Late night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were both guests on each other’s shows this week. The two traded stories over their recent cancellations, which was temporary for Kimmel and permanent for Colbert, and discussed the state of modern journalism and free speech in America’s current political climate.
This week, late night TV show hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were guests on each other’s shows to trade stories of their recent cancellations. While Kimmel’s cancellation was temporary and Colbert’s is permanent, the two have a lot of parallels regarding the reasoning behind their shows going off the air.
Both hosts were hit with insults from President Donald Trump and his administration, and the situation surrounding their shows has opened up a serious conversation regarding journalism and free speech in America’s current political climate.
This Tuesday in New York, the two collaborated on a special talk show crossover for Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. The broadcasts showed the two waving at each other from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where Kimmel has been taping his show, and the Ed Sullivan theater where Colbert’s show is filmed.
The two made references to the insults Trump has thrown at both of them, and the late night hosts in general, recently, and mocked the administration.
“I am so honored to be here with my fellow no-talent, late-night loser.”
Kimmel joked to his live audience in Brooklyn about the connection and collaboration between him and Colbert and their near simultaneous shows.
“We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts.”
On Colbert’s episode, Kimmel gave his first interview since experiencing his temporary suspension last month. Network executives delivered the suspension after Kimmel gave a monologue on September 15th regarding the recent killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, called Kimmel’s monologue “ill-timed and insensitive.”
“We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said in the monologue.
The comments from Kimmel enraged Trump, other conservative activists, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, and two major broadcast groups which chose to pull the show off the air.
Kimmel recounted to Colbert the “emotional rollercoaster” he endured after learning his show was suspended and getting the call from ABC executives delivering the news. “They say, listen, we want to take the temperature down. We’re concerned about what you’re going to say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air,” Kimmel said.
“I thought, that’s it. It’s over, it’s over. I was like, I’m never coming back on the air.”
Kimmel’s suspension triggered a major debate throughout the US regarding free speech and how much power the Trump administration has when it comes to controlling the media. Fans of both Kimmel and Colbert showed massive waves of support for Kimmel, threatening to boycott Disney and cancel their subscriptions.
Last week, ABC and all of its affiliate stations reversed their decision and brought the show back to air. On Tuesday, the two hosts also discussed Colbert’s cancellation, with Kimmel giving Colbert a joking introduction regarding his show going off the air.
“[This is] the show the FCC doesn’t want you to see. [Please welcome] the Emmy-winning late night talk show host who, thanks to the Trump administration, is now available for a limited-time only.”
In July, CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will be ending in May for financial reasons, however, the public has been skeptical over the network’s decision to end the show.
The skepticism came due to the fact that the announcement of Colbert’s cancellation came right after Colbert criticized CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, for paying $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump.
The cancellation also came as Paramount Global reached out for FCC approval for a $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media. When Combert’s cancellation was announced, Trump celebrated by tweeting: “I hear Kimmel is next.”
On Kimmel’s show, Colbert explained the moments when he found out his show, which he’s been hosting since 2015, was ending. After a taping of his show, Colbert told his audience not to leave for one more recorded segment.
“I was so nervous about doing it right, cause there was nothing in the (tele)prompter, I was just speaking off the cuff. They started going, ‘You can, come on Stephen, you can do it,” because I always messed up on the sentence that told them what was happening. And then I got to the sentence that actually told them what’s happening, and they didn’t laugh,” Colbert stated.
The show also featured conversations regarding the two’s friendship, and the relationship they have with fellow late night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers.
Colbert’s episode concluded with Kimmel and his known sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez pouring tequila shots and toasting to “good friends, great jobs, and late night TV.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
