After a lengthy summer hiatus, Jimmy Kimmel returned to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday, with the host using his opening monologue to dive into all of the news that happened while he was away.
From talks of hosting UFC fights at the White House to the overhaul of the Kennedy Center, Kimmel reviewed a long list of items involving President Donald Trump that made headlines over the past two months. The late-night host admitted that the deluge of stories made it hard for him to ignore the news during his break.
“He’s like Ultron, he just keeps going,” Kimmel told the crowd. “Every day it’s something crazier than the next.”
Kimmel also used his monologue on Tuesday to comment on CBS announcing in July that it was canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” Kimmel revealed that the “No. 1 thing” people asked him about over the summer was what happened to his fellow late-night host.
Although CBS called the cancellation “purely a financial decision,” the announcement came just days after Colbert poked fun on his show at CBS parent company Paramount for settling a $16 million lawsuit with President Trump over a “60 Minutes” story. Later in July, federal regulators approved a $8 billion merger deal between Paramount and Skydance Media.
“CBS, all of a sudden out of the blue, claimed ‘The Late Show’ was losing $40 million a year, and then miraculously got FCC approval to sell their company, which is what they wanted,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel went on to share Trump’s reaction to the Colbert cancellation, with the president also taking aim at Kimmel and “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon in a Truth Social post in July. Trump wrote that the comedians would be next on the chopping block in the “untalented Late Night Sweepstakes” and that he hoped he “played a major part” in Colbert’s show ending.
Kimmel called the post “alarming” and criticized the president for being “delicate.”
“Did we hurt your feelings?” Kimmel said. “You want us to be canceled because we make jokes about you? I thought you were against cancel culture?”
“When did you become so woke?” he added.
Kimmel said that “the only place we are going is to New York,” revealing that his show will once again set up shop in the Big Apple for a week of tapings at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The episodes will air the week of Sept. 29, with Colbert slated to be a guest during the New York shows.
“We have a lot to talk about,” Kimmel said. “If you’re the White House intern in charge of strategically unplugging the president’s TV, that’ll be a good night to do it.”
Meanwhile, over on “The Late Show,” Colbert chatted with guest John Oliver on Tuesday night. The pair shared a toast over Colbert’s new Funko Pop figurine and Oliver’s 21st guest appearance on the show, with the comedians also using the moment to quip about the state of late-night TV.
“To late-night shows,” Colbert said while raising his glass, before the comedians said in unison, “while supplies last.”
Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com.