Los Angeles [US], September 20 (ANI): Stephen Colbert brought back one of his most famous characters to stand up for his late-night colleague and friend, Jimmy Kimmel.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Colbert, on Thursday's episode of The Late Show, revived his old Comedy Central persona from The Colbert Report, the satirical political pundit.

Colbert entered the segment with his trademark greeting, 'Hello, nation. Daddy's home.'

The return of his iconic act was marked by the familiar bald eagle sound and the satirical bit 'The Word.'

The segment saw Colbert mocking what he called a 'free-speech crisis,' as he joked that the solution was simple: everyone should just stop talking and 'certainly not aloud.'

'You can have your rights just as long as you don't use them,' Colbert said, with a chyron beside him adding, 'Like a gym membership.' He closed with, 'Give up, America. Just give up and stop saying anything that might upset the president. If you think that's a terrible idea, no, you don't.'

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This comes just after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! when Kimmel mocked MAGA Republicans.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel called out their attempts to distance themselves from Tyler Robinson, accused of killing Charlie Kirk, and accused both sides of turning the tragedy into political points.

'We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise 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.

Kimmel's suspension has also led to debate inside Disney, ABC's parent company, about when, or if, his show will return. (ANI)