Jon Stewart celebrated the news Jimmy Kimmel is returning to TV on The Daily Show on Monday (22.09.25)

Jon said: "I'll tell you, Jimmy Kimmel's flying high like Advil today.

"I want to say this seriously, that campaign that you all launched, pretending that you were going to cancel Hulu while secretly racing through four seasons of Only Murders in the Building, that really worked. Congratulations."

He then joked: "Wasn't it interesting to try and figure out all the tentacles Disney has in your daily life? It's one thing to swear off cruises, but The Avengers? Nah."

Jimmy Kimmel Live! was put on "indefinite" pause last week following comments the host had made about the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, prompting a backlash and allegations of freedom of speech being suppressed.

The day after the suspension was announced, Jon and The Daily Show writers reimagined their entire programme to what they believed a "government-approved" Daily Show would look like.

Midway through the programme, as he recounted President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK, Jon noted how the US leader had claimed Jimmy was fired for "lack of talent".

He added: "You may call it free speech in jolly old England, but in America, we have a little thing called the first amendment, and let me tell you how it works."

He claimed the president kept a talent-o-meter on his desk, which let him know when a presenter's "talent quotient, measured mostly by niceness to the president" goes below a certain level.

He said: "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 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."

Later in the show, he said: "I don't know who this... this... Johnny Drimmel Live ABC character is. But the point is, our great administration has laid out very clear rules on free speech.

"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."

The Walt Disney Company announced on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel Live will return to screens the following night.

They said in a statement: "Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.

"We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday."