The past few weeks have erupted in a whirlwind of protest over free speech in the media after two late-night programs were unexpectedly pulled. Late-night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert appeared as guests on each other’s shows Tuesday night to exchange woes over the cancellation of their shows—temporarily for Kimmel and indefinitely for Colbert.

Jimmy Kimmel Joins The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Kimmel first joined Colbert on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. The host was welcomed by thundering applause as he sat for his first interview since ABC temporarily suspended his show last month. “I am so honored to be here with my fellow no-talent, late-night loser,” the late-night comedian joked, referencing insults President Donald Trump has thrown at the two.

Network executives cut the show after hearing Kimmel’s opening monologue from Monday, Sept. 15. The monologue referenced the recent shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk: “We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

The Walt Disney Company deemed the comment as “ill-timed” and “insensitive,” suspending the show indefinitely. Recounting the ordeal as an “emotional rollercoaster,” Kimmel explained he was preparing for his next show when he got the call.

“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,” Kimmel told Colbert. “I thought, that’s it. It’s over, it’s over. I was like, I’m never coming back on the air.”

The decision sparked national outrage over the stifling of free speech and attacks made by the Trump administration. Thousands upon thousands threatened to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions, costing the company billions of dollars. ABC and its affiliates reversed the decision last week, and Kimmel returned to air this past Tuesday.

Late Night with Stephen Colbert Cancelled For Good

Kimmel welcomed his late-night colleague to Jimmy Kimmel Live! next. Met with roaring cheers from the crowd, Colbert sat down to discuss the permanent cancellation of his show. The long-time host said his manager informed him about the decision after he returned from vacation. He broke the news to the audience after his show that day.

“I was so nervous about doing it right, cause there was nothing in the (tele)prompter, I was just speaking off the cuff,” Colbert told Kimmel. “They started going, ‘You can, come on Stephen, 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 actually told them what’s happening, and they didn’t laugh.”

CBS announced the decision back in July, saying the show would end for good in May 2026. The network claimed the show was cut for purely financial reasons, though fans are skeptical. Coincidentally, the plug was pulled just days after Colbert criticized CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, for settling a 16 million dollar lawsuit with President Trump. Unlike Kimmel, Colbert’s show will end indefinitely.

During both shows on Tuesday night, Kimmel and Colbert talked about their friendship. The late-night crossover also featured guest appearances by late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers. The duo left us with a toast to “good friends, great jobs, and late-night TV.”