Robert De Niro returned to Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night to reprise his mob-boss take on FCC chairman Brendan Carr, just over a year after debuting the character on Kimmel’s first show back from his suspension.
The surprise appearance came as Kimmel continued his week of shows from Brooklyn. Introducing the bit, the host recalled that when the show was last in New York, it was fresh off what he jokingly called its “unexpected FCC vacation week.”
“And while I would like to say that things have improved over the last year, they haven’t really,” Kimmel said. “We are still being threatened by the FCC.”
That was De Niro’s cue to emerge with a baseball bat.
“Who is threatening you?” he asked, prodding Kimmel’s belly with the bat. “Am I threatening you? Do you feel threatened by me?”
“A little, yeah,” Kimmel replied.
De Niro, of course, knows a little something about playing mob bosses. His résumé includes an Oscar-winning turn as young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, Al Capone in The Untouchables, and, most recently, both Frank Costello and Vito Genovese in The Alto Knights.
His version of Carr said he was there for a “routine inspection” to make sure Kimmel was abiding by the terms of his broadcast license. Kimmel’s wife and executive producer Molly McNearney, reprising her Natalie Harp impression, also briefly joined them onstage during the bit.
The inspection largely consisted of De Niro’s Carr running through a list of Kimmel’s insults about President Trump—including “Mar-a-Lardo,” “Benito Gasolini,” and “Captain Cankle-roo”—before laying down a new rule: “Every time you insult the president, you’ve got to follow it with something nice.”
When Kimmel finally suggested that Carr was trying “to control what I do and do not say by abusing the power of the federal government,” De Niro responded, “Finally, you got it.”
“Now you’re starting to understand,” he added.
De Niro first played Carr on Sept. 23, 2025, the night Kimmel returned to the air following his brief suspension. In that appearance, his mobbed-up FCC chairman informed Kimmel that “speech ain’t free no more—we’re charging by the word now,” and suggested that a joke at Trump’s expense could cost the host “a couple of fingers, maybe a tooth.”
The original sketch drew on the real Carr’s comments in a podcast interview hours before Kimmel’s suspension, when he said the host could be dealt with “the easy way or the hard way,” language Kimmel promptly likened to a mob threat.
“If you want to hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long,” Kimmel said at the time. “This genius said it on a podcast.”
De Niro is the latest high-profile guest to make an unannounced appearance during Kimmel’s Brooklyn week. Monday’s show featured cameos from Jon Hamm and Kimmel’s longtime faux nemesis Matt Damon, who was ultimately ejected from the theater—only to leave with Kimmel’s mother and sister in his arms.
Wednesday’s Carr sketch ended with De Niro telling Kimmel to “be good” before excusing himself because he had to head downtown “to put a fire out at ABC News.”
“What’s going on?” Kimmel asked.
“I started a fire at ABC News,” De Niro replied.
Watch De Niro’s full Wednesday night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the top of this post.
