Jimmy Kimmel Live!

ABC’s late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been on the air for 23 years, providing a regular diet of entertainment talk with guests, goofy schticks and video vignettes, and comedic monologues that roast the political and cultural figures and events of the day. This season, however, proved unprecedented in American television history as the show found itself “suspended” indefinitely by the network, supposedly due to comments Kimmel made about the murder of polarizing political figure Charlie Kirk. In reality, Kimmel had become a target of President Donald Trump (as the president publicly announced on social media) and, unprecedentedly, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Kimmel was taken off the air, then reinstated after public uproar arose from across the ideological spectrum about the comedian’s First Amendment rights. Kimmel’s return to air was a master class in public apologia for the Kirk comments while nevertheless, and doggedly, asserting his rights to criticize the president and MAGA movement that sought to silence him. For reminding us that comedy and satire are vital—yet also threatening—forms of democratic speech, Jimmy Kimmel Live! wins a Peabody.