quite enough lately to keep the prime-time stars at the top of the news ratings pile in Nielsen's sought-after 25-to-54 viewer demographic.

As of last week, that title belongs to the crew at "Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld," Fox News' late-night news-comedy mash-up (midnight on the West Coast, 3 a.m. where it's snowing, prime time if you have it on your DVR) that's been amusing insomniacs, including some high-ranking Ministry bureaucrats -- OK, one of us -- for the past three years.

Cooper has a spotlight, an impressive background, nearly superhuman powers in the face of human suffering and working knowledge of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Kim Kardashian and the Situation. King can book just about any in-the-news celebrity on the block -- the likes of First Lady Michelle Obama, papa Joe Jackson, Simon Monjack and James Cameron to name a recent few.

Gutfeld, ombudsman Andy Levy and butt-of-most-jokes Bill Schulz have little cred when it comes to being sympathetic to human suffering. And the show's booking power isn't likely to lure the first lady any time soon. But a devoted Twitter following, a mixed bag of political views and the cleverly placed "legs chair" must be picking up the slack. 

Of course, the show does have its share of star power: Actress Barrett Swatek. Comedian Jim Norton. Father Jonathan Morris. (Father Jonathan, incidentally, has little or no working knowledge of Snooki but can roll with a joke and a little robot abuse -- witness the video below -- like few other men of the cloth. And he knows whether God was rooting for the Saints. And has some breast-feeding advice.)

Um, yeah, so back to that Twitter following and stuff ...

Maybe the new news celebrities are the guys on TV who are also on your BlackBerry or your iPhone, or sometimes even on your laptop? Not that we'd ever sit in bed, watching late-night TV while checking out the show's Twitter chatter on our BlackBerry and our laptop. And we don't even have an iPhone, so that's, like, totally impossible.

Yeah. So. This is just getting all creepy and TMI now.

But if you like that kind of thing? This post isn't telling you anything you don't know already.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photos: Greg Gutfeld being Greg Gutfeld, the host of "Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld"; Larry King waving after giving a keynote address at Bradley University's midyear commencement in Peoria, Ill., on Dec. 19; and Anderson Cooper covering Hurricane Katrina in 2005, top. "Red Eye" ombudsman Andy Levy, master of the Halftime Report, left. Credits, clockwise from top: Fox News; Ron Johnson / Peoria Journal Star; CNN; Fox News.

Comments

[Jason S.]

FASCINATING!

Larry King has a very weird twitpics, though. Seriously.

[Kimberly Flynn]

Yeah for anti-celebs!

Oh, and I totally looove THAT kinda thing! :)

[M. H.. Moyer]

I have watched Larry King for years and he is getting worse. Last night his hair was so weird it was hard to watch. Either leave it grey or don't choose red. You could tell by Mrs. Obama's eyes that he wasn't looking at her but fooling around with stuff on his desk. He does that often - like his mind is on other things. It is so annoying when he has such an interesting guest, such as Mrs. Obama.

As for Anderson Coooper, I have also watched him for years, and he is the best. Please don't do anything dumb by changing him. A LONG time watcher of CNN. M. H. Moyer, Michigan

[CDZ from the Ministry]

Hey all, Christie D'Zurilla here from the blog -- wanted to remind folks that we have a zero-tolerance policy on profanity.

That's harsh, mild, in acronyms, even if you use an ast*risk in the word. Ain't gonna fly. Even if your use of profanity cracks me up, I can't publish it.

Feel free to resubmit comments clean and I'll try to get 'em live!

//cdz

[AreaMan]

The fraudulent "journalism" of CNN, MSNBC, is being exposed by programs like Red Eye.

Red Eye is entertaining, informative, has steaming hot females and has the added benefit of telling the truth without the pretense of objectivity.

[Tiffani]

I LOVE Red Eye. I have to DVR it, because I have to get up in the morning and I'm worthless at work if I don't sleep enough.

[schram]

Good story, Christie, but I'd love to hear some comments, on the record or otherwise, about what competing network execs think about their so-called "legit" shows getting tonked by this crazy 3am trainwreck?

Followup possible? I'll bring the lotion.

[Phillip Nagle]

I enjoy Redeye, but you can tell how people rate at Fox News. The really big stars don't go on Redeye. However, Redeye does get Fox News hottest chics.

O'Reilly does not use Gutfeld well on the Factor!

[Howard Roark]

Red Eye Rocks! Humor and satire at it's best.

Most Libs have NO sense of humor and are very unhappy people for the most part.

And if you disagree you are probably a rascist Progressive. :)

[CDZ from the Ministry]

@schram -- You know, the invocation of the lotion is *almost* enough to make me take you up on that proposal ...

:)

//cdz

[MARK]

Red Eye's the best....if they ever have a tour, I'll bring the lotion!

[Schlittertex]

Finally, Red Eye getting the credit it deserves. Greg, you have made all unicorns very proud.

And if you disagree with me, you are a racists and/or worse than Hilter!

[Terpfan]

All I can say is, I love "Red Eye."

[CDZ from the Ministry]

@Terpfan -- on a related note, how do you feel about curling?

Just a question, from the curious minds here at the Ministry of Gossip.

//cdz

[Blue State Shoes]

Red Eye rips it! It's not your father's talk show. Thankfully for those of us in the west, it's on at midnight, making it an easy rescue from Letterman blather, Larry King's milktoast and whatever NBC is trying.

This is the freshest show on TV. Gutfeld's the sharpest knife in the drawer, Shultz very witty and Levy, the acerbic velvet hammer. Together, they are the Rat Pack of late night.

Plus, many of the 'Leg Chair' guest babes---like S.E. Cupp especially---are whip-smart. Throw in Robot Theater (skewering satire) with an array of short, crackback gags and this show stomps.

[Lee]

Love RedEye. Catch the show whenever I can. Have a question. I do not watch MSNBC, I'm sure most people know why. Can someone tell me just who advertises on that channel? That way I stop buying or using their products and maybe speed up the Death of MSNBC.

[Dolores Austin Texas]

I love Anderson Cooper, he's the best. He's very exciting to watch. He goes out of way to make his show interesting. No one can compare to his show, not even Red Eye.

[Ronald Alan Geiken]

Red Eye on Fox News is one of the funniest shows on TV currently. I usually watch it 5 nights a week and never fail to be entertained. Record it and watch it on your DVR at a more convenient time. It is on at 1 AM in Phoenix. If you haven't seen it, give it a try.

[Thaddeus S. Kaczor, Jr.]

I love Red Eye because it's a REAL news show that's also entertaining, rather than an Entertainment show trying to LOOK like a real News Show (like some of the other 'trendy' shows- you KNOW who you are!).

I also think it's amazingly telling (and funny!) that a little show on at 3 am on FOX News consistently kicks the ratings stuffing out of prime time shows on the other news networks.