Jon Stewart Celebrates Jimmy Kimmel’s Return on The Daily Show

In this week’s highly anticipated episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart enthusiastically welcomed the comeback of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after its recent hiatus from the ABC lineup.

Following a humorous critique of Donald Trump regarding his controversial assertion that using Tylenol during pregnancy is linked to autism, Stewart celebrated Kimmel’s return by declaring amid applause, “Young Jimmy Kimmel is back on television! I’ll tell you, Jimmy Kimmel is soaring high like Advil today. Acetaminophen is like boom, Advil’s like, ‘What’s up, motherfuckers? You got a headache, where are you going to turn?'”

The former host playfully acknowledged the audience’s supposed role in a successful, albeit fictitious, effort to bring Kimmel back to the airwaves.

“The campaign that you all initiated, pretending you would cancel Hulu while secretly binge-watching four seasons of ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ really worked,” he quipped. “Congratulations!”

Stewart then shifted gears to discuss the circumstances surrounding Kimmel’s temporary removal from the air. He humorously noted that, to his understanding, it “had nothing to do with the Trump administration and their explicit threat to the FCC, indicating they could push the show off the air the easy way or the hard way.”

The segment then showcased a clip from a Fox News correspondent, who echoed similar sentiments, stating, “My gosh, this had nothing to do with Donald Trump disagreeing with anything Jimmy Kimmel said.”

“I mean, gee willickers,” Stewart chuckled. “Why on earth would anyone think that? We randomly remove one show a week!”

Returning to the Fox News clip, the correspondent remarked, “If Donald Trump wanted to take everyone off the air who criticized him, there would only be a select few left on television.”

“That’s amusing, but it may also warrant some self-reflection,” Stewart posed. “If everyone on TV is criticizing me except for, like, four people, and one of them is my daughter-in-law, am I the drama?”

In an announcement made earlier this week, Disney and ABC revealed that they would reinstate Kimmel’s show after preempting it on September 17. Explaining their decision, Disney stated, “Last Wednesday, we decided to suspend production of the show to avoid further inflaming an emotionally charged situation for our country. We made this choice because we felt some comments were poorly timed and insensitive. After engaging in thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, we reached the decision to resume the show on Tuesday.”

The initial decision to pull Kimmel’s show was made after Nexstar Media and Sinclair, two of the largest TV station owners, threatened to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” due to the host’s remarks regarding the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. This threat was made shortly after comments from FCC Chair Brendan Carr suggested actions against Kimmel.

Despite Kimmel’s reinstatement, Sinclair confirmed that their ABC stations would continue to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” starting Tuesday, indicating that negotiations for the show’s return remain in progress.

Kimmel’s highly-awaited return, set for Tuesday night, was approved by Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden. However, the details surrounding his return, including whether Kimmel must apologize for his remarks on Kirk, remain unclear.