Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, More

Late night hit pause on the jokes Monday to address the “horror” of the deadly attack in Israel over the weekend, as well as the retaliatory conflict sparked after the attack orchestrated by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Amid a rising death toll that has surpassed 1,800 victims on both sides since Saturday, according to the Associated Press, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel largely shared messages of solidarity with victims.

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the host called the Middle East “a complex region,” but added that “the complexity of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is immaterial to the horror of this attack.”

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“The world is still in shock over the horrific surprise attack that Hamas launched this weekend against Israel. As of this taping, over 900 people in Israel have been killed, including 11 Americans and an unknown number of civilians and soldiers have been kidnapped, including U.S. citizens. As the conflict continues, nearly 700 people have been killed in Gaza,” he stated. “It is heartbreaking to see violence escalate, and we hope and pray that someday peace is possible.”

Colbert continued his monologue by addressing why he felt it was not just difficult but humanly impossible to try and deliver jokes in a moment like this. “We always try our best to talk about what everybody’s talking about today, but we didn’t even attempt to write jokes about this,” he said. “The human mind simply refuses to do it — even AI refused to do it.”

While Colbert declined to joke about the attack itself, he used the ChatGPT platform to emphasize the seriousness and tragedy of the ongoing loss of life.

“We went on to ChatGPT, and this is true, it responded: ‘The Middle East conflict is a serious and ongoing situation that affects many lives, and making jokes about such matters can easily be seen as insensitive, disrespectful or offensive to those who are suffering as a result,'” Colbert read to the audience. “I, for one, want to commend our future robot overlords. That is a rare show of humanity from something that can’t identify which photos contain a traffic light.”

Kimmel used his monologue to take a swipe at former President Donald Trump after sharing his own statement of solidarity with America’s friends and allies in Israel amid the “nightmarish situation.”

“Leaders from all around the world condemned the attack, as did millions of Americans including our super-duper pro-Israel, former President Donald Trump, who immediately found a way to make it about himself,” Kimmel said. “He wrote, ‘The horrible attack on Israel, much like the attack on Ukraine, would never have happened if I were president. Zero chance.'”

The host quickly followed, telling his Jimmy Kimmel Live! audience, “That’s right. If he was president, we’d all be blissfully downing jiggers of bleach. There’d be no war anywhere.”

Both NBC hosts, Fallon and Meyers, opted out of jokes of any kind while discussing the attack, instead offering statements acknowledging the violence and wishing for the safety of those caught in the conflict.

On the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the host shared a brief statement, telling viewers, “I just want to send our love to everyone affected by the attacks in Israel over the weekend. By now we’ve all seen the terrible images coming out of there, and our hearts go out to everyone who’s been impacted.”

Meyers offered a more lengthy response, urging his in-studio and at-home viewers to remember not just their own but others’ humanity when it is challenged by the “rage and sadness” of tragedies like this.

“I’m sure you all are aware of the atrocities that were committed against Israel this weekend. They were monstrous and horrific acts of violence,” the Late Night With Seth Meyers host said towards the end of his monologue. “I will not pretend to have any answers as to how to respond to a crisis like this. I will only say that in the moments when we are confronted with such evil, inhumane acts: We are most at risk of losing our own humanity when we are justifiably blind with rage and sadness.

Meyers added that in moments like this, people can “make choices that will have massive, irrevocable impacts on the lives of our fellow man,” but that he hopes the better parts of humanity emerge at this difficult moment. “It requires the absolute best of us to think clearly in times like this,” he continued, “and I hope with all my heart, the best of us can emerge in this time of unthinkable loss.”

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