“We’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned," Kimmel said of Colbert's cancellation
Credit: Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Jimmy Kimmel revealed his long-term plans for Jimmy Kimmel Live! amid the ongoing state of flux for late-night shows
- He said he felt “defeated” by the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show and revealed how that has affected his own perspective on the future
- His longtime producer, Erin Irwin, said Kimmel is “tired”
The end is in sight for Jimmy Kimmel.
The late-night host was candid in a new interview with Vulture about his future on ABC, and he reflected on the end of Stephen Colbert's The Late Show and the increasing scrutiny he faces from President Donald Trump.
"One of the things we talked about when I first got suspended was that I can’t do this show if I’m going to be micromanaged,” Kimmel, 58, said, referring to the six days in September when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was taken off the air.
He told the outlet that “there are far more people watching late-night TV than there ever were," citing the "number of views me and my colleagues get online every day and add in our linear-television ratings." Of the recent increase in attacks on the format, he said, “We’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned.”
The Late Show's end suggested that The Late Show’s end was another nail in the coffin. “I feel a little bit defeated by it,” Kimmel said following Colbert's final show on May 21. “In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future.”
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Credit: Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty
Kimmel originally planned to be done with Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which he has hosted since 2003, in 2020. “Six years ago, I told them I thought I was done when Biden was president,” he said.
That timeline obviously didn't pan out, but his longtime producer, Erin Irwin, told Vulture that Kimmel has "been talking about leaving for a while.” Irwin's hope is that Kimmel lasts through the 2028 presidential election. "But I don’t know if Jimmy can do it for that long,” she said. “He’s tired.”
Kimmel said that he doesn't have any set plans for what his next move will be when he does eventually retire from late-night.
“Professionally, I have no idea what I’m going to do after this,” he admitted. “Freedom is what I want more than anything. I want to be able to go fishing because the fishing’s good.”
Credit: Randy Holmes/Disney
Following the finale of The Late Show, Trump was vocal on social media about the future of late-night.
“Stephen Colbert’s firing from CBS was the ‘Beginning of the End’ for untalented, nasty, highly overpaid, not funny, and very poorly rated Late Night Television Hosts,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning. “Others, of even less talent, to soon follow. May they all Rest in Peace!"
Trump, 79, had also shared a farewell message on his Truth Social platform in the early morning hours of Friday, May 22, after the final episode aired. "Colbert is finally finished at CBS," he wrote. "Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk."
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
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