Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and more have celebrated the return of Late Night TV. Now that the Writers’ Guild of America strike is officially over, late-night talk shows were able to return in full force on Monday.
“It feels good to be back,” said Colbert during his opening monologue. “It feels good to be with all of you again here in the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Because after the first few months of the strike, [my wife] Evie refused to keep chanting my name. But now the writers’ strike is over, with a new contract that includes protections against A.I., cost of living increases, better pay for streaming.”
“Thanks to the picket lines, my writers got fresh air and sunshine — and they do not care for that,” he quipped. “Now they’re back safely in their joke holes, doing what they do best: Making my prompter word screen full of good and ha-ha!”
TONIGHT: @StephenAtHome is back with a brand new LATE SHOW. What'd we miss?#Colbert pic.twitter.com/CTnvwU40hk
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) October 3, 2023
Meanwhile, Kimmel opened his show by reminding fans who he is. “In case you’ve forgotten my name is Jimmy,” he said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I have been off the air for five months. We’ve been gone so long The Bachelor is now a grandfather.”
“We missed so much good stuff,” he added. “Donald Trump got arrested four times while we were on strike: once for the classified documents, once for interfering with the election, once for Jan 6, and once for shooting Tupac. Allegedly. You know what the weirdest thing about being off the air is? When I walk into a room, nobody claps. I walk into Costco. I get nothing.”
Our first monologue in many moons https://t.co/kACGW0iFDC
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) October 3, 2023
One thing most hosts agreed on was to support their writers and crew. “I just want to take a moment to thank our crew — and all the union crews — for supporting our writers,” said Kimmel. “IATSE, the teamsters union — all refused to cross our picket lines — and we owe them for that. Thanks largely to them, it was a big win for the little guy… and a big win for the chubby guy… and the hairy dude, and for the weird girl who doesn’t make eye contact, and for the two potheads in Star Wars t-shirts that are too small for their bodies. And the guy who’s too old to have a ponytail, and the lady whose cats each have their own Instagram page. We call them writers and they are all back to work. And we hope that the actors — and the autoworkers — and the health care workers — all get the contracts they deserve too.”
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon returned with an equally fun monologue. “Five months off and we are back,” said Fallon. “I am so excited to be here. I am more excited than a guy seeing Beetlejuice with Lauren Boebert. More excited than a Jets fan during the first three plays of the season. Even my dad called and said he’s so excited to watch Kimmel.”
“Glad the writers got the fair deal that they deserve,” he added. “You’ve got to hand it to them: Only writers would spend all summer trying to get back to the office.”
The Tonight Show is finally back. Take a peek behind the curtain of our return to Studio 6B and tune in TONIGHT at 11:35/10:35c on @NBC! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/QiFaW42FpP
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) October 3, 2023
However, Fallon did avoid mentioning his own recent troubles after he was accused of fostering a toxic work environment on the Tonight Show.
Late Night with Seth Meyers was also back on Monday. “I am so happy to be back in a room with my writers,” he said. “I missed my writers so much. I was so happy to see them this morning. I will admit by lunch I was a little over it. They’re really talented, they just have a ton of opinions… I’d also like to thank my fellow late-night hosts. It was great to have them. We talked a lot during the strike. Being on the same page with them made a hard period much easier to deal with. Thanks to Jimmy Kimmel, who suggested we do a podcast called ‘Strike Force Five.’”
In tonight’s show, @sethmeyers reflects on the last five months when #LNSM was not in production. pic.twitter.com/rYTztW4w8C
— Late Night with Seth Meyers (@LateNightSeth) October 3, 2023
The podcast wasn’t just a suggestion — Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers, and John Oliver joined forces to launch their own podcast to support those affected by the Hollywood strikes.
Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, and Meyers are the latest late-night hosts to return, following on from Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver which returned on Sunday. The Daily show is back with a currently unannounced host on October 15.
Want to read more about Late Night shows? Check out the guest hosts running The Daily Show and find out why the writers went on strike in the first place.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
