Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert Appear on Each Other’s Shows: ‘We Thought It’d Be a Fun Way to Drive the President Nuts’

Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert teamed up for a late-night TV crossover on Tuesday.

The duo appeared as guests on each other’s shows simultaneously on September 30. The moment came exactly one week after Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to air following an indefinite hiatus, and two months after Colbert, 61, announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would be coming to an end.

During the opening monologue, filmed in his hometown of Brooklyn, Kimmel, 57, mentioned that Colbert would be his guest and joked, “It’s the show the FCC doesn’t want you to see.” He added, “Thanks to the Trump administration, [Colbert] is now available for a limited time only,” before introducing him.

Kimmel also addressed their simultaneous crossover appearances. “We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts,” he said, taking aim at Donald Trump and mentioning how the U.S. was “moments away” from a government shutdown — which began on October 1 and is the first since 2019.

“Democrats want Republicans to agree to continue funding the Affordable Care Act, while Republicans want to use that money to add crab legs to the omelet station at [Trump’s private resort] Mar-a-Lago,” Kimmel quipped. “Trump is threatening irreversible cuts if there’s a shutdown — and you know what, I’ve been a victim of a shutdown before, and I can tell you: they are reversible,” he added, referencing the crowd’s massive cheers for his return.

Kimmel then continued joking about Trump, 79, lecturing military generals about physical fitness.
“Trump actually said our new military would focus on fitness. I love that he’s the one lecturing them,” Kimmel continued. “If that’s not the fondue pot calling the kettle fat, I don’t know what is. Listen up, generals — the Pillsbury Dough President wants you to do pilates! The only push-ups Donald Trump does are at the side of an ice cream truck.”

“If you’re so fat you break escalators, you are unfit to serve in the military,” Kimmel added, referencing Trump’s recent escalator incident at the United Nations headquarters on September 23.

During their respective appearances on each other’s shows, both Kimmel and Colbert discussed the recent shake-up in late-night television. While Kimmel’s show was put on an indefinite hiatus on September 17 before returning on September 23, Colbert had announced in July that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would end in May 2026 after 10 seasons.

Kimmel revealed he was in the bathroom when he learned Jimmy Kimmel Live! had been pulled, while Colbert recalled “sweating through my shirt” before telling his staff that the show would end.

Colbert’s CBS show was canceled just three days after he criticized CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for awarding Trump a $16 million settlement. Meanwhile, Kimmel’s show was pulled from the air by ABC after comments he made about the death of political commentator Charlie Kirk on the September 15 episode.

Two days later, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr publicly condemned Kimmel’s remarks, and ABC temporarily removed Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its lineup. Broadcasters Sinclair and Nexstar also preempted the show, even after its return on September 23. Nexstar is the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the U.S., while Sinclair is the nation’s biggest ABC affiliate group.

Carr praised the preemptions by Nexstar and Sinclair. However, on September 26, both companies announced they would resume airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! and end the preemptions.