LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ is back to regale audiences after a five-month hiatus due to the Hollywood writers' strike.
The show aired on Monday night, October 2, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger and musical performer Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.
Like all other late-night show hosts, the comedian had a bank of material collected over the past five months and he was dying to share it with his fans.
Ahead of the telecast, the show put up a picture of Guillermo Rodriguez holding balloons in hand and posing in front of a goofy pic of Kimmel and him.
Guillermo, who became famous as the parking lot guard where ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ is filmed, looked mighty pleased in the picture, which sported the caption, ‘Welcome Back’.
As Kimmel’s side-kick on the show, Guillermo has also built up a solid fan following.
'Welcome back Jimmy!'
Fans of the Kimmel show took to the comments section immediately as they joined the multitudes welcoming the host after the hiatus.
"Welcome back to you both and your writers! You fought a great fight!!!" a fan commented.
"Kimmel is finally coming out! Good for you kiddo," wrote another user.
"Welcome back Guillermo," one user replied.
Kimmel's return with Arnold Schwarzenegger
Kimmel borrowed some star power to get his show rolling. Prior to the show’s telecast, he teased fans by inserting himself into a parody of Kim Kardashian’s fight with her sister.
Later, the show’s host also had guest Arnold Schwarzenegger shrink him in a hilarious skit about being down for the past five months in which Schwarzenegger helpfully assured him with the signature phrase "You’ll be back”.
Jimmy Kimmel has an epic ‘The Bachelor’ reference
Kimmel mentioned discovering a group of four pickleball enthusiasts on his Hollywood studio premises, playfully suggesting that his studio had been repurposed as pickleball courts during the labor dispute that halted Hollywood activities.
He also took a brief moment to reacquaint himself with the audience.
"In case you've forgotten, my name is Jimmy. I've been off the air for five months. … We've been gone so long 'The Bachelor' is now a grandfather," he said, referring to 'The Golden Bachelor'.
"We missed so much good stuff, huh? Donald Trump got arrested four times while [we] were out – [once for] classified documents, once [for interfering] in the election, once for Jan. 6, and once for shooting Tupac -- allegedly," he added.
Jimmy Kimmel’s shoutout to the writers
Kimmel also thanked his show’s crew members who supported the writer's guild during the strike.
"This was a big win for the little guy and a big win for the chubby guy and the hairy dude and the weird girl who doesn't make eye contact," he joked.
Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue and Trump
Kimmel proved how his late-night show cannot absolutely do without a reference to the former US President Donald Trump.
"Here's how I knew that we were really back to work: Our parents are texting us notes about the show again. One of our writers got this message from his mother this morning at 6.11 am. She wrote, 'Please don't make tonight's monologue all about Trump.' Well, Sorry, Josh's mom, that is a no-can-do," he said.
Lauren Boebert's ‘Beetlejuice’ incident
Continuing his extensive monologue, Kimmel discussed some recent appearances by the former president and the incident involving House Rep. Lauren Boebert's visit to the "Beetlejuice" show, which gained attention when she was ejected from the theater.
Concluding his monologue, he playfully inserted himself into various news events from the past five months.
