Alabama made national headlines Wednesday night with four Republican presidential hopefuls participating in the fourth GOP primary debate on the University of Alabama campus, and of course the late night talk shows were watching.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hit the Moody Music Building stage for another contentious round of political barbs, minus the race’s frontrunner former President Donald Trump.

During his Wednesday night monologue, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host Jimmy Kimmel said it was fairly noticeable that Trump wasn’t part of it.

“Trump was not in attendance for that again,” Kimmel said, referencing Trump’s absence from each of the GOP primary debates. “Every one of these dates feels like an NSYNC reunion without Justin Timberlake. It’s like trying to get pumped for JC Chasez, and it’s hard.”

Kimmel focused on the candidates who did show up at the Capstone. “The debate took place at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, which sounds like kind of like a threat, like ‘If you don’t straighten up, you’ll be debating Vivek Ramaswamy in Tuscaloosa,’” Kimmel joked. “But this is the last debate between the eventual Tusca-losers before voters go to the polls.”

Hosted by cable network NewsNation, the debate found the candidates once again trading potshots about each other as well as the former president. AL.com’s John Sharp called it a “rollicking” debate wherein few Alabama references were made, and no direct issues about the state were asked by the moderators throughout.

Watch Kimmel’s jokes about the Tuscaloosa debate in the video above.

Kimmel in October also hosted Alabama native and Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Jason Isbell and his band The 400 Unit in his first show back following the ending of the Writers Guild of America strike.