Jimmy Kimmel confirmed that he recently offered former late-night rival Stephen Colbert the chance to guest host Jimmy Kimmel Live! during his summer vacation.
“Of course, I asked him, and I think it feels premature,” Kimmel, 58, revealed to Variety in an interview published on Wednesday, July 22. “But I told him, ‘Anytime you want to host, it doesn’t matter if it’s the summer, I’ll gladly step aside.’”
While Kimmel made the offer ahead of his summer break, he revealed to the outlet that Colbert, 62, politely declined.
Both Colbert and Kimmel have been frequent targets of President Donald Trump over the years. In May, Colbert signed off as host of The Late Show after 11 years amid questions over whether his series’ cancellation was influenced by Trump, 80, recently settling a $16 million lawsuit against CBS.
(The Late Show has been replaced by Comics Unleashed as part of a deal where producer and host Byron Allen purchased airtime from CBS.)
Colbert kicked off his final Late Show episode with a poignant tribute to the audience who stood by him for over a decade.
“We have done over 1,800 of these shows, and most nights I come out here and I talk to the audience beforehand, and tonight, I thought I’d talk to the audience in here and the audience out there at home,” he said. “This show, I want you to know, and you to know, has been a joy for us to do for you.”
Later in his monologue, Colbert added, “We call it the ‘joy machine’ because to do this many shows, it has to be a machine. But the thing is, if you choose to do it with joy, it doesn’t hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears. And I can’t adequately explain to you what the people who work here have done for each other and how much we mean to each other.”
Colbert wasn’t off screen for long as he made an unannounced appearance on a public access show in Monroe, Michigan, one night after wrapping up his CBS tenure. (He previously hosted a show for Monroe Community Media in 2015 while gearing up for his Late Show debut.)
“Since I was last here in Monroe, Michigan, I spent 11 years as the primary host of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on CBS, which came to an end last night,” he explained to viewers. “Viewers outside the greater Monroe area are able to view Monroe Community Media thanks to something known as streaming, which I promised not to learn about while I was on CBS. And evidently CBS also decided not to learn about it.”
While Colbert likely won’t be guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! this summer, Kimmel announced on June 18 that he’d personally asked Rosie O’Donnell — another of Trump’s nemeses — to replace him for a week in August.
“As a special treat for our commander-in-chief, I asked one of his all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming. So, you’re welcome,” Kimmel joked. “All I ask in return, Mr. President, is that you don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs every on ABC weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET.
