Is This Why Jimmy Kimmel Is Mulling Late Night Retirement?
The far-Left partisan and 'Man Show' alum is reading the cultural tea leaves
President Joe Biden hasn’t had a sit-down interview with the press since Feb. 10.
The beleaguered leader will change that this week, technically speaking.
Biden is set to appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Wednesday night. Yes, it’s the same show that threw softballs at the First Son last year following more embarrassing revelations than any public figure has endured.
The presidential interview comes at a curious time for Kimmel. The far-Left host is publicly mulling retirement from a gig he began nearly 20 years ago.
“I have moments where I go, ‘I cannot do this anymore.’ And I have moments where I go, ‘what am I gonna do with my life if I’m not doing this anymore?’ It’s a very complicated thing. And there are practical considerations, and there are family and friend considerations and co worker considerations. And eventually, I am going to have to stop doing this. 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 could be serious about his ambivalence. Or, this might be a public negotiating tactic similar to what’s playing out with Neve Campbell’s exit from the “Scream” franchise. Kimmel’s current ABC contract is expiring soon, coincidentally.
Kimmel’s showcase routinely trails both “The Late Show” and “Gutfeld!” in the ratings, but it’s consistently ahead of the former powerhouse “Tonight Show.”
Late Night TV Rankings May 23-29
1⃣@StephenAtHome
2⃣@GutfeldFox! @GregGutfeld
3⃣@JimmyKimmel
4⃣@JimmyFallon
5⃣@FoxNewsNight @ShannonBream
6⃣@Nightline
7⃣@JKCorden
8⃣@SethMeyers
9⃣@11thHour @SRuhle
🔟@DonLemon
#11 @IamSamBee pic.twitter.com/x9djSSHehs— RoadMN 📈 (@RoadMN) June 1, 2022
Other factors may be in play.
RELATED: The Sad, Predictable Decline of Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel wasn’t always a Democratic party hack. His early work challenged cultural norms, particularly “The Man Show” co-starring Adam Carolla. That Comedy Central series took a subversive look at gender, pushing edgy content along with blatantly pro-male visuals.
Cue the bikini-clad girls bouncing on trampolines.
Kimmel wore blackface, embraced misogynistic yuks and did it all sans apology. His “Crank Yankers” puppet series, also co-created with Carolla, pushed comic boundaries. The show’s signature puppet, a mentally challenged lad named Special Ed, got erased during the show’s woke revival.
Those gigs eventually gave way to more mainstream success with his ABC late-night showcase. Kimmel didn’t start the show as an overtly political figure. Bits like his twerking girl prank defined the show’s mood.
He eventually followed the path blazed by late night liberals David Letterman, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher in the Trump era. Target the GOP early and often in late night monologues while ignoring Democrats behaving badly.
Now, Kimmel’s tone and rhetoric are indistinguishable from Colbert, the prince of progressive late-night TV.
At some point, Kimmel’s inner comic must gnaw at him. Sure, the 1,398th Trump joke may be cool, but why not poke serious fun at the current president? The Left is crushing free speech, and Kimmel would rather crack wise about a Fox News talk show host.
Does Kimmel feel shame about his current positioning as a partisan stooge? Does that fuel his retirement thoughts?
The Carolla factor can’t be overlooked.
Kimmel found mainstream success with “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” His old “Man Show” alum took a very different path. Carolla created a podcast empire, produced high-quality documentaries like “Uppity” and became a repeat bestselling author.
Carolla did it on his own, eschewing all the usual channels to become a self-made star. He may not have Kimmel’s bank account, but his creative soul is intact.
Can Kimmel say the same?
RELATED: Kimmel Fangirls Over Narcissist Fauci (Again)
Wednesday’s Biden chat will likely be a bore. Kimmel won’t seriously challenge the president on the sorry state of the nation. Biden has never been charismatic or interesting, before or during his presidency. Now, at 79, he often struggles to read off a teleprompter.
It will be softball after softball, all designed to distract from soaring gas prices, crushing inflation and a staggering sense that the worst may be yet to come.
There’s another reason Kimmel may be looking to a “Live”-free future.
The country could be months away from a red wave election unlike any in recent memory. It’s a long way until November, but there’s a palpable sense that the Left’s cultural overreach has hit the boiling point.
- Movies like “What Is a Woman?” have grabbed the zeitgeist.
- Cancel Culture is showing signs of weakness with the rise of Ricky Gervais, Joe Rogan and Dave Chappelle.
- Netflix embraced free speech and told woke employees to leave if they don’t like the platform’s content.
Kimmel may fear he won’t fit in as well in that new reality. And no amount of softball interviews can change that.
Late night talk/variety/comedy has been terminally I’ll for at least a decade. All three Jimmie’s (Kimmel/Fallon/Corden) are not funny. They are not good observational comics. They are not good stand-up comedians. And Stephen Colbert has completely lost his cynical touch. Late night TV is DOA. Not even on life-support. It is a dead-ass, fatal, sucking chest-wound with no chance of resuscitation. None of the men and their shows are topical, touching or insightful.
All late night shows open with politics and not in a positive way. Why? Nothing at all funny, during these tumultuous times All you are doing is slamming one political sector, which is getting very old. Bye Bye
The biggest joke on Jimmy Kimmel Live is Jimmy Kimmel himself. The born again woke schmuck wants to forget his past transgressions and hold himself out to the world as this enlightened liberal crusader, it’s only a matter of time until the new Communists come for him too. Carolla has stayed true to himself and has not become a sell out like Kimmel, that’s why people can respect Carolla and not Kimmel. Then again, maybe Kimmel will have another one of his Evita moments and burst into a good cry riding into the sunset to be nothing more than another blip in the story of late night TV.
Kimmell is an unfunny loser. His show sucks, he sucks and anyone with a brain sees through his bulls**t. His ratings suck and he couldn’t tell the truth if it were in Brandon’s teleprompter.
Kimmel is just one of these progressive talk shows much like the daytime view who seem to ignore that half the country is at least somewhat conservative. It’s ok to take sides in politics, but not to the point of annoying half your potential audience.
Used to be a sense of balance was done to gain the most audience ratings. Now it seems, that doesn’t matter, just cater to the left leaning crowd and forget about the rest. To be a comedian you should be open to all political humor that is current. Trump is gone and while he provided plenty of material for comic relief, the current President is not exactly doing any better and offers up plenty of comic material which might help a country suffering through these times. A sense of connection to what people are feeling. If the journalists who ask the tough question, at least the comics could inject some sense of humor towards what is happening now.