Late-night talk show pals Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert guest-starred on each other’s shows Tuesday night to vent about their respective programs being pulled from TV.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host, whose coveted late-night show was briefly yanked off air by ABC on Sept. 17 following his controversial comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, recounted learning about his suspension while sitting in the bathroom on a call with network executives.
“I’m in my office, typing away, as I usually do, I get a call. It’s ABC, and they say they want to talk to me. This is unusual,” Kimmel, 57, said while appearing on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
“I have like five people who work in my office with me. So the only private place to go is the bathroom. So I go into the bathroom and I’m on the phone with the ABC executives, and they say, Listen, we want to turn the temperature down,” he recalled.
“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,” he said, prompting scores of boos from the audience.
“That’s what I said. I started booing,” Kimmel replied to the audience.
He then recalled telling the executives that he thought the decision to nix the show was not a “good idea,” but lost a vote protesting the decision.
“So I had put my pants back on, I walked out to my office, I called in some of the executive producers, and there were about nine people in there, and I said they’re pulling the show off the air,” Kimmel said, noting his audience had already been seated.
“I was whiter than Jim Gaffigan when I came out of it,” he joked.
Kimmel — who left the West Coast for a special week-long taping in New York City — recalled believing that his show, which returned to its coveted time slot on Sept. 23, was indefinitely “over.”
“I thought that’s it. It’s over. It is over. I was like, ‘This is it, I’m never coming back on the air.’ That’s really what I thought,” Kimmel explained.
Colbert, 61, whose fiery CBS show will come to an end in May 2026 over reported financial reasons, shared an exclusive clip of the moment he learned of Kimmel’s suspension.
Colbert was taping his show when his executive producer, Tom Purcell, handed him his phone with a text saying his late-night pal and fishing buddy had been axed.
A stunned Colbert then relayed the news to his audience, “Okay. Jimmy Kimmel’s show has been pulled indefinitely by ABC.” He then adds, ” Wow… Wow,” he said.
Colbert also recounted learning that his show would not be renewed after taping on July 16 in a phone call with talent agent James “Baby Doll” Dixon, who also represents Kimmel.
He aired the news at the end of the following night’s broadcast, briefly informing his staff beforehand so they wouldn’t learn of the cancellation live on air.
“It’s their ball, and they can take it home if they want, you know, I mean what I’ve said is I’m very grateful,” Colbert said of how he’s felt since.
“They don’t have any balls, Stephen, let’s be honest,” Kimmel replied.
Colbert and “Late Night” star Seth Meyers joined Kimmel on stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music before the airing of the special crossover episode to snap a pic for social media, which they all shared and captioned “Hi Donald.”
Kimmel issued a lengthy monologue during his return episode last Tuesday, attempting to clarify his past assertion that Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, was likely affiliated with the MAGA movement.
“You understand that it was never my intention to make light of a murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he said in his opening remarks, which were interrupted several times by standing ovations from the audience.
He never apologized for his comments during the return episode.
Nexstar Media Group said Friday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return to its ABC affiliates.
The announcement came only hours after Sinclair Broadcast Group also agreed to reinstate the late-night program across its own ABC stations, reversing a week-long refusal to air the show even after ABC parent company Disney lifted its four-day suspension.
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