Jon Stewart addressed head-on the specter of censorship looming over the medium of U.S. late night talk shows on Thursday with an over-the-top portrayal of a politically obsequious television host under authoritarian rule.Stewart hosted the Comedy Central program one day after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and two months after CBS said it would cancel the show hosted by one of President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics on TV, Stephen Colbert.The show opened with a voiceover saying, “We have another fun, hilarious administration-compliant show,” it said.Stewart lavished praise on the president and mocked his criticism of large cities and his deployment of the National Guard to fight their crime. “The Daily Show” set was refashioned with decorative gold engravings, in a parody of gold accents Trump has added to the fireplace, doorway arches, walls, and other areas of the Oval Office.Stewart fidgeted nervously as though he was worried about speaking the correct talking points. Stewart’s featured guest was Maria Ressa, the journalist and author of “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.” Ressa also shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for freedom of expression in her home country of the Philippines.Stewart normally hosts only on Mondays. The Emmy winner helmed “The Daily Show” from 1999 through 2015, delivering sharp, satirical takes on politics and current events and interviews with newsmakers. He returned to host once a week during the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election.In his monologue on Tuesday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Kimmel said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”ABC suspended Kimmel’s show after a group of ABC-affiliated stations said it would not air the show, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said his agency had a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC, and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation.Kimmel has not commented on the suspension. His supporters say Carr misread what the comic said and that nowhere did he specifically suggest that Tyler Robinson — the man Utah authorities allege fatally shot Kirk — was conservative.In July, CBS said it would cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. The network said it shut down the decades-old TV institution for financial reasons. But the announcement came three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” story.Colbert’s show posted a clip of his Thursday monologue on Instagram with the caption “The Late Show stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his staff.”The video showed Colbert responding to remarks Carr made that it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming, “they determine falls short of community values.”“Well, you know what my community values are, buster? Freedom of speech,” Colbert said to loud applause from his audience.David Letterman, Colbert’s predecessor on “The Late Show,” lamented the networks’ moves.“I feel bad about this, because we all see where see this is going, correct? It’s managed media,” Letterman said, in part, during an appearance Thursday at The Atlantic Festival 2025 in New York. “It’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous.” ——-Associated Press writer Hallie Golden contributed to this report.
Jon Stewart addressed head-on the specter of censorship looming over the medium of U.S. late night talk shows on Thursday with an over-the-top portrayal of a politically obsequious television host under authoritarian rule.
Stewart hosted the Comedy Central program one day after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and two months after CBS said it would cancel the show hosted by one of President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics on TV, Stephen Colbert.
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The show opened with a voiceover saying, “We have another fun, hilarious administration-compliant show,” it said.
Stewart lavished praise on the president and mocked his criticism of large cities and his deployment of the National Guard to fight their crime.
“The Daily Show” set was refashioned with decorative gold engravings, in a parody of gold accents Trump has added to the fireplace, doorway arches, walls, and other areas of the Oval Office.
Stewart fidgeted nervously as though he was worried about speaking the correct talking points.
Stewart’s featured guest was Maria Ressa, the journalist and author of “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.” Ressa also shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for freedom of expression in her home country of the Philippines.
Stewart normally hosts only on Mondays. The Emmy winner helmed “The Daily Show” from 1999 through 2015, delivering sharp, satirical takes on politics and current events and interviews with newsmakers. He returned to host once a week during the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
In his monologue on Tuesday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Kimmel said that “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show after a group of ABC-affiliated stations said it would not air the show, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said his agency had a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC, and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation.
Kimmel has not commented on the suspension. His supporters say Carr misread what the comic said and that nowhere did he specifically suggest that Tyler Robinson — the man Utah authorities allege fatally shot Kirk — was conservative.
In July, CBS said it would cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. The network said it shut down the decades-old TV institution for financial reasons. But the announcement came three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global, parent company of CBS, over a “60 Minutes” story.
Colbert’s show posted a clip of his Thursday monologue on Instagram with the caption “The Late Show stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his staff.”
The video showed Colbert responding to remarks Carr made that it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming, “they determine falls short of community values.”
“Well, you know what my community values are, buster? Freedom of speech,” Colbert said to loud applause from his audience.
David Letterman, Colbert’s predecessor on “The Late Show,” lamented the networks’ moves.
“I feel bad about this, because we all see where see this is going, correct? It’s managed media,” Letterman said, in part, during an appearance Thursday at The Atlantic Festival 2025 in New York. “It’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous.”
——-
Associated Press writer Hallie Golden contributed to this report.
