Ethan Hawke crashed Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue on Wednesday, as the host returned to air following his controversial week-long suspension.

Kimmel, 57, was booted off the air last week over his comments about conservative political activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination at age 31. 

The host returned to his usual schedule for the second episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with guests Ethan, Lisa Ann Walter, and musical act YUNGBLUD joining the show.

In his monologue, Kimmel expressed gratitude to the ‘over 400 entertainers, actors, writers, directors, and producers who signed an ACLU letter in support of our program.’

A crew member then handed Kimmel the ACLU letter with all the signatures, including from Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt, to show the audience. 

Ethan, 54, then unexpectedly made his way out onto the stage, where he told Kimmel face-to face that it was ‘an honor to sign this letter.’

This then led into a bit where Kimmel tried to find Hawke’s name on the letter before quickly realizing that he hadn’t signed it at all.

‘I think I signed it twice. There’s like 400 names on there! It doesn’t matter. You don’t see my name?’

Hawke then whipped out a pen and quickly added his signature below Tom Hanks’ on the letter while Kimmel briefly had his back turned.

But the host didn’t buy it and called Hawk out for signing it on the spot.

‘You literally signed it,’ said Kimmel. ‘It’s in the ‘H’ section.’

Hawke responded: ‘I would’ve joined in signing it. Truly, I wanted to. But it seemed like you were wrapping up, and I’m not someone who bets on a three-legged horse with fractured ankles.’

Kimmel said he ‘wouldn’t hold it against’ the actor before telling him that he’d ‘let the audience decide if he should be let back on the show.’

Hawke later spoke about auditioning for the late great Robert Redford during his interview with Kimmel. 

Kimmel also took aim at President Donald Trump with a scathing monologue, and joked about the humorous texts his colleagues received from family once the show’s suspension was announced.

One text message read, ‘Hey sweetie… is it Kimmel or Fallon that you currently work for??’

Another worker got a text from a friend that read, ‘I can’t believe this! Hopefully they just change hosts and keep the show.’ 

Someone else’s mom texted them, writing: ‘I’m a wreck over this. Should I cancel my vacation and come back? I can’t think of any other jobs for you.’

She then wrote, ‘You won a big math award in middle school’ before adding, ‘Oh no that was Joe.’

The person wrote back, ‘It’s not cancelled, you don’t need to come back. I did win a math award actually.’

To which the mom replied, ‘Well what good does that do you now.’

Another text from a concerned mom and sister of one of the workers read, ‘CNN says you’re cancelled indefinitely’ to which the worker responded, ‘who knows, absolutely disgusting.’ The mom the proceeded to send her a link to job openings in New York.

The texts went on, with the mom asking, ‘What does this mean for you?’

‘No clue,’ the worker wrote.

‘Are you at work? What are people saying? It said starting with tonight’s show.’

‘Yes, they just said our show for tonight and tomorrow is cancelled.’

‘Just now or longterm?’

‘No clue no one knows,’ the receiver reiterated. 

‘I’m sure you do know,’ one of their family members replied. 

‘So do you still go into work?’

‘No we don’t know!’ the frustrated worker answered. 

Another text read, ‘Hey! I just saw the news about Jimmy Kimmel. Does that mean you’re out of a job??’

‘Not sure,’ the person replied.

‘Well that sucks, you were always funny but I heard there are like no jobs out there.’

‘Cool. Thanks for checking in Taylor!!’ the frustrated worker wrote back.

Kimmel also revealed that his ‘good friends’ Kelly Ripa and her husband Mark, who spoke out in support of him, sent Kimmel staffers an ice cream truck to the studio today. 

‘It’s honestly very thoughtful and very sweet but next time, Kelly, can you give us a heads up because when the truck pulled up Guillermo say the word “Ice” and dived under a recycling bin. We’re a little on edge out here, ok? But thank you,’ he quipped. 

Kimmel’s return to late night following his suspension saw his ratings triple and reach his largest audience in over a decade.

Monday’s episode drew 6.26 million viewers to ABC. Typically, Kimmel gets about 1.8 million viewers each night on television. The numbers released by ABC do not include viewership from streaming services.

The network also noted that Kimmel’s emotional, 20-minute monologue has been viewed over 25 million times on social media.

Kimmel fought back tears as he tried to explain his statement on Kirk in his first show back on ABC since he was suspended over his comments about the late TPUSA founder.

The host previously insinuated that Kirk’s alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, 22, was a conservative, even though evidence indicates he held far-left ideologies.

‘It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,’ he said, fighting back tears. ‘I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.’

He referenced his post on Instagram sending love to Kirk’s family and said he still does.

He then tried to explain what he said about Kirk but did not directly apologize.

He said it was not ‘my intention to blame any specific group for the actions what – it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,’ he said.

‘That was really in the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both. And for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way.’

Kimmel also praised Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, for forgiving alleged shooter Robinson at her husband’s funeral on Sunday.

‘She forgave him. That is an example we should follow,’ he said to applause.

‘If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, that’s it. A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply, I hope it touches many,’ he said, amid more tears.

‘And if there’s anything we can take from this tragedy to carry forward, it can be that and not this,’ he added, referencing the controversy.

He thanked his fellow talk show hosts, fans and even conservatives who defended him.

At the end of the show, he joked: ‘I think we’ll be back tomorrow night, see you then.’

However, Sinclair and Nexstar stations, which make up about a third of ABC’s affiliates, will not be showing the program.

The host previously said that ‘the MAGA gang’ was attempting to portray the suspect in Kirk’s killing ‘as anything other than one of them.’

ABC’s parent company, Disney, announced that it had suspended the show to ‘avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotionally charged moment for the country.’

But, after ‘having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy,’ the company announced Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return to its airwaves on Tuesday.

More than 400 celebrities, including former Disney stars, signed a letter supporting Kimmel after Disney suspended his late night show.

The letter, released by the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday, declared Kimmel’s cancellation a ‘dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.’

The letter was supported by nearly 500 signatures, including De Niro and celebrities such as Alan Cumming, Ariana Grande, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Cyndi Lauper, Cynthia Nixon, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, John Mulaney, Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Misha Collins, Pedro Pascal, Ryan Reynolds, Tom Hanks and Zayn Malik.

Former Disney Channel stars Selena Gomez, Olivia Rodrigo, and Maia Mitchell were also named on the list of celebrities supporting Kimmel.

Hours after the letter was published, Kimmel’s return was announced by ABC.