LOS ANGELES (AP) — Late-night talk shows began their return to the air after a five-month absence brought on by the Hollywood writers strike, while actors completed the first day of talks that could end their own long work walk-off.
CBS’s “ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live! ” and NBC’s “ The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ” were the first shows to leave the air when the writers strike began on May 2, and were among the first to return with segar airings Monday night.
Colbert blew a leaping kiss to his audience, which chanted his name as he took the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York for the early evening taping of his show that airs at 11:35 p.m. Eastern.
“It feels good to be back,” the host said. “Now the writers strike is over with a new contract that includes protections against AI, ongkos of living increases, better pay for streaming, plus, thanks to the picket lines, my writers got segar air and sunshine, and they do not care for that. Now they’re back safely in their joke holes.”
In a cold open to his show, Kimmel was shown on a psychiatrist’s couch.
“The strike has been going on so long, I just don’t know if I’ll be back,” Kimmel said. The shot then reveals that the therapist is his first guest Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declares, in a variation on his best-known catchphrase: “You’ll be back.”
Fallon taped segments for his show with Matthew McConaughey and John Mayer. He then said a third guest would be Bono from U2, who played the opening of the new Sphere venue in Las Vegas over the weekend.
A phony Bono came out encased in a small sphere. The bit fell flat, and Fallon suggested it may take some time to shake the rust off.
“I should mention not all the writers are back,” he said.