Rosie O’Donnell will be celebrating this week as her stint as guest host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! has proved a hit with late night viewers.
The 64-year-old comedian has already sparked headlines with her comments referring to the president as “Mango Mussolini.”
As Late Nighter reports, she’s been rewarded with a bumper audience. Nielsen figures show that O’Donnell’s first night as guest host drew an audience of 1.87 million total viewers.
That put her out in front of her NBC rival program Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and well ahead of Kimmel’s other guest hosts this summer, who have included Tiffany Haddish and Colman Domingo.
However, the figures still don’t quite match Kimmel’s own viewing figures, which regularly top 2 million per episode.
Last night, O’Donnell drew gasps from the studio audience when she joked about Trump’s relationship with his trusted aide, Natalie Harp.
She opened Wednesday’s episode wishing viewers “a special hello to those of you watching from home and from the White House.”
“But I do have some bad news for President Petty Roosevelt,” she continued.
“That’s all I’m going to say about you tonight, sweetheart. You got to realize it’s time to hang up your wig and let Natalie tuck you in,” O’Donnell quipped, drawing audible “woahs” from the live studio audience. “Time to go nighty-night!”
As well as scoring a ratings win, O’Donnell’s time in the hot seat has also proved a hit on social media and with online commenters. In the YouTube comments, where ABC posts Kimmel’s monologues and interviews, viewers welcomed O’Donnell back to the host’s chair with rave reviews.
“Thank you Jimmy for inviting Rosie,” read one popular comment as another wrote, “Kimmel is genius for getting Rosie.”
“Rosie, you are spectacular!! Ireland suits you well! I’m so glad to see you,” wrote another, in reference to the fact that O’Donnell has been living in Europe.
“Rosie is back, we need her now more than ever,” shared a fourth.
O’Donnell’s hosting stint comes amid Trump’s repeated calls for networks to take action against late night hosts who criticize him.
Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show was canceled by CBS last year just days after its host criticized a settlement between Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, and Trump, though the network cited financial reasons.
Kimmel, meanwhile, was briefly suspended by ABC after FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened regulatory action over his comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk, before returning to air days later.