Said Jimmy Kimmel upon his return Tuesday: “This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle East who tell me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power and worse than being thrown in prison. They know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country. And that’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal, that’s not American.”

“That is un-American. And it’s so dangerous. I want you to think about this. Should the government be allowed to regulate which podcasts the cell phone companies and wifi providers are allowed to let you download to make sure they serve the public interest? You think that sounds crazy? Ten years ago, this sounded crazy. Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, telling an American company, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, and that these companies can find ways to change conduct and take action on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC.”

Then there were the jokes:

“The President of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he cannot take a joke,” Kimmel later said, getting serious about this shitshow again.