Strike Force Five reassembled on Monday's "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."
Stephen Colbert joined "Late Night" host Seth Meyers, "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver, "Live!" host Jimmy Kimmel and "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon – aka the late-night podcast crew, Strike Force Five – for the final time before Colbert's last show on May 21.
Colbert introduced the crew as "four of my best television friends and co-hosts of the awards-ignored podcast," who immediately started the pandemonium onstage. Sitting on the couch, Kimmel explained the group's Writers Guild of America 2023 strike origin story.
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"Strike Force Five is and always will be a group of five individuals who went on strike along with their writers, who were paying their writers," Kimmel said. "So we did a podcast that paid a tiny portion of that. We did 12 episodes."
Colbert decreed the podcast group would do "an emergency episode" directly after the show.
Kimmel jokingly wonders why no one's canceling Paramount+ over Colbert cancellation
Colbert led a discussion about the future of late-night TV, asking the hosts to make their case for the hallowed but struggling institution in 2026.
Kimmel said, "Look at the figures. The fact of the matter is, more people are watching late-night television now than, and I know everybody gets crazy, when Johnny Carson [was on]."
Kimmel said the numbers from TV, and sources like YouTube, "add up." As proof of strength, Kimmel pointed out that when ABC parent company Walt Disney took him off air in 2025 for comments he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk, "people canceled Disney+" in protest.
This led Kimmel to jokingly wonder why fans are not similarly canceling subscriptions to Paramount+ to protest the "Late Show" cancellation. "Why aren't you people canceling Paramount+? Because you didn't have it in the first place?" he quipped.
"Late night is one of those things that has been around our whole lives. It's part of our lives," said Fallon. "People want to go to sleep having a good laugh, and go to bed happy."
Late-night hosts on facing Trump's wrath, Kimmel's Melania Trump controversy
All the hosts agreed they never expected to attract the attention of the president. President Donald Trump is a regular hate-watcher and social media commentator, who frequently calls for all of the major late-night hosts to be fired.
"You know what's even weirder? We're doing a job that his wife has strong feelings about," said Kimmel. First lady Melania Trump slammed Kimmel last month for jokingly calling her an "expectant widow" on his show.
"Most of us have avoided that part," Meyers quipped to Kimmel, while Oliver said it's "amazing to get a group text from [Kimmel] saying 'Oh boy,' and then a picture of Melania mad at him," referencing the Strike Force Five text message chain.
Meyers pointed out that Trump is one of the remaining holdouts watching late-night shows at their scheduled time, before condemning the shows on social media.
"I appreciate that he is watching linear television," said Meyers. "If I would make my case for late night, it's that leaders of the free world are watching it when it airs."
Late-night hosts sad, outraged about end of 'The Late Show'
Kimmel jokingly told Colbert that "there's a whole world out there" beyond late night, which he learned during his brief suspension last year. He also expressed "outrage" about Colbert being "thrown off the air," saying, "I'm waiting for angry Stephen to come out. I want to see you go nuts!"
When Colbert pointed out that "The Late Show" started after every other show, and was canceled first, Kimmel had a striking comparison.
"It's like when your young wife dies," Kimmel said. "It's sad, is what I'm saying. It's such a tragedy."
Fallon said, "It's a bummer because I wanted to do this longer with you." But Colbert said he can always be a guest on one of his fellow hosts' shows, and Kimmel took it a step further: "You can host my show!"
Which late-night hosts made out with a guest?
The show ended with a game of Strike Force Five confessions, which included admitting which host had made out with one of their guests.
Kimmel admitted to kissing Regis Philbin. "Not only did I kiss Regis, but he chewed my gum," he said.
Colbert admitted to a slew, including Helen Mirren, Sally Field, Allison Janney, Jeff Daniels and Andrew Garfield. "Jane Fonda and I did not make out, but she stuck her tongue in my ear," said Colbert.
As Strike Force Five moved in for a final group hug on Colbert's desk, the departing host announced a new video episode of the podcast will be available on Wednesday, May 13.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Strike Force Five reassemble on 'Late Show,' talk facing Trump's wrath
