Jimmy Kimmel made his return to late night last night, and as I hedged prior to its airing, his monologue was all over the comings and goings of President Donald Trump. He spoke of the war in Iran, the whole algae mess with the Lincoln Memorial and more. However, it was this first thing out of his mouth upon Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s return that had me shook: The show also hit a milestone episode last night. Not that we would have known it if Kimmel hadn’t shouted it to the rooftops. When long-running shows like NCIS – which hit its 500th episode this year – hit major milestones, there’s usually a lot of lead-up and press in advance. That didn't happen in this case, and I was surprised when Kimmel kicked off with the announcement, but it makes sense. Jimmy Kimmel’s been a late night host for the same number of years as NCIS, actually, with both premiering in 2003. Of course, late night produces a lot more episodes every year, even with the show taken hiatuses from time to time. Here’s what Kimmel had to say about hitting 4,000.Not only is this my first show back, this is our 4,000th show. We’ve done 4,000 of these. It’s a lot of shows. According to the White House, it’s too many shows. This show premiered after the Super Bowl in January 2003. There are those who said we would never last this long. There are even those who use the regulatory might of the FCC to unconstitutionally try to make sure we didn’t last this long, but we did it the hard way, Brendan [Carr], and we are still here. That’s a big number, and one that would have been worth celebrating no matter what. Yet, Jimmy Kimmel Live! has faced a large number of headwinds on the 2026 TV schedule and over the past year or so. The FCC’s been all over ABC and shows like Live! and The View and putting pressure on them in recent months. For its part, ABC has done work to push back on the current administration and maintain the intellectual freedom of its programs. Despite this, in the last year Kimmel himself was suspended for a time before he saw his fellow late night series The Late Show wiped from existence. In the aftermath, Kimmel himself has admitted he feels late night has been “poisoned.” So it’s salient the show was even airing last night, much less that the late night host cracked jokes about the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, and sarcastically joked about all the things that changed over the summer. When I left for summer break in the middle of June, this country was a mess. We were at war with Iran at that time, gas prices were high at that time, inflation was high, Mitch McConnell was either alive or dead, nobody seemed to have any idea which. No one still seems to know, and I guess they don’t even care anymore because they seem to have just stopped trying to find out. The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool was a big, green slophole. Now, only three months later, I am so pleased to report that thanks to your favorite President, DJ Jazzy Donald, every one of those problems has been solved. We made America great again. These are the moments that have garnered most of the headlines this morning, and you can see his full comments, below.President Trump has made it clear he’s not a fan of the late night genre, though he didn’t have much to say when Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves last night. He has previously made comments about being shocked “ABC gave Kimmel his job back” after the suspension, calling the late night host “not funny” and hoping he’d “rot in his bad ratings.” Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings have actually been up since The Late Show with Stephen Colbert went off the airwaves. The loss of CBS’ program has been good news for both of the Jimmys, actually, but particularly Kimmel, who tends to take more of a political bent than Fallon. We'll have to wait and see how this week's episodes fare. Kimmel ended his monologue joking about Trump’s low polling rates and the upcoming midterm elections, but it’s just him being here to hit that 4,000th episode milestone that’s sticking with me the most.