Jimmy Kimmel on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ and Stephen Colbert on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on Sept. 30, 2025.Credit : Scott Kowalchyk/CBS; Disney

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

The pair appeared as guests on each other’s shows at the same time on Sept. 30. It came exactly a week after Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to television following its indefinite hiatus and two months after Colbert, 61, announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is coming to an end.

During his opening monologue during the taping from his native Brooklyn, Kimmel, 57, mentioned that Colbert would be appearing as his guest and joked, “It’s the show the FCC doesn’t want you to see.” Adding that “thanks to the Trump administration, [Colbert] is now available for a limited time only,” as he introduced him as a guest.

The host also referenced the pair’s crossover on their respective shows. “We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts,” he said before taking aim at Donald Trump and mentioning how the U.S. was “moments away” from the government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1 and is the first since 2019.

Stephen Colbert on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on Sept. 30, 2025.Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube

“Democrats want Republicans to agree to continue funding the Affordable Care Act, whereas Republicans want to use that money to add crab legs to the omelette station at [Trump’s private resort] Mar-a-Lago,” Kimmel quipped. “Trump is threatening to make irreversible cuts if there’s a shutdown, which, you know what, I was recently a victim of a government shutdown; they are reversible, I will tell you that,” he added, referencing his return to the air to huge cheers from the audience.

Kimmel then went onto joke about Trump, 79, lecturing military generals about their fitness levels.

“Trump actually said our new military will bring back new focus on fitness. I love the idea that Trump is lecturing these guys on fitness,” Kimmel continued. “If that isn’t the fondue pot calling the kettle fat, I don’t know what is. Listen up generals, I want to make something very clear, the Pillsbury Dough President wants you to do pilates! The only push ups Donald Trump does is from the side of an ice cream truck.”

“If you get so fat you break escalators, you are unfit to serve in the military.” Kimmel added, referencing the president’s recent escalator mishap at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23.

While on each other’s shows, both Kimmel and Colbert addressed the recent late-night shakeup during their interviews. While Kimmel’s show was put on an indefinite hiatus on Sept. 17, before its return on Sept. 23, Colbert announced in July that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert  will be ending in May 2026 after 10 seasons.

Kimmel revealed that he was in the bathroom when he learned of Jimmy Kimmel Live! being pulled while Colbert recalled how he “sweat through my shirt” before telling his staff that the show was ending.

Colbert’s CBS show was canceled just three days after Colbert slammed CBS’ parent company Paramount for giving Trump $16 million in a settlement, while Kimmel’s show was pulled by ABC following the host’s comments about the death of political commentator Charlie Kirk on his show on Sept. 15.

Two days later, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr voiced his frustrations over Kimmel’s comments and ABC temporarily pulled Kimmel from the air, while broadcasters Sinclair and Nexstar continued to preempt the show following its return on Sept 23. Nexstar is the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the U.S., and Sinclair is the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group.

Carr celebrated Nexstar and Sinclair’s preemption, however, on Sept. 26 both companies announced that they would end preemptions and resume airing Jimmy Kimmel Live!.