Ratings-challenged Last week, CNN included HBO’s Bill Maher in their Friday night program, yet still lost to Fox News personality Greg Gufeld.

Semafor reported last month that the network was considering the inclusion of a “comedian” to spice things up as it continues to battle with its diminishing influence in the cable news market.

However, the stunt’s lackluster performance for CNN and its new CEO, Chris Licht, was not amusing.

Unless, of course, you are one of the increasing number of people who have tuned out the network and its brand of cynicism and deceit.

Maher’s popular “Overtime” section often airs on YouTube on Fridays following the conclusion of his HBO show “Real Time.”

Friday’s 14-minute piece ran during the second hour of “CNN Tonight”

The results were that the dominant “Gutfeld!” segment on Fox News was unaffected by Maher’s failure.

Friday’s statistics for 11:30 p.m. to 11:44 p.m. ET revealed that the HBO host failed to attract either total viewers or the advertiser-prized 25-54 demographic.

According to a Fox News press release, Maher’s piece only garnered 401,000 viewers on CNN and 92,000 in the demo.

In comparison, at that same period, “Gutfeld!” nabbed more than 2 million viewers — and 370,000 in the demo.

The first failure of adding Maher to the faltering network is comical, but not in the sense that CNN’s administration anticipated.

Max Tani of Semafor revealed last month that the network came up with the concept of entering the comedy business.

More on this story via The Western Journal:

“CNN is considering hiring a comedian to host one of its primetime shows,” Tani said.

Citing five people familiar with the plan, he wrote that such a person could “fill the primetime 9 to 11 p.m. hours with a nontraditional version of the news.” CONTINUE READING…