‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ is back, and its viewership has surged.

The long-running talk show’s Sept. 23 episode marked Kimmel’s first one first back after Disney announced its return

Jimmy Kimmel.Credit : Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is back, and its viewership has surged.

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Jimmy Kimmel’s long-running late-night program returned to ABC, one day after Disney announced the conclusion of the show’s “indefinite hiatus.” And viewers certainly tuned in to see what Kimmel, 57, had to say.

Kimmel’s return, where he delivered a monologue that called out Donald Trump and the FCC over seemingly threatening comments, averaged 6.26 million viewers via traditional television, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings, The ratings were more than three times greater than his normal amount, and don’t account for on-demand viewership — not to mention the fact that the show was not aired on many local ABC-affiliated stations.

Video of his monologue posted to the show’s YouTube account has racked up 15.9 million views in less than 24 hours. Across YouTube and social media, the monologue has garnered more than 26 million views.

Jimmy Kimmel.Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty

The numbers come over a week after the host’s Oct. 15 monologue, during which he made comments about the shooting death of right-wing personality Charlie Kirk, resulting in Disney’s ABC pulling the show from the air following talk from the FCC’s Brendan Carr.

Disney later confirmed on Monday, Sept. 22 that Kimmel would be back the following day — although, not all parties involved in the airing followed suit. Both Nexstar Media and Sinclair (the broadcasting company that makes up the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group), announced they would preempt the show on their affiliate stations ahead of the Tuesday return.

Before ABC’s Sept. 17 decision to temporarily pull Kimmel, Carr (chairman of the Federal Communications Commission), warned that the FCC could take action against the network and Disney over Kimmel’s comments regarding Kirk.

During his monologue two days prior, Kimmel addressed the fatal shooing of the conservative commentator: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.”

Kimmel then showed clips of President Donald Trump being asked about Kirk’s death, as Trump said he thought he was holding up “very good” before turning his attention to the new ballroom being constructed at the White House. The cameras then cut back to Kimmel, who said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?”

Prior to the episode, Kimmel also offered his condolences on social media, saying, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”

Nexstar and Sinclair both condemned Kimmel’s comments. Nexstar recently revealed plans to acquire Tegna, a rival broadcast company, for more than $6 billion. The deal would further consolidate the local television landscape and put Nexstar in 80% of America’s TV-owning households, per a press release, despite current law permitting no more than 39%. The acquisition requires final approval from the FCC, which Carr runs under Trump’s appointment.

Carr praised Nexstar for “doing the right thing” and thanked Sinclair for “taking quick action” last week. For his part, Trump celebrated Kimmel being taken off the air, claiming the host was “fired for lack of talent.”

Before Disney’s announcement of Kimmel’s return, an open letter from American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was signed by over 400 figures in entertainment — including Tom Hanks and Jennifer Aniston — defending the constitutional right to free speech.