Colbert, Kimmel Had a Lot to Discuss on Each Other's Shows

Late-night television's biggest names joined forces for a crossover event Tuesday, with Stephen Colbert joining Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Brooklyn and Kimmel appearing on The Late Show in Manhattan. The move during Kimmel's show's annual trip from Los Angeles to New York City came after both hosts faced show cancellations—a permanent one for Colbert and a temporary one for Kimmel—linked to recent political controversies and criticism from the Trump administration, the New York Times reports. Kimmel, referring to insults from President Trump, told Colbert, "I am so honored to be here with my fellow no-talent, late-night loser." Kimmel joked that they thought the dual shows "might be a fun way to drive the president nuts."

• Kimmel described the suspension as an "emotional rollercoaster" and recounted getting the call from ABC execs as he was getting ready for a show, NPR reports. "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," he said. "I thought, that's it. It's over, it's over. I was like, I'm never coming back on the air."
• Colbert said that when he announced the cancelation to his audience, he was nervous and had to restart twice, Rolling Stone reports. "And the audience thought it was a bit," he said. "They started going, 'You can do it. Come on, Steve. 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 told them what was happening and they didn't laugh. They didn't laugh."
• When Colbert asked Kimmel if his younger self had ever imagined a president celebrating his unemployment, Kimmel replied, "No, I never imagined that we'd ever have a president like this, and I hope we don't ever have another president like this again."

Both hosts pointed to a difficult climate for late-night programming. CBS plans to exit the late-night business entirely after Colbert's run ends this spring, and viewership for both shows has declined. At the end of Colbert's show, Kimmel's longtime sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez arrived with a bottle of tequila. The trio toasted "good friends, great jobs, and late night TV," NPR reports.