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Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon opened their late-night shows Thursday using a mix of humor and solidarity with suspended ABC host Jimmy Kimmel.
Stewart opted for satire to critique ABC suspending “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Colbert took a more serious approach, calling his suspension “blatant censorship.” Fallon praised Kimmel and vowed to keep doing his show as usual but an announcer replaced most of his critiques about President Donald Trump with praise.
Their guests the day after Kimmel’s suspension — and two months after CBS said it would cancel the show hosted by Colbert, one of President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics on TV — also varied widely.
Stewart and Colbert interviewed guests who could address censorship concerns raised by Kimmel’s suspension, including journalist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa. Meanwhile, Fallon’s guests were actor Jude Law, journalist Tom Llamas and actor and singer Jonathan Groff — none of whom addressed Kimmel’s situation.
Stewart’s show opened with a voiceover promising adherence to the party line.
“We have another fun, hilarious administration-compliant show,” it said.
He lavished praise on the president and satirized his criticism of large cities and his deployment of the National Guard to fight their crime.
“Coming to you tonight from the real (expletive), the crime ridden cesspool that is New York City. It is a tremendous disaster like no one’s ever seen before. Someone’s National Guard should invade this place, am I right?” Stewart said.
“The Daily Show” set was refashioned with decorative gold engravings, in a parody of gold accents Trump has added to the fireplace, doorway arches, walls and other areas of the Oval Office.
Stewart fidgeted nervously as though he was worried about speaking the correct talking points. When the audience members reacted with an “awww” he whispered: “What are you doing? Shut up. You’re going to (expletive) blow this for us.”
He took on a more stilted tone when he started describing Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom, calling the president “our great father.”
“Gaze upon him. With a gait even more majestic than that of the royal horses that prance before him,” he said.
When Stewart asked Ressa, the author of “How to Stand Up to a Dictator,” how to cope with the current moment, Ressa recounted how she and her colleagues at the news site Rappler “just kept going” when she was faced with 11 arrest warrants in one year under then-President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We just kept doing our jobs. We just kept putting one foot in front of the other,” Ressa said.
Stewart normally hosts only on Mondays. The Emmy winner helmed “The Daily Show” from 1999 through 2015, delivering sharp, satirical takes on politics and current events and interviews with newsmakers. He returned to host once a week during the run-up to the 2024 US presidential election.
Fallon opened his “Tonight Show” monologue addressing Kimmel’s suspension. “To be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on. And no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s a decent, funny and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.”
Swift suspension after remarks on Kirk’s assassination
Kimmel made several remarks about the reaction to Kirk’s killing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Monday and Tuesday nights, including that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show after a group of ABC-affiliated stations said it would not air the show, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said his agency had a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation.
Kimmel has not commented. His supporters say Carr misread what the comic said and that nowhere did he specifically suggest that Tyler Robinson — the man Utah authorities allege fatally shot Kirk — was conservative.
In July, CBS said it would cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. The network said it shut down the decades-old TV institution for financial reasons. But the announcement came three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” story.
’The Late Show’ hosts past and present address suspension
Colbert started his monologue on Thursday with the animated song “Be Our Guest” from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” but replaced the lyrics with “Shut your trap. Shut your trap.”
He later addressed Kimmel directly, saying that he stands with him and his staff.
“If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive,” he said.
He also responded to remarks Carr made that it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming “they determine falls short of community values.”
“Well, you know what my community values are, buster? Freedom of speech,” Colbert said to loud applause from his audience.
David Letterman, Colbert’s predecessor on “The Late Show,” lamented the networks’ moves.
“I feel bad about this, because we all see where see this is going, correct? It’s managed media,” Letterman said during an appearance Thursday at The Atlantic Festival 2025 in New York. “It’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous.”
He added that people shouldn’t be fired just because they don’t “suck up” to what Letterman called “an authoritarian” president.

SYDNEY: China cautioned Papua New Guinea against “undermining” its interests and sovereignty in signing a mutual defense pact with Australia widely seen as a counter to Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific.
Australia and Papua New Guinea this week agreed on the text of a deal which will see the countries commit to defending each other from armed attacks.
Asked about the deal, a spokesperson for Beijing’s embassy in Port Moresby said China respected Papua New Guinea’s right to strike deals with other countries.
But such a deal should not be “exclusive,” nor restrict Papua New Guinea from cooperating with other countries, the spokesperson said late Thursday.
“It should also refrain from targeting any third party or undermining its legitimate rights and interests,” they warned.
China urged the country to maintain “mutually beneficial cooperation” with Beijing and “uphold independence and self-reliance.”
Beijing has committed billions of dollars to Pacific nations over the past decade, funding hospitals, sports stadiums, roads and other public works in an attempt to win their favor.
Canberra has stepped up its engagement with the region in a bid to counter China’s influence.
Australia and Papua New Guinea say the treaty will be signed after cabinet processes in both countries, following a delay this week.
The text of their deal says “any activities, agreements or arrangements with third parties would not compromise the ability of either of the Parties to implement the Treaty” – a clear nod to China.
Prime Minister James Marape said this week he would send his defense minister, Billy Joseph, to China to discuss the agreement.
To the north of former colonial power Australia, Papua New Guinea is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia.
Beijing’s economic support in the Pacific appears to be paying dividends, with Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru all severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China in recent years.