{"id":183210,"date":"2025-10-01T19:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183210\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T19:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:18:07","slug":"stephen-colbert-tells-jimmy-kimmel-what-it-was-like-to-get-canceled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183210\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert Tells Jimmy Kimmel What It Was Like to Get Canceled"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tStephen Colbert<\/a> is opening up about what happened behind the scenes when he learned CBS was ending The Late Show \u2014 and released a video showing the exact moment he learned ABC had suspended his friend Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>\u2018s show.<\/p>\n

\n\tColbert appeared as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/a> on Tuesday night, with both hosts appearing on each other\u2019s programs<\/a> in a display of mutual support following the recent late night turmoil that saw CBS deciding to end Colbert\u2019s series next year<\/a> and ABC temporarily suspending Kimmel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel noted that this marked the first interview that Colbert has given since CBS\u2019 shock announcement in July.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the interview, Colbert revealed he found out about Kimmel\u2019s suspension by his executive producer stopping him and showing him a text message in the middle of taping his show. <\/p>\n

\n\tYou can watch the moment during the interview segment embedded below (it starts at the 9:45 mark). Colbert is handed a phone while at his interview desk. He stares at the message for a long moment. He puts his feet on the desk as he continues to read. \u201cOK, Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s show has been pulled \u2018indefinitely\u2019 by ABC \u2026\u201d he tells his studio audience. \u201cWow \u2026 wow \u2026\u201d Colbert suddenly gets up and tells his audience, \u201cHold on one second, I\u2019m going to go find out what this is about\u201d and walks off stage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[The text]\u00a0didn\u2019t tell me why [Kimmel had been suspended],\u201d Colbert told Kimmel. \u201cThere was no rationale given, just that you had been yanked.\u201d He jokingly added, \u201cI generally assumed that it was your fault. I know you well enough to know that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAs for learning about The Late Show ending, Colbert said he received a call from the hosts\u2019 mutual manager, James Dixon. Recalled Colbert, his manager \u2014 nicknamed \u201cBaby Doll\u201d \u2014 said to him, \u201c\u2018Hey baby, I just need to talk to you for 15 minutes after the show on Wednesday.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Wow, five minutes on the phone with Baby Doll is like an hour, so 15 minutes in person? What the hell is this about?\u2019 So I said to [my wife, Evelyn McGee-Colbert], \u2018Hey, I\u2019ll be home a bit later, I got to talk to Baby for 15 minutes.\u2019 I come home two and a half hours later and I walk in, and she goes, \u2018What happened? Did you get canceled?\u2019 And I said: \u2018Yes, I did.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel pointed out that his manager knew the show was ending for a week but didn\u2019t want to upset Colbert while he was on vacation.<\/p>\n

\n\tColbert said he originally didn\u2019t want to tell his staff until after their summer break, but his wife accompanied him to work the next day because she knew he wouldn\u2019t be able to hold back the news. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBy the time I get to my offices, I have sweat through my shirt because I didn\u2019t want to know anything my staff didn\u2019t know,\u201d Colbert said. \u201cAnd I said, I\u2019m going to tell my staff today.\u2019 But then we couldn\u2019t do a show if I told them because everybody would be bummed out and I would be bummed out.\u201d So Colbert performed the show, and then told the audience to stay put, as they had to record one more act for the show, which would eventually be placed at the show\u2019s opening.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd my stage manager goes, \u2018Oh, no, we\u2019re done Steve,’\u201d he recalls \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Nope. There\u2019s one more act of the show. Please don\u2019t let the audience leave.\u2019 And he goes, \u2018No boss. I got the [run of show] here and we\u2019ve done everything.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I\u2019m aware of that, and I\u2019m here to tell you there is one more act of the show.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSo I went backstage and I said [to the crew], \u2018Everybody get on Zoom,’\u201d he continued. \u201cI told everybody as briefly as I could so they wouldn\u2019t find out about it on air. And then I went back out onstage to tell [the audience on camera]. I was so nervous about doing it right because there was nothing in the prompter. I was just speaking off the cuff. I had to restart twice. And the audience thought it was a bit and started [chanting], \u2018You can do it!\u2019 Because I always messed up on the sentence where I told them it was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel said he found out about Colbert\u2019s show ending while he was at a \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest march with his family. \u201cI was absolutely shocked; it\u2019s not right,\u201d Kimmel said. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s nice of you to say,\u201d Colbert replied. \u201cIt\u2019s their ball, and they can take it home if they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey don\u2019t have any balls, Stephen, let\u2019s be honest,\u201d Kimmel shot back, drawing laughs. <\/p>\n

\n\tColbert expressed relief that Kimmel was back on the air and that he wanted to get to know him better off-air as a person. \u201cI got to catch up on getting to know you because the more I get to know you, the more I admire you as as a leader.\u201d Colbert then quipped: \u201cAnd here\u2019s something I didn\u2019t know is that you\u2019re funny.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tTo which Kimmel dryly replied, \u201cMost people who watch me just on TV aren\u2019t aware of that.\u201d <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert is opening up about what happened behind the scenes when he learned CBS was ending The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134,4625,59932,28684,3869,4626],"class_list":{"0":"post-183210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","13":"tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","14":"tag-late-night-tv","15":"tag-stephen-colbert","16":"tag-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}