{"id":848000,"date":"2026-08-08T13:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848000\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:09:11","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-on-support-after-show-hiatus-future-of-late-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848000\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel on Support After Show Hiatus, Future of Late Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTo say \u201cJimmy Kimmel<\/a> had an eventful year\u201d is to utter even more of an understatement than \u201cRegis Philbin had a Bronx accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Jimmy Kimmel Live! host began the TV season in September getting suspended by ABC and nearly canceled by Donald Trump for a joke he made following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel then faced Trump\u2019s cancellation-minded ire again this spring after he made an age-centric joke about Melania soon becoming a widow. In between? He had a pretty damn good year, as evidenced by his Emmy nominations for outstanding host of a game show for Millionaire (he is looking to repeat his 2025 win) while his late night show notched a half dozen noms, including for outstanding variety series.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow is Kimmel processing all of it? Does he feel like Stephen Colbert owes him something? What does he really think about Matt Damon\u2019s and Ben Affleck\u2019s performances on Millionaire? And which, um, presidential figure would he like to see on the telecast? We asked him a lightning round of questions about a slew of 2025-26 topics.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been a very intense TV season for you. What will you remember most from it? <\/p>\n

\n\tNo question that what I will remember most is the reaction to our unscheduled vacation [after Kirk], which went so far beyond what I ever could have expected. I\u2019ll never forget the support from friends, strangers and even those who generally make me throw up.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s the hardest thing about hosting Millionaire that we may not realize?<\/p>\n

\n\tPronunciation! Even the word pronunciation is hard to pronounce.<\/p>\n

\n\tWho would you bet on to win a trivia showdown \u2014 Jamie Ding\/Ben Affleck or Ken Jennings\/Matt Damon? <\/p>\n

\n\tNo disrespect to Ken Jennings, but Matt Damon has the brain of a ladybug.<\/p>\n

\n\tWho\u2019s a celebrity you\u2019d like to land on the show that you haven\u2019t yet?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Obamas would be a fun team. Also, Hall & Oates.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s one thing you would say to the president if you were alone in an elevator with him?<\/p>\n

\n\tWhich button do we push for a Diet Coke?<\/p>\n

\n\tWill you be putting up another billboard for The Late Show With Stephen Colbertto win the late night Emmy?<\/p>\n

\n\tWe were hoping this time they\u2019d get one for us.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoes John Oliver need to be stopped now that he\u2019s back in your category?<\/p>\n

\n\tJohn Oliver deserves every award that gets awarded.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat do you think is the future of primetime game shows?<\/p>\n

\n\tYou might be surprised to learn I haven\u2019t given that much thought, but I do keep the Family Feud in my prayers.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat will it take to save the future of late night television?<\/p>\n

\n\tA different president would be a good start.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To say \u201cJimmy Kimmel had an eventful year\u201d is to utter even more of an understatement than \u201cRegis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,1703,12439,343386,134,4625,427],"class_list":["post-848000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-awards","tag-emmy-awards","tag-emmys-2026","tag-entertainment","tag-jimmy-kimmel","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}