Jimmy Kimmel was “very intent on retiring” before the strike
Kimmel continues his streak of threatening retirement on the first episode of Strike Force Five
Aux News Jimmy Kimmel
Among Jimmy Kimmel’s many beloved catchphrases, such as “We have a great show tonight” and “Ziggy Zaggy, Ziggy Zaggy, Oi, Oi, Oi,” “I cannot do this anymore” is a constant refrain. Well, maybe not in so many words, but Kimmel has made a tradition of threatening retirement every so often. So it is no surprise that Kimmel would play the hits on the inaugural episode of Strike Force Five, the Spotify podcast featuring late-night hosts Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver. During their chat, Kimmel revealed that he was “very intent on retiring” when the strike began. “And now, I realize, Oh yeah, it’s kind of nice to work.”
But Kimmel can’t keep talking that trash around his talk show brethren—let alone a known straight-shooter like Seth Meyers, who called Kimmel “the Tom Brady of late night.” Despite Meyers objections (“You have feigned retirement”), Kimmel insists he was serious this time—“very, very serious.”
Meyers is right, though. Kimmel has publicly considered hanging up his $5,000 Tom Ford “Everyman” suit before. In 2017, he defended himself from the throngs of online commenters declaring his retirement imminent. Kimmel, as one does, headed over to Ellen to clear it up: “I did an interview, and in it, the guy asked me, ‘Do you ever think about retiring?’ I said, ‘I still have three years on my contract, until 2020, and who knows after that. Maybe…’ I definitely didn’t say I was retiring. Then the next thing, online everyone is like, ‘Jimmy Kimmel is retiring.’”
After signing that 2020 contract, Kimmel locked himself into another three-year agreement, meaning that in 2022, the same questions surfaced again. Speaking to Variety last year, Kimmel said he has moments where he thinks, “I cannot do this anymore,” and “What am I gonna do with my life if I’m not doing this anymore?”
“Eventually, I am going to have to stop doing this,” he said. “I’m not going to do this forever. I would not be honest at all if I said that I have decided one way or the other. I’m thinking about it a lot, though.”
Kimmel re-signed with ABC for another three years in September of that year. Yeah, it doesn’t seem like he’s retiring any time soon, but he sure does like to talk about it, and who doesn’t? Retiring would be a stone groove that, unfortunately, 29% of Americans under 55 think they’ll never do. Ah, to have such champagne problems like seriously humoring the idea of retirement. Celebrities, they’re just like us.
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I haven’t seen this site mention that Colbert’s contract was extended to 2026.
Maybe the strikes will be over by then.
Retiring would be a stone groove that, unfortunately, 29% of Americans under 55 think they’ll never do.Meaning that at least 50% of Americans under 55 are optimistic to the point of delusion.Anyway, is Kimmel really that hated, or is it just a semi-playful exaggeration of frustration over his apparent greater success than his more talented colleagues (Myers, Oliver, probably Colbert)? TBH, he seems like a decent guy to me, if perhaps a little short of the comedic standard one would want for a host in his position.
Kimmel was good at it in the beginning of his career but I think he runs into a problem lots of late night hosts run into too, Diminishing returns. Very few Late night hosts can truly feel fresh. I feel him, Corden, and Meyers have this issue. Colbert is in the middle. Weirdly Fallon is starting to have diminishing returns but he kind of has enough of an online meme presence that keeps him going. Oliver is still in his prime.
Admittedly I don’t watch the rest of his show, but I still really like Myers’s Closer Look segments. And yeah, Oliver is still killing it consistently.
John Oliver benefits greatly from the fact that he does a weekly show and is off half the year. It’s much easier to have a consistently great show when you make 25 in 12 months rather than 170 in 12 months. He also committed to filling in the “absurd comic premises that we don’t half-ass” that remind me of 11:30pm Conan.
It’s absolutely true that Oliver has significant advantages over other late-night hosts, but at least he makes full use of them rather than half-assing things and coasting.
I think Fallon has had the least dropoff because he had the shortest distance to fall. He started off at a D-, and eventually made it to C+/B- territory, a lane in which he’s resided for the last 10 years.
I think he’s honestly better than Colbert these days. Colbert’s fallen into this kind of “now let’s pause for a minute so I can really talk about how insidious all this political shit is” hole that was really compelling at first when things started getting somehow worse all the time every day in the Trump era but eventually it kind of, well, gets old. It’s kinda like “Yeah Stephen I know how vile these GOP fuckers are, you don’t have to go all Howard Beale on me about it again every day, take a couple off.”
But anyway comparing any of them to Oliver is like apples and oranges. Sure they’re all comedians doing late-night humor about recent news but like… Oliver’s not really doing the same as them at all.
Right, Oliver is more like 60 Minutes with jokes than a late night show.
“Yeah Stephen I know how vile these GOP fuckers are, you don’t have to go all Howard Beale on me about it again every day, take a couple off.”You must not watch Meyers, because every single night it’s exclusively about GOP skullduggery in his overlong and redundant “Closer Look” segments.
