“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is cutting back its musical guest performances to twice per week, according to a new report.

Staffers were not told why the decision was made to limit the musical bookings, though the show is expected to keep its current time slot and not get any shorter, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.

Other late-night shows have similarly reduced their musical acts in recent years. “Late Night with Seth Meyers” only sporadically features musicians and lost its house band led by Fred Armisen in 2024 after budget cuts. “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” has dramatically reduced its musical bookings as well and is being canceled altogether in May, a move characterized by CBS as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” is one of the very few in the late-night landscape that still regularly features musical guests.

Kimmel had a tumultuous 2025, temporarily going off the air after conservative-leaning affiliate owners suspended the show following Kimmel’s remarks in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting.

Kimmel said Republicans were “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

He returned to the air a week later following widespread accusations that Disney-owned ABC had surrendered to the Trump administration’s efforts to suppress free speech.

“Thanks to all the writers and actors and producers and union members, many of you who are in this room, who supported us, who really stepped forward us and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or in this country,” Kimmel said Sunday after winning Best Talk Series at the Critics Choice Awards. “Your actions were important, and we appreciate them.”

The host returned from holiday break on Monday, mocking President Donald Trump for the low-ratings of his hosting stint of the Kennedy Center Honors last month and hinted that the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was a distraction from the continued fallout of the release of the Epstein files.

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