RT šØš® WORLD STUNNED BY A LATE-NIGHT CONFESSION NO ONE SAW COMING š®šØāBehind the Laughter: Kimmel & Colbert Finally Admit the Pressure Is Breaking Themā
Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert appeared on each otherās shows last night, using both opportunities to reflect on the recent chaos that has befallen late-night TV.
Colbert sat down on Jimmy Kimmel Live, which is taping in Brooklyn this week, for an interview about his show being cancelled and winning an Emmy.
During the interview, Colbert recalled the moment he found out The Late Show had been axed by CBS.

The host explained to Kimmel that the news was first delivered to him in a lengthy phone call with his manager, James Dixon, who withheld the information for a few days while Colbert was on vacation.
As soon as he got home, Colbert told his wife, Evie, what had transpired.
āEvie said, āAre you going to tell your staff tomorrow?āā Colbert recalled.
āI said, āOh, I donāt know. Maybe I will tell them after the summer break.
Maybe Iāll tell them in September.ā She said, āYouāre going to tell them tomorrow.ā

I said, āI donāt think so. I just donāt think Iām up for it.ā
And then she goes, āI am coming to work with you tomorrow because I think you are telling your staff.āā
He continued, āWe get into the building. I go up in the elevator.
I walk through the offices. By the time I get to my offices, I have sweat through my shirt.
Because I didnāt want to know anything my staff didnāt know.ā
He decided to wait until after the episode they were working on had finished taping before gathering the entire staff.
He asked the stage manager to hold the audience so he could go back on stage and deliver the news.
āI was so nervous about doing it right,ā Colbert said.

āBecause there was nothing on the prompter, I was doing it off the cuff.
I fucked up twice and I had to restart. And the audience thought it was a bit.
They started going, āYou can do it. Come on, Steve.
You can do it.ā Because I always messed up on the sentence that told them what was happening.
And then I got to the sentence that told them what was happening and they didnāt laugh.

They didnāt laugh.
That is it. So thatās how I did it.ā
Editorās picks
Kimmel then recounted how he found out that The Late Show was ending.
āMy wife and kids, we were in a protest march,ā Kimmel noted.
āThe No Kings protest march. We were out there with our signs and I got this text.

I was just absolutely shocked because itās not right.ā
āItās their ball and they can take it home if they want,ā Colbert replied.
āThey donāt have any balls, Stephen,ā Kimmel said. āLetās be honest.ā
During his appearance on The Late Show, Kimmel reflected on his recent suspension and how he learned that ABC had pulled him.
The host described the experience as an āemotional roller coasterā and āvery strange.ā
āIt was about 3 p.m.. We tape our show at 4:30. Iām in my office, typing away as I usually do. I get a phone call, itās ABC.
They say they want to talk to me.
This is unusual,ā Kimmel explained to Colbert.

āAs far as I knew, they didnāt even know I was doing a show previous to this, so I have like five people who work in my office with me so the only private place to go is the bathroom.ā
He continued, āSo I go into the bathroom.
And Iām on the phone with the ABC executives and they say, āListen, we wanna take the temperature down.
Weāre concerned about what youāre gonna say tonight and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air tonight.ā
I said, āI donāt think thatās a good idea,ā and they said, āWell, we think itās a good idea.ā

And then there was a vote and I lost the vote.
So I put my pants back on and I walked out to my office and I called in some of the executive producers, and there were about nine people in there, and I said, āTheyāre pulling the show off the air.āā
Related Content
He recalled thinking, āI thought, āThat it, itās over.ā
I was like, āIām never coming back on the air.’ā
He recalled that his audience was already in their seats for that dayās taping āready for the show.ā
The eveningās guests and the audience were sent home, and Kimmel said his journey out of El Capitan Theatre, where Jimmy Kimmel Live is filmed, was especially crazy.
āIām followed by 20 paparazzi cars, TMZ people jumping in front of me on the way home,ā he said.
āWeāre just trying to get to the house and weāre like, āShould we be going to our house?ā
There are two helicopters following us home. I hadnāt had makeup on yet, so my bald spot was not painted in.
This is something I did not want America to see.ā
He described the suspension as being ālike a DUI in L.A., three days in jail where I couldnāt say anything.ā
He added, āI just had to sit quiet and make a lot of phone calls and take a lot of phone callsā¦
I did hear from literally everyone I have ever met.ā
During the interview, Colbert asked Kimmel if his younger self could have imagined āthe President of the United States would be celebrating your unemployment?ā
Trending Stories
āI mean, that son of a bitch,ā Kimmel said.
āNo, I never imagined that weād ever have a president like this, and I hope we donāt ever have another president like this again.

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 thatāthat to me is the absolute opposite of what a leader of this country is supposed to be.ā