He only does those explicitly like every other night, it’s definitely not nightly. And I actually find those pretty good, maybe because he just has a little better delivery, or maybe because putting it behind the line of being a specific segment means that if you don’t like it/his delivery there’s a nice dedicated “you should tag out here for a couple of minutes” heads up.That said, I do agree that sometimes they go a little long
I kind of don’t mind Colbert’s constant political shtick, if only because he’s on CBS and maybe, just maybe, some septuagenarian will accidentally leave the TV on and see his monologue one night, and finally have an “Ah ha!” moment where they realize that, yes, these GOP fuckers ARE actually quite vile! Or maybe they just fall asleep with Colbert on and he winds up incepting them into a more sane political outlook.
Why just work until 70, and get your full social security!
Assuming Republicans don’t terminate or ruin it before then, it’s still not going to be enough if someone ends up with a major medical expense or needs a new vehicle or major home repairs during their retirement.
In a lot of ways, Kimmel’s career trajectory is far weirder even than Conan’s. From “Guy who sits next to Ben Stein to make him seem personable” to “Cohost of weirdly regressive misogyny comedy show” to “Host of legitimate network late night show”. I’m not sure if he should never quit doing the show, or quit and see if he doesn’t somehow end up as POTUS.
Kimmel was pretty fresh when he started but I feel like he has the same problem as meyers. Diminishing returns on his charisma, jokes, and style. Maybe he should retire because I think he just ending the near of his natural run as a late night host. Very few Late night hosts can go long and still feel fresh.
Disagree completely about Meyers. His show stays fresh because he has a great supporting cast and doesn’t have problems sharing the spotlight or being the straight man for Lutz, Amber, Jenny, Ally, and all the rest.
Yeah, Meyer’s is the freshest of the bunch.
His path is even stranger than that. He started in radio, working his way up to KROQ in LA, where he first got real attention. All the other late night guys all went directly into comedy, either sketch or improv. Though he never did standup, Kimmel’s path was more similar to Letterman’s, just trying to get into broadcasting by any means available.
hes a successful asskisser, from his KROQ days.
I would be excited if he did retire. It would free him up for my dream project: A reboot of the Hope/Crosby Road pictures. I want Kimmel for the Hope character, Harry Connick, Jr for the Crosby part, and Salma Hayek for the Dorothy Lamour love interest. I think they could start with Road to Las Vegas, where they wind up helping Hayek get out of the clutches of a mobbed-up casino boss. Still haven’t decided on the casino boss. I’m open to suggestions.
Robert DeNiro is the easy answer, but Carrot Top is the right answer.
Once upon a time I would have thought it would be beneath DeNiro, but not anymore. Carrot Top would be a lot cheaper, though. Do think that he could dial it down enough?
He should watch himself trying to talk Craig Furguson out of quitting.
He was right about CraigyFurg. He could’ve started showing up in sweatpants, or not at all and have Geoff host, or have the crew put on a puppet show, and nobody’d cared, and I mean that in a good way, just in case it sounds like I don’t.
Yeah, Craig was by far the best at connecting with guests and at not giving any shits about how things are supposed to be.
Kimmel at his peak was entertaining but he is nearing his end as a great late night hosts. It’s hard for late night hosts to go super long and feel fresh. I think Kimmel and Meyers should look into retiring. Colbert and Oliver are still fairly strong although they have a different style than Kimmel and Oliver. Fallon is in the middle but closer to Kimmel, however Fallon has some legit funny online moments that keep him going and his interviews with actors are great.
Competely disagree about Colbert feeling fairly strong. Kimmel’s definitely more entertaining than him. Then again I’ve personally never really liked Colbert in his post-Report/Late Show days. I mean, he’s got decent jokes but they just hit so flat to me. Plus on top of it I think he was probably the one who fell into the trap of “orange man bad” comedy during the Trump era. You can only mock one asshole so many ways on a nightly basis before it gets stale, even back when Trump was doing some crazy new thing every day. And yeah every now and then he did (well, still does) a sort of “character break” moment where he kind of just drops the jokey facade and maybe gets emotional and talks about how real shit has gotten in this hellworld but I think both Meyers and Kimmel have even done that more compellingly.
How many times are you going to reply with the exact same comment to a different post? Talk about the shtick getting old.
This guy is painfully unfunny. See also, Colbert, Meyers, Fallon.
I’ve never watched a single episode of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show. I have no plans to end my streak, regardless of his decision to retire or not.
I keep getting Kimmel and Fallon confused. They can both go away.
A quick internet search reveals that less than five million people watch Meyers, Colbert, and Kimmel on a nightly basis. These are not talented or interesting people. They are sad political hacks. Period. The end.
As always, the drive by potshots sprinkled throughout this piece directed at nobody and everybody make it very difficult to understand if you have a point of view.
Jimmy Kimmel was “very intent . . . *Jimmy Kimmel bursts into tears* . . .”
We were all intent on Jimmy Fallon retiring, but he refuses to.
it’s weird how these guys all seem too young to be the elder statesmen of late night but also still seem way old and out of touch.
Let him take the Jay Leno arc: retire, be replaced by someone far funnier and superior in the role, then petulantly demand his job back