Jimmy Kimmel Live! will air a rerun next Thursday, May 21, reportedly out of respect for Stephen Colbert, who will be hosting the final episode of The Late Show that night.
Kimmel confirmed the decision to Late Nighter, though reps for his show did not immediately return a request for further comment. The Late Show airs in the 11:30 p.m. time slot; with Kimmel going dark in the live realm for the night, Colbert’s only competition will be The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Colbert has hosted The Late Show for 11 years, taking over the show from David Letterman in 2015. While the show has long been one of the most-watched programs in late-night, and earned numerous accolades, including an Emmy and a Peabody Award, CBS decided to cancel the show last July.
At the time, the network said it was a “purely financial decision,” adding, “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” Those “other matters” likely referred to the then-ongoing efforts at Paramount (CBS’ parent company) to complete a merger with David Ellison’s Skydance. Considering Colbert was a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, many alleged that CBS’ decision to cancel The Late Show was part of a wider effort to appease the Trump administration, which still had to approve the merger.
In the world of late-night TV, Kimmel and Colbert have long been more friends than rivals. But the two seemed even more bonded after Colbert’s cancellation and Kimmel’s scrap with the Trump admin over a joke about the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk. Last fall, in the aftermath of both events, the two appeared on each other’s shows, using the opportunities to reflect on the chaos engulfing late-night TV.
At one point, Colbert asked Kimmel if his younger self could have imagined the President of the United States “celebrating” his brief unemployment.
“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,” Kimmel replied. “I never even imagined there would ever be a situation in which the president of our country was celebrating hundreds of Americans losing their jobs. But somebody who took pleasure in that — that to me is the absolute opposite of what a leader of this country is supposed to be.”
