David Bianculli

After Kimmel made remarks in his monologue about various political responses to the murder of Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr complained publicly...

ABC affiliate station group owners Sinclair and Nexstar said they wouldn't carry the show, and ABC responded by announcing last week that Jimmy Kimmel Live was being taken off the air indefinitely.

But after a wave of support from Hollywood celebrities and threats of boycotts of Disney Plus and Hulu by angry streaming subscribers, Disney-owned ABC reversed course and returned Jimmy Kimmel Live to the airwaves Tuesday night.

Many cities still couldn't see the broadcast because those same ABC affiliate station group owners preempted his show in Seattle, Portland, New Orleans, Nashville, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

But those who could watch, and did, saw Kimmel in fine and feisty form.

That same attitude continued Wednesday night when Kimmel's monologue included Trump's social media response to Kimmel's on-air return the night before.

And in the same monologue, Kimmel explained why he's made so much fun of Donald Trump.

The reason, Kimmel said, is because he hates bullies.

Being at the center of a significant and ongoing First Amendment battle is not what most people would have predicted of Jimmy Kimmel.

Not even, most likely, Kimmel himself.

He began on radio and first became known for his work on two Comedy Central TV programs—

One was the played-for- laughs game show Win Ben Stein's Money.

The other was the misogynistic The Man Show, a tongue-in-cheek talk show co-hosted with Adam Carolla.

He began hosting ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003 following the long-established ABC News Nightline.

A decade later, in 2013, ABC flipped the time slots of those two programs.

That's when Jimmy Kimmel Live began airing at 11.35 on weeknights, the same time as his rival late-night talk shows on CBS and NBC.

And that's also when Jimmy Kimmel spoke to Terry Gross.

Given all the media and political attention given to Jimmy Kimmel this week and last, we thought this would be an opportune time to revisit that interview.

Jimmy Kimmel speaking to Terry Gross in 2013.

After a break, we'll continue their conversation.