Stephen Colbert is celebrating Jimmy Kimmel’s emotional return to late-night television after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was placed on an indefinite hiatus earlier this month.
During the September 24 episode of CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert, 61, praised Kimmel’s performance on his first night back. “Last night our friend Jimmy Kimmel returned to television, just so proud of him! So proud to know that man,” Colbert said in a clip shared to Instagram that featured the caption “Free speech prevails.” He added, “Jimmy spoke beautifully about free speech and unity, he made great jokes, showed his deep emotions, got huge ratings.”
Colbert also pointed to the viral success of Kimmel’s monologue, which included a speech taking aim at Donald Trump and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over what he called threatening comments.
According to Colbert, the video was on track to break Kimmel’s personal record with 12 million views in 12 hours. It has since surpassed 19 million views on YouTube. Ever the comic, Colbert joked that it was “only” 5 billion views behind the viral El Chombo clip of the dancing green alien set to “Dame Tu Cosita” feat. Cutty Ranks.
ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA
The remarks follow Disney’s announcement that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would resume airing on September 23, nearly a week after it was pulled from the schedule. The hiatus came after Kimmel made controversial comments about the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel, 57, received a standing ovation from the audience as he returned to the stage Tuesday night. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted,” he joked before thanking fans, friends and “fellow late-night talk show hosts” for their support. He also gave a nod to Colbert, whom he described as “my friend” who has “found himself in this predicament.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’














