DemDaily: A Little Political Humor. Our Monthly Roundup! Late Night Fight Edition
September 27, 2025
To remind us to laugh.
It has been quite a few months for late-night talk show hosts -- and the First Amendment -- with the July announcement that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was being cancelled, and the suspension this month of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after pressure from the White House.
On Trump's Fight against Late Night
Late-night hosts denounced the political violence and incendiary rhetoric around the September 10 assassination of 31-year-old right-wing political activist and MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk.
“Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” - Jimmy Kimmel
Stephen Colbert commended GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson for urging anyone with a platform to say that “political violence must be called out, and it has to stop.” “In the end, as Americans, we are all brothers and sisters. Or at least Mike Johnson and I look like we are.” -- Colbert, showing photos
Such violence is "anathema to the highest ideals of this country...In a moment like this, it is the responsibility of all public figures to marshal their dignity and compassion and lead us to a calmer, more rational place. This effort cannot be one-sided, and it must start at the top.” - Seth Meyers
“And with all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together. President Obama did, President Biden did, Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric.” - Jimmy Kimmel
“So, yeah, Donald Trump came out with a partisan message blaming the left. Let’s be real, did we expect anything different? This is what this guy does. The last time Trump delivered a thoughtful message was when he sent a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein.” – Michael Kosta
Days later, Kimmel chastised the reaction of Trump and his supporters to Kirk's death: “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.”
Kimmel criticized Trump's indifference when asked about his emotions in the wake of Kirk’s murder. The president answered "very good" before pivoting to the ballroom he is building in the White House. “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel said. “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
On Kimmel's Suspension
Kimmel’s remarks incensed Trump and his FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr, who called on ABC to take steps against Kimmel or risk losing their license. Within hours, Nexstar and Sinclair, which own ABC affiliates and are seeking FEC approval for a merger, announced they were preempting Kimmel's show. ABC followed with an “indefinite” suspension.
Jon Stewart mocked the situation, “We’re coming to you tonight from a real [expletive] hole, 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?”
“Now, some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smokescreen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation; principle-less and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance. Some people would say that. Not me, though. I think it’s great.” - Jon Stewart
“You may call it ‘free speech’ in jolly-old England, but in America, we have a something called the First Amendment, and let me tell you how it works: There’s something called a Talent-o-Meter. It’s a completely scientific instrument that tells the president when a performer’s T.Q. -- talent quotient, measured mostly by niceness to the president -- goes below a certain level, at which point the FCC must be notified to threaten the acquisition prospects for billion-dollar mergers of network affiliates. These affiliates are then asked to give ultimatums to the even-larger mega-corporation that controls the flow of state-approved content, or the FCC can just choose to threaten those licenses directly. It’s basic science. Read your Constitution.” - Jon Stewart
"I just want to say, before we get started here, that I’ve always admired and respected Mr. Trump. I’ve always believed he was — [responding to audience laughter] no, no, no — a visionary, an innovator, a great president, an even better golfer. And if you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just A.I.” – Seth Meyers
Stephen Colbert opened his show saying, “Tonight, we are all Jimmy Kimmel...I still have a show, though, right? OK, good!”
“Let me just tell you something: I am not intimidated by the FCC, and if President Trump is watching, I have one thing to say to you: Have you lost weight? You look terrific.”- Bill Maher
“It was 24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me canceled from that network and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot, did you know that? At ‘Politically Incorrect’? Oh, yes. I got canceled before cancel even had a culture.” - Bill Maher
“But that’s not us, right? We’re good? What? We are — we’re on a network? But I don’t even wear a suit. This is a network? I thought we only aired on those gas station TVs.” – Seth Meyers
Speaking of Trump, everyone’s talking about his post over the weekend where he called on his Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political opponents. Now, I know that sounds highly illegal.” - Jimmy Fallon
“This Kimmel situation does feel like a turning point, and not because comedians are important, but because we are not. If the government can force a network to pull a late-night show off the air and do so in plain view, it can do a [expletive] of a lot worse.” - John Oliver
On ABC's September 23 reinstatement, after "thoughtful consideration" of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Stephen Colbert announced “our long national late-nightmare is over,” with Kimmel returning to air. Once more, I am the only martyr in late-night. Wait, unless, CBS, you want to announce anything? Huh? Huh? What? Huh? Still no? Right, ’cause the money thing.”
“I’m going to say thanks to everybody in here and to everybody watching from home, who I think might just be my wife, Evie, because everybody else is probably watching ABC because tonight Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves.” – Stephen Colbert
“Welcome to ‘The Tonight Show.’ Hey, and if you’re tuning in to see what I’ll say about my suspension the last couple of days, again you’re watching the wrong Jimmy.” - Jimmy Fallon
Kimmel returned to ABC to a standing ovation as he launched into his monologue. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted...I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol.”
Kimmel emotionally addressed Charlie Kirk’s killing and the comments that got him in hot water. “If you like me, you like me, if you don’t, you don’t. I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind. But I do want to make clear, because it’s important to me as a human...it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man."
He thanked his audience for sticking with him, giving a shout-out to viewers whose affiliates were still refusing to air his show, as well as friends who “are never watching the show at any other time.”
Kimmel said he was grateful for the overwhelming support from “all the people in the world.” “I heard from late-night hosts in other countries. The guy in Germany offered me a job. Can you imagine? This country has become so authoritarian the Germans are like, ‘Come here’!”
“Comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia and the Middle East told me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power. They know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country, and that’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air, and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal, that’s not American. That is un-American, and it is so dangerous.” - Jimmy Kimmel
“I did hear from one very special friend," said Kimmel. "The Mad Red Hatter wrote, ‘I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back.’ You can’t believe they gave me my job back? I can’t believe we gave you your job back.”
“Trump says, ‘I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers.’ Only Donald Trump would try to prove he wasn’t threatening ABC by threatening ABC.”
“This was his big closer: ‘Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad ratings.’ And he does know bad ratings -- he has some of the worst ratings any president has ever had. So, on behalf of all of us, welcome to the crappy ratings club, Mr. President.” - Jimmy Kimmel
“A lot of people have been asking me if there are conditions for my return to the air, and there is one. Disney has asked me to read the following statement, and I have agreed: ‘To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account, open the Disney+ app on your smart TV or TV-connected device.’”
"Even though we were still being preempted in 60 American cities, on Tuesday we had our second-highest rated show in almost 23 years on air. The monologue had 21 million views on YouTube alone, and I have to say, we couldn't have done it without you, Mr. President. Thank you very much!" - Jimmy Kimmel
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