Jimmy Kimmel is taping his show in Brooklyn this week, his first full week back since his unceremonious suspension. Taking advantage of his sojourn to the East Coast, Kimmel and Stephen Colbert did double duty booking for Tuesday night’s shows: Colbert appeared as a guest on Kimmel’s show and Kimmel was the guest on Colbert’s show. This was especially well-timed given that of all the late night hosts, Kimmel and Colbert have most directly been impacted by a wannabe fascist regime being bolstered by kowtowing corporations. Though Kimmel’s suspension was lifted thanks to celebrities and consumers walking the walk, Colbert’s show is still sadly coming to an end in May. But for this one night, Colbert shared the title of late night martyr as each host recounted how they learned the dubious fates of their shows:

While appearing as a guest on Colbert’s “The Late Show,” Kimmel detailed how he learned he was being pulled off the air on Sept. 17, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killing. Kimmel said he received a call from the network about 90 minutes before he was set to tape his show that day.

“This is unusual. As far as I knew, they didn’t even know I was doing a show previous to this,” he joked.

“I have like five people who work in my office with me, so the only private place to go is the bathroom,” he continued. “So I go into the bathroom, and I’m on the phone with the ABC executives, and 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 tonight.’”

Kimmel said he objected and told ABC this wasn’t a “good idea,” but “there was a vote,” and “I lost the vote.” His immediate reaction was that this meant his show was done for good.

“I thought, ‘That’s it. It’s over. It is over,’” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m never coming back on the air.’ That’s really what I thought.’”

Kimmel learned the news so close to his taping that audience members were already in their seats and had to be sent home. Musician Howard Jones was also already there, so they went ahead and taped him performing “in front of our disappointed employees.” Ironically, Jones performed the song “Things Can Only Get Better.” When Kimmel left the studio a few hours later, he recalled being followed by paparazzi and two helicopters. By the time he got home, he was “shaken.”

…On the same night that Kimmel was a guest on Colbert’s CBS show, Colbert was a guest on Kimmel’s ABC show, which was taping in Brooklyn, New York, for its annual pilgrimage from the West Coast. While on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Colbert revealed how he learned that CBS had canceled “The Late Show” in July. The show is set to end in May 2026.

Colbert said he learned the news from his manager, who told him they needed to talk for 15 minutes after his show. Colbert told his wife he planned to have this quick chat but didn’t arrive home for two-and-a-half hours. “I walk into the apartment, and she goes, ‘What happened? Did you get canceled?’” Colbert remembered. “And I said, ‘Yes I did.’”

[From USA Today]

There are two details in these stories that tickle me no end. First, that the minute Stephen came home two hours later than expected, his wife immediately asked him, “Did you get canceled?” They’ve been married for over 30 years, she knows when trouble’s afoot! Then with Jimmy, it’s the fact that the only place quiet and private enough for him to take the bigly important suspension call was in the bathroom. That’s hilarious. Sure, the man has his own titular show, but it somehow seems more fitting to Jimmy’s profile that he needs to abscond to the bathroom for attending to serious executive business. That’s how a good comedy writer would write the sketch version of that scene! And of course in this sketch version, when it came time for Jimmy to vote we’d instead hear a toilet flushing before Jimmy gets to utter a yea or nay. There was also this adorable moment Jimmy shared:

“We get to the house and we’re shaking, you know,” he told Colbert “I got two kids, and our daughter, who’s 11 years old, says, ‘I can sell my Labubus.’ It was actually very sweet.”

“That’s lovely,” Colbert said.

“Our son just got naked and started running around the house,” Kimmel added.

“Also lovely,” Colbert said.

[From HuffPost]

No! Labubus don’t belong in this story, be gone you devils!! Aside from that, I see value in each child’s response to the crisis.

Here’s part one of Kimmel’s interview. Here are links to part two and three, and here’s a link to Colbert’s interview on Kimmel.

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Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Avalon.red and screenshots via YouTube