Getting attacked by a former president is certainly good fodder for a late-night host. But how do you keep your comebacks fresh when it’s already happened several times before?
Jimmy Kimmel was faced with that very predicament on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night, one day after Donald Trump spent another day playing late-night TV critic on Truth Social.
“He suffers from TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” Trump wrote of Kimmel. “All of this on top of really bad ratings for Jimmy, just like failing Bill Maher and the two clowns on CBS and NBC! NO TALENT EQUALS BAD RATINGS!!!”
Kimmel had already responded to the Sunday-afternoon screed on Instagram hours after it dropped, writing “Thank you, former President Trump, for again reminding America that everyone laughed at you at the Oscars… I look forward to visiting you often in jail.”
But Kimmel used part of Monday’s monologue to double-down on his response. “This is what he’s stewing about on a Sunday afternoon 28 days before the election,” said the host. “He’s still whining about a joke I made about him seven months ago. Not even the winners of the Oscars last year think about the Oscars as much as Donald Trump does.”
“I swear, I hear from Donald Trump more than I hear from most of my uncles,” Kimmel added.
Trump’s latest attack on Kimmel was yet another complaint about the host calling him out live during the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony in March.
In case you missed it: Kimmel, who was hosting the Oscars, took a moment to read a review Trump had written about his hosting skills in real time, and ended with him delivering the now-viral zinger, “Isn’t it past your jail time?”
Kimmel went on to imagine the scenario in which Trump fired off his latest rant, “sitting down for his fourth failed attempt at a bowel movement for the day.”
Kimmel’s on-air response to Trump was far from unexpected. The host has made a point to punch back at the politician whenever Trump subjects him to random vitriol, which has happened several times before.
While Kimmel might have reason to fear what could happen if Trump makes his way back into the White House, their ongoing sparring match is keeping things fun for now.
“The funniest part is: Trump thinks I don’t like this,” Kimmel told his audience. “I love this! I want to know every tiny detail!”
While Kimmel was responding to the Republican presidential candidate from his monologue mark, a candidate from the opposing ticket was backstage. Kimmel welcomed Democratic VP hopeful Tim Walz onto the show last night for the Minnesota Governor’s very first national late-night interview.
That’s part of a larger media blitz Walz and Kamala Harris are doing in the lead-up to the election, which also includes a stop for Harris on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight.