Rosie O’Donnell returned to American late-night television as a guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and wasted little time revisiting the political feud that has followed her for years.
President Donald Trump was a recurring target during O’Donnell’s roughly 15-minute opening monologue, which also covered her move to Ireland, her child’s reaction to leaving the United States and an awkward encounter involving an Irish pharmacist.
“If you thought the president hated ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ when it was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel? Buckle up, people! Buckle up,” O’Donnell told the studio audience.
O’Donnell moved to Ireland following Trump’s return to the White House and has previously said she would consider returning to the United States when she believed the country was safe and afforded equal rights to all citizens.
During her monologue, she offered a more colorful explanation for the move.
“I’ve been living in Ireland for the past two years because of ‘Mango Mussolini,’” O’Donnell said, using a mocking nickname for Trump. “I read that Project 2025 and said, ‘Gotta get myself out of here!’”
She then added a joke at the expense of her adopted home.
“I decided to go to Ireland where people are driven to drink regardless of who’s running their country,” she said.
At one point, O’Donnell looked directly into the camera and addressed Trump.
“Hi! I know you’re watching!”
The longtime comedian and former co-host of “The View” then turned to the story of moving overseas with her child, who was 11 at the time and whom O’Donnell referred to using they/them pronouns.
According to O’Donnell, she specifically asked the child not to tell classmates about the planned move because she wanted to avoid publicity before the family left.
“I just said, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone because we don’t want a lot of press and a lot of paparazzi,” O’Donnell recalled. “So, please don’t tell anyone.”
That plan did not last long.
O’Donnell joked that her child went to school and promptly informed the entire class.
“I’m very sorry I won’t be able to graduate sixth grade with you,” O’Donnell quoted the child as saying. “I’m being forced to move to another country because the president of the United States hates my mother.”
Then came the punchline.
“But in all fairness, I believe my mother hates him more.”
Not everything in the monologue involved American politics.
O’Donnell also described becoming interested in a female pharmacist in Ireland and asking her out, only to discover that the woman was married.
The situation became considerably more uncomfortable when O’Donnell later encountered the pharmacist and her husband at a pub.
According to O’Donnell, a bartender delivered her a pint from someone sitting in a secluded area of the establishment. Seeing only the top of the person’s short hairstyle, O’Donnell initially assumed it was the pharmacist and decided she needed to go over and thank her.
Instead, she found herself speaking to the woman’s husband.
The encounter eventually resulted in an introduction to the couple and an explanation from the husband that his wife was not interested in women.
“I wanted to die. I wanted to die,” O’Donnell told the audience.
The story gave her monologue a detour into self-deprecating comedy before she returned to the subject that had opened the segment.
Trump.
O’Donnell and Trump have traded public insults for roughly two decades, beginning well before his first presidential campaign. His return to office also became part of O’Donnell’s public explanation for relocating to Ireland.
So there was little chance that a guest-hosting appearance on a late-night program already known for political jokes about Trump was going to pass without another round.
O’Donnell made sure of that from the opening minutes, then closed the monologue by joking about the amount of attention she had given him.
“And you know, right now he’s in the White House crying because I haven’t mentioned him,” she said.
After 15 minutes that repeatedly circled back to Trump, the joke was obvious: O’Donnell had, in fact, mentioned him plenty.